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As you probably noticed, I love using Kaffe Fassett fabric. The colors are amazing and the designs are even better. There are three fabric designers who work in the Kaffe Fassett Collective: Kaffe Fassett, Brandon Mably, and Philip Jacobs.

Philip Jacobs designs amazing florals and other nature-based prints. He is my all-time favorite. I’m like a fan girl of his fabric.

In this quilt, I took a bunch (I mean a lot) of different fabrics and fussy cut the flowers and leaves. Fussy cutting is when you painstakingly select and cut specific areas of a fabric. It’s very fussy.

So I fussy cut lots of flowers and then I started putting them up on my design wall.

I was really enjoying how the prints were coming together. But, then I realized I had left out a critical step – fusing the fusible web onto the back of the fabric. Fusible web is like glue. You iron it on to the back of fabric and then the fabric sticks to pretty much anything else that you press it on to.

So, I had to take all of the pieces down and start over. I couldn’t quite get it to come together exactly the same way. But I kept going anyway.

When I reached the edges of my backing, I was done.

Then I took then entire piece and put it on a big piece of wood. It was actually an old door. I put the whole thing on my craft table and steamed the heck out of the prints. I pressed and steamed and pressed and steamed until all of the fabrics were secure.

At this point, I was feeling pretty good about the quilt. So, I took the photo and I posted it to a Facebook group that is for people who love Kaffe Fassett fabric. It’s a very supportive group and I got a lot of nice compliments.

Then, who should comment but Philip Jacobs, himself! He loves this quilt. In fact, you can see what he said:

Oh my goodness! Philip Jacobs was going to design a fabric based on my quilt? This is definitely the crowning moment of my quilting career! A few months later, Philip posted about the design he was starting based on my quilt:

And, now, here it is! The fabric that Philip created, inspired by my quilt:

He says it will be available in shops later in the year. And I cannot wait!

Of course, it would be grand if he or Jaftex (the fabric company) would send me a bolt…all things considered. Regardless, it is such an honor to have my work serve as an inspiration for my favorite fabric designer. Swoon!!

A lot of quilts can be sewn in almost 10 years. But, yes, I’ve decided to restart my blog, “Val Quilts, but not nearly enough.” I have sewn so many quilts since the last one I posted and I’ve even finished a couple that were works in progress then.

So, I’m going to post a bunch of photos and give you as much information about each as I can remember. Here goes.

This is my first One Block Wonder quilt that I ever did. I completed it in early 2020. It was a gift to my very talented cousin, Anya. I used a Philip Jacob’s fabric called Chrysanthemums. If you don’t know what a one block wonder is, you might want to look up the one block wonder Facebook group and get inspired!

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Here is my second One Block Wonder. I made it for my friend Debbie – who is my first friend. Her mom and mine were best friends. We met when we were about 1. It’s called “Finally” because she had been asking me for a quilt for about two decades and I FINALLY made one for her. She was extremely surprised!

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This quilt is called Imari Plate. It was a kit from Kaffe Fassett. I made the sorry mistake of following all of the instructions to make the quilt. It was a mistake because the method described to create the 8 pointed star ended up being so ridiculous (Y seams? really?) that I gave up on the final set of blocks – all the 8 pointed stars. Had I not cut the fabric first, I could have used a much more reasonable technique. But, alas, all that fabric is now cut into diamonds, triangles and squares. I guess I’ll find something to do with them at some point.

The quilt, though, is at the long-armer as we speak. I am going to finish it up and give it to a dear friend who doesn’t know it’s coming her way!

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This is a baby quilt that my friend, Janelle, and I made for her grandson, Sebastian. We did this quilt in just a few hours. She was at my house and said she wasn’t leaving until it was done! Luckily, it was easy peasy and fun, too!

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It took Janelle and me 16 years (YES 16 YEARS) to finish this quilt for her daughter, Novim. In fact, you can see photos of this one from previous blog posts. It was the hardest quilt I have ever made. Lining up and matching all of those border fabrics took a ton of concentration. It was one of those “Rip 2 seams for every 1 I sewed” quilt. It is spectacular. And I’m sure I won’t attempt this one again.

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This is a super fun and easy quilt I made for my younger son, Max. I used a couple of layer cakes and some really fun Tula Pink and Kaffe Fassett patterns. I’m particularly tickled by the bias striped binding. This one was completed in very early 2020.

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Someplace along the line, I started sewing just a few items of clothing. This is the fifth tunic using this pattern. I used Kaffe Fassett fabric. Lots of fun.

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Nicky and Roderick got married in 2019. So, I made this wedding quilt for them. Aren’t they adorable?

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I needed a table runner for a kitchen table. So I whipped this one up very quickly. Kaffe Fassett fabric and some batiks too. Next time, I won’t use white for the lattice. Spills happen.

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Made these two pillows for “The Biffle,” my best friend, Viv. This is an aboriginal print that I simply LOVE. I also like the flange treatment, too.

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So I promised The Biffle some mittens. The top is my first attempt. They, obviously, I had to rip rip rip it all out. My second attempt came out much better!

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Here is a quilt I made for my cousin, Susan, in January of 2019. Yeah, I have an affinity for Kaffe Fassett fabric these days.

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Here is a beautiful quilt top made by my older son, Matthew. It is all fused. We haven’t finished it yet.

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Covers for sofa pillows for Matthew.

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Covers for sofa pillows for Max.

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Of course, there are more. After all, these only go back as far as 2018. I’ll post some more soon!

I never blogged about finishing the Jinny Beyer Palette Quilt that my Biffle and I started. That’s because I decided to surprise her by finishing it for her birthday.

I put on the binding and then I made the quilt sandwich. I decided to use spray glue to baste the backing, batting, and top, and this was a good idea. The quilt came out nice and even, with no bubbles or folds on the back. I considered putting it on my rack and hand basting it. But, I have found that when I rack large quilts (this one is 60″ x 60″), they tend to get distorted. The end result often is not very even. I really do like the spray basting technique.

Tonight, I gave the quilt to the Biffle. Her reaction was priceless! She was SO very happy and so excited to have the quilt. I also sent the photo to Jinny Beyer. Jinny always enjoys seeing the results of her quilts that folks make.

So this one is done! And I’m working on my no-sew quilt now. I have actually gotten quite distracted by knitting lately. Maybe I should rename my blog: Val Quilts, But Not Nearly Enough Because She Is Busy Knitting?

For the past few days, I and 60,000 of my closest quilting friends have been attending the International Quilt Festival in Houston. This is also the home of the Houston quilt market – known to the industry as “going to market.”

What an amazing show this is. If you quilt and have never been there, I urge you to go – just to experience it! The show floor is the largest I’ve ever seen. Half of it is vendors and booths. The other half is an amazing exhibition.

The booths are crowded and many of them sell the same stuff: lots of old fashioned dark brown and brick red fabric and patterns. But, there are a few gems hiding in the aisles.

My (new) favorite fabric designer has a booth there. Her name is Marcia Derse. Click here for a link to her website. I met Marcia last year. While my friend Deb and I were browsing her booth, her husband came up to us and said, “Please buy some fabric. I don’t want to have to schlep all of this stuff back to Ohio in my Prius.” Well, that was enough to get me looking!

And boy does Marcia make some gorgeous fabrics. Her grei goods (the actual fabric on which the patterns are printed) are of the highest quality. Her designs are inspiring. And her colors are what really trips my trigger. Take a look at her website and see what you think.

Another booth I enjoyed was the Bohin booth. Bohin is a French company and they make really nice needles. They also sell thimbles in a multitude of sizes. I bought one – but it is so small that I can’t find it in my hotel room at the moment.

I went a little crazy at the Aurifil booth. I purchase a set of brightly colored threads. They were on sale, but still cost me $100.  I bought a beautiful pair of shears at the Kai Scissor booth, too. All in all, I bought everything except a new sewing machine!

The exhibition was amazing. Here is one of my favorite quilts from the show.

Isn’t it unbelievable?? I vacillated between being terrifically inspired and so dejected that I wanted to break all of my fingers.

This was my second year at the show and I will definitely be back next year!

I made the borders for the quick Jinny Beyer palette quilt that the Biffle and I have been making. Unfortunately, I’ve been working on it alone, since the Biffle is in Brooklyn now.

I really prefer to quilt with a friend. I like the chatter, the catching up, the sharing. When I quilt alone, sometimes I let worries circle in my head. I replay conversations that I’ve had with people and think of all the things I could have said to them (but didn’t for one reason or another). Sometimes I listen to NPR. Sometimes I listen to Pandora. My current favorite “station” is the “Walking in Memphis” station. I love that song. The piano really gets me – it is so prominent. I rarely quilt in silence. What fun would that be?

Sometimes my son, Max, brings his computer into my sewing room and hangs out. He does his thing, I do mine. He usually interrupts me to look at his latest website or something else that he’s coded. I don’t mind. Sometimes my husband hangs out in the sewing room with me, too. If I had more space, I’d put a sofa or a recliner chair in there just for guests.

So, here is the quilt with the borders on it. One of the miters is PERFECT. I love it when a multi-border miter comes out perfectly. One is puckered, but I think I can fix that when I quilt it later. The other two are okay. If you notice, you’re looking too hard. 🙂

So, it has been quite a while since I posted to this blog. And, I have to say, I didn’t go into my sewing room for quite a while. I was really frustrated with the way this “quilt-along” is really a quilt alone. I mean, this was my first quilt-along and I thought that it was extremely cool idea to be part of a worldwide group working on the same quilt.

But, no sooner did we start the quilt-along, did the instructions of what to work on abruptly end. I reached out repeatedly to the person running it (I actually don’t even remember who that is), but I never got a response. In the meantime, there are lots of people who are introducing themselves and chatting, which is nice, but it isn’t really what I was looking for. I really started to lose my interest in the quilt and I just didn’t feel like working on it.

Luckily, in the middle of everything, I started a different quilt! Every week, I get an email from Jinny Beyer’s shop. And one week the special sale item of the week was a quilt made with every single fabric from her pallet. Now, those of you who know me and who have seen my quilts know that I *love* Jinny Beyer’s fabric, designs, sense of color, border fabric, and person. She is so approachable – I recently sent her an email with a book I thought she’d like and she responded. I just love that.

Anyway, I ordered this quilt kit. The coolest thing is that all of the little pieces of border fabric came pre-cut. That was really a time saver. This is a pretty simple quilt, so I decided to see if my biffle, Viv, wanted to learn how to quilt using this kit. She did the sewing for many of the colorful blocks. We had a really good time working on it together. Then, she had to go back to Brooklyn (bummer!) and I decided to keep going.

It has stitched up pretty darn quickly. Most of the top is done – now all I have to do is put on the borders and binding, sandwich the bottom, batting, and top, and quilt it. That means, I’m just about half way done! What’s funny is that my friends who don’t quilt usually think that when the top is pieced, the quilt is almost finished. But that is really not the case. When the top is pieced, it is about at the half.

I’ll try to post more photos as I go along. It has been a nice change to just whip up a very easy quilt very quickly. So, who wants it? 🙂

I am back from Hawaii and I have started my Farmer’s Wife Sampler quilt. The first thing I did was print out all of the templates. I really hate templates, but if I am going to fussy-cut the border fabric as I intend, I will need to use some of them. I am trying to rotary cut the pieces, but that only works for certain shapes such as squares and half-square triangles.

Next, I moved onto fabric selection. I have decided to use a Jinny Beyer border fabric as my central motif and to select all of the fabrics in the palette from the border fabric. So, I pulled 8 border prints from my stash and asked my Facebook friends to vote on them:

Jinny Beyer Border Fabrics

Ultimately, fabric 8 was the most popular. So, I decided to pair it with fabric 5 and use them both. They look really good together. (hint – click on the image if you want it to display larger on your screen)

Next, I picked the rest of the palette. I ended up with 24 fabrics! You can never have too many fabrics in a quilt:

Palette for Val's Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt

Finally, I made my first block. And…unfortunately, I cannot get the seam allowances to line up. I ripped out a few pieces and resewed them. That helped, but ultimately, something is wrong here.

I have sent a post to the Yahoo! group and  I hope someone can set me straight. Straight, get it? ha ha.

In the meantime, I think I’ll move on to another block.