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Did you see the image at the top of this post? It looks like quilts are so popular even the Crane sisters are heading to the door 🤣!

Each year after the Madison show I like to do an overview of all the fun. This year my friend Julie is in the midst of chemo and told me that she was really looking forward to this post, since she can’t attend the show. What a blessing that I can share a bit of it with those of you who aren’t able to attend!

It was a wonderful time to catch up with friends, restock the stash, add new techniques to the toolbox, and BE INSPIRED!!!

I arrived a day early to help hang the ThreadBenders Travel Poster quilts in a special exhibit.

But before I get to our special exhibit ~ I can’t wait to share some news about the AQS show in Grand Rapids that took place this past week. Last year our Travel Poster’s won second place in the Ultimate Guild Challenge competition, and we just found out our current group of challenge quilts ~ Curves Ahead ~ won second place this year!!! Congratulations ThreadBenders!!!

So here are the Travel Posters in Madison:

I just love the artistic banner members of the group made to hang with our quilts (and it was fun to hang them with the ribbon).

During the show I was thrilled to have the opportunity to teach two workshops on my repliqué techniques from my latest book,

and all three of my Silhouettes and Shadows lectures appeared to go over quite well.

In my class on Thursday I noticed a man sitting at the machine in the far left corner. I went over to introduce myself to David and got to meet his sister Barb!

I don’t remember having a brother/sister team in a class before. The next day there was a man sitting in that exact same chair. What a delightful coincidence to meet Wayne and his sister Mary!

I am so blessed to be able to teach and have many, many wonderful students. Saturday morning was free on my schedule and I couldn’t resist taking a class about doodling on quilts with Ruth Ann Berry. She owns a shop in Fife, MI called the Quilter’s Clinic and she specializes in 3D quilt patterns of her own design (I’ll share what I learned in class in a future post).

When I wasn’t teaching or taking a class I was able to see the show. I’ve said it before and I’m sticking with it: the vendors are wonderful and I’m so grateful for all they make available to us at the show. But, as soon as I get through the doors, I head for the quilts. Oh my! The quilts in this show just keep getting better and better!

The ribbon winning quilts did not disappoint, but I love them all. So here’s a quilt parade of some of the quilts that may not have won ribbons, but they made me smile:

The Hayward Wisconsin quilt guild is a great group that my friend Cathy belongs to. She entered their group quilt in the show for the guild and it was fun for all to see. Cathy’s block is the huge muskie statue that resides in Hayward (3 down, 2 to the right).

After enjoying that quilt I came upon Stella and couldn’t resist adding her to my favorites (she’s actually a sturgeon, not a muskie, but I’m kind of into fish art lately):

I’m often drawn to asymmetry and I felt the unexpected borders really made this quilt attractive:

The Quilt of 60 Quilts had a calendar theme and the small quilts were hand cross stitched:

They were so lovely I couldn’t resist a detail shot:

This led me to notice quilts that fit a seasonal theme. Ranae’s Quilt had a Spring like feel to me. I loved the simple pattern, and bright colors:

The color and graphics of Indian Summer are striking ~ and fit my seasonal theme:

From there I found a Winter quilt. Doesn’t this pattern look beautiful in Christmas fabrics?

DNA Helix is a quilt based on the double helix design in every strand of dna in our bodies. Isn’t God’s imagination beautiful?!? Who knew it would make such an amazing bed quilt?! And it’s all paper pieced – WOW!

Fussy cutting can yeild some amazing results. When I first looked at this quilt I marveled at all the appliquéd circles. Then I looked closer and discovered the black and white dots were all printed on their fabrics ~ and fussy cut to fit perfectly (there are colorful fussy cut dots too). Amazing!

My first quilt was a sampler quilt, and I’m always attracted to them. So 365 Day Challenge really grabbed me.

Next I came upon 365 Little Blocks – Wow!

As I read the sign I realized it was made by a friend whom I’ve traveled with. Then, a few quilts farther down the aisle, I bumped into Eileen. What fun to hear about her quilt and catch up!

I was delighted to also find a whimsical sampler of fabrics. Sue had quite a collection of cow fabrics!

And the quilting added to the fun:

I’m not only attracted to samplers, but I have a soft spot in my heart for patriotic quilts too. This one contained both. The sampler blocks are in the blue field of our flag:

And here’s another patriotic quilt that was made from a veteran’s uniforms. Such a wonderful tribute!

I’ve recently been into One Block Wonder quilts and Bathtime is one that was made from 7 repeats of the same panel. It, and the next few quilts, were all ribbon winners. I know I said I wanted to share some of the non-ribbon quilts, but these spoke to me and I just had to share them too.

The 3 Dimensionality of One-Two Punch blew me away. It fit so well with my lecture about shadows. The “threaded borders“ are wonderful too!

The next quilt I actually chose as my viewer’s choice. It’s a small quilt, but the detail is amazing. I had the great opportunity to hear it’s story from Ann herself. I’m hoping to interview her and let you in on some of the details of the making of this quilt – in her own words – in a future post.

I began this parade of quilts by stating that they made me smile, so I want to end with the one that made me laugh out loud ~ My Favorite Murder! Please read the entire story 😁.

I wish I could have shown all the quilts, but space is limited and you can see more on the Great Wisconsin Quilt show’s website (click here) or Facebook page (click here).

I’ve just returned from an exciting and very inspiring weekend at the Great Wisconsin Quilt Show in Madison. I have so much I want to share about the show, but not enough time to have it ready to post today. So… I’ll save it for next week and instead share the story of a recent adventure.

A few weeks ago I posted about having some of my work in an art exhibit at our local library. The information was at the end of my “Photographing Quilts” post and you can read it by clicking here!

At the conclusion of the exhibit an artist’s reception was held. A number of my quilting friends dropped by, along with my daughter-in-law and the kids. What fun! I enjoyed meeting some of the other artists. There was quite a variety of artistic mediums on display, but the artist whose work I found most intriguing is Ed Kasper. He’s a stone carver, and he even offers classes!

I’ve always been fascinated by carvings of any kind. How does a person take a piece of stone or wood, and know what to cut away to bring out the object hidden inside? I met Ed while he was looking at my Czech Aurora quilt.

He began asking me questions about it, and he was very interested in my inspiration and technique (to read about the making of this quilt please click here). I then began to ask him about his work. It was an wonderful conversation.

Towards the end of the reception I found Ed looking at the quilt again and he asked me if I ever sell my work. Now that’s a question! I was so honored to be asked. Over the years I’ve sold a few pieces, but typically I keep them because they all have stories that are dear to me, and I love to share them with others in my classes and lectures.

Then I got to thinking ~ I have a lot of quilts! Perhaps it would be nice to have one of my quilts enjoyed by someone who would appreciate it too. So I set a price and emailed Ed. He agreed 😊. We scheduled a time to meet, and then my mind started racing.

Back in 2006 a woman from Canada wanted to purchase my Repliqué Quilts book, and I couldn’t figure out how to accept payment since I didn’t do PayPal at that time. We decided to do an exchange and it ended up being a great experience. I blogged about the exchange way back in 2010 and repeated the story in 2020 (if you’d like to read about it click here). In essence I shipped my book to Ann in Canada and she sent me two books from her area. It was a delightful exchange!

So would Ed be willing to trade art? I emailed him and he was pleased with the idea! Since Mike and I live on the Rock River I was especially interested in his fish, and Ed agreed to trade his beautiful prize winning rendition of a bluegill for my button inspired quilt.

I asked him to tell me the story and he told me he caught this fish and decided to use it as a model for a piece of art. So he froze it! He would then take it out of the freezer to trace it onto the stone and guide him to carve the details accurately. Amazing! I remember my friend Wendy telling me that her mom would do this with birds she found for her wonderful sketches and paintings.

After I brought my treasure home Mike was admiring it and asked questions I hadn’t thought of. So I emailed Ed once again and here are the answers in his own words:

“The bluegill is a Brazilian soapstone, the brown is driftwood and the dark base is a harder soapstone, like countertop material or flooring. That stone came from Brazil as well.  I am happy that you like the piece, it is a beautiful stone and my goal is always not to detract from God’s handiwork. I hung your piece in my art room so that it will continue to inspire me and challenge my own creativity.” 

I love that he desires his work to honor God. I was so pleased that he also agreed to pose with me for this post:

I have my latest art acquisition on the buffet in the dining room. What a joy!

Have you ever traded a quilt for something other than cash? If so, I’d love to hear about it.

Now I’m off to begin going through all the photos of this weekend’s adventure. Stay tuned.

PS Ed, if you’re reading this, your quilt did win a ribbon at a national quilt show 😊!

I have a wonderful sister-in-law named Mary Sue. Many of you have heard me talk about her before because she’s THE ONE who talked me into taking a quilting class in 1987 and then never finished her first quilt. I couldn’t have chosen a better wife for my brother ~ or sister for me 😁. And I can’t thank her enough for getting me into quilting.

Well, after a successful career in physical therapy she has retired, and this past week we celebrated her big event. The problem was, what to gift her for this special occasion? I finally decided something homemade was the answer, and I chose a Christmas table runner top I’d stitched together a few years ago and have always loved.

As usual, I came up with this great idea the day before the party. So I quickly layered the quilt sandwich and had fun quilting the lovely “stack and whack” stars. I haven’t done a faux piped binding recently so I had to look up the tutorial on my own blog (click here to read it for yourself). The trick is to cut the binding fabric strips at 1 3/8″ and the piping strips at 1 5/8″. This always seemed a bit odd to me, but it makes sense because the majority of the piping strip ends up inside the binding. The photos on my previous post were a bit dark, so here are some new ones:

The two strips are sewn together with the seam pressed towards the binding strip (green on my piece)

Then the strip is pressed in half, wrong sides together, so only a narrow strip of the piping shows.

The binding is sewn onto the back of the quilt with the binding strip against the quilt, piping side up, and using a 1/4″ seam allowance. It is then folded to the front of the quilt and stitched in the ditch, using a color thread to match the piping.

It’s really quite simple and the results are great! I think she liked it 😊!

Congratulations Mary Sue!

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Just a reminder!

I hope you’re planning to attend the Great Wisconsin Quilt Show at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison this week. I’ll be presenting my newest lecture ~ Silhouettes and Shadows ~ each afternoon.

I just noticed that the photo for my morning class was cropped on their website in such a way that it makes no sense. So, here it is with the class description:

Fall Into Repliqué: Learn an entire toolbox worth of techniques for recreating photographs as finished quilt blocks, while making a lovely autumn wall hanging. Three variations of Chris’ technique from her latest book will be covered, plus two block finishing techniques. Class concludes with a simple way to connect small quilts modularly. 

I’d love to have you join me, so if you haven’t signed up yet please click here! Advance registration ends Tuesday!

This week’s post includes a story that I hope you’ll find interesting ~ and it definitely has a quilting connection 😊:

My church supports many missionary families throughout the world and this past Christmas our pastor invited members to “adopt” one of these families. This simply meant we would send them notes of encouragement, birthday cards, etc. The family we chose lives in Hong Kong and is made up of dad, mom and two little girls. I enjoy sending them monthly letters with stories about my family, our dog (the girls love that) and my quilting. After sending them my first few letters I received an email from mom (Susie) asking if I’d ever read the picture book Pieces by Anna Grossnickle Hines.

She said she’d taken it out at their library in Hong Kong and the girls loved the pictures and the poems. Then she realized it was all about quilts, and she knew she had to tell me. I made a mental note to go to my library, but then forgot (the story of my life lately).

This dear family recently came back home to Wisconsin for a visit ~ and we all got to meet. We invited them over for lunch and a swim during the week my grandkids were visiting from Washington State.

Susie asked me what the girls should call me and Mike and I responded, as we usually do with kids at church, “we’d love to be called Grandpa Mike and Grandma Chris”. It’s such fun to have additional grandkids!

We were captivated by their stories of life in Hong Kong and it was a wonderful visit. One of my favorite parts of the afternoon was when Susie gave me a copy of Anna’s book ~ what a treasure!

After they left I thumbed through it and landed on a beautiful page with poems entitled Silhouettes and Shadows. That’s the name of the new lecture I’ll be presenting at the Great Wisconsin Quilt Show in September. What a coincidence! These are Anna’s quilts and poems from that part of the book

I had to sit down and read the entire book right then and there. Anna’s poetry is amazing, and at the end of the book she includes 3 pages about the stories behind the quilts. Anna had written the poetry about the seasons and nature over many years. She came to a point where she thought the poems would be lovely with quilts as the background in a book, and decided to learn to quilt to bring this lovely book to life. Her mother is a quilter and encourager, and a wonderful part of the story. I was amazed at Anna’s skill not only as a poet, but as a quilter too! I think Pieces is a must read for every quilter, and all the children in their lives.

After reading it I couldn’t wait to visit Anna’s website and I discovered I’ve read some of her books to my grandchildren! Anna’s website is as delightful as her books (click here to visit her site), and at the end of her story about the writing of Pieces (click here for that link) there was a photo of the printers who were printing her book in… Hong Kong!

Another coincidence! I knew I had to write Anna to ask permission to feature her work in a blog post, and this was her response:

“Hello Chris,

What a sweet story! I am always delighted to hear that one of my books has touched another heart, and you’ve given me news of several being touched. How fun that you had read some of my other books to your grandchildren! 

You certainly have my permission to share any images from my books or website. I’m sorry it isn’t in better shape, but since I’m retired, and the software with which I created it no longer functions, I no longer maintain it. Still, if a few more people find something to enjoy in my work, that is good news. 

All best to you and to Susie and her family, Anna”

I do hope you’ll read all about her books on her website, and I highly recommend purchasing a copy of Pieces for yourself.

While teaching for a guild in Janesville last year a delightful quilter was kind enough to give me a gift ~ a schnibble bag with a twist.

Cheryl also included her own instructions. As I packed up for my most recent retreat I decided it was time to try to make one myself. So I gathered the supplies,

and I found her instructions to be very good.

When you’re not using the catcher you simply grab the top and bottom, and twist them together so that the padded bottom circle pops up into the ring that had been part of a Pringles container.

Cute, and so useful! If you’d like to make one for yourself ~ I found a video tutorial on YouTube. Click here for the step-by-step instructions!

Thanks Cheryl!

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Also… Connie sent me photos of the “tattoos” she added to her machines – and then I got to see one of them while at retreat together!

Delightful!

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And one more thing…

I’ve heard that quite a few of my readers have visited the red barn sale in Johnson Creek over the past two years.

My friends, Lynn and Amy, continue to add new items ~ and the treasures go on and on. Mike and I were there this past weekend and I decided it was time to share their upcoming schedule for anyone interested. You simply take I94 to the Hwy 26 exit (Johnson Creek/Watertown), head south to Hwy Y and continue south to the barn.

I’d also love to remind you that we have many thrift stores and artisan shops in Watertown. And the Connection Cafe (Hwy 19 on the west side of town) has delicious coffees and sandwiches!

I began blogging in 2010 and one of my early posts was on this very topic (click here to read that post). I’ve changed my technique a bit since then, but the basics remain the same. This won’t be a lesson for professionals, but I hope it will be helpful for many of you who want to enter your work in juried shows, or just want to keep a record of the quilts you make. If your latest project is full size or larger, and you’re not entering it in a show, you may want to simply photograph it on the bed.

For smaller quilts these are tips that hopefully will be helpful:

*Most of us use our phones as our cameras now (quite a change from 2010), and they have built in the “magic” that keeps photos clear without the steadying help of a tripod ~ amazing! But it is still important to hold your phone/camera as still as possible.

*Set your camera for the highest quality because you can always make a photo smaller, but you can’t enlarge it without losing quality.

*Choose a plain background ~ charcoal gray is the best in order to keep the colors true, as in the fabric covering my design wall (this photo is from that original post and it’s a bit fuzzy because the file was too small – duh).

Recently I’ve found I like to lay small quilts on the ground for photographing. The concrete outside or the flooring in my studio are both neutral.

But note the difference the color of the background makes. The gray concrete photo was taken in the shade on a bright, sunny day. While the indoor photo was taken with my new “daylight” fixtures. The gray of the concrete gives me truer color. the warmer flooring color causes my quilt to look a bit yellower.

So what will happen if I take the photo on the concrete in full sun?

The photo has a slight yellow cast, but still looks good. So sometimes direct sunlight is OK.

Another way I use sunlight to my advantage is when I want my quilting to show, especially when taking detail shots to enter in competition. Laying the quilt on the ground, with the sun at an angle (morning or late afternoon) can help accomplish this.

*Keeping the quilt framed square in the photo is another important skill. This requires holding the phone/camera so that the spacing is equal all the way around. The following photo is a good example. Note the edges of the quilt are parallel to the edges of the photo all the way around. This photo can now be cropped to make all the spaces the same size.

It is easy to have the phone/camera rotated a bit, and the result is uneven background spaces:

More often the problem is that the phone/camera is not parallel to the piece being photographed. This results in what’s called keystoning:

And can be fixed by simply holding the front of the phone/camera parallel to the quilt. The image on the left is incorrect, while the one on the right will result in a good photo.

So what is the point? The easiest way I’ve found to get good photos of small quilts is to lay them outside on concrete in a shady area on a sunny day, and hold the camera/phone square and parallel to the quilt.

This can work for larger quilts too – if you can climb a ladder or get on a deck above the quilt so that the photo is taken straight down. Hanging a large quilt from a railing or deck has worked for me too, even though the background is usually busy, and it’s harder to get the lighting correct.

*And one last comment. Watch that your arm or body are not causing shadows across the quilt, especially when taking photos indoors. Be careful not to have the light directly over the quilt or shadows are almost unavoidable. I find it helpful to place the quilt on the floor between two ceiling lights in my studio. That way I get even lighting and no shadowing.

I hope you find this helpful. None of these things is difficult, but they can make a big difference.

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And one more thing…

The Watertown Arts Council is holding a show at our public library. Local artists will have work on display from August 10-17, and I’m pleased to be a part of it. As people enter the main door from the parking lot they’ll be greeted by Lady Liberty:

I have a number of other pieces on display, along with artists who work in a variety of mediums. There will be a reception on Thursday, August 17th from 5-7. Please stop by if you’re in the area.

Back in April I posted about a Dresden plate quilt I’d begun quilting, but I wasn’t sure what designs to use in the background (click here to read that post). So it was set aside ~ and then I met my friend Sharon for her birthday lunch. She lives in Madison, and I live in Watertown, so we meet at Doyle’s Dogs hot dog stand in Lake Mills every few months to catch up. Sharon taught me to quilt in 1987 and has been a dear friend ever since. She hasn’t been doing much quilting lately because of some arthritis issues. What she does enjoy doing now is drawing ~ and is she good!

At lunch she was showing me her little sketch book. There were so many lovely designs and quite a bit of her own Zen Doodling.

I showed her a photo of my quilt in progress:

And asked if she had any ideas for fun background quilting. She said she would be happy to noodle on it. So I mailed her a bunch of black and white copies and waited.

She didn’t disappoint. We met again a week later and she showed me some of her ideas:

Ooh! That was exciting. Now it was my turn. I love collaborating with my friends!

Do I choose one? Use as is or simplify (she gave me permission)? Combine a few designs?

What do you think???

Results to be revealed in a future post 😊!

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And just a fun extra bit of info:

Last night Mike and I watched an old Fred MacMurray movie and it reminded me of a photo I took on a recent visit to Beaver Dam, WI that I never posted. Here’s the background:

There are 2 newer quilt shops in Beaver Dam and on my first visit to them in 2022 I was enthralled by a mosaic of Nancy Zieman made from ceramic squares painted by people who live there (click here for that post).

On a recent return visit I discovered that 2 more mosaics had been added to the wall, and one was of Fred MacMurray who lived there as a child.

Aren’t those mosaics amazing! And who knew Fred had a quilting connection?!? 😁

Before I get to my topic of the week, I have to take a moment to emote over the wealth of talent and information exhibited in the readers of my blog. A few weeks ago I included requests from ladies who had written to me and the response to both was wonderful.

Yvonne found a retreat center, and she thanks you for all the suggestions.

The response to Cara’s plea for making a quilt from wrestling singlets was overwhelming. There were five offers to help from quilters experienced in working with difficult fabrics, and one of them actually lives near Cara in Carson City, Nevada! I’m not sure how it will all come out, but I’ve asked her to share the story 😊. What a wonderful, sharing group you are!

And now for this week’s post:

This past week Lori, Susan and I went on an adventure to the Wisconsin Museum of Quilts and Fiber Arts.

Their current exhibit is spectacular! It’s called Chiku-Chiku and contains the work of Japanese fiber artist Akiko Ike. Her story is fascinating:

Ike further explains Chiku Chiku:

She not only uses a thick cotton thread, but she uses it doubled. This is a close up of two pieces of fabric being overlapped and patched together with her chiku chiku stitches:

When I was in Japan I learned about shibori dyeing, and even did a bit of it (click here for that post). We also learned a lot about indigo dyeing (that post can be found here). This piece, made from a variety of indigo shibori fabrics, also contains bright red patches stitched on in the boro style.

So what is Boro? You probably won’t be surprised that I have a post about my own personal adventure mending with a Boro type technique (click here to read all about it). While on my trip to Japan I purchased a small scrap of authentic boro that was made into a pin, which I wore while at the museum ~ and snuck into this photo:

Ike stitches on garments as well as larger pieces of fabric.

She creates small pieces too. We were delighted by these squares attached to a cord that were hung and laid all over the gallery.

with the extras piled in a corner ~ WOW!

The museum staff did an amazing job of displaying all of her wonderful work. The huge fish in her Koinobori collection were surrounded by her squares.

I had not heard of Koinobori before. Have you?

They are beautiful!

Some of her work was subtle:

Other pieces were colorful and geometric:

and all were filled with her wonderful stitching, even the diapers (yes – diapers) which were strung together and hanging from the ceiling:

Many or her pieces had patches sewn on the top, but some had the patches behind.

Ike had pieces made from ombre type fabrics.

We were very intrigued by this similar work that was stitched on a cheesecloth-like fabric.

It was verrrrry sheer and we wondered what it would have been used for. After chatting we surmised that perhaps panels like this would have been hung as room dividers in Japan. Any thoughts?

I think one of the most interesting aspects of her work was the way she changed her thread color to make the background look as if it had changed color too! Just look at the orange area in the crane piece below. The orange looks like it changes, but does it???

Another term I learned was:

And here’s an example:

The density of stitches on the next hanging blew me away:

As did the entire exhibit. Ike will be teaching a class at the museum and her quilts will be on display through August 27th. I highly recommend a visit!

The museum will also be hosting a virtual auction August 3-7. Click here to visit their website for information on all the happenings there.

The gift shop is filled with wonderful items too. In fact, I was blessed to be able to purchase the last of Ike’s hand made chiku chiku scissors cases, with the scissors.

I treasure it.