Kaffe Fassett's Quilts in an English Village

Book excerpt: With his unerring eye, Kaffe has succeeded in finding the perfect location for his exquisite new collection of quilts, featuring both his scintillating new fabric designs and his classics, all in his unique color palette. This time he has chosen the medieval English village of Lavenham in Suffolk, where the 19 quilts in this book are set off against the ancient half-timbered Tudor houses. They are displayed in all their glory in a sumptuous eye-catching quilt gallery. Included in this set of new designs are many very special ones by Kaffe, and several by his long-time friend and co-designer, Liza Prior Lucy. Kaffe's Starry Night, featured on the cover, fussy cuts some of his brilliant floral fabrics in deep rich colors to great effect, setting them off by surrounding stars in his Shot Cottons. Shards translates the traditional Broken Dishes design into deliciously soft and subtle blends of pastel fabrics, shown off to perfection against the pale plaster and weathered timbers of the Lavenham houses. In a quite different vein, the boldly contrasting background stripes in black and white fabric in Blooming Columns make a dramatic contrast to the huge fussy-cut flowers appliquéd onto it. This book--the 23rd in the series--includes a range of quilts for all skill levels, from beginners to advanced. Shaded Squares is one such lovely quilt for first timers, with its cleverly shaded squares each made up from two large triangles, one plain and one striped in Kaffe's Shot Cotton and Wide Stripe fabrics. Flat shots, a practical know-how section and glossary, back up the fully illustrated, step-by-step instructions for each quilt.