Will the real Jackie Robinson please stand up?

When we say "Jackie Robinson," do you picture the baseball player or the quilter? Or both? It turns out there is a connection, besides just a well-known name. 

"All Stars" designed by Jackie Robinson;
featured in Easy Quilts fall 2013 issue.

Read on as Jackie talks about her baseball quilt made using Bristol Bay Studios' Who's on First collection and featured in the fall 2013 issue of Easy Quilts magazine.

We've got to ask. Your name is Jackie Robinson, and you made a baseball quilt. The other Jackie Robinson, the baseball player, is one of the game's esteemed figures. Is there a connection?

Actually, I was named before he became famous. But it's because of him that I kept my maiden name (Robinson). He's someone to be very proud to share a name with; he's a fine man. My dad's name is Jack. He went by Jackie also when he was a kid, so I sort of became a ''junior." I'm an only child and I think my parents wanted a namesake.

But you did have another good reason to make a baseball quilt, didn't you?

Yes. My son, Serge, is quite the baseball fan. He made it his goal to visit every single [Major League] ballpark. It started because he traveled for work, and if he was in a city with a ball team, he'd go to a game. I made this quilt right around when he completed his quest.

Tell us about your quilt design.

I wanted to use the panel. Those six blocks in it were fun. The quilt looks like square in a square design, but it's actually just squares and hourglass blocks. Easy to put together.

How did you choose which fabrics from the Who's on First collection to use?

The baseballs for the outer border were a given—they had to be used in the quilt. The plaid was the perfect background, and it's small enough that the lines in the plaid don't have to match up.

Click here to see the entire Who's on First collection.

Click here to learn more about Jackie and her work. 

Click here to find Easy Quilts magazine and the kit for this project.

p.s. Later this week we'll be sharing Jackie's newest fabric line, "He Still Loves Me," and she'll fill us in on who still loves her (besides all of us quilters!).

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