Blog

I’m having to make a change in how I send out emails for my blog. The first thing I want you to know is:

I will still be posting every Sunday, and whether you receive an email from me or not you can always see my most recent post (and all the rest) by going to www.chrisquilts.net/blog.

You should have received two emails directing you to this page. If you only received one it means you had been blocked on Mailchimp – thus the reason for this change. This means you may have missed a few posts, and you can now read them by simply scrolling down at the end of this post.

For years I’ve sent out around 2000 emails each Sunday through two online email servers, because this is the best way to send a large group of emails. One of those servers deleted half of my list last December, and now the other one that I’ve used since 2010 is acting up.

So ~ I’ve found a new option. As of this post you will be receiving my emails through Email Octopus 😃.

You don’t need to do anything if you received the email from emailoctopus. If not, please send me a note at , so I can add you to that list. Also, if you’d rather not receive my emails, simply email me and I’ll unsubscribe you.

Also, if you know of anyone who wants to be on my list, they can email me to be added to it.

I’m very hopeful this will work and keep my blog ad free for years to come! Thanks for understanding, Chris

This has been an exciting week! One of the reasons is that the leaves are finally turning beautiful. I love the colors of Autumn!

So this past Monday I said to Mike “Let’s go for a ride and enjoy the scenery”. He responded that he had a lot of yard work to do, and I was just as happy to stay home and quilt while looking out the window.

At this point I need to back up just a bit. As most of you know I’ve been blessed to teach in the Janome room at the Great Wisconsin Quilt Show for many years. Ardyth’s Sew-N-Vac sponsors the room, and Ardyth’s daughter Michelle now runs the store. She is a joy to work with! Each year I’ve been more and more impressed with their Horizon series of machines. I guess I’ve been talking about those machines a lot since the show, because a little later last Monday morning Mike came into the studio and said “Let’s go for a ride to Baraboo and look at sewing machines”!!! Sew ~ we did (what a sweetie)! The ride was beautiful and,

after having fun doing a test drive with Michelle (who also likes wearing bright colors),

my Horizon 9450 QCP is now happily hanging out with my “girls” (to read the post about naming my sewing machines after my grandmothers click here). I’ve decided to name her Emma, after my maternal great grandmother. My one concern on the ride home was whether or not she would fit into the opening in my Tracey’s Table. I’ve had this table for decades and absolutely love it. Sadly it ended up being a 1/2″ too small. Mike to the rescue again. He had to remove and rebuild the box she sits in,

cut the opening larger, and then reattach the box.

I’m so blessed, and I should be able to set it up soon. But in the meantime I needed to make my October blocks for the Murder Mystery Quilt. So I set up a folding table and took her for a spin.

She purred happily as I pieced, and the blocks were done in no time. This month’s strip was the Greek key pattern. A fitting block for a mystery that takes place in Greece.

We have one more pattern and one more chapter to go before we find out how all these colorful pieces are supposed fit together.

I’m sure it’s going to be much more interesting than the way I arranged them here and ~ the top will give us another clue into who the murderer is ~ WooHoo! So much fun. It truly was a wonderful week! I can’t wait to spend time getting to know Emma better 😊!

PS I also plan on helping my dear husband with the yard work this week 🤣.

I hope last week’s post made you want to know more about “scissors zingers”.

They are incredibly handy for keeping scissors close at hand when stitching. They also make your scissors easy to identify. And a big plus ~ this project is a great place to use those pretty buttons and beads you’ve been collecting.

The “zingers” I use (behind the yo-yo decoration) have a strong, retractable string attached to a loop or ring for connecting them to a pair of small scissors.

They can be found online by searching for “retractable zingers”.

To begin, make two different sized yo-yos (ie 1 1/2″ & 1″ diameter), and stitch the smaller one onto the larger. Clover’s Quick Yo-Yo Makers™ are a great tool for making yo-yos.

Next, thread a selection of beads into 3 strands of slightly differing lengths. To make this beaded fringe: 1. String beads onto beading thread 2. Pass the needle through an end bead 3. Go around the end bead and go back through the string of beads.

Sew these strands to the center of the yo-yo stack, and top it all off with a pretty button or charm. These units can then be attached to the purchased zinger with E6000 glue. The zingers come in various styles, and this is what some of them look like from the back.

That’s it! Attach your scissors and you’re ready to go!

Another handy, yet decorative item I purchased years ago was my seam ripper necklace.

And then, at the Great Wisconsin Qulit Show in September I found this adorable scissors necklace. I love that I can remove and use it with one hand.

Do you have a decorative, wearable sewing tool you’d like to share?

In the early 90’s I participated in quite a few craft fairs. I was always coming up with fun items to sell, but I never made enough money to quit my day job (dental hygiene 😁). One of these projects was a sewing chatelaine. It was meant to be worn around the neck when doing handwork, and was made up of a quilt block pin cushion with a measuring tape or ribbon connected to a folding scissors. I was pleasantly surprised to find a photo of some of the ones I made way back then.

Well, years later I made a very different type of chatelaine which I use often, and I brought it with me to a class I took while at the Birmingham Festival of Quilts. The ladies I sat with in the Dorset Button Brooch class (click here to read that post) we’re very interested in it (it’s around my neck, peeking out from behind Quiltina).

While chatting with them about it, I thought “this might make a good blog topic”. Then, while at the Victoria and Albert museum in London,

I walked through their jewelry exhibit and found ~ a chatelaine:

and a bit of history to go with it:

Fascinating! Here’s a photo of how they would have been worn.

That’s when I knew there was definitely going to be a blog post on this topic. Back in 2006 Wendy and I took a group of quilters on a cruise on the Danube River. The project we came up with for the travelers to work on while on the trip was a chatelaine made with men’s neckties as a base.

Prior to the trip everyone marked the tie placement on their background fabric. Then, while floating along the Danube, we’d meet up in the riverboat’s lounge and embellish the fabric with designs from our different ports of call, in a variety of techniques. The Danube River, and the Lorelei pincushion at the bottom left were hand appliquéd. The house in Nuremberg was painted. The Passau pipe organ, Melk grapes, and the St. Stephansdom tiled roof were all beaded. And lastly, the chain bridge in Budapest was inked in with fabric markers.

We all had fun collecting pins from the different cities we visited to add to the effect. Once home everyone was sent instructions on how to cover the neckties with their embellished chatelain covers. It was a fun project, and I use it quite often. I love the memories it brings back whenever I use it.

I recently came up with an idea for making my chatelaine even more useful. I added ruler lines to the back of one side so I can do a quick bit of measuring when needed.

A few years after that trip we led a tour to the quilt show in Sisters, Oregon. One of the projects we came up with for that trip was yo-yo buttons for scissors zingers. The one in the photo above isn’t made with a yo-yo, but it was the basis for a fun new project idea. Here are a few of the yo-yo versions.

Are you intrigued? Next week’s post will explain them in more detail, just in case you’d like to make your own.

As I looked through the photographs of all the fun we had, the places we visited, and the people we met on our adventure in the UK, there were a few special stops that really make me smile whenever I think about them ~ and I decided to save their stories for this last post about the trip. Please note that, even though I’m sharing much about this once in a lifetime trip, the things I’m including are all the quilting/fabric related items. They don’t begin to include the castles, palaces, cathedrals, churches, historical landmarks, and much of the scenery we enjoyed.

Alas, for a quilting blog, they will need to remain in my personal album 😊. But don’t even begin to think that that’s all there is ~ because my favorites have arrived!

In last week’s post I mentioned Calico Kate’s quilt shop in Lampeter. What made it extra special was the building right next door ~ the Welsh Quilt Center!

It housed one of the best quilt exhibits I’ve seen. To help you understand the significance I need to introduce you to Jen Jones (if you don’t know about her already). This is a brief history of who she is from her own site:

“When Jen Jones first arrived in Wales in 1971, she found a land where the Welsh woollen mills no longer produced vast quantities of their remarkable narrow loom blankets for the world’s markets. Driven out of business by the soulless and ubiquitous duvet, those industrious craftswomen, the Welsh quilters, had also stopped making their practical and original quilts.

Imbued with her native New England respect for the heritage of quilt making, Jen Jones knew she couldn’t re-start these industries but she could, and did, rekindle national and international appreciation of these artefacts.

Since her creation of the shop over thirty years ago, Jen has gone on to support and manage the foundation of the Welsh Quilt Centre in Lampeter, which offers visitors a unique opportunity to see some of the world’s finest quilts, each year set into a different context. She also speaks passionately on the subject all over the world.”

The current exhibit was of red and white (and sometimes black) quilts from Jen’s collection. Some of them were arranged as part of a merry-go-round in the center of the room, with music from American musicals playing as they spun.

There were others artfully arranged throughout the gallery.

And the quilting was spectacular.

We learned that being a quilter was a profession in the 1800 and early 1900s. Women would travel from farm to farm in rural communities, and live with the families as they quilted the tops those women had made. When they were done they moved on. Think about it – there were quilters who only liked making tops back then too 😁. Along with Jen’s quilts were smaller pieces, on smaller carousels hanging throughout the gallery. They were made by a present day Welsh quilter named Mary Jenkins,

and a cozy corner was dedicated to her work.

Then, across the corridor was an exhibit of work by another talented Welsh fiber artist:

She does amazing work in so many different styles. This was her own description of her work.

Her flowers were beautiful.

And her thread work was amazing.

Just look at this detail photo.

Plus I absolutely loved her little Welsh dolls.

What a wonderful time we had at the Welsh Quilt Center. Then we got back on the bus and traveled through the Welsh countryside to Jen’s shop in her lovely farm house.

There was shelf after shelf of quilts and wool blankets. And Jen herself was there (on the right), along with Hazel (center), to help us find what we were looking for 😊.

Jen also deals in other antiques and each room in this small house was captivating.

Quiltina made herself at home and quickly made friends.

It was a lovely visit ~ and quite a few treasures were purchased there.

The next day we visited my other favorite stop ~ Cwtch and Cushions in Bridgend. Cwtch is a decidedly Welsh word that means a cuddle or embrace, with a sense of offering warmth and safety. The best way I can think of to pronounce it correctly is as the first syllable of the phrase we use when speaking to a baby: coochy-coo.

When Kristi first made contact with Jill she was concerned because the shop would only hold 6 customers at a time. This made things even more intriguing. When we arrived in our tour bus we made quite a stir in this small community. One resident remarked that she didn’t remember a bus that big ever being in town before. We spent our time visiting the shop and a charity (thrift store) just down the block, and we enjoyed ourselves immensely.

Jill was happy to be photographed with each of us, and we enjoyed reading all of her posts on Facebook about our visit. We really felt like celebrities!

I think you can see why these stops were my favorites. Thanks to Kristi, and our UK guide Claire for all the fun! It couldn’t have been a better trip!

PS The afternoon of the day I’m posting this, I will be going to our UK trip reunion. I can’t wait to get together with this delightful group once again, and I’m hoping to see some finished projects made from our signature blocks. Stay tuned!

In case you missed it, Jane commented to last week’s post concerning the question about patterns in the UK. Here is her response:

“I am in the UK, and patterns for quilts are usually in inches.  I teach patchwork and quilting in inches, however, we have to buy fabric in metres.  Inches don’t convert very well when it comes to making quilt blocks”.

Thanks so much Jane! I’m so grateful to know the answer 😊.

After our time at the Festival of Quilts our tour took us to Wales. Kristi put together such a wonderful tour, and she never wanted our bus rides to get too long without a fun stop to break up the drive. Thus she found many wonderful fabric stores for us to visit ~ like Barry’s Fabrics in Birmingham, England; where we got to shop before we even attended the Festival of Quilts:

If you were looking for variety ~ this was the place! They even had Liberty and William Morris fabrics!

And here’s a mid-post smile 😁: The morning after the show, as we left Birmingham and began our drive into Wales, the hedgerows became too tall to see over and I decided to check my emails. A friend had shared something I wanted to show my husband, and I decided to text it to him. He responded quickly and we did a bit of texting back and forth. A few hours later I realized I had sent those messages at 3am Watertown time. My husband is not a good sleeper, so I knew I had awakened him. And he didn’t mention it at all (what a sweet man). Later, I texted him with an apology. His response? “That’s okay. I realize you are not of sound mind. You’ve been thinking/living quilts for the last few days” 🤣. Then he sent me the emoji formula at the top of this post. Translation ~ “Wales time minus 6 equals Watertown time”. He’s quite a funny guy!

Now back to our fabric stops! The first one in Wales was Calico Kate’s in Lampeter.

It was filled with room after room of beautiful fabrics, and rivaled many of the shops we have here in the States! And meeting Kate was a delight.

What a great first quilt shop, and it was nextdoor to one of my favorite places, but I’m saving that story for next week’s post. On our way back to London we spent some time at Lady Sew and Sew’s in the lovely town of Henley on Thames. Their selection and helpful staff was wonderful.

And lunch along the Thames was lovely!

Shepherd’s Bush Market in London was one of our last stops before we packed up for home. It was an entire street of fabric shops – on both sides of the street!

So many wonderful opportunities to add to our stashes! And then there was the wool!

The day after the show we made our way to Wales. What a beautiful ride. We were told by our guide that Wales has about 1 million people and over 3 million sheep ~ and they were everywhere.

I loved the stone walls and hedgerows, and was so grateful to be in a tall tour bus so that we could see over the walls and rows, and take in the beauty all along the way! I was also grateful for our amazing driver Anthony, who navigated the very narrow roads all through northern Wales. On this day we visited Caernarfon Castle, among other stops. My favorite stop that day was the Trefriw Woolen Mill.

They weave traditional Welsh blankets on the original looms the old fashioned way.

And the patterns are lovely.

The history, buildings and garden were all so very fascinating. The next day the scenery changed a bit as we drove along the Irish Sea.

One of our stops on this day was the National Wool Museum in Llanybydder

Don’t you just love the spelling of Welsh words and place names! The museum was large and very interesting.

Beautiful woolen items have been made there for centuries also, but their machines were mechanized,

so the demonstration there was a bit noisier. We also got to see socks being made,

more looms and spinning wheels,

and the garden filled with the flowers used for dyes.

With these tools one man could sheer up to 40 sheep a day.

The first mechanical clippers were patented in 1868. They were the forerunners of today’s electric shears. I learned all this from the following display that ended with the fact that today, an experienced shearer can shear 250 sheep a day using electric shears. Amazing!

The last portion of our self guided tour took us to a room filled with woolen items made at the mill, along with vintage signage and stories. My favorite piece was this large wool hexagon quilt. More hexies. Wow!

At this point you may be thinking “What an amazing fiber adventure”! But I haven’t yet shared with you my favorite stops. So ~ you guessed it ~ stay tuned for my next post 😁.

I’m back to sharing more special moments from my trip to the United Kingdom. But, before I jump into that, I simply have to share a photo I just took of an Autumn conundrum. It’s been a very wierd Summer weather-wise, so much rain early with a dry and hot September. Yesterday I was admiring my lovely burning bush, when I noticed that one of our lilac bushes was blooming! This is a photo of beautiful flora you don’t often see together in nature.

Oh my – did I enjoy the fragrance!

Now on to this week’s post. It is very “freeing” because it’s about “Liberty” (bad joke – sorry about that 🤣).

Most quilters have heard of the Liberty store in London ~ and about their amazingly beautiful fabrics. Many of us on the trip were on a mission to find some. It all started at the vendor mall in the Festival of Quilts. A number of booths had Liberty fabric for sale, but the booth that intrigued me most was the actual Liberty booth.

They weren’t selling their fabrics there, but instead were asking attendees to share their Liberty story! Well, if you’ve been reading my blog for the past few months you know ~ I do have a Liberty story. Click here to read the beginnings of my story in a post from July 7th. So… with my Liberty tote over my shoulder, I sat down to write an “English Paper Piece” for their wall.

and pin it with the others:

After sharing it with the woman in the booth, she offered to take a photograph for my blog.

What a fun continuation of that story. Now you might be asking yourself “did she get any new Liberty fabric to replace the previous?” And you won’t be surprised that the answer is “yes”. But I waited until we were in London at their beautiful original store. So fast forward through Wales to our last day of the trip and our bus tour of London. We ended the tour here:

The 4 story atrium is beautiful.

And after climbing a few flights of stairs we reached the floor we were looking for.

Fabric! Across the way I saw Kay and Susan making their selections.

After a bit of petting I made my choices, and had the pieces cut by Emma ~ who was a joy.

We were a bit early for Christmas, but I enjoyed looking through the beginnings of their Christmas display with Kathy.

This inspired me to get a piece of Liberty Christmas fabric too.

Once our shopping was complete a few of us headed down to Picadilly Circus for tea and pastries, and then I made everyone pose for a very touristy photo of our last day in the UK.

Don’t miss the purple bags peeking out from amongst our treasures that declare we had a great day!

*************

And one more thing. Recently Sue asked a question about patterns in the UK:

“When you buy patterns in Great Britain are they metric instructions?  If so, how do you convert them to imperial measurements”.

I must admit I don’t know. I’m assuming the answer is yes. I looked through the only pattern I purchased and it was for an artsy fabric bowl which contained no measurements. Does anyone have an answer for Sue?

Last week was one of my favorite events of the year – the Great Wisconsin Quilt Show in Madison. It is put on as a joint effort of Nancy Zieman Productions and PBS ~ and I think this year’s was the best show yet! It is truly a national level show with quilts and vendors from all over the USA.

My first stop at the show was an exhibit of Nancy Zieman’s landscape quilts. They were breathtaking, and beautifully displayed.

One of the free stage presentations this year was a bed turning of some of the new acquisitions at the Wisconsin Museum of Quilts and Fiber Arts. Due to my class schedule, I couldn’t stay for the talk, but the ladies allowed me to take a peak during set up. We are so blessed to have this museum here in southeastern Wisconsin.

Then there were the “Black and White Plus One” challenge quilts. There were so many great ones that I think you need to see them all. They haven’t been posted to the show’s site yet, but I’ll share a link when they are. It was hard to choose, but “Dancing in the Moonlight” was my favorite:

I thought I might skip sharing some of my favorite quilts from the competition this year, since I’ve recently shared a lot of wonderful quilts on this blog from the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham. But… the quilts were so fantastic I can’t resist posting some of my favorites here again ~ and I hope you enjoy them.

This year I was really drawn to quilts which have a personal story or evoked special memories. “My Inspiration” by Betsy Stoughton was one of these. The photo transfers of women who have inspired her, and her skill at broderie perse, were both so well done.

“Gypsy’s Daughter” by Mona Lagan displays vintage doilies and hankies in a unique way. It’s a bright and colorful quilt.

The orange peel pattern in Lorna Maxwell’s “It Makes Me Smile” are made from vintage shirtings, feedsacks, and rick-rack. It’s lovely from a distance, but just look at the up close details ~ rick-rack around every oval!

Nancy Wolf made “A Special Puzzle for Mom” to commemorate her mom’s love of puzzles.

So how did she make the bumps on the puzzle pieces? With very tiny corner triangles (those bumps are 1″ squares)!

“70 Hearts for Damaris” was made by Mario Alonso for his sister’s 70th birthday. In his description he stated that “the back is a big 70, made with hearts for each number so she can’t lie about her age. 😂

“Friendship” by Gretchen Watkin spoke to me because the appliquéd portion of this double wedding ring pattern was unexpected. Then I read the story and liked it even more.

So many quilts were done with such amazing workmanship that they stopped me in my tracts. One of these was “Basilica di San Marco II” by Donna Goodlaxson. What phenomenal piecing on a bed sized quilt!

When it comes to amazing appliqué, “Baltimore Autumn” by Marilla Schmitt has it all. The blocks are simply delightful.

And I just had to include “Sue’s Garden Party” by Wilhemina Vandevoorde. The details are exquisite.

And then there are the quilts that are just so clever. “The Rabbit that Ate My Garden” by Kathy DeVries is a small quilt, and so well done. The rabbit is filled with beautiful things from the garden, and surrounded by carrots.

Inspiration can come from anywhere when making a creative quilt, as in Misty Cole’s piece “Dirty Laundry”. She was inspired by the pattern on her laundry basket and reproduced it in reverse appliqué. The shirt sleeve hanging through the handle made me laugh out loud.

My father is an historical genius when it comes to the Civil War, and I know he would have enjoyed seeing Neil Anderson’s quilt “Second Day at the Battle of Gettysburg”. Neil was actually at the show (all the way from Texas), and was so very enthusiastic in sharing his passion for this piece.

Then there was “Just a Little Bull” by Ann Marie Miro. Her depiction of the elephant is striking, and the artistic rendering of other animals in the ears and background is amazing.

I think you’ll find the description of her technique very interesting.

And some quilts I just liked. I would love to see “Fall Oaks” by Mary Ellen Dunn Wunderlich on my bed.

Or to snuggle under my friend Margaret Gawlik’s “Pokeberry Quilt”.

And I just love the colors and craziness of “Improv Quilt” by Nancy Martin.

Didn’t I tell you the quilts were fantastic? And these were just a few of the many wonderful works.

I also thoroughly enjoyed teaching at the show this year. My lecture was an updated version of one from a few years back about my Mariner’s Compass technique. I think it went over very well, and a repeat of that class next year might be a possibility. I also taught a new sit and sew workshop using the circle maker attachment for the sewing machine, and the pre-programmed specialty stitches we all have, but seldom use. The classes were full, it was a simple project, and everyone had a lot of fun!

I did a previous blog post about this technique, along with a “hack” for quilters who don’t happen to own a circle maker. Click here for that post.

It was such a wonderful show that one post can’t do it justice. But I hope you enjoyed reliving just a bit of it with me.

And one more thing… while at the show Ellen came up to me and said that she participated in a round robin through her guild, and she worked on one that had a mariner’s compass as the center. I’d taught my mariner’s technique for their guild in Janesville, WI a few years ago, and Ellen’s friend Gloria used the compass from that class as the center of her exchange. Her comment was that she was in a very talented group. I agree, and I was so excited when Gloria sent me a photo:

Beautiful! I love the way Gloria set the compass with the central points forming an “X”. An unexpected set that worked so well. Thanks for the photo Gloria!