Kaffe and the museum quilt

I have always been a huge fan of antique quilts and reproduction fabrics.  On the sideline of all that is my love of Kaffe Fassett fabrics.  So, it all came together for him and me when I found his book. Museum Quilts.

And in particular, this lovely Folk Art Quilt.  It has been sitting on my radar for quite some time, and then I saw Barb Vedder's version where she added some of her own drawings, and used some from Kaffe's book.

The original quilt is held in the Victoria and Albert museum in London.





 
Kaffe's version is somewhat different, but really charming.  Anyway, I started it this week.  There was a bit of work to get it started as the drawings had to be increased 200%.  Eek!  my copier does not do that.  So off I went to Officeworks, and they did if for me as a "plan print"  -  great big sheets - for $11 for 5 pages.

Now, the really important thing is that I am machine appliqueing!  Yes, I have gone over to the dark side (in some cases).  I taught myself machine applique bit by bit over the last couple of years, and the instructions in the book are for machine, so off I went with it. 

 

It is quite interesting the way this large quilt is made .  It is made in 15" blocks, with some designs appliquied in the centre, like these, then once the blocks are joined, there is more appliqued over the top of the seams 

 Three blocks side by side, then once joined, the Chook (Aussie speak for hen) is appliqued over the seam.  Doing it in small sections like this, makes it easier to handle in the sewing machine.

So far I have used fabric only from my repro stash, but I might have to use some of my little collection of Kaffe Fassett prints.  That should zoom it up a bit! 

I am still working on my hand applique project, but that can be done at night when I have the TV going and kind of looking at it, and then I can do an hour or so on the machine during the day,