Colchester Mill Fabrics & Quilting
Colchester, Connecticut
Friday, Saturday, Sunday
March 20, 21, 22
Friday Night 5:30 – 7:00 –
Color Duets – Lessons I learned from my Uncle Kaffe – Show & Reception
Saturday 10:00 am – 4:00 pm – Intuitive Stitching Workshop
Sunday – 11:00 am – 3:00 pm – Quilt Social, Blanket the World with Love
Color Duets – Lessons I learned from my Uncle Kaffe – Slideshow & Reception
Friday, March 20
Reception from 5:30 pm – 6pm – Talk starts at 6pm
Join award-winning artist and author Erin Lee Gafill for the inspirational story of her life-long relationship with Kaffe Fassett (her uncle) and how their creative bond ignited her desire for a life in the arts.
In 2021, Erin and Kaffe celebrated a fifteen year project of side-by-side still life painting with the book and museum exhibition, Color Duets – Kaffe Fassett | Erin Lee Gafill. This five month show broke attendance records and drew crowds from diverse communities.
This intimate evening with Erin will feature stories, tips, and shared wisdom from her travels with Kaffe and the “around the world and back again” art career he inspired.
Intuitive Stitching – Workshop
Saturday, March 21
10:00 am – 4:00 pm
Design, stitch, and quilt a Kawandi-style textile entirely by hand, with an expert artist at your side! In this 6 hour workshop, you will learn new skills, tap into your intuition, enjoy slow-stitching with old friends (and new ones!) and explore a variation of Kawandi-style (outside in) appliqué sewing methods. Bust into your fabric stash, up-cycle old garments, and create an individual work of art!
No experience is necessary. Using a simple long stitch, all three layers of the quilt (backing, batting, and fabric pieces) are quilted at the same time. Design, lay-out, stitching, and quilting happen simultaneously.
A joyful, intuitive, and artful method inspired by the traditional Kawandi quilts of the Siddi women of Western India, this style of stitching dips into Kantha, Boro, and Visible Mending all in one.
You will end the day with a new completed art piece and a deep dive into multi-cultural stitching practices.
Blanket the World with Love-Community Quilt Social
Sunday, March 22
11:00 am – 3:00 pm
Hand-stitching and Intuitive Design bring us together around our community quilt.
Join us Sunday March 22nd, 2026
Time: 11am – 3 pm
Fee: None
Skill Level: No experience necessary, just a desire to be part of a brand new creative art piece that Erin Lee Gafill is creating.
Come by and pick up a needle and make your own mark, designing and stitching from Erin’s spectacular array of fabric remnants – some from Kaffe Fassett’s personal scrap bag! – or bring something special from your own personal stash.
Stay for 10 minutes or stay for 4 hours
This is a drop in and join us event but we do ask that are register so we can be prepared with seating.
There are a few things each of us can’t have too much of. One is creative expression, another
is camaraderie and friendship. The Blanket the World With Love project nurtures both.
Spend the afternoon with us adding your personal touch to this creative project, working
“outside in” designing, stitching, and quilting as you go, and adding your personal voice to a
collective art piece. The quilts of the Blanket the World with Love project will be featured in a
series of exhibitions in 2028.
Kawandi Style Gift Wrap
6 sheets – 6 quilts – 29″ x 20″ – $24.50
Color Duets is a coffee table book of original artwork, textiles, and family stories. It memorializes a series of artist retreats shared by Kaffe Fassett and his niece, Erin Lee Gafill over the last twelve years.
This book serves as a catalog for Color Duets, a museum show which opened in May, 2021 at the Monterey Museum of Art in Monterey, California.