Let Me Introduce Myself
Quilters are always asking me how it all began. Here is the answer, short and sweet.
I made my first “quilt” for my boyfriend’s waterbed when we were both at Lafayette College in 1972. I sewed navy blue bandanas together to make the top, used an extra fluffy batting, and backed it with red corduroy. It was all tied together with white worsted knitting wool.
In 1985 I was a knitting yarn sales rep and one of the companies I worked for was Rowan Yarn of Yorkshire, England. It was the same company that produced Kaffe’s first knitting kits and yarns. I had the great privilege of escorting Kaffe around my territory, NY, PA, and NJ while he was on a book tour promoting his first book, Glorious Knits. I was quite taken with his painterly approach to knitting. It was revolutionary.
We became good friends.
A few years later, while expecting my first daughter, I thought I would like to make her a quilt. I took a beginners class and applied what I had learned about color from Kaffe to my first patchwork effort. It was such a successful start that the quilt appeared on the cover of Family Circle magazine!
Three years later, while expecting a second daughter, I got an idea that Kaffe should be doing patchwork designing. It made sense as his paintings, knitwear, needlepoint, and rag rugs often featured traditional quilt patterns. I sent him a note proposing that we do a quilt book together. His reply was a gentle “no”. It was so gentle that I decided to ignore it and plowed ahead. I began to interpret his knit patterns into patchwork swatches that I would mail over to Kaffe in London. I knew I could convince him with visuals.
By 1997, our first book, Glorious Patchwork, was published. We had convinced our friends at Rowan to enter the world of manufacturing patchwork fabric. Now, 12 years later, we have just finished our 4th hardcover book together, Kaffe has designed over 100 fabrics. We have brought along on this colorful journey many good friends.
I will be introducing them in my next posts.
Cheers,
Liza
About the Author: Liza Lucy
I started quilting in 1972. I have worked in different ways with Kaffe Fassett over the years and in 1997 our first book, "Glorious Patchwork" was published. Together, we had convinced our friends at Rowan to enter the world of manufacturing patchwork fabric. Now, 12 years later, we have just finished our 4th hardcover book together.
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