Free Pattern Friday with Gee's Bend
I love log cabin quilts. And so do many, many other quilters. The Gee's Bend ladies made a lot of log cabin quilts using their unique improvisational style. I patterned this for Windham Fabrics in partnership with the Gee's Bend quilters. It's called Housetop Nine Block. First, the quilt made by Annie Pettway.
Housetop Nine Block by Annie Pettway |
Windham sent me fabrics and asked me to come up with a prototype. Here's my first block. It's based on Annie's, top left in her quilt.
First prototype block |
Then I made a few more. Put them together. Too blah! Back to the drawing board.
First prototype quilt |
Then we darkened those large sashing strips and played with more colors. I finally got it right and everyone was happy!
Housetop Nine Block: 66" x 73" |
Fast forward 10 years and Windham wanted to revisit the pattern (my copyright - all spelled out in my contracts for those wondering). They had a new collection called Simply White. They asked me if I could recolor the Housetop Nine Block with those fabrics. I did. Very white, but hey - that's what they wanted (and they paid me).
This is the FREE pattern. You can download it from the Windham website. It is a 12 page pdf with lots of detail for each of the 9 blocks. Compare it with the one I sell on Etsy (with lots more color). And enjoy the world of log cabins once again!
It's great in any colors, but I do think I prefer the darker ones. However, I've been collecting blacks and whites, so I may make something wildly different! I love all the work you did with the Gees Bend quilters. I saw their show at the deYoung museum in San Francisco years ago and it was one of the most inspiring of shows, in totally different ways of thinking about quilts.
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