I wanted to make quilts for years, but something held me back, and now I can see that it was a fear of not doing it correctly. I could understand that quilts were simply fabrics cut up and stitched together in beautiful arrangements, but beyond that I also saw rules and methods and how-tos and all sorts of tripwires. Quilting was a minefield as far as I could see, and I was terrified of stepping on an unexploded bomb of mitred corners and seam allowances and insertions and foundation piecing.
But a few years ago I discovered with joy that Kaffe Fassett was shaking up the world of patchwork with his messages of colour, fun, experimentation and, importantly, his refrain of ‘just do it’, in beautiful, technicolour books written with the amazingly talented Liza Prior Lucy. Their books became the catalysts for my first hesitant steps on the quilting minefield and to my amazement all is now reassuringly, happily, quiet and productive on the patchwork front.
News update: My quilting has taken off to such an extent that I am now writing a quilting book for Collins & Brown to be published in 2010.
