Arcadia Avenue in Hoffman 1895 Batiks

As promised, there are going to be some new voices on the blog! Today, you are going to hear from the other half of Sassafras Lane, my Mom, Kristy!

"When Shayla and I started thinking about fabrics for our new Arcadia Avenue, (then unnamed), I knew I wanted to use batiks - I absolutely LOVE the ease of batik fabrics. So, of course we turned to Hoffman! For my Arcadia Avenue version I used Hoffman California’s 1895 batiks. If you’ve never seen their 1895 swatch card – the only thing I can say is that it is AMAZING! Its about 7 feet long by a foot tall! – so only picking 17 fabrics was a challenge! I picked a rainbow color scheme for my 12 block colors and a black for my dark, a medium gray for my medium and a very light gray for my light. I ended up picking two navy fabrics, one with a print for my backgrounds."

"I love paper-piecing so this quilt is right up my alley! I started with block #1, which took me a little longer than I liked (4 days), then I got a bit obsessive and cranked out the rest of the blocks in record time! The reason I love to paper-piece with batiks is that I can use either side! My colors are in the same rainbow order in each block, and my light, medium and dark fabrics are consistent throughout the quilt. The blocks are all great, but my favorite is the arrow block aka Target Practice."

"I quilted the blocks with a wide large spiral in orange thread. In some of the blocks I filled in the spiral with a design, and some I left some open. On the edge of the spirals in the outer hexagon, I quilted a feather or a fern to fill the hexagon. In the background I quilted the triangles in straight serpentine lines changing direction in every other triangle, matching a navy thread to the fabric."

"I love all aspects of this quilt – the fabric choosing, the piecing and the quilting!" - Kristy

Me again! Isn't she cute?! I love that photo of her head popping up from behind the quilt! We had so much fun photographing these quilts. It was an amazing coincidence when we stumbled upon this bright yellow Studebaker truck! Below is the entire scene.

Get your own copy of Arcadia Avenue here. Tomorrow you will hear from my Grandma and see her beautiful quilt! Thanks for stopping by!