Recently a student from a 2008 class sent me some pictures of the project she's completed--wow! Jeanne van der Vlies is from the Netherlands but we met at a quilt show in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The event was only a three hour class called the Antique English Pleated Log Cabin. All work was by hand and most students got the hang of it and produced one block--ho-hum. Not Jeanne! She continued on and made this wonderful wall hanging.
The detail shows how the logs (strips) fold over and give the work a three-dimensional feeling. The back of the block is also the back of the work so this pattern may be the original quilt-as-you-go pattern. The technique hails not from the United States but from the Isle of Man (between England and Ireland) where the pattern is called Roof Tile. The theory is not too great a stretch since in the 1840s thousands of people emigrated from the Isle of Man to the United States and likely brought the pattern with them. To American eyes, the strips laid at right angles could be found in log cabin construction and so we re-named it and later generations assumed an American origin.
And then just yesterday Laura F. Strating-Jansens from the Netherlands sent more pictures--this time from a Houston 09 class. She owns a quilt shop in Amersfoort called Laura's Quilt Atelier (studio). Amersfoort is a bustling city and major railway destination but is also an ancient town (it just celebrated its 750th birthday!) slightly southeast of Amsterdam. Laura often makes trips to the United States with her quilting friends and that's where we meet--at quilt shows!
Here's Laura's quilt she made as a result of the class called Dakota Flower. The style uses a stitch technique I call Retro Applique. That's applique with a contrasting thread in a running stitch at the edge of the motif. Stitches are larger than usual and meant to be seen. It works best if you relax and realize that you're not doing traditional precise work a la Baltimore but should just have fun.
Don't you love it when quilting makes the world get smaller?
