clkquilt

Can you guess where I’m posting from?

Yup! We just drove over the “flying geese” bridge to arrive in Paducah for the 2022 show. After 3 years I’m finally here again and very excited. Stay tuned for next week’s post to read all about it 😊.

And now for this week’s topic:

The pandemic pushed me into a semi-retirement ~ and I’m thrilled to be coming out of it! Thanks to all the guilds who have recently booked lectures and workshops with me! My quilts and I are happy to start traveling again.

I’m also missing my regular classes at WCTC, and I’ve decided to head in a bit of a different direction by offering some classes really local. I’ve actually begun teaching in a lovely “Stamping Studio” in Watertown, WI. I realize many of you do not live close enough to take advantage of these classes, but I hope you will enjoy reading about my new adventure in this week’s post.

Lyssa recently opened Song of My Heart Studio to teach paper crafting. She holds classes in scrapbooking and card making and is very excited about hosting workshops in other mediums in her studio. Click here to visit her blog. I love that she is in an old downtown building filled with character and, even though her front door isn’t flamboyant:

the inside is bright, welcoming and inspiring. She has many of her cards for sale ~ and they are amazing (so I’ve decided to buy from her and keep on quilting instead of learning a new addiction 😊).

There’s room for 8 quilters with machines. The lighting is good and I’ll have extra cutting tables and pressing surfaces set up. I will be holding sew days as well as project and technique classes.

I’m calling this adventure: Stitching Together. I’ll be hosting Open Sew afternoons, as well as quilting classes. The first 2 classes I’ll be offering are my Beyond Meandering free motion quilting class

and a Striped Pinwheel Topper.

To read more about the studio and all the class details, please click here!

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I need to add one more topic to this week’s post because of its time sensitive nature. The Wisconsin Museum of Quilts and Fiber Arts currently has an exhibit of quilts from Quilt Nihon in Japan. Mike and I went to see it this past week and it was amazing. It runs through the end of April, so I’m including this for anyone who still can make it to the museum ~ and for anyone who can’t, but would like to get a mini virtual tour. They were all worthy of sharing, but here are just a few of my favorites, with a few close-up photos because the detail is truly amazing!

They were jaw-dropping and even Mike was impressed!

I’ve written recently on the generosity of quilters and this week’s topic is another wonderful continuation of that theme.

Every so often someone lets me know that one of my posts was an inspiration to them and shows me the results. What a blessing this is to me. This time the quilter who greatly encouraged me is Tomi Fay. If her name sounds familiar it’s because she’s inspired a number of posts over the years. My favorite was the one about the Seminole Indians. She shared the history she knew of the Seminole women, the story of her grandfather trading with them, and even found an original doll online which now lives with me. Click here to read that post!

Here’s Tomi’s most recent email:

“You started this! My nephew and his wife are missionaries and I’ve been very involved in supporting their work for 20 years. Each month I tally the donations and so deeply appreciate the support of so many. A couple years ago I decided to thank those people, and I knit little hearts and mailed them out for Valentine’s. This year I was casting about for something to mail out to Brian’s supporters to express my appreciation. 

Do you know where this is going? I saw your blog post about the hearts with the photo. That’s perfect! The photo idea wasn’t useful for this, but the hearts are wonderful! So I dug through my  fabric collection and pulled out all sorts of pieces that would be fun to make into hearts. I made enough to send to Brian’s supporters, along with a hand-written note.“

“But it was too much fun to stop! So I made more. During COVID spring 2020 I felt the Holy Spirit show me that a number of women in our church were truly alone, constrained to their homes. For a number of weeks I made meals and delivered them every Wednesday. If the person wanted me to come in, I did. I just wanted them to know they were not forgotten. Then last Valentine’s I put together treats for the women in my church and neighborhood who are not blessed with a man in their lives – most are widows. This year I did the same again. You can see I made an assortment of muffins, and tied a heart to the top of the box. 

In all I made 77 hearts. It was so much fun! Thank you for a terrific idea!

My blessings, Tomi Fay Forbes”

I’m so grateful for all the dear believers, like Tomi Fay’s nephew and his wife, who give up the comfort of a “normal” life to help those in need and share the Gospel. I feel these missionaries are so deserving of our prayers and support. But not everyone is meant to go on the mission field. We can all do things to bless others. And those who live alone are a special group who do need encouraging. Small things like hearts and muffins can be a big deal to those who are struggling. Thank you Tomi Fay!

If you’ve been inspired to give hearts to encourage others as Tomi Fay has done, you can find the tutorial on the pocket hearts by clicking here! And here are the small hearts she inspired me to make. I haven’t yet decided where I will gift them, but it was a joy to make them ~ and I actually used up a few bright and cheerful scraps from my fishbowl (to read a post about my fishbowl full of scraps click here).

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Happy Resurrection Sunday!

“My life was a purposeless puzzle, until I met Christ at the foot of His cross, and now I’m Puzzled No More!

Salvation – the most wonderful gift!

This post is dedicated to everyone who helped with the “Quilts for Ukraine” effort. At the end of last week Eileen and I stopped by our drop spots and collected up the very tall stacks of quilts. Last Saturday we got together to pack them up for their long trip. They were each beautiful and special.

What fun it was to unfold each one! We decided to roll them up, sleeping bag style, so we could get as many as possible into each box.

Eileen used up her ribbon collection (striving to match the color 😊) to secure the rolls.

And in a few hours they were rolled

and ready for bagging and boxing:

On Tuesday Eileen’s husband and son loaded the truck, and we headed into Milwaukee to meet up with Judy and her team to add our treasures to their trailer-ful of quilts.

After comparing notes the total number of quilts donated was over 170! Thanks to Judy for spearheading this effort and all of her hard work! Eileen and I prayed for Judy and her crew to have safe travels to Chicago, and for the quilts to each reach the person the Lord knows most needs it.

Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you to all who participated. What a blessing to be able to be a small measure of help to many who are suffering so much.

Before I get to today’s topic I want to say a huge thank you to everyone who donated quilts and money for the Ukraine project. We are in the process of packing them up and getting them to Judy. Please be sure to read next week’s blog post for all the details 😃

And now for this week’s post:

My dear friend Sue inspired this week’s topic. She sent me the following comment in an email last week:

“I was at the Mukwonago show on Saturday and once again heard some comments like, “This quilt is gorgeous, why wouldn’t it have gotten a ribbon?”.  I’ve had the privilege of observing some quilt judging and know that there are several factors that must be considered.

I’m hoping that you would consider doing your blog on the subject some time.  I think people would find it interesting and informative.”

Thanks Sue!

Please know that the following is all simply my opinion, but I hope you find it helpful.

I learned to quilt in 1987, when we were living in Sun Prairie, WI. My first quilt was a machine pieced and hand-quilted lap quilt that has been loved a lot, and is quite threadbare now. I was so excited with my finished quilt that I entered it in the Sun Prairie quilt show ~ a very long time ago.

It didn’t win a ribbon, but so many people got to see it and I was thrilled. I still feel that one of the best reasons for quilt shows is to allow others to see our work. Ribbons and awards are nice, but I love viewing all the quilts in the show – not just the prize winners.

As I continued to quilt, I continued to want to share my work and as a result, I have entered many shows. Sometimes I get a ribbon and many times I don’t. To give you an idea of how many shows I’ve entered, these are the ribbons I’ve collected for the quilts that got the approval of a judge 😊:

Please don’t be overly impressed ~ I’ve been collecting them for 3 decades 😁. I especially treasure the ones with hand made tops!

So, why do some quilts get ribbons, and other wonderful quilts don’t? The overly simple answer for most shows is ~ it depends on the other quilts in that category. The first category I judged in Mukwonago last week had 34 bed sized quilts in it. I was told to award 4 ribbons per category: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and honorable mention. That means a lot of great quilts didn’t get a ribbon. The next category I judged had 2 quilts in it. Think about that! A quilt in that category will get a ribbon, but non-ribbon winners in the other categories may be much more complex with better workmanship. Then they hang next to each other in the show and everyone scratches their head, wondering what the judges were thinking.

I must admit I do struggle with this as a judge. I looked at so many quilts last week that were visually delightful, and in which the maker did each aspect of the construction well, but there were other quilters in the category who had done a bit better. When this happens I try to make positive judges comments on the form and, if I don’t see anything that needs improvement, I leave that box blank. That in itself is a form of winning.

I still believe that everyone who enters a quilt in a show is a winner because others can enjoy their work!

Please know that judging quilt shows is the most difficult thing I do in my quilting life. I think most judges feel this way because we strive to base our decisions on the quilt’s merit and not on our own personal opinion. I don’t take the job lightly and I have to try not to agonize over my decisions afterwards, nor let them keep me awake that night.

I have a story to go with that thought. Years ago I judged a local show near West Bend, WI. I was the only judge and there were over 200 quilts. That was a long day. What made it even more of a challenge was that Carol Butzke, a certified judge, amazing quilter, and dear friend, was in that guild. She was a quilt holder that day ~ and I was judging the show with her watching!!! She was very gracious, but I must admit it was a bit intimidating. Well, after lunch a person from their local newspaper came in to take photos and write up a story. Carol sent me a copy for my scrapbook.

At 7am the Tuesday after the show my phone rang and a quilter woke me up to ask me why she didn’t get a ribbon. There’s definitely pressure when judging! Yet I love to see the quilts and if I didn’t really enjoy it ~ I wouldn’t do it 😊.

Here’s another perspective. Each judge, no matter how hard they try to make the best choice, has their own opinions on fabric, color, workmanship, etc. I have had numerous quilts win a first place ribbon in one show and win nothing in the next. I remember one time when I’d entered the State Fair with a quilt I’d made for a “Wisconsin Sesquicentennial” challenge in my guild. I went to watch the judging and I was thrilled when my quilt received a 2nd place ribbon. When the Fair started, a few weeks later, there was a much bigger ribbon hanging from my quilt. A team from Wisconsin Quilters, Inc (our State guild that sadly doesn’t exist any longer) went through the show and selected quilts for their own Best of Show ribbons in four categories … and mine won for best wall quilt! That is a very cherished ribbon indeed!

You even see this happening at the bigger shows. A number of times, when I’ve been at the AQS show in Paducah, I’ve come across quilts without ribbons that I’d seen featured in their magazine a few months earlier because they’d won a ribbon in a previous AQS show.

Some shows have tried to overcome this problem by allowing the judges to assign points based on a grading scale and the point values are set for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place. In this way many ribbons can be awarded in each category. This is a totally different mindset for the judges, and it has its advantages. Yet it’s not for every show, because more ribbons and prize money is needed to cover all the extra winners.

I hope this gives you a bit of a new perspective concerning the title question in this post. Here’s a little more food for thought:

At smaller quilt shows and fairs there is no jurying process prior to the judging. This means that every quilt that is entered gets in, up to the maximum number accepted. This provides great variety in the overall show, and it’s fun to see.

When a person enters a quilt in a National level quilt show, (AQS, IQA and even the Great Wisconsin Quilt Show are all examples) photos must be submitted ahead of time and only those deemed “the best” are accepted into the show for judging. Right from the start the competition is going to be a lot tougher – and oodles of wonderful quilts don’t get ribbons. Often at these shows the comment overheard is “I’m overwhelmed because I could never make any of these quilts, I wish they had some normal quilts in this show”. I kid you not, I’ve heard those exact words many times. You can’t please everyone.

My advice? Don’t make quilts for the sole purpose of winning a ribbon. Make quilts for the joy they bring. Keep on quilting, enter your quilts in shows if that’s something you like to do, and then go and enjoy the show. If you’re not a competitive person ~ go to the shows and ENJOY! At every show I attend I see something that intrigues me and often it gets incorporated in a future quilt. This is a wonderful way to grow in our passion, and improve!

Thanks to all of you who put on quilt shows for us to enjoy. It’s a lot of hard work; a labor of love. And I for one appreciate you all!

PS When the judging was just about finished at last week’s Crazy Quilters show, each of the four judges was invited to choose their personal favorite quilt in the show ~ from those that didn’t have a ribbon already hanging on it. That’s when I chose Mary’s quilt. Please don’t miss the beautiful hand made ribbon topper:

I love that they have us choose from the vast group of un-ribboned quilts. And I’d like to encourage you to do the same the next time you’re at a quilt show. Pick your own viewers choice from the un-ribboned quilts, ask your friends to do the same, then compare notes. It adds some extra fun to the event!

I created the image at the top of this post in Photoshop™ with a free vector (or clipart) of a pirate ship which I downloaded from: https://vectorportal.com/. You’ll see why I’m sharing this information here as you read on 😁.

A while back I was scrolling through Facebook (I’m a looker, but seldom a participant) and was shocked to see this post shared by a friend of mine:

That’s my quilt!!! No really!!! It’s laying over my deck railing! How’d my photo get into this FaceBook ad???

I clicked on the link (which you won’t be able to do in the photo above, since it’s just a screen shot I took with my phone) and searched for “Scrappy Irish Chain”. I discovered that my quilt photograph is not on the site, and someone (I have no idea who – and the Quilt For You site probably doesn’t know either) just used my photo to link to a site with a free Irish Chain pattern. So how did my quilt get in that FaceBook post?

I knew I’d posted about my Irish chain quilt previously, so I had originally uploaded it to my blog. It’s a quilt I designed for the friendship exchange on our tour of Ireland in 2010 (the year I began blogging 😊). This is a photograph of some of our travelers and their quilts from that trip:

A photo of this quilt was originally in a post about autograph quilts from 2012, and you can read all about it by clicking here.

Two years later I used the actual photograph of the quilt over the railing to advertise a class I later taught at WCTC. You can click here for the post in which that photo first appeared, but please be aware ~ those classes were available in 2012 and there are no longer any quilting classes at WCTC 😔.

I do try to be careful to get permission and give credit when I share an image from the internet because it’s the right thing to do. When an image is taken without permission it’s called pirating ~ and now you know why the pirate ship is in the image at the top of this post.

Seeing a photograph of my quilt being used without my permission, made me a little sad. But it really caused me no harm and I learned a valuable lesson – don’t share what isn’t yours without permission ~ and always give credit where credit is due 😁! I’m grateful that God can use things like this to teach me life lessons. I also find that I have lots more to learn 🤣.

I think we can all learn from this! Please be mindful of the rights of others when sharing things on the web and also when sharing quilt patterns.

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And a quick note about a quilt show happening in Wisconsin today (Sunday) in Mukwonago. The Crazy Quilters are holding their show until 4pm on March 27 (short notice – sorry). All the info can be found on their site: https://www.mukwonagocrazyquilters.com/annual-show/

I had the great privilege of being one of the show judges on Friday. I was blown away by all the many amazing quilts. The vendors were set up and looked great also. There’s even an exhibit of ThreadBenders quilts made by the fiber art group I belong to. Here’s just a sample of our exhibit:

As a judge I was given the privilege of putting a judge’s choice ribbon on a quilt at the end of the judging and I chose Hombre Blooms by Mary Raddatz.

There were so many wonderful quilts that I had a difficult time choosing. In the end my passion for gradation fabrics and geometric design led me to Mary’s quilt. I’m not sure if Mary and I have met, and I’d love to hear the story behind the quilt, so if you have any information about it please comment to this post 😊.

I didn’t make it back on Saturday to take any photos of the event to share, but I’m sure it was great!

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And one more thing…

Judy has added an update about the Quilts for Ukraine to her site. Click here to read all about it!

You may remember my dear friend Olivia and the joy I had as I began to teach her how to quilt ~ way back in December. Olivia and her family are missionaries in Estonia and they were here on furlough. They had plans to visit family in California over Christmas and we had to take a break from her lessons. When Olivia and her family returned to Wisconsin in the end of January, she was very excited to get back to quilting (click here to read part 1 of this story). She had completed all of her blocks before she left for California and in her first class in 2022 she sewed them together,

and added the border. Her enthusiasm is contagious ~ and her quilt top is lovely. She’s decided to back her quilt with fleece.

So her assignment was to make a trip back to the fabric store and choose something that would match her quilt top, since she was planning to turn the back to the front in place of a binding.

That was the plan, but when Olivia arrived with her backing fleece we discovered something weird – the width of the fabric, right off the bolt, was not a consistent 60″.

I’ve never seen this before. The width is 60″ at the top of the photo above, but it shrinks towards the bottom to 56″ ~ and it isn’t wide enough to bring it forward as a binding. So Olivia got to learn how to bind a quilt the traditional way 😊. Have you ever had such a drastic width variance with fleece?

Back to Olivia ~ she pinned the layers together and chose to quilt with a serpentine stitch over all the seams. She spent over an hour quilting and once again she didn’t want to stop when her mom came to pick her up (I really love this girl!)

Due to our conflicting schedules we couldn’t get together again for over 2 weeks. So when we did we knew it would be our last time because Olivia and her family were heading back to Estonia soon 😔. We made the most of it starting with a quick time for cookies and catching up. I asked her about her love for creating art and she showed me photos of some of her work which she had on her phone. She especially loves doing portraits and abstracts. I couldn’t resist sharing a few of her favorite pieces here.

I know both her grandmother and Talya and she captured them beautifully. She is a young women of many talents – and she gives God the glory for all of them!

Back to binding. Olivia sewed it to the quilt, turned it to the back, and machine stitched it in place with her favorite Serpentine stitch.

All before her mom came to take her home. The quilt was done in time for a grand finale photo!

I’m going to miss my dear friend and all the fun stitching and conversations we shared. Rumor has it she will be coming back to Wisconsin to go to school at Maranatha Baptist University here in Watertown. What a joy to have her near. Until then I’m praying God will keep Olivia and her family safe in Estonia, and use them to further the Gospel there.

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Quilts for Ukraine update!

Thanks to everyone who has already contributed a quilt and/or money for shipping to this exciting cause. We will be collecting them up until March 31st. If you missed the details please click here!

If you’ve already read this and are back for details – I need to make a correction! Judy is actually looking for larger quilts. Her recommended size is 72″ x 72″. She requested no crib or lap quilts. Her contact in Chicago owns a shipping company and he is from Ukraine, so be assured they will do their best to send the quilts where they will be the greatest blessing. And now for the original post:

My friend Eileen (who was the inspiration behind our mask making efforts in 2020) contacted me with yet another way for quilters to help in a time of great need.

She recieved this email from Judy Gauthier of Bungalow Quilts in Ripon, WI.

“Once again we find people that have been driven out of their homes. The fact is that they are cold. So what do we do as quilters? We solve world coldness! We do, I know we do. You as a community have proven to me that you care so let’s do this again. I can give out free fabric from the sale section of our shop if you will make a simple whole cloth or quilt as you go strip quilt. Come to the Bungalow and get the details. You can receive free fabric for making quilts for Ukrainian refugees. The simplest way to put these together is to do large pieces and quilt as you go. This will save you from having to pay a long-armer, but you do as you feel is the right way, but we have to act quickly. There is such a need.Click here for the quilt as you go instructions. Please consider helping. I will make sure that the quilts get to the shipping company in Chicago so that they are sent to the Ukraine. Cheers!”

Judy was the organizer of the Top Stitch sewing event I participated in last August (to read the posts about that adventure simply type “Top Stitch” into the search bar on my blog). Judy and Eileen are both quilters who GET THINGS DONE! So Eileen called Judy and has offered to collect quilts from quilters in Southeastern Wisconsin.

To read about Judy’s plan on her website go to: https://www.bungalowquilting.com/quilts-for-ukraine/. Judy is requesting quilts measuring about 72″ x 72″, and prefers that they are quilted and not tied.

She has a Ukrainian contact in Illinois and will be driving the quilts to Chicago to be shipped to Ukraine at the end of March, because the need is NOW. Judy is also accepting cash donations for the cost of shipping and estimates it will be well over $1000. She is requesting checks be made out to Bungalow Quilting and sent to: Bungalow Quilting, 646 W Fond Du Lac St, Ripon, WI 54971. Her email is . Also, if you plan to donate a quilt and money for shipping, please send the check to Judy rather than placing it with your quilt for safety purposes.

Eileen has offered to be the collector for quilts from southeast Wisconsin, and she will get them to Judy in time for shipping. So, if you live in southeastern Wisconsin and would like to donate a quilt, they can be dropped off at two different locations anytime between now and March 31st.

The Log Cabin Sewing Company, 12520 W. Hampton Avenue, Butler, Wisconsin 53007. Donica will have a box for the donated quilts in the store. Her website is: https://www.logcabinsewing.com/

The Quilter’s Block, 1532 South Church Street, Watertown, WI 53094. Cory will have a box for the donated quilts in the store. His website is: https://www.thequiltersblock.com/

Thanks in advance to everyone who chooses to participate!

My bug quilt came together nicely. I finished it with a facing and hung it on my design wall with 5 ladybugs in place. Was it done? I’d made 20 small ladybugs in anticipation of placing them on the quilt. Making them was like eating potato chips, I couldn’t stop myself. Should they infest my quilt? I’d hate to waste them, they’re so cute.

Because of the tippy-ness caused by the shanks on the buttons, I couldn’t get a good visual by just laying them out. I asked for a critique from my friends in the ThreadBenders group and got a number of good suggestions. The best was from Lori who recommended I cut circles from red paper and audition some layouts.

Here it is with just the five larger ladybugs attached:

And here are 3 more options using the paper circles for the ladybugs. #1:

#2:

and #3:

I laid out one using 15 of the little ladies and I thought the quilt looked like it had the measles, so I knew 20 would be way too many.

I took it to my quilt retreat and got a lot of opinions there, along with this crazy photo:

taken by my crazy friends:

I wish I could have waited for all of your input, but it needed to be finished before this post would reach you. I was grateful for everyone’s opinions and, in the end, I got to make the final decision. So what did I decide?

I decided five was enough. I was sad about leaving the smaller ladybugs off. They’ll have to wait for a future project.

I could use your help with one last decision. Coming up with a name is driving me buggy. What should I name it?

Bug Bouquet

Insect~themum (like chrysanthemum)

Blooming Bugs

Bugs in Bloom

Call the Exterminator (that was Mike’s 😊)

I’m open to your suggestions. Please vote for one of the above, or send original titles to me as a comment to this post.

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And here’s one last photo in honor of St. Patrick’s Day.

I met Marion at the Winter Quilt show a few weeks ago and she told me about the many quilts she’s made from men’s neckties. Recently she sent me this photograph. She said people just give ties to her, and she must have quite a collection to be able to make a Dresden plate block that so perfectly fits the theme. What a wonderful way to use those crazy ties. Thanks Marion!