If you know us at all, you know we are suckers for Kaffe Fassett. The way he creates and combines colors is absolute genius. And we’ve always loved that his fabric designs stay in production for quite a while, and we have been able to keep some of his classic prints in stock… but they can’t stay around forever. He puts out several new “collections” each year (though he doesn’t call them collections, as they aren’t all matchy, they can be used with the older stuff, and they stick around longer than typical collections do) but eventually, some of those fabrics are phased out. We’re stashing up on these prints ourselves, and as a public service announcement we thought we’d let you know which Kaffe Fassett prints we still have in stock that are no longer in print and will not be available once they sell out.

DISCONTINUED KAFFE FASSETT PRINTS IN STOCK:
All colors of each design are out-of-print unless listed specifically. Click on the links to see which colors we still have in stock. We’ll cross out prints as they sell out, but in the mean time, happy Kaffe-ing!

I work really hard at breaking down everyone’s modesty here by forcing them to pose with and brag about their quilts.  Case in point, my Patchwork 101 class from a couple months ago. They may look a bit coerced, but aren’t their quilts fabulous?

They each made a beginner level quilt especially designed for this intro level class, and I really couldn’t be more pleased.

We started at the very beginning, with fabric care and cutting, and learned about piecing, machine quilting, and binding so that our students would leave being able to make a quilt on their own from start to finish.

I always love seeing everyone’s different styles come out in their quilts, and how well their careful work pays off.

An added bonus for us was that Suppose got 2 new staff members out of this class! Jess & Shelley both took the class and I since convinced them to join our team, which we have been so thrilled about ever since.

If you want to make quilts but don’t quite feel like “a quilter,” Patchwork 101 is your chance for learning that it’s not nearly as daunting as you think.  Our next session of the class starts Friday, February 18, 5:30-8:30 and goes for 4 weeks.  More details here.

Over the last few months, my friends have created a masterpiece. They wanted to make a Denyse Schmidt style quilt, inspired by a quilt in one of her books.  So we began without a pattern, true to the Denyse Schmidt improv style (which has been hugely influenced by the quilters of Gee’s ).  With an orange-on-orange color scheme, we built wonky log cabin blocks. 
No measuring, no matching, no mistakes. I love this method of making it up as you go along–following your instincts instead of instructions.

We started out with 4 yards total of 2 shades of orange Kona Cotton solids, which actually turned out to be the perfect amount for what ended up being about a twin sized quilt. We each sewed several blocks over the course of our sewing nights, making them at least 14″ square. We used the Creative Grids Square-It-Up ruler to square up the blocks to 13.5″. The pieces in the blocks can be wonky, but the blocks themselves have to be a bit more perfect so they fit together easily.

Once you can lay the blocks out, the quilt starts to take on life. Then when it’s quilted it’s like a fully formed being. I have to say, I think it turned out pretty spectacular.

Sue Baddley of did the machine quilting, in one of my favorite patterns–the zig zag.  I hope the girls were impressed with what they were able to create, because I sure was. The icing on the cake was when Sandra found out she would actually get to keep the quilt for her birthday. (And I just realized that you don’t even get to see the complementary turquoise back in any of this photos, so I’ll have to add more soon.)

This freestyle method of patchwork is nice for taking some of the intimidation out of quilting. It’s great for beginners; some of these girls weren’t really sewists, let alone quilters, before this.  All you have to be able to do is use a rotary cutter and ruler, sew a straight line, and press a seam allowance. And yet for experienced quilters it can be a whole new way to challenge your creativity.

I’ll be teaching this method again this week at the . If you’re in the area and modern quilting is your thing, join us!