My New Tile Quilt, An Alfie Dream

An Alfie Dream, by Bobbi Finley 39'' x 39'' (above)

All in a Dream, by Kathe Dougherty 74'' x 74'' (below)

Kathe Dougherty made a wonderful tile quilt for our book, Tile Quilt Revival, which is pictured here on the right. Large scale prints and stripes with a balance of warm and cool colors were used and she arranged the blocks to create an overall pattern of warm and cool diamonds. The "grout" lines between her tile pieces add diagonal interest. In addition to her great color sense and design ability, Kathe used her excellent machine applique skills in making her quilt. I really love this quilt.

Since Kathe and her quilt reside in Lawrence, Kansas, and Carol, my co-author has the opportunity to show this quilt when she lectures on tile quilts, I thought about making a smaller version of Kathe's quilt to show in my lectures.

On a recent visit to Back Porch Quilts in Pacific Grove, I found a wonderful selection of Kaffe Fassett stripes and shot cottons and my version of All in a Dream finally came to be. I decided on only 4 blocks. And, while it was my intention to machine applique the blocks, I guess I just prefer hand work and so, in the end, my quilt is hand appliqued.

I named my quilt, An Alfie Dream. Why? I discovered the English tenor, Alfie Boe, on the recent Les Miserables telecast and ordered one of his CDs. All the time I was designing my quilt, I was listening to the CD of Show tunes that I'd just received. When I finished I realized that I was lost in a dream of color and fabric and beautiful song, so I decided to call the quilt, An Alfie Dream. The quilt is shown at the top. I'm not sure it does Kathe's quilt justice.