Harpsichord Patchwork

My version of the Lucy Boston Keyboard Patchwork has been started! As soon as I saw the Patchworks of Lucy Boston book last weekend, I fell in love with the Keyboard Patchwork. When a new Inklingo collection came out with the shapes for it, I had to make at least one block. Each side of the octagons is 3/4 of an inch and the little squares are 3/4″. Because the seams are so short, it’s very quick to stitch.

This is quite a change in how I approach a quilt. I knew I wanted to make it in a very controlled set of fabrics, rather than my normal scrappy quilts. My quilt is inspired by both the original Lucy Boston patchwork and the amazing harpsichords we saw last summer with the incredible decorative artwork that is on them. I will be doing half the blocks like the one above, with black and white music fabric octagons and the other half with coloured octagons.  All the blocks will be similar to the one above.

The back of my block. I wanted a brocade-type effect for the outer edge octagons, but didn’t want the darkness of the “right” side of the fabric, so decided on using the wrong side.

This fabric, which is a Kona Bay fabric, is the last of the pieces that I need to have fall into place to start in on this quilt in earnest. I’m feeling relatively confident I can find it somewhere and have e-mailed Kona Bay in an effort to find out the name of the line and/or number. If anyone has that information, please let me know as that will help me locate the extra yard of it that I need for this quilt.

I am taking a page out of Wanda‘s book and will start working on all these projects in a bit more controlled fashion. I haven’t quite decided which project gets worked on on which day of the week, but that’s something I want to figure out this week. I will be leaving two days a week open for play.

Mr. Quilt Obsession had fun last week guest blogging. I think he may pop in now and again. Thank you for all the fun comments — I will try to respond to them all over the course of this week. I really did have to give my hands as much of a break as I possibly could. And it helped.

We are finally getting real summer weather. The humidity is getting a bit oppressive, even for me. But I am not complaining. I’d far rather have this than wind chills of -20 in February!

The kitties were pretty laid back and lethargic this weekend. Even though our apartment is quite cool, I think they must feel the heat/humidity in some way or another.

For Quilt Hollow and all you other kitty lovers, here’s one of Smudge, awake on the windowsill.


And Lester, in his normal spot.



18 thoughts on “Harpsichord Patchwork

  1. Beautiful, Cathi! What is the finished size of one of these blocks? From the dimensions you gave for the pieces, it looks like it might be a little tricky to piece.Mr. QO has quite a sense of humor in order to put up with the lot of us. He did a great job filling in for you and I'm happy to hear that you hands got a rest.

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  2. I like the idea of "controlled" so good for you! Cathi, this block is really something else. Dig it!!! Interesting how you worked the back. Thanks for highlighting that. It doesn't have to be just "one way" all the time. No quilt police. 🙂

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  3. Oooo love this block!! I like the idea of controlling your projects. I'm afraid I'm going to have to do this too as I have too many things started now.We had fun chatting up your hubby :0)Crispy

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  4. Great to see you posting, and stitching, once more Cathi.Another beautiful project for you with the new block.i will say that this one doesn't ring my chimes like many but I know in your hands it will make a lovely quilt!

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  5. Pingback: Harpsichord Blocks « Quilt Obsession

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