My Favorite Designers - Chapter 6 Jacqueline DeJonge

You probably know by now that I'm in love with intricate, sophisticated, and technically difficult quilts. One of my favorite designers designs quilts that totally fit this description - Jacqueline DeJonge of BeCorlourful Quilts.

Jacqueline lives in Delft in the Netherlands. When I first met her, she was still working a day job as an office manager in a medical practice. Now she is a full time designer, teacher, and quilter. She is very soft spoken, but don't let that fool you - she's got lots to say!

So far I have taken 3 workshops from Jacqueline and hope to take many more. Even before I took workshops, I bought my first BeColourful Pattern - The Colourful Quilt. It was waaaay over my head (6 star difficulty). I still have the pattern and fabric that I started collecting to do it. One day . . . 



So I started a little more realistically - I took a workshop down in Dallas about 5 years ago. I bought the Circle of Life kit (only 4 star difficulty) so I wouldn't have to obsess about getting just the right fabric to achieve the rainbow effect. Unfortunately my hubby had a health incident and I had to rush home on the first day. Obviously I didn't get far on the quilt but I was hooked. 

So, about 3 years ago, I learn Jacqueline is coming to Kansas! WhaHoo! I talk my friend Bobbie into coming to visit from Seattle and take the workshop with me. Quilting on the Square in Holton Kansas is our host.  I decided to keep working on Circle of Life.  I got the center star and spikes done. I picked up a few more tips from Jacqueline. One of the best is her idea of a supplementary quarter inch seam allowance. Her technique is to do the piecing with an extra seam allowance and then when its all together, you trim the piece up to a quarter inch. And, guess what? I added several more patterns to my collection. 

In the last 3 years, my BeColourful Quilts sort of took a back burner. I knew I could do it, but I think I just had a bit of a crises of confidence. I was angsting about how to use the fabrics so that the colors flow. Ok, so no progress, but I did add a few more to my pattern collection (grin).

So, fast forward to June 2018. Jacqueline is back in Holton! My friend Kim and I signed up and this time I decided to do one of Jacqueline's new patterns. Infinity (another 6 star difficulty) is based on her award winning quilt from 2013 quilt called Celtic Fantasy. This one has lots of piecing techniques - matching marks, inset seams, supplementary seam allowance, inset circles and more. I tried a new fabric management system this time - instead of using ziplock bags, I put the 24 color wheel fabrics in hanging file folders in a portable file box. It worked really well for me.

Quilting on the Square in Holton was a great host and has a great classroom space. Of course, I added a few more patterns to my collection. I am hoping Jacqueline comes back to Holton next year. I highly recommend Jacqueline's patterns and workshops. You'll be challenged, but you'll learn a lot and enjoy getting to know Jacqueline. I'm looking forward to the next workshop.