Joelle's Triangle Quilt

I was very inspired by the Robertson Family quilt that we featured on The Purl Bee on August 8, 2006. I immediately did a tutorial about making right angle triangles with the thought that some of our readers might want to make a Robertson Family style quilt of their own.

Meanwhile, these polka dot fabrics arrived at Purl Patchwork from Yuwa Fabric in Japan!  As soon as they came out of the box, I knew I had to use them to make my very own version of the Robertson Family Quilt. I chose eight different colors from our Yuwa Dots collection and then I threw another print in there just to mix it up a bit (the fourth fabric from the top in this photograph), a 19th Century reproduction print from Marcus Brothers.   I've always loved quilts that have bright white backgrounds setting off cheerful prints, but bright white looked a bit too stark with these sophisticated colors.  Instead I chose a warm, creamy white for my background that seemed more gentle but would (hopefully!) produce a similar effect.  -- Joelle

Click to read more ...

Dear Jane Quilt

This quilt is affectionately know by its fans as Dear Jane, in honor of its maker, Jane A. Blakely Stickle, who completed it in 1863.   The pattern comprises over two hundred unique blocks, hundreds of different fabrics, and countless little inventions and design decisions that make it as much a portrait as an object.  Intricate geometry, playful color, and a  meticulous infinity of stitches distinguish Jane's quilt. 

 
Each year the Bennington Museum in Vermont displays the quilt during the fall, as the leaves begin to turn. The quilt is on exhibition right now through October 16, 2006. It is well-worth a road trip!

We learned about Jane's through a wonderful book by Brenda Manges Papadakis, another New England quilter.  The more time she spent with the quilt, the more inspired she was.  Finally, she got the rights to draft the patterns and make them availble to quilters around the world. Not only are the patterns excellent, Papadakis' personal tone makes the reader intimately connected to the quilt, even if they've never seen it in real life.

Today there are many people making this quilt. Some reproduce it faithfully, others are simply inspired by its remarkable presence. You can find links to Dear Jane Quilts around the world on Brenda Papadakis' Dear Jane Website.