How I fell in LOVE with Kaffe Fasset :)

Before I tell you how my love affair with Kaffe fabric started, first I have to tell you a little story as was told to me by my mom.  I had been sending pictures of my quilts to my SIL who also quilts.  We would exchange various texts and I would ask for her advice on borders and such.  One day, while at my mom's house, my niece, Nora, told her mom she wanted quilt.  When her mom asked her what kind of quilt she wanted, she replied "A Judy Quilt" AWWW!! How sweet is that and you know she's gonna have her Judy Quilt! 

That story was told to me right about the same time this happened:

I had seen KF (going to use that, it's shorter and I might be using it a lot in this post!) but wondered "what on earth would I do with it?" Then, I stumbled onto a post on a blog that I have been reading every day for months, Exuberant Color, written by Wanda Hanson. I have spent HOURS on her site and never noticed that she has a link in her sidebar that says "Quilts made with Kaffe Fasset Fabric" . . . DUH!  I never noticed that link until I saw this post. The quilt top on the right - O.M.G.!! I had to make that quilt . . . with my own little twists of course!! AND it is the perfect Judy Quilt to give to Nora!!  The KF Parasols fabric! The 'floating' effect! I did some quick math in my head (those of you who have been following along on my little journey are gasping - NO, don't do math in your head!! grin), went online and ordered me up some KF Parasols in black and a few other KF fabrics - Jupiter - multi, Targets - red and Blue Ombre. . . and stalked the mail man until the fabric arrived! I decided I was going to use the Creative Grids Curves for Squares ruler (all of the dirt on my love for this ruler can be found here) for the pinwheels to give the quilt some movement - like it would need anymore!! grin  Started with 11 inch squares for the pinwheels and ended up with 10 inch squares.  OK, I'll stop rambling, here's the good part!! PICTURES! :)

This is the only picture of the front I had! I kind of harassed my SIL for pictures ;) Thank you, dear!

This pic was taken before it was finished - you can see the quilting if you look close :) More on the pieced back in a minute...

Close up of one of the blocks when it was quilted.

Don't you just LOVE LOVE that parasol fabric??? Made me smile every time I worked on this quilt!

OK, now for the pictures of the quilt in its new home!

I'm guessing it might have been windy ;) Thanks for being the quilt stand, Nora!

Back inside to thaw out!

I did A LOT of spirals on this quilt :)

I put Nora's name in all four corners.

I totally forgot that I did that double spiral design in the border!

LOVE this quilt! And LOVED the handwritten thank you note from Nora :) 

So what did I learn when making this quilt? Ummm. . . let me count the lessons! LOL First, NEVER do math in your head (OK, maybe that is just me)!  Second, don't get so excited about seeing how a quilt is going to turn out before thinking about how big to cut setting triangles. . . it never occurred to me to cut them larger than the 10" square at which the rest of the blocks were cut. . . I cut ALL of the setting triangles at 10" . . . had a little (very little) left over fabric and when I went to sew them together. . . DOH!  I cannot tell you how many quilt shops I called in the Phoenix Metro to find KF . . . FINALLY I found one - put that aside I told them, I will be there within the hour!! When I got there, I got more of the black to do the setting triangles and then saw the Parasol fabric in blue!!  OH MY! I decided the border must be made of it! :) So I bought that too - there was no way I was walking out without it!! ;)

On to lesson number three. . . what to do with all of those triangles cut but not being used. . . . Sew them together and piece the back, that's what!! You know, lemons, lemonade, all that jazz. . . I think it turned into quite the design feature :)

Since making this quilt (in December), I have bought a TON of Kaffe fabrics - of course I have! Did you go over and look at the KF quilts on Exuberant Color?? If you haven't and you love eye candy, check it out!  Stay tuned because you will definitely be seeing more KF quilts here too!!

Sorry for the long post. . . SO much to tell about this quilt! Back to real time for a second.  I am quilting the Medallion Quilt and hope to make a good amount of progress tomorrow.  It is going a little slower than I had intended but is looking good so far!! I just love how quilting adds dimension to a quilt don't you??  Maybe a Thursday finish on this one? . . .

Linking up with Connie at Freemotion By The River for Linky Tuesday, Heather and Megan over at Quilt Story for Fabric Tuesday, Sew Cute Tuesday over at Blossom Heart Quilts and Needle and Thread Thursdays with Kelly at My Quilt Infatuation.  

Until next time, keep on quilting!!

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