What's outside your window?

We've seen black and white quilts by Tony Jacobson before (like this one). But this quilt, with just a touch of blue, might be his neatest yet! Tony used the tree print from Ro Gregg's Marblehead Northern Woods to create the looking-through-a-window feel of this modern quilt, featured in the March-April 2014 issue of Love of Quilting magazine.

"Pane by Pane" by Tony Jacobson;
featured in Fons &  Porter's Love of Quilting magazine March-April 2014

Q. What was it about the Marblehead Northern Woods fabric that caught your eye?

Tony: I really enjoy doing black-and-white quilts. The texture created by the patterns of the bare trees in the one print really struck a cord. Mixing it with the other fabrics that also have a natural look to them just seemed right. In this case though, I decided to add just a pop of color.

Q. How did you come up with the idea to split the square of tree fabric?

Tony: The tree fabric reminded me of the timber areas in Iowa in the midst of winter, and the way most winters are in Iowa, you mainly see them through a window. So I decided it would be fun to play with the window concept in this quilt.

Q. What prompted you to add the blue, and also to add it in the block,

replacing that small square corner, as well as in the sashing squares?

Tony: For some reason I decided I wanted to have a pop of color in the quilt but I didn't want the color to scream out. So I decided to go with a blue which also helps to convey the idea of winter cold. I also have an affinity for leaded and stained glass windows. I think the subtle suggestion of pieces of stained glass helps with the ideas of a window pane.

Q. We love the look that the half blocks in the top and bottom row create. What prompted you to try that?  

Tony: If I would have done all of the rows as full blocks I think a viewer could easily look past the quilt and just assume that it's another quilt set with sashing. I think the half blocks add a certain unexpected tension which draw viewers in to see what is actually going on throughout the quilt.

Q. The overall look of the quilt has the feel of looking through windows. Is that the look you were going for?

Tony: I was definitely going for a window look. I've used this concept in several of my art quilts over the years.

Q. Can you tell us about the machine quilting you did?  

Tony: The machine quilting was done by LuAnn Downs. I just gave her free reign to do what she felt would work best. I like how the quilting radiates out from each of the panes. I've developed a relationship with a couple of quilters over the years where I feel I can let them do their thing with my quilt and I'm always pleasantly surprised with what they come up with.

Q. What do you like most about this quilt?

Tony: The textures created by the fabrics and the overall black-and-white aspect to this quilt is what I like the most.  

Q. Anything else to share about the design or the quilt in general?  

Tony: As happens sometimes, the fabrics for this quilt showed up in our offices one day as samples. I fell in love with them and created a pattern that I could create using what was in the box. I did however add the blue fabric.

See the entire fabric line here.

Find the magazine here.