
Alexander Henry Fabrics has sent another visual valentine to us fabric lovers.
It is a Must Have Fabric! I have spoken and it shall be so!
With last year’s Ghastlies series, we reveled in wonderful fabric that featured images from the strangest dinner party ever, and this year we can join this oddball group in A Ghastlies Family Reunion.

It comes in several colors, including mauve, grey and green. (I suspect it comes in a white background, too, but I haven’t seen it yet.)
Clad in costumes from the Roaring 20’s, these upper-class socialites seem to be frozen in tableaux whose meanings we can only guess at.


Last year’s fabric featured a beribboned girl holding a hammer. My friends and I refer to the dress-wearing tomboy as “little Alethea.” She really reminded me of myself, the dress, the tool, and the perpetual pout!

There is a new (old) member of staff, the butler Cobblestone.
We also have some new family members.





One wonders what is going on between these two ladies. There must be more than meets the eye. Could it have something to do with the expecting mother and her wayward husband?

So now the question remains… what to make with this fabric?
I can see some great bags, placemats, and pillows on the horizon.
As for quilts, well, let’s see. Laura Nownes Shoji Screen Quilt pattern would be nice.

Think of the fun fabrics and images you could put inside the frames. Alexander Henry has some fun companion fabrics that will read solid for the frame fabric.
One of my friends from Wooden Gate Quilts is already making a 9-Patch Pizzazz from Judy Sisnero’s fabulous book. (Which I wish I had written!)

I can’t wait to see how it develops!
Large-scale prints like this are also great for quilts from my book Maverick Quilts. Try it in Superstars, California Housetop, in the off blocks in Bella Boxes, or as the central panel in Lovely Landscape. Any of these would be great!
Or, how about the Show Off pattern in the book?


As always, sorry for the photo quality! (The publisher sent me a CD with all of the nice photos from the book, but I can’t figure out how to open them, silly me!)
For my Ghastlies quilt, I chose the Show Off pattern.

This quilt is made from the fabric which came out last year, and I used both the green and grey background versions for the block centers. The frames are made in black, grey, green, pink and then I threw in some purple just for fun.


Unlike the Show Off Quilt in the book, I included sashing between each horizontal set and added a wide band a single fabric. On the band I created a funny portrait gallery with images from the fabric.

I made frames for each portrait by fussy cutting fabric and fusing it wown. You should have heard me cackling as I finished each one!

Love the hair!

Do you see the cat’s ears on the top of Father’s portrait and the four cat feet on the bottom? I will stitch everything down with the quilting.

Please send me photos of what you make from this MUST HAVE FABRIC! I always love to see your work!
Happy quilting!
I love the fabric too. I have bought more of it. I am not sure what I am going to make out of it but I have it when the idea comes to me.
Alethea, as usual your blogs are just delightful and make me smile. Not to mention all those wonderful quilts! Thank you for the eye candy!