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It’s small challenge reveal time again in the ThreadBenders art quilt group. We have a number of these challenges each year to inspire us to try new things, and this time it was really fun to see what came of it.

The rules: The quilt must be made up of at least 25% paper. There needed to be some quilting through the layers and the size: a maximum of 24″ in both directions, or an item that would fit inside a 24″ cube.

All the pieces are posted on our group site. Click here to see the collection. And here’s the story of my quilt:

It began in Japan. A number of us arrived in Tokyo a few days early for our Pieceful Travels tour in January 2020. Cindy arranged for us to take a paper making class at a shop/studio in Tokyo. It was a blast!

And we each walked away with our own piece of handmade paper:

I discovered that paper making was not something I was good at, but I did buy a beautiful piece of paper in their shop, and that was my inspiration for this challenge. I saw a woodland scene in it and so I cut the paper in half, stuck a piece of Press and Seal™ on it, and started sketching some trees and a path over the piece on the right. I like to use a “wipe off marker” so I can adjust the design until I’m happy with it.

Next, I used my final sketch to make trees and a path with fusible web and fabrics. The path is a gradation fabric that added to the depth of the piece.

Once the “woods” was constructed I realized the path needed life, so I found a clip art couple, resized them, and added a bit of romance by fusing them on in fabric too.

I layered everything with a piece of black wool felt and a backing fabric, put it in a hand quilting frame, and stitched it together along the trees and the path with a “big stitch” (long quilting stitches). The quilt then told me embroidered flowers were needed; some close and some further away (I always listen to my quilts).

To finish I decided I wanted to tear the paper away and expose some of the felt around the edges. This required me to tuck a bit of fusible web between the paper and felt all the way around to seal the edges. The outline was quilted and then I was able to tear the excess paper away.

Finished!

I’m very pleased with the results and found working with paper in a quilt can be a lot of fun!

I hope you will visit the ThreadBenders site to see all of the fun works!

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And one more thing…

Back in April I introduced you to my friend Julie (click here to visit that post). I shared about all of her wonderful talents, but sadly I had to end the post with the news that she had recently been diagnosed with cancer. She’s in the midst of chemo now and is facing it with her usual positive attitude. We’ve stayed in touch and pray together regularly. She tells me that she looks forward to my blog posts and, after reading last week’s post about my jewelry wreath, she sent me a photo of a jewelry tree she’d created years ago.

Julie said it holds many memories of her sister and others who’s jewelry she’d inherited. She also said she had plenty of jewelry left for another tree. I think it’s beautiful!

And by the way ~ Julie was in that paper making class with me in Japan. She’s the one in the upper left of the photo at the top of this post. Thanks for sharing your jewelry tree Julie!

This story is destined to continue since last week’s post inspired my mom to go through her jewelry again and she found even more pieces she’s ready to have made into something. Stay tuned!

A quick update from last week’s post: I discovered later in the week that the link to Kari’s Facebook page didn’t work. If you are still interested in getting tattoos for your own machine you can click here to find them on the site of the originator of those fun decals.

And now for this week’s post:

I’ve had the wonderful opportunity to present my Tradition With a Twist lecture twice in the past month. In it I get to share a number of my antique quilts along with my own quilts which are an original variation of the traditional patterns. It is a joy to share my quilts and their stories and I’ve made a jacket to go along with the lecture that contains arcs that never became a double wedding ring quilt.

At both lectures I was asked about the jewelry I’m wearing. I’d respond with this story: When my mother-in-law passed away in 2013 I inherited her costume jewelry. There were many lovely pieces and these pins and earrings were among them. The earrings are clip (and so I usually am happy to remove them after the lecture ~ how did we ever wear them for any length of time?), and even though I thought they were very pretty, they weren’t in a style I wore often. But when the jacket was done I knew they were the extra touch this outfit needed.

As I shared my story with these ladies I would also tell them that many of the pieces I inherited, along with jewelry from my mom and grandmothers, became part of a jewelry wreath I made the same year Mike’s mom passed away. As I described the wreath these dear woman all responded by telling me they weren’t on my blog back then and they’d like to read about it.

So here’s that post from 2013. It isn’t about quilting, but there are “pins” involved, and I hope you’ll enjoy it!

JEWELRY WREATH

When my mother-in-law passed away this past January, I inherited a jewelry box filled with costume pieces not claimed by any other relatives. There were many clip earrings and a lot of things I would never wear, but I couldn’t part with because they were mom’s, and some pieces were from her mother and grandmother!

A friend said she was collecting costume jewelry at rummage sales in the hopes of making a wreath. I found that idea very appealing and did a quick Pinterest search for jewelry wreaths. A few pictures came up and the one that grabbled me was done in mainly white, gold and silver. So, I called my mom and asked if she had any old jewelry she would be willing to part with. She had pieces of her own, plus jewelry from both of my grandmothers, my great-grandmothers and a great aunt!

Next I went through my own jewelry box and unearthed charm bracelets from years ago. I hadn’t worn them for years, so into the wreath pile they went. I then raided Mike’s jewelry box and found the ID bracelet I gave him when we were dating, and both our class rings. He also had many tie tacks, award pins collected over his flight career, and a few treasures that had belonged to his father.

I was excited. At JoAnn’s I found a straw wreath, thin florist’s pins, and a couple of spools of wide satin ribbon. I wired a hanging loop to the back, wrapped the wreath in ribbon (and a bit of leftover lace) and let the fun begin! Are you ready to see it :-)???

The locket hanging at top, center belonged to Mike’s great-grandmother. It is rather chunky and ornate, and we were assured by a jeweler that it’s value was only sentimental. Still, it makes a lovely focal point. Here are a few close ups of the rest of the wreath:

The zebra pin in the next photo was my maternal grandmother’s. I remember being allowed to wear it on special occasions when I was a child.

Mike’s father had been a naval aviator and the tie bar below was his.

Some of my memory charms dangle over Mike’s volunteer firefighter badge on the right side of the wreath.

A variety of pearl necklaces and chains are wrapped liberally around the wreath.

This project was a joy and resulted in an heirloom my family will hopefully treasure for generations.

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So that was the post. I really thought I’d only hang the wreath at Christmastime, but I love to look at it and have found it a permanent home in our bedroom. So many memories! Do any of you have projects where you’ve rescued family treasures? Please send photos!

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And one more thing:

I still have a few openings in my Clever Curves class in Watertown on Monday, June 26th. It looks so much more difficult than it really is and the technique can be used to add pizazz to whole circles and just about any curve you can imagine; in addition to the quarter circles in the class project.

It’s a great technique to add to your toolbox 😊.

Please click here for all the information!

After meeting Claudia in the Finkel building in Paducah (I introduced you to her in last week’s post), I continued down the vendor aisle and met Kari. She owns a shop and custom quilting business in Anna, Ohio (click here to visit her site).

We started talking and as I looked around her shop I came upon a crazy green featherweight. I love featherweights and I love green. It was gorgeous!

I asked her if she had it custom painted and here’s her story (I’m paraphrasing):

Kari found this machine for sale on the internet and fell in love with the color, but she knew she really didn’t need another featherweight, so she passed it by. But she kept thinking about it, and thinking about it, and she even told a good friend about her obsession with the green machine. Her friend told her to just buy it because she obviously wanted it. Kari put it off a while longer and finally decided she had to have it, only to discover it had been sold. She was so disappointed ~ until her friend stopped by and handed it to her 😁. Now that’s a GOOD quilting friend!

After hearing her story I asked her about the beautiful designs on her featherweight, and she told me her machine had tattoos. They are actually decorative decals that Kari carried in her booth ~ and I knew I had to have them! She had a number of different patterns, but the one she’d chosen was my favorite too. I bought a pack and couldn’t wait to tattoo my own machine. Kari reminded me to check out her van in the back parking lot when I left and it was worth hunting down.

As I began to unpack after our return from Quilt Week, I found the tattoos and dropped everything. They are removable but not reusable, and they went on easily. You may remember I decided to name my machines after my grandmothers, (Mike’s and mine) because my friend Cathy suggested it on our trip to the UP of Michigan. So Aletta was first:

She looked as beautiful as I’d hoped. Then Ardis was next:

Delightful! At this point I could tell that Irma was feeling left out, and she had the largest areas to fill. So it was her turn:

Doesn’t she look just like one of those designer machines? How can a person have this much fun for under $30. But wait, Selma went all the way to Paducah with me. I couldn’t leave her out.

At this point I thought I was done, and I had one small tattoo left. Hmm. I looked across the room and saw my HQ Sweet 16. She didn’t have a name or a designer touch. So I christened her Melvina after the only great-grandmother I’d known, and she got the last pretty piece. It may be small, but whenever I look up at the screen I smile. (I think she may be winking at me)

Now all my girls match!

I didn’t find the decorative decals (tattoos) on Kari’s site, but she recently posted on her Facebook page about them and I’m sure you could get them if you got on her page.

The maker of the tattoos is Urban Elementz and you can click here to find the tattoos on their site.

If you decide to tattoo your machine please send me a photo ~ and the story!

If we take a right turn out our front door at the place where we stay in Paducah, we are looking at a very old and very pink building.

Finkel’s Fair Store opened in 1918 and was one of the biggest retail stores for its time in downtown Paducah. The store closed in 1990, and was a house of God for the “Free Spirit Biker Church” until they outgrew the building. For an interesting history of the building click here. 

It’s a great place to find vendors during Quilt Week. Early in the week I met Darlene and I shared a bit about her and her wool business in last week’s post. The day I met her I ran out of time to visit all the vendors, and so I went back to the Finkel building on our last full day at the show to check out the rest of the booths, and I was so glad I did! As I walked past the windows I spied a quilt with a cross pattern and I knew I needed to check out that booth.

This time I entered through the door on the right and was happy to see the only dogwoods in Paducah.

Like Wisconsin, Kentucky had an unusual heat wave in April and everything bloomed early. We did see some dogwoods in bloom in central Illinois on the way down – but that is not the usual.

I met Claudia Lash in the first booth to the right. Her quilts were bright and fun, and we had no idea how much we have in common – just wait!

As we began to talk I noticed the stitches on the fish quilt in front of me.

When I asked her about it she said that it was a really fun pattern because the cut-aways from one fish become the motifs on the next. Once all the fish are fused together, the fancy machine stitches make them beautiful! She has patterns and videos and you won’t want to miss a visit to her site. Click here to visit Presto Avenue Designs. She said she’ll be vending at the Great Wisconsin Quilt Show in September and I encouraged her to apply to teach too.

Then I began to really look at her quilts and I stopped “dead in my tracks” when I saw her birdhouse quilt.

It was made in pieces and put back together with beads. I turned and said “I do the same technique and I call it Crossings”. I explained why I call it that and then remarked how amazing it is when two people get the same idea. We decided we both have the same crazy type of brian. That’s when her husband said: “Ecclesiasties 1:9 “There is nothing new under the sun””. We laughed. Then she told me the cross quilt in the outside window was hers. What a blessing!

I continued to look around the booth while we talked and was stopped a second time by her “Family Quilt”. She made individual finished small quilts and connected them to make her version of what I call a “Modular Memory Quilt“!!!

Claudia used beads for her connections, while I use a different technique, but the idea is the same again! Talk about having similar brains! Her unique twist is that the fabric frames around each actual photograph is a loose flange the the photo slips into. Thus they can be changed in a different way from my block rearranging technique. We are creative sisters!

Again – I highly recommend you check out her site for all her patterns and tutorials. Her blog is very informative and her husband even shares his musing on her blog as Grampy Lash. I enjoyed many of his posts. My favorite was about his father. Please click here to read it.

Next week I’ll introduce you to another great vendor in the Finkle building, Kari, who got me to like tattoos! Stay tuned.

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As I was writing up this post I received an email from Beth Helfter, the teacher of the Flying Frankies class. She asked her students to sign up for emails from her ~ and I did. The one she just sent was so good, and I can’t find it online to link you to it, so I’ll post a portion of it here because I found it a very encouraging perspective on the condition of quilting in America today 😊. Thanks to Beth for the following (I bolded some portions for emphasis):

Thank you for allowing me to share my knowledge and enthusiam while always sharing yours right back.

Unfortunately, my high from these two events was short lived, as only hours after I got home from Paducah the cancellation of Vermont Quilt Festival was announced. As it was my next regional show on my calendar, the sudden closure left a gap in both my schedule and in my 2023 estimated income, both of which are not fun. I have no inside knowledge of the reasons the show was cancelled. I’m as sad as everyone else. But allow me to speak to something I think we all need to consider, as whenever something like this happens I hear a lot of “Well, younger people aren’t quilting anymore,” and “Quilting is dying off,” and “Shows can’t draw crowds because there aren’t as many quilters as there used to be.” Most guilds I visit someone at some point says apologetically (when there is no need to apologize) “Well, we are an older crowd.” I am no expert, but as someone who meets a ton of quilters every year as my actual job, guess what? Every guild is “an older crowd” (like 60s, people, which is the new 37) and ALWAYS HAS BEEN. Quilting itself is alive and well and to be perfectly honest, the guilds I visit and my classes look exactly the same in average age and skill sets as they did when I first started traveling and teaching almost 20 years ago. Why? Because think about it – How many people do you know who may have dabbled earlier but took up quilting in earnest when they retired and had time? I can probably name 10 I know personally right off the top of my head, and about a thousand more I’ve had in class over the years. Why? Because now they have the time and energy and resources they may not have had earlier. And they are the ones jumping into guilds, making the average guild member age hover in the early to mid 60s, twenty years ago and now and probably twenty and fifty years from now too. This is not to say we don’t have plenty of younger people quilting, because we do. Honestly, there are TONS of younger designers out there now who are blowing up Instagram and TikTok and are as enthusiastic as the other generations. There are 28 year olds and 82 year olds in most guilds. There are 28 year olds in classes at shows and 82 year olds right alongside them. As people age out of the average due to various reasons, new ones are aging in. The plethora of Barbaras and Marys and Donnas I would see in class 15 years ago are now Kathys and Lindas, and you know pretty soon it will be Kristens and Jennifers. It’s the circle of life, even in quilting. Sure, there are factors that make some of the shows end. But do we really believe it’s because we don’t have quilters anymore? I personally don’t think so. There may be lots of reasons shows struggle, but lack of quilters? Hard to imagine from my view of the industry.

We loved the quilts and vendors at the show last week, but there is so much more to Quilt Week in Paducah. Since we live on the second floor of an old building downtown, we really enjoy exploring Lower Town. The architecture is captivating and it’s such an artsy area.

The Art Guild of Paducah’s shop was just a few doors down from where we stay. Last year I shared a bit about the bowls available there and their maker who did a wonderful demonstration of how she makes them. This year we met Patience and were fascinated by her felted animal demonstration. Here she is adding eyes to a mouse.

I was enthralled by her self portrait:

She had so many wonderful critters available at the beginning of the week, but by Friday, when I remembered I wanted a photo, these were the only ones waiting to be adopted.

Cathy purchased my favorite chipmunk pincushion, and was kind enough to send me a pic:

If you think you might want to do a bit of wool felting, Patience’s daughter has a site where we can learn to felt critters of our very own. Click here to visit Sarafina Fiber Art. I think I may need to watch some of her videos, order a few supplies and give animal felting a try.

And speaking of wool… we found a vendor booth in the pink Finkel Building with beautiful hand dyed wool available.

Darlene dyes all the wool herself and designs her own patterns.

We had a delightful conversation. Her business is named One Wing Wool and she’s in the process of opening a shop in St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin.

Until her shop is open you can find all of her wonderful products at: http://www.onewingwool.com/ (stay tuned for more on the Finkel Building next week).

No matter where the Lord leads me, I’m always open to learning new things; and when at shows I love signing up for lectures and workshops. Last year my friend Susan told me about a new technique called Accordion Sewn HSTs. She said it was a way to stitch half square triangles so that every square was different – no “twin blocks” like we get when sewing two squares together along both side of the diagonal. I thought it was brilliant, so when I heard that the originator of this technique was going to be teaching in Paducah, I couldn’t wait to sign up.

The morning of the class I decided to walk down to Etcetera for a glass of bubble tea.

While sipping happily I got to talking to the woman at the next table and found it was no other than Beth Helfter ~ the teacher of the workshop I was taking that night. We really connected and I couldn’t wait for her Flying Frankies class.

Beth’s brain works in strange and mysterious ways and we were all amazed at how she came up with this fun technique. Here Cathy and I are laughing with the teacher. I’m holding an accordian strip made in class (it was made by the quilter sitting near us and I grabbed it with permission for the photo ~ that’s why we’re laughing).

Once the strip is made the triangles on the ends need to be stitched together, making a tube. This accordion tube made a lovely crown for April who sat across from us and gave us the queen’s wave 🤣.

Next the triangles are cut apart, trimmed (with a great new ruler) and pressed. Click here to learn more about Beth and her products.

A few days later I took a class with another talented teacher, and a dear friend, Heidi Proffetty. You may remember how Cathy and I met her last year (click here to read about it at the end of my post about classes from last year’s show). This year I HAD to take a class with her and she did not disappoint. Her attention to detail was wonderful, her kits were amazing,

and many of us got our poinsettia quilt top done in the 3 hour class (Heidi is second from the left). Click here to visit Heidi’s site.

It was one of the best classes ever, and she was available to join us for lunch afterwards at Flamingo Row. What a blessing!

I also met some very interesting vendors, but their stories will have to wait until next week’s post. I marvel at all the wonderful people I meet, and fun things I get to do each year in Paducah. Praising the Lord for His many blessings.

And, speaking of taking quilting classes…

I’ve scheduled a few of my own classes at a lovely little shop in my hometown of Watertown, WI. I hope you’ll want to join me!

Upcoming Classes

Railroad Crossing

Do you have a lovely larger print fabric that you can’t bear to cut into small pieces? If so, this lap quilt may be the perfect project for you. We’ll begin by cutting a large print fabric into large squares, and then framing them with a colorful sashing that appears to weave over and under itself. This is a fun strip-pieced quilt, with a 3D element, that allows a beautiful fabric to shine. Quilt finishes approximately 50″ x 60″

When: Monday, June 12, 2023 from 9am – 1pm

Cost: $25 ~ Pay in class, but you must sign up with an email to or text to (262)719-5018 to secure your spot.

Clever Curves

Get the look of curved piecing without piecing any curves! Appliquéd bias strips make it easy, and add a bit of pizzazz! This delightful wall quilt finishes 30″ x 38″

When: Monday, June 26, 2023 from 9am – 1pm

Cost: $25 ~ Pay in class, but you must sign up with an email to or text to (262)719-5018 to secure your spot.

Supply lists will be sent at time of sign up.

Stitching Together

In this Open Lab style class quilters are welcome to bring whatever project they want to work on.

Do you have a pattern you’re hesitant to start on your own? A project you’ve started and have hit a roadblock? A UFO (unfinished object ~ or ultimately fabulous opportunity) that you would have more fun finishing with friends to encourage you? Or a project in your mind that you want to make, but aren’t sure where to start?

If so, join in and we’ll stitch together! Bring your project and all necessary supplies. I’ll provide irons and ironing boards, a large cutting table and mat, and loads of encouragement. I’ve been teaching open lab classes for years, and creative problem solving is one of my favorite things to do. In this class I’ll also demonstrate my favorite way to apply a “no-end” binding.

When: Monday, July 10, 2023 from 12:30-3:30

Cost: $15 ~ Pay in class, but you must sign up with an email to or text to (262)719-5018 to secure your spot.

For location and more information please click here to visit my Stitching Together page.

Each year we know we’ve arrived in Quilt City USA when we cross over the “flying geese bridge” above, and what a wonderful trip it’s been!

Cathy, Cindy and I left Watertown last Sunday morning and had a lovely sunny, ride to Paducah (I’m posting this while riding in the car on our way back to Wisconsin). We moved into our second floor on Market Square and set up the machines.

On Monday we had a great time hanging the wall quilts and pinning the miniature quilts into their cases. It is such a joy to be able to see these amazing pieces up close (this is a photo of the miniature display during the show).

Monday evening Linda flew in from Florida and the gang was together. We had some free time on Tuesday and decided to have lunch at Patti’s Settlement in the Land Between the Lakes. It was a lovely half hour drive from Paducah and the food was delicious.

The local quilters were hosting a quilt show that started Wednesday, but they let us in a day early and we were thrilled.

They had many lovely quilts:

and some nice vendors too!

I thought you might enjoy a few of my favorites from the show. I apologize for not having the names of the makers, but the signage wasn’t yet pinned to the quilts. I’ve always loved the seven sisters block:

And these tall ships set in a Baltimore Album style quilt were lovely.

I was able to peek at the label on this one and it was called Rosie’s Week’s Work by June Culvey. What a lovely set for these embroidered and appliquéd dish towel Sunbonnet Sues.

The birds and flowers in circles around the quilts and the yo-yos in the star blocks were wonderful. Don’t you just love the use of 30s fabrics and gingham?

We were so happy to have happened upon this delightful show and the equally delightful women who were hanging it.

That night we attended the Awards Banquet to kick off the AQS show and it was great fun.

The first day of the show I was pleased to see a collection of my friend Klaudeen Hansen’s quilts, hung in a tribute exhibit.

To see photos of the winning quilts you can visit the AQS Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/AQSonline/. As usual, I like to share a few of my favorites, some of which were not prize winners, yet they spoke to me. Here they are in no particular order.

Declaration of Independence – Voices of Freedom by Nancy Prince and Terri Taylor is a large wall quilt. Each of the men’s garments were made separately and then added to the quilt. It was stunning.

Cherry Blossom was a bed sized quilt and it featured 640 different dolls with amazing detail.

Fascinating!

I found two the large wall quilts made with One Block Wonder blocks. I’ve been quite interested in this pattern lately and love to discover the interesting ways their makers put the blocks together. In the one I made for my great-niece (featured at the end of last week’s post), I added triangles to separated the hexagons and make them shine. In Hidden Stars, Anne Marcello added diamonds and triangles in fun and interesting ways.

And Judy Beskow made a lovely field of flowers with her hexagons in Bluebonnet Splendor

Oh My Stars by Karen Hampton has a bit of a OBW look, but is made from a different pattern and a lot of stripes. I really liked the color palette.

Lullaby in 3/4 Time by Barbara Clem is a lovely hand quilted appliqué quilt,

and her quilting pattern fit the appliqué beautifully!

I seem to be drawn to more traditional patterns this year. DeVine Stars by Megan Largas had a traditional feel, even though the setting for the piecing and appliqué was rather non-traditional.

Then there were the wall quilts. Summer Solstice in Antarctica really tickled me. I loved Joan Peirner’s use of ombré fabric, along with the stitched rays and whimsical penguins.

Karen Lambden’s Spiral Vortex was so 3D. I was intrigued by her placement of all the circles, even in the borders.

Stars in the Garden by Marilyn Larson and Barb Simons was another traditional pattern ~ with an amazing “Threaded Border”.

The tree and checkerboard in Early Morning Mist by Betty Deemer were an extremely effective frame for this lovely scene. I was surprised to read that it was a panel.

There were so many more quilts I’d love to share, but this post is getting a little long. Next week’s post will be about classes, vendors and more. What a blessing it was to be able to be in Paducah with good friends once again!

Many years ago I made a quilt for the New Quilts From an Old Favorite contest at the National Quilt Museum that was based on the traditional Dresden Plate pattern.

I decided it would be fun to fussy cut the petals in each plate from a single beautiful batik fabric and fuse them to a hand-dyed black background. The spaces between the petals made the plates look like stained glass windows and thus the name ~ Dresden Plate Glass Window!

Whenever I make a quilt like this I try to challenge myself to try new things. So… this quilt was made from just 2 different fabrics: the black hand-dyed background and a very colorful batik that I fussy cut to get the colorways in each plate. The background was heavily free-motion quilted with neon threads to achieve the variety of color in the background squares. It was a lot of fun to make!

Her samples were delightful, and I just knew I needed to try this tool out for myself. Click here to visit Jerriann’s site and see her quilts, tools, videos, and patterns.

I purchased her templates, after having a delightful conversation with her husband who let me pick a “Bible verse of the day” from the a basket he had sitting next to him. I took the templates with me to our June retreat, along with a lovely gradation fabric and a pretty floral that seemed to go well with it. While there I made a bunch of plates, with the windows cut out and the edges pressed under. I loved the process. The templates are clear and make it easy to fussy cut whatever you want to place in the windows of the plate’s “petals”. They are then glued in place with Elmer’s school glue. It’s a great technique.

Once the plates were made I laid them out on the same gradation fabric. And all too soon the retreat was over.

I really loved the project, but when I got home it all ended up buried in a pile. I unearthed it when I unpacked my studio this past January. It was the perfect time because I was able to take them to our most recent retreat, choose a lovely placement, and stitch them to the background.

Then I was stumped. The Dresden plates were stitched in place, but what should go in the center of the plates? In the photo there are holes in each plates center. I didn’t have any more of the white floral fabric. I thought I might try machine embroidering circles with designs similar to the floral, but nothing I placed in the centers looked right. So I took it to a ThreadBenders meeting and got some great input. The centers showing in the photo was the background peeking through each plate. So my friends suggested I cut the fabric away from behind the plates and make the centers from those fabrics. It worked!

Then it was time to layer my quilt sandwich. It was here I realized that all the windows were still only held in place by glue ~ YIKES! So I pin basted the sandwich well:

And started quilting down the blue fabric around each window.

I really want to quilt the background in an exciting way, but I havn’t figured that out yet. Any suggestions?

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Also, we were blessed to be together with my Dad’s side of the family for Easter and we got to meet Kevin and Alex’s new daughter Breen. Here’s a photo of the family with Breen’s quilt. Her sister Roan is wearing the bucket hat I made to match the quilt 😊.

Children are such a blessing! As is all family!

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And one more quick note for those in southeastern Wisconsin. The Rock Valley Quilt Guild in Janesville is bringing Sally Manke here for a lecture and workshop. This is one of my favorites of her quilts ~ and it has dresden plates!

I took her Confetti Landscape workshop last year in Paducah and it was great! (click here for that post). Sally will present a trunk show on Tuesday evening, May 16th; and the workshop will be on Wednesday. Guests are welcome. Please contact Sandy Kohls for more information:

Confetti Landscape

xxx

I met Julie when we traveled together to Japan in the beginning of 2020. We all had a wonderful time, but on our last day Julie received a call that her husband was in the midst of a serious health problem. She was obviously distraught and we prayed together. Everyone made it home safely, and her husband Rick has completely recovered ~ praise the Lord!

Since then Julie has taken a few of my classes, and we’ve kept in touch. A few weeks ago she invited me over for lunch and to help her brainstorm a graduation quilt for her grandson. We had a lovely day and I finally got to meet Rick. Their home is fascinating. It’s a large, older stone home on Big Cedar Lake, with many rooms, nooks and crannies. She said it was in bad shape when they purchased it, but they have made it a beautiful and comfortable retreat. A perfect showcase for her amazing crafts. Julie is an artist and a true crafts-woman, as well as a collector of lovely things. Not only is she a quilter and a collector of quilts, but she has many other fields of interest as well. I really enjoyed my tour. She had quilts everywhere. Even on the floor!

As soon as I saw it I jumped into “quilt protector” mode, and started to try to persuade her to pick it up. She kindly told me that she didn’t have much wall space, and they were her quilts to enjoy however she likes. I had to agree, and I must admit it did look lovely there. (please be kind with your comments 😊).

There were many bedrooms and all with Julie’s handmade quilts. She told me her sons played many sports growing up and she spent a lot of time at practices and games, so she started hand appliqueing stars ~ and three quilts resulted. Here are two:

She had other quilts of her own making and some lovely antique pieces also:

Each one had a story. And you know how much I love stories!

Julie is also an accomplished rug braider,

as well as a wool rug hooker. In this room the quilt was quilted as a whole cloth quilt with evergreen trees, and then she designed the rugs to match on either side of the bed.

Then we headed up past the teddy bear on the stairs.

Her original designs amazed me more and more as I went from room to room. This is her version of their lake:

And this one is of children playing in it:

My favorite quilt was on her bed. I think the central mariners compass had something to do with it.

It looked lovely with the rug she made of their home to celebrate their 50th anniversary, sailboat and all:

As we came back downstairs I discovered she even makes totes out of bird seed bags. What a wealth of creativity!

At this point in the tour we had lunch and… she’s also a wonderful cook 😊. Rick joined us and we shared good food and great conversation.

Now came the best part ~ a visit to her studio downstairs. Julie also makes Nantucket baskets like the ones on the shelf at the top of this blog post. She has many others hanging from the rafters.

Now it was time for Julie to bring out some t-shirts and fabrics she wanted to use in her grandson’s quilt ~ and we began to brainstorm. Decisions were made, notes were jotted down, and time flew. All of a sudden it was time for me to head back home. What a delightful day!

I hope I helped her and I know she inspired me.

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I now need to add “the rest of the story”

That was a few weeks ago and I was so looking forward to sharing this wonderful story with all of you. Then I got an email from Julie recently saying she had a health issue that showed up suddenly in the time since I was there. The diagnosis is cancer and she is quite uncomfortable.

In Japan I was praying for her husband’s health. This time I’ve been praying with her, and for her, for her own health, ~ and for Rick too. I know Julie is the type of person who has made the most of every day of her life, and her positive attitude will get her through these difficult times. I am so grateful to have the privilege of praying for my dear friend and, if you are a person of prayer, would you please pray for my dear friend too? She’s already had surgery and is waiting for test results as she recuperates. It’s a very invasive type of cancer, so we’re all praying she won’t have to have chemo and radiation.

God bless you Julie. Many are praying with you!