Jackson's jazz improv quilt

My friend Jackson takes wonderful care of my kitties when I'm out of town sometimes. I asked her if I could make her a quilt to thank her for this endless generosity. So she came over one day to pick her fabrics:

Her color palette rocks! So bright, with this crazy blue and white combination. I asked her some questions about what she likes aesthetically, but told her the quilt was going to be a surprise. Turns out, it took me ages to come up with an idea. I decided I wanted to try an improvised quilt, so I googled till I found this wonky coin quilt concept and imitated it. Maisie was helping, since Jackson's catsitting benefits her, too:

I was liking it but not thinking it would work for a WHOLE quilt, and then, at the Quilt Store on Anderson Lane I found this amazing Alexander Henry Matisse-inspired fabric. Apologies for the cat, but I didn't have it in my heart to move him (when he's on the ironing board he is the lion king overlooking the savannah). Jackson is a very jazzy girl, and I realized this could be a Matisse's-Jazz-inspired quilt. Next post will show how I'm using it!:

Dad's surprise quilt

For years, my dad has hinted that he wants his own quilt, each time I present a quilt to one of my nieces and nephews. So I decided to make him one! It's a scrap quilt based on tons of past projects, using a simple pattern from a book called Slash Your Stash Quilts. It was so fun to make. I used up tons of scraps, including a lot of strips from my long-abandoned log cabin project. Maisie loved the scrap box, which is from Nikes I wore in college!

Pirate, as usual, is like a paperclip to a magnet when I start pinning. He just adores fabric:

Glowy goodness in mom and dad's back yard:

I so totally dig the back. It's hard to see, but the backing fabric is all chinese characters. My dad loves books and bookmaking, so I put as many book-related fabrics in as possible:

Pretty soon, Miss Ruby, my youngest niece, will be ready for her own bed-sized quilt! Here we are with Dad's:

This is what it's all about: