When we received the prompt, “cell” back in May, I knew immediately what I was going to do–something with prison or jail cells. Since the prompt came from our German member, Dörte-Ina Liebing, I knew it would fit. The German word for cell, Zelle, can mean prison cell, too

The next step was deciding a color. I don’t have a whole lot of solid colors in my stash, especially not my favorite brand–Art Gallery Solids. That means I have to order fabric for the project.  I can’t tell you how much I love that fabric—it comes in gorgeous colors and it doesn’t ravel much, which is a big deal when you use pieces as small as I do. The song titles Jailhouse Blues and Folsom Prison Blues came to mind, so I ordered eight blue Art Gallery Solids that Peartree Market had.  You just never know when you’ll need just the right shade of blue.

Next I had to think of an idea. I thought about creating blocky people, like I did from my Tribute to Saul piece. I even made the pattern for one. I thought I’d make them and then cut them apart and put them in cells.

Then I start making parts. As you know, I just love the Greek key design, so I made a bunch of those along with some prison cells.

Sometimes I like to hide the name of the quilt in the blocks, so I was to the point where I had to choose the name. I settled on Folsom Prison Blues because I live near the town of Folsom, and drive right by the back of the prison on my way to visit my grandkids (oh yeah, and their parents, too).

If you haven’t heard Folsom Prison Blues by Johnny Cash, you can listen to it here:

After I threw some of the blocks up on the design wall, I decided I didn’t want to add any people.  I would just add wonky steps and ladders to the cells and Greek keys. My composition was coming along, but sometimes I need to add something else to give the quilt some punch. Since the old Folsom Prison tower is so iconic looking, I decided to add it to the piece.

Most of the time I work improvisationally (see my explanation on my Instagram feed), but after trying a couple of improve designs, I used the computer to sketch another option for the tower. As much as I love the Greek key, I didn’t like this roof with the keys. I still have that roof in case it’s needed in another project.

Here’s the completed Folsom Prison Blues and a detail.

Folsom Prison Blues
Deb Cashatt
Dimensions: 40″ h x 43″ w
Material: Commercial cotton
Technique: Machine pieced, machine quilted