Quilt Too Small?

Red and Blue shown at Durham Orange Quilters meeting, 2022.

It’s been quite a while since I posted here. I’ll try to catch up, as I HAVE been making quilts. But today’s issue is a quilt that is too small.

In 2022, I finished a queen quilt for my own bed. All Kaffe Fassett fabrics with a bamboo batting. But both of us toss and turn all night and the sateen backing lets the quilt slide everywhere. So I’m adding new blocks to three sides.

Fortunately, old and recent Kaffe fabrics coordinate well. The quilt is called “Red and Blue” despite the whole rainbow, black, and white in the fabrics.

New blocks combining old and new fabrics.

New quilt sandwich section ready to quilt.

I’m taking the quilt-as-you-go approach, quilting each new part, then seaming it to the main part. I still had some of the original batting and backing left and have begun quilting the additions.

Not too crazy about taking the 10 yards of binding off, which will now be too short. I found 12 yards of Kaffe binding on ebay and am hoping it will be enough.

Some Blocks with Little Houses Theme

I’m contributing these two blocks to a friend making a “tiny houses” quilt. She likes orange and Kaffe Fassett fabrics, so I pulled some appropriate Lotus Leaf scraps from my stash. I don’t think anyone throws away even tiny scraps of Kaffe’s designs! The backgrounds are from Michael Miller fabrics. Finished size for the blocks is 6 x 6 inches. I will try to post a photo of her completed quilt.

Applique Blocks for Friend’s Quilt Project

Update – Mock Kenzie 2015

I have been working on a few quilts for the Genesee Valley Quilt Club’s 2015 Quiltfest, running June 4-6 at Gordon Fieldhouse on the RIT campus.

Hand quilting on Kaffe Fassett’s Roman Glass in pink

If you’re familiar with the pattern combos on majolica made by McKenzie-Childs in Aurora, NY, then you get the joke behind Mock Kenzie. This started as a table cover for a card table.

Mock Kenzie Table Topper – 40 x 40

But now I’m quilting it, a combination of hand and machine quilting. After circling the large dots on Kaffe’s great fabric, using threads in three different pinks, I gave the thread a tug to form bubbles for some surface texture.

Hand quilting on Kaffe Fassett’s Roman Glass in pink

Finishing off the backing and hanging sleeve will complete this project.

Mock Kenzie Table Topper – 2013

Mock Kenzie Table Topper – 40 x 40

After accumulating materials for several years, I was finally able in 2013 to finish this card table cover that mimics some signature motifs of a locally produced majolica: black and white checks, orange and yellow stripes, a floral on a dark background, plaid, tassels in the corners, green and purple trim, pale green marble, local architecture painted in an oval . . . everything but their thistles.

Mock Kenzie Main Field

Since the pottery company’s lake house views are copyrighted, I used some computer magic to transfer a painting of our own cottage to cloth. It tops a removable hot pad. The pink Kaffe Fassett fabric gives the whole design a fun kick.

Here is the original painting, done by a cousin in a row boat, probably in the 1930s. He omitted many trees to show the cottage.

Mock Kenzie Original Cottage Painting

Opening the Lotus – 2012

This was a new design using the classic clam shell or fish scale shape.

Opening the Lotus (c) 2012

Fabrics used include all colorways of Kaffe Fassett’s “Lotus Leaf” and “Lake Blossom” patterns, as well as a lotus design by Jay Yang. Colors progress from bottom to top through the chakras.

Marking the quilting pattern – Opening the Lotus

Hand appliqued, machine quilted.

Close detail of Opening the Lotus

Center Detail – Opening the Lotus

Clear beads suggest water caught on top of the leaves.

Lotus Leaves in the Cove with Water Beads