On a recent visit to the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum in Golden, CO, I was intrigued by an antique quilt made entirely of velvet. The quilt inspired me to make a quilt using Courthouse Steps blocks stitched in the new, modern style. I used the antique quilt as a guide, substituting white for red and adding other colors in approximately the same positions as the antique.

Inspiration Quilt from Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum

Using my Log Cabin Trim Tool to make the blocks so that each block would be perfect when finished. I slipped in slivers of color in some white blocks and bits of white in the colored blocks, taking the traditional Courthouse Steps blocks into the realm of modern quilts. I inserted the color slivers in various rounds of strips sewn around the center square. After squaring up a round of strips I simply sliced off one edge at a random angle with my rotary cutter and ruler, then stitched the chosen color strip in place. Then I squared up the round of strips again using the trim tool before starting the next round of strips or finishing the block. All of the slivers of color were added at a whim. There was no plan, just what was pleasing to the idea at the moment.

To continue the marriage of traditional and modern quilting I made the quilt to hang over my antique Victorian fainting couch. Here is a vignette of the quilt that completes the seating area of a small library-media room in my 100 year old house in Marietta, Georgia.

Learn more about Jean Ann Wright at her blog.

Take classes with Jean Ann at Expos in Lakeland, Florida.  She is even teaching a class about log cabin quilts!