Yep, that's me... with HIM... hanging out together last weekend. We're pals now, Kaffe, Liza and me. Maybe you don't know this about me, but I have a little teeny bit of an obsession with Kaffe Fassett and his fabrics and patterns and books. And last Friday I got to take a class that he and Liza Prior Lucy taught at the International Quilt Festival in Chicago! The class topic was making a floral snowball quilt, and we spent the entire day fussy-cutting, arranging, and making color and design decisions. I was a little nervous to expose any of my ideas about color in front of him; I mean, he is a master of color, you know! But he was so gracious and encouraging and complimentary of every single person in that room, that we were all very quickly put at ease. Turns out he's just a regular guy who happens to be a color genius. Oh sure, he gave suggestions and his ideas, but he mostly just encouraged us to figure out what our own personal vision was for the quilt we were creating. How cool is that?!?
This is a sneak-peek of the quilt I am working on. It didn't really turn out like I had pictured in my mind prior to the class, but I have decided just to run with it, and every time I walk into the sewing room and see it in progress up on the wall, the more I fall in love with it. The toughest part was finding a fabric to use as the corner triangles that will eventually create the illusion of each floral block being circular when the whole quilt top is put together. The small lavender/dusty purple squares in the photo above are going to be my corner triangles. This fabric was the fifth one that I bought and cut up - the only way to really see what worked was to cut up some squares and stick them up on the wall with the blocks. I never would have guessed that this purple would be the one, but Liza suggested it, and it turns out she knows what she's talking about too! She was a riot! We listened to great music while she and Kaffe walked the room and offered advice and their thoughts.I'll be finishing this quilt as part of the Quilt Along with Kaffe Fassett (button on right side bar). There is a group on Facebook for posting photos of your projects and progress, and Kaffe and Liza will be commenting and advising on all the posts. So now I can still interact with them without being labeled as a stalker :)
And here are the newest additions to my Kaffe stash! Maybe I went a little overboard, but this is the last year that the festival will be in Chicago, so who knows when I'll again have the opportunity to be in the same room with all that Kaffe goodness?! I think I may have even turned my friend Andrea on to his fabrics too while we shopped together on Sunday! Now what I could really use is a winning lottery ticket, because the fourth thing I would do with my winnings (after sharing with family and friends, funding my girls' future college education and wedding expenses, and buying my husband a cooking vacation in Italy) is buy an entire bolt of each of Kaffe's fabrics. I'm hardly able to wrap my brain around how much fun that would be!
HI! So glad you blogged about this class! I was at the quilt festival too and I REALLY wanted to take Kaffe's class. Did you sew during the class at all? or was it just color arranging? Did you see any of his lectures?
ReplyDeleteSo glad the picture turned out. You look great in it!! I think you may have turned me a bit! Turns out I need 4 light toned Kaffe fabrics for the crazy curves class in June. The 7 I bought are all med to dark. I should have known better. It calls for 4 light and 4 medium. I really like the fabric in your quilt photo above that is at the bottom and looks like zinnias. I need some of that. Great job on your blog. I was hoping you'd post about him.
ReplyDeleteLucky you, it must have been a wonderful experience. I love your work and the colours you use.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad they were friendly to you. I went to the book signing on Sunday, bought the $38 book and they could barely bring themselves to acknowledge my presence, even though I was the ONLY person in line. They didn't even ask my name or offer to personalize the autograph, they just signed their names and nodded as I complimented them on the fabrics and quilts and such. Kaffe could barely bring himself to stop writing in his journal or sketchbook or whatever he was writing in. I was very disappointed.
ReplyDeleteOkay, I am seriously jealous. Did they mention maybe visiting Australia?
ReplyDeleteWhat a thrill that must have been to meet both Kaffe and Liza. I have made lots of quilts with the Kaffe fabrics so I know you are in for a lot of fun.
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