Felix, a love for classic blocks
Coming up with Felix was a longer process than some of my patterns. I'd played with classic quilt blocks all fall and hoped to create a sampler of sorts, and just couldn't get it quite worked out. (Spoiler, I think I'm getting there!) But my love for old blocks and their classic beauty runs deep. My grandmother made old classic blocks, her favorite being the Jacob's Ladder featured in Elma Ruth. My best friend, Hannah, buys and sells old quilts and it was in her home each week that I felt myself being drawn into quilting again.
So in the fall, I just played with all the old blocks I could think of (you can see them in my IG reels). I used Barbara Brackman's Encyclopediea of Pieced Quilt Patterns to just search and peruse them all and find ones I loved. And the Cat's Cradle block was one that just seemed so fun and had so many great possibilities. This one I found on Civil War Quilts dates back to 1862. I mean...this is the most beautiful and classic quilt!
So I tried out a small lap blanket with some Fableism fabrics and knew there was something fun emerging. I really love creating mix and match FQ patterns because I think that's what most of us have on hand! I worked hard to make sure those measurements would work and use as much of the FQ as I could manage while not making it too tight either.
A single Felix block is composed of four Cat's Cradle blocks, turned 90 degrees as you go around. And when you mix and match all those fabrics, it creates the most wonderful patchwork quilt!
Now in writing Felix, I haven't reinvented the wheel any more than I did when writing Elma Ruth. Some of my designs (like Imogene) are completely ones that existed in my mind. But many of my favorite patterns (Boulted, Elma Ruth, Lottie, Archie) are riffs on old patterns. That doesn't mean I own that idea. I had a few new pattern designers share their concern that patterns they were about to release might be too similar to my Felix, to which I said, "no way! I can't own a block this old! You put your spin on it, and I'll put mine on it, and we will all continue to fill our local quilt shops with patterns that are brand new and patterns that are vintage-inspired!!"
But I do hope you'll enjoy making this old block that people have made for generations with me. It's been a joy putting my hands to work and using some of my favorite saved fabrics on mine.