Crafty Anne has been very busy, quilting. Now, she has also been doing a lot of knitting too, but this post is all about quilting, in particular her latest quilt. I’m calling it her cabin quilt, because she began making it while up at the cabin. Every summer, over many years, she would pull this project out of a box and work on it while staying at the cabin. At the end of the summer, she would put it back into the box and leave it at the cabin for next year. She didn’t have a sewing machine up there, so all of her work was done by hand. She only worked on the multi-colored blocks up at the cabin. Once when she had them laid out on the bed, her father Harry observed them and commented, “You don’t do subtle, do you?” But she had a plan and Harry could only see a small part of what it would become. Last summer, she brought the quilt back with her from the cabin and has been working on it here ever since.

This quilt incorporates two new techniques that she had to learn first. She has spent hours on YouTube U. Because this quilt is much bigger than her usual fare, she introduced the technique of block quilting or quilt as you go. I think that’s what it is called. Anyway, she first assembles the component blocks, quilts them and then stiches the blocks together. The other new technique that she is using for this project is the making of much more elaborate and fancy quilting patterns. Different blocks have different patterns. The photos show one of her favorite blocks that depicts the exterior of her cabin as seen from the parking lot. Most of the other blocks use more abstract quilting patterns.

Before she would use one of these new quilting patterns, she would first try it out on a practice block. I made the mistake of asking her what this practice block was called, because she has introduced a lot of new jargon to her craft with this project. First, she confirmed that it was just called a practice block, but then she said, “Some people call it Fred, but that’s its government name and it prefers to be called Lucrecia.” Serves me right for asking. It is still a work in progress, but she is almost done and hopes to complete it, before we leave for California. While in quarantine, I have been receiving regular updates on its progress. In a sense though this quilt is only a practice block for her next even bigger project.