the back porch stitcher

Ok, let’s get to the real reason for starting this blog.

Millie.

I’ve fallen in love with a millefiori quilt pattern named La Passacaglia. I hope she’s just the start of a long line of most intricate EPP quilts…but for now, my Millie La Pass is “IT.”

You see, I have this bundle of fabrics that I’ve been collecting for a Storm at Sea.

For 20 years, I’ve been eyeing this sweet fabric stash, adding to it from time to time. Overall it is the color scheme that is dearest to my heart. The deep blues, the vivid purples, the exciting teals. Oh yeah…that will be one magnificent Storm at Sea.

So I hung on to these beauties through two divorces and several moves. My Storm at Sea. She’s going to be beautiful. But did you notice? I never made a cut.

Until I met “Millie” and I knew that it was time to let go. The fabrics are, for the most part, timeless. Stormy wouldn’t mind just a few fussy cuts, a little fabric play, would she? The undulating lines, the kaleidoscopic effects of La Pass…they stole my heart.

Here’s Step One. Or Two or Three, Rosette 1: …who is turning into the first of three Rosette 2s because I can’t stop the accumulation of rows. Life of her own? Maybe.

Millie La Pass is born. Outdoors. And I’m addicted to her lines, her fluid motion, and her abrupt color changes.

She’s a precious thing, my Millie. Stitch by stitch (some on the back porch, and some on the sofa while watching TV), we’ll take her from a stack of fabrics that have been patiently waiting, waiting, waiting…

To my Millie La Passacaglia. With thanks to Willyne Hammerstein, for her book Millefiori Quilts.

Let’s get this party started…