Kaffe Fassett Blue Plate Special Quilt

I’ve committed what I considered to be a Kaffe Fassett Faux Pas last month with my Kaffe Fassett Blue Moon Post. I shared my joy about finally finishing this quilt, an “Oh Wow” in which the top was made almost twenty years ago. A week later, this wonderful joy and sense of accomplishment was deflated like air being let out of a balloon and accentuated with the loudest “No” when I discovered the Blue Plate flimsy while rummaging through some other flimsies. I am embarrassed for having forgotten I made this before the Blue Moon quilt and should have realized that the Blue Plate flimsy existed especially since the Blue Moon quilt was referred to as #2 in my quilt log and that I had seven yards left of the backing fabric. I even wondered why I bought so much of the blue stripe backing. 

Any hoot, I claim confusion as these two quilts look an awful lot alike with the same stripe border and color way. The Blue Plate Special was finished four months before Blue Moon. Blue Moon was made from the BPS leftovers for a wedding quilt which was subsequently rejected later. Somehow, in my quilt memory bank, these two flimsies morphed into one flimsy.

I’ve renamed this quilt as Blue Plate Special (BPS) from Blue Moon #1 to avoid more confusion and this was what I had planned to name it originally. BPS measures 64”x82” and Blue Moon measures 48” x 62”. The circles on this quilt only uses one fabric which is the Floral Dance print. If you think I remembered this detail, I didn’t. I found the name after combing through almost twenty Kaffe Fassett books which are located in my studio downstairs and I did enjoyed looking through them and now considering moving some of them upstairs to my bedroom. One of my past luxuries, which I haven’t done much since retirement, was reading quilt books while lounging in a warm bed and Winter is coming, so my timing is impeccable. Wait until I tell the Master Quilt Holder. At first, I wasn’t looking forward to machine quilting BPS due to its size and thinking I had to mark it but realized it would be simple by just doing diagonal wavy lines on the circles and straight line grid quilting along the 8” blocks. I used a Star variegated thread on the top with the same Teal thread on the bottom I used for the Blue Moon quilt. I happened to have another package of the Pellon Bamboo batting which I also used for Blue Moon and BPS is just as soft and snuggly.

Another embarrassing aspect to this Post, is in my Blue Moon Post, I had a photo of it with the Red Moon Quilt and mentioned these two were fraternal twins and that I seem to make two of the same quilts when I like a pattern or fabric. If anything Red Moon is a cousin and these two quilts were separated at birth. I really still can’t believe I forgot I made two quilts with the same fabrics alost twenty years ago. And with that in mind, this is why this is a short Post to admit my Kaffe Fassett Faux Pas. If only all faux pas were just as pretty.

My Kaffe Fassett Blue Moon Quilt is Finally Finished

Even though it’s early in the month, I’m pretty sure my Kaffe Fassett Blue Moon Quilt is going to be my Oh Wow finish for the month of October. Although the Country Threads Dirty Dozen UFO Challenge was discontinued for 2024/25, Mary Etherington is still giving me a number each month for my 2024/25 Project List which I compiled sixty-five projects. Last month, Mary drew number four and one of the projects I had listed was to finally finish the Blue Moon quilt which has been a flimsy or a “top” since 2005. I was really happy to work on this quilt since I’ve been spending many hours watching Kate Jackson/The Last Homely House videos on YouTube on a daily basis ever since I discovered her. Kate is also a big Kaffe Fassett fan and the colors in the Blue Moon quilt reminded me of the quilt she made for her granddaughter.

Here is the top which has languished for almost twenty years, partly because of my indecisions on how I wanted to quilt it. Around ten years ago I read an article in one of the English magazines by Jo Avery on doing big stitch quilting and instead of batting, flannel was used. I intended to do that but never got around to purchasing the flannel. I’ve listed this top on my UFO Challenge list for the past several years and still never felt like quilting it. I finally was inspired to finish it after watching The Last Homely House videos and was planning on hand quilting since it was only 48” x 62”, almost the same size as my Smitten Quilt which was hand quilted by me. As soon as we returned home from the GP House last Saturday afternoon, I was revved up to work on Blue Moons and went downstairs to my studio, ironed both the top and the already made backing and pin basted the quilt. Then the doubt of whether I really wanted to hand quilt struck. There was a possibility I could hate Kate Jackson halfway through the hand quilting and I couldn’t let this happen. I then considered quilting in the ditch around each block and doing some hand quilting but that didn’t excite me neither.

When I made the Blue Moon top back in 2005, I also made another version of it in red fabrics and named it Red Moons. It only took me seven years after the flimsy was made to have it machine quilted. When I was hemming and hawing on the Blue Moon quilt, I pulled out the Red Moon quilt to remind me on how it was quilted and thought the machine quilting looked nice over the appliqued Moons. I seemed to have a hesitation when quilting over applique but am getting over it now.

While I was thinking about hand quilting Blue Moons, I thought of machine quilting it with wavey horizontal lines but t dismissed it as being something Kate wouldn’t do. I got over that notion and decided that although Kate saids that it okay to take five years to finish a quilt, I think twenty years is a bit too long although I have several quilts finished in this time frame.

It only took me around four hours to machine quilt wavey lines 1” apart in CT Essential Threads, teal for the top and a light teal for the bottom. I decided to use the light teal for the bottom since I already had five bobbins already wound and only need three. I used a Pellon Bamboo batting and the combination of this and the machine quilting gave Blue Moon such a nice soft, snuggly feel.

I did hand sew the blue Shot Cotton binding down while, of course, watching a Last Homely House video and it was a relaxing sew. I am quite proud that within 48 hours of coming home Blue Moon is a finally finished but really embarrassed that it took me only eight hours to accomplish this once impossible to finish flimsy of nineteen years. I can imagine hearing Kate still saying it’s brilliant and lovely.

I seem to make two quilts around the same time when I really love a pattern or fabrics. Here’s a pic of the fraternal twins: Blue Moon and Red Moon which is slightly larger by four inches in width and height. The Red Moon flimsy was finished first and the Blue Moon was made as a wedding quilt for one of my Peep’s daughter but then told she rather have a quilt made with gray and taupe fabrics. I glad Blue Moon wasn’t gifted now. You wouldn’t think these quilts are almost twenty years old; there’s something timeless about Kaffe Fassett fabrics, isn’t there. Now that my September UFO project is finished, I have another great project to start for October and it involves applique also. It’s nice to be home for at least ten days before leaving for the GP House again.

Linking up with My Quilt Infatuation/NTT