Modern Lucy Boston
A quilt featuring 18 different (and I mean different!) designers was a challenge I did not expect to receive 6 weeks ago from my friend at Free Spirit Fabric. Could I make a modern Lucy Boston quilt, with lots of fussy cutting, in 3 weeks?
It's funny how challenges like this always light something in me. I don't know if I can pull that off, but now I want to!
My main brief was a quilt 45" x 60" with these honeycombs blocks, come to be known for the quilter Lucy Boston who made a quilt of them in the 1950s, but with an updated feel. Have you also ever felt like these blocks were a little dated? An evening scrolling through pictures on Pinterest showed me that most of the Lucy quilts and blocks out there, or at least those found by the search engine, were of a different era to mine. What was it that made it feel that way? Was it just the colours? I wasn't sure. The layout? The wide 'sashing' between each block?
After a little playing with drawings and papers (I love designing with actual papers in hand - such a great way to get a feel of the proportions!) and on my computer, I eventually settled on using 1 1/4" honeycombs, on point, with only a single line of 1 1/4" squares between them and 2 1/2" squares in the corners. There was something about giving this quilt less white, more colour, more movement brought about by the changes in contrast against the white squares, and the diagonal lines between the blocks. Even though the quilt is full of designers I hadn't used before, that appeal to a different audience to me, I think it feels fresh and bright.
My next plan is to make another! Though, this time I'd like to see it in a more controlled colour palette. I'm so curious to play, and see the result. And, well, I want to make one I can keep. I've recently been dreaming of a commercial space with quilts on walls. Lots of quilts...
Would anyone be interested in a QAL in, say, July? A block a week? If so, I'll put the pattern up and make some fussy cutting tutorials (with our coming-soon acrylic templates!). Let me know, ok?
If you'd like to get started on your own version, I used:
If you're at Quilt Market this weekend, I've been told this quilt will be hanging at the entrance to the Free Spirit Booths. Go say hello! I wish I was there with you!