Is this an art quilt, or would this belong better on my blog that discusses my more traditional quilts? Well, for now anyway, I am going to say that this quilt, based on a Kaffe Fassett design and using 80-90% of his fabrics, is a work of art! Not an original design by me, and usually I think of art quilts as being an original design, but the truth of the matter is--I prefer this blog over my other personal blog, and so here it is!
I've been working on this quilt off and on for many months. Not that anything about the sewing of the blocks was difficult, but getting the blocks arranged to suit me was challenging! I can't tell you how many times I moved blocks here and there, exchanging one for another, etc.
I finished the borders only today, and I am amazed at how adding them made this quilt come alive. The Ikat Dot outer border fabric and the Fruit Basket paisley inner border were suggested by Fassett, and I am so glad that I purchased these two when they were available.
Fassett suggested that in each of the perimeter blocks you use two darks (either black or brown background fabrics) and two gold paisleys. I had two different gold paisley fabrics by Fassett, but I wish I had purchased more when he was "doing" paisleys more often. When it came time to make the quilt, I had to use some other fabric designers' paisleys to get enough to complete the quilt. Actually, I rather like how these more traditionally designed paisleys give my eyes a rest. I also like how the occasional brown-background triangles are sort of a surprise!
Kaffe also suggested that the four corner triangles in each of the perimeter, hour-glass, blocks, be four different floral fabrics that were medium values. Fortunately I had plenty of these fabrics. For the "cornerstone" triangle square blocks within the inner border, he used four different darks and four different golds. I did use different gold paisleys, but I decided to use my very favorite of the floral fabrics, red and purple flowers on black, for the dark triangles.
Perhaps I ought to have waited to publish photos of this quilt when the quilting was done, but I am just so delighted to have finished the top and so happy with it, I have jumped the gun on this post!
Eventually I will rename the quilt with a name original with me. Kaffe called it Sarah's Gypsy Throw, using the name of the long-ago quilter Sarah, which I like. This design appears in his MUSEUM QUILTS book--quilts from the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, a museum that I have visited and dearly love.
