Lars Meets Kaffe: When Quilting Is More Fun Than Math

Lars's Doodle Plus Kaffe Fassett Prints

The school year is ALMOST wrapped up.  Exams have been taken and the last day of school is this coming Thursday, June 11th.  As I was sifting through Lars's stack of notebooks, binders, and other backpack debris, I came across this lovely graph paper doodle in his math notebook:

 

How cool is that?  Unlike the (deliberately) insanely complex quilts that Lars likes to design in EQ7 software, THIS design would be quick and easy to make up, using only 8" squares and HST units (half square triangles).  So I sketched it up in EQ7 as a 54" x 54" quilt, initially using Lars's color scheme, but eventually deciding that these extra-large patches would be perfect for showcasing those large-scale Kaffe Fassett prints that I'm so fond of.  And I came up with this:

54" x 54" "Lars Meets Kaffe" Quilt Designed By Mom

I love it!  However, I was working with an older Kaffe Fassett fabric collection in EQ7, and was annoyed to discover that my lovely fabric selections were ALL out of print.  Meaning the manufacturer does not make any more of these fabrics, no one has them, and no one can get anymore.  Hmmm...  Discontinued fabric, no stock available.  Does this sound familiar to anyone?  Yet when there's a strong willed woman with her heart set on a certain fabric, there's usually SOME way to get it.  I was able to locate three fat quarters of this Iris and Peony fabric in the red colorway from an eBay seller:

I found two other long-discontinued Kaffe Fassett fabrics  at Glorious Color, a web site out of Pennsylvania that specializes in Kaffe Fassett prints.  St. Clements in Night will be for my 3" borders:

...and Cosmos in Cobalt is for the plain block in the center of the quilt and for squares and triangles adjacent to the red floral print:

But I was still missing several key fabrics, and I really had my heart set on them.  I finally, FINALLY found all three of them, from an online quilt fabric shop in... Switzerland.  Don't you judge me.  Just think of how much money I saved shopping online as opposed to actually TRAVELING to Switzerland to buy the fabrics!  Spot in White is my background fabric:

Sand Dollars in Green is also used in the background, adjacent to the black-and-white dots:

and this is what I came up with for the binding, Lotto in Green:

I had wanted to make something today, but since it's almost 5 PM and the fabric is shipping for Switzerland, that's not going to happen!  This will be fun to put together once the fabric does arrive, though.

Have a wonderful weekend.  Happy Stitching!