Creating a Millefiori quilt, or three steps to insanity......

Sometimes you just have to try something new. Or that's what I was thinking when I came across the spectacular Millefiori quilts on Pinterest, specifically the La Passacaglia. They look like Millefiori art glass (just Google it), or a kaleidoscope exploded onto your fabric, hundreds of tiny shards sewn together. I thought it was lovely, but then moved on.

That was the first encounter.

Then I came across it again on a quilt shop newsletter, in the form of a support group.  Really? A support group for quilters making a Millefiori? What's that supposed to mean? I should have left my curiosity there and moved on, but no, that didn't happen.

This was the second encounter.

I was curious. I read the support group met twice a month to encourage and help each other learn how to create these stunning intricate masterpieces. So I stopped in one day.  I learned they are tedious, complex, and mindfully challenging, with endless possibilities. I learned they incorporate enormous of amounts of fussy cut fabric with teeny tiny laser cut paper templates to make the shards you then sew together English paper piecing style.  I learned enough to make a sane person run screaming to the nearest exit. But no, I was drawn to this like a moth to a flame, uncontrollably sucked into a vortex of fabric hypnosis, chanting over and over "you can do this!” 

This was the third and final step.

I knew all too well I shouldn't. But I really really wanted the challenge.  I even tried to get other quilting friends to drink the Millefiori kool-aid so to speak. Some did, but some were smarter.

Making these quilts has grown into a global quilting craze. Facebook groups have sprung up, tutorials, books, tools etc. are everywhere. They've become the new Mary Jane phenomenon.  

Since I just completed a year long red and white guild challenge quilt that consists of more than 825 hand appliquéd leaves (I will post a pic after a show in June), I was searching for a new hand project.  So I've decided to blog about my trials and successes following this project over the next months or years....which ever it takes.

So gather the wine, chocolate, and quilting supplies........and fasten your seat belt for my three steps to quilting insanity, or what sounds so much better when you say....my journey creating a Millefiori quilt. Once I push the PUBLISH button on this blog, this post goes live, and there is no turning back.