Kaffe Gradient Flimsy

 Finally, after being on my to-do list for months, the Kaffe gradient flimsy is finished. 

Years ago I inherited a stack of five inch charms of Kaffe Fassett Collective prints but I never knew what to do with them. Then last year Rachel Hauser of Stitched in Color posted a remake of her Teeter Totter pattern in which she used a lilac gradient for the gridwork. Ah-ha, that would be the perfect concept for my little Kaffe squares. While inspired by the concept, I did not use her pattern due to the size of my squares. 

Since my squares were so small, I used 1" finished strips which I cut using the 1-1/2" die on my die cutter. A lot of cutting made easy! I cut each square in half on the diagonal, laid them out on the design wall and clipped them in pairs with their sashing strip.  

Upper left corner

At retreat in 2023 I started piecing the blocks and arranged them on the design wall. To smooth the transition between the blues and the pinks, I needed to add a few non-Kaffe prints, but they blend so well you would never know. 

Right, halfway down

As I assembled the quilt from the bottom up. it became apparent that I didn't have enough of the solid purple I was using. So I went shopping and found a similar purple I thought could replace it. After replacing the diagonal strips in multiple blocks and assembling several rows with sashing, it became obvious that the purple was too light and disappeared into the blocks instead of providing the same degree of contrast as the blue and the burgundy. So, back to the store for a darker purple, and much seam ripper activity to carefully take out and replace the offending fabric. A lot of those bias seams got ripped out twice. 

Lower left corner

Other projects and priorities got in the way, and this project languished as a UFO until recently when I finally added the top row of blocks and finished the flimsy. I didn't realize I was so close to a finish! 

Later this fall, a friend will help me spray baste this quilt, an outdoor task better left for cooler weather.  I'll quilt it on my domestic machine with in-the-ditch stitching using invisible thread. Then my friend will teach me how to face it instead of using a visible binding around the edges.  

I have a wall in my sewing room where I want to hang this quilt. The size came out to 48" wide by 78" long, perfect for the space available. And it will be dramatically visible from the hall and through the sewing room doorway.  This one's a keeper. 

Linking up with Alycia Quilts 8/30, Small Quilts and Doll Quilts 9/2, and My Quilt Infatuation 9/5