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Should quilters have to mend? They should if the cover on the pontoon boat is getting old and in need of repair! When we put the boat in the lake this past May, there were seven areas that needed patching – ugh. Fortunately my old Bernina is quite portable. We ran an extension cord from the boat house and the “fun” began.

After a few inches of stitching I broke a needle. I called a yarn shop in the nearby town of Horicon. They didn’t sell sewing machines needles, but the owner said she would run home and see if she had any! I love small town America! Mike and I made the short trip to Horicon to get the needles from this dear woman, and we grabbed lunch at a brat stand (as in bratwurst) too, before we headed back to the cottage to try again.

The cover was heavy and stiff, and the tears were in the middle of it (of course).

I thanked Mike for taking photos and then suggested he put the phone down and “help”! With both of us rolling the cover under the arm of the machine, and quite a bit of pushing and pulling, we got ‘er done! The stitching isn’t pretty, but I think it will hold.

The weather was beautiful, and I have a sense of accomplishment, but I can’t wait to get back to quilting in my studio.

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And one more thing…

My friend Sue recently emailed to ask how to search for a topic on my blog. If you’ve struggled with this too, this information should help:

When on a computer make sure you are on the main blog page by clicking on “blog” in the menu at the top. The “search” box should appear on the upper right.

If you’re on phone or tablet, do the same thing to assure you’re on the main blog page (here’s a screenshot from my phone):

then scroll all the way to the bottom of that page. This will take a while (usually through about 8 previous posts), but at the end a “search” box will appear (here’s another screenshot):

I wish the WordPress site I use for my blog would make this easier, but it is what it is 😊.

Our granddaughter Hanna just graduated from High School. She’s planning to go to the University of Washington, Seattle. Their colors are purple and gold, and their mascot is the Huskies. So grandma decided Hanna needed a new quilt!

Rather than purchase licensed material online, I decided to enlarge the school’s logo and repliqué it as a block for the center of the quilt.

One of the challenges with doing this is finding a way to enlarge a photo in order to make a pattern. Going to a copy shop involves driving and cash, and I’ve found what I think is a better way ~ if you have Microsoft Excel on your computer, and a printer. I did a post about this years ago, and I think it’s time for a refresher. You don’t need to memorize these steps, you can simply search for “the Big Picture” on my blog whenever you need them ~ that’s what I do 😁.

Open Microsoft Excel, and open a Blank Workbook.

In the “File” menu at the top of the screen select “Page Set Up”, and then “Margins”. Set the footer and header to “0”, and set the margins to .5 on all four sides. Select “OK”.

In the “View” menu at the top of the screen select “Zoom”, and change the magnification to 25%. Then select “OK”.

In the “Insert” menu at the top select “Picture”, select “Place Over Cells”, select “From File” and then find the drawing or photo you want to enlarge from your computer. Click on it and then select “Insert”.

Your photo/drawing will now be in the upper left corner of the Excel document. Click on it to select it, and then place your cursor on the bottom right corner of the square and drag the image to the desired size.

Each rectangle in the Excel program represents an 8 1/2″ x 11″ sheet of paper and when you press “print” ~ it does…. and all the sheets that print can be taped together to make your enlarged image.

Once the logo was printed and taped together, I grabbed a ruler and traced the lines through to the back so my pattern would be reversed for repliqué. Then it was pinned to the wrong side of my background fabric.

I was pleased with the way it turned out. Repliqué is such a handy tool to have in my “toolbox”.

Next I needed to choose a pieced pattern for the rest of the quilt. I really liked the charity quilt Ruth made (shared in a previous post). So I found the Missouri Star video on how to make it with a jelly roll, and started stitching blocks.

I didn’t use a jelly roll, and since my fabric palette only contained 4 fabrics, the blocks were not as “interesting” as Ruth’s. Then, when I laid them out as above, I realized I had placed the white fabric in such a way that the quilt would be covered with “X” blocks. Ugh.

So I did a bit of rearranging and discovered I could make “M” blocks 🤪.

And upside down “M” blocks make “W” blocks!!!

This was going to work! With the logo block in the midst of the “W”s and a few borders added, it was ready to quilt ~ and take to Washington to be a part of Hanna’s graduation celebration!

We had a lovely time with Hanna, Will and all the family. It was such a blessing to celebrate her graduation with her.

And…

She loved her quilt!

I have a variety of things to share with you this week, and the first came to me in an email from a friend. I’ve known Glennes for a long time, but haven’t seen her since a class in 2013. What a joy to receive this email and the photos:

“Hi Chris, I just wanted to share pictures of the three quilt projects I have now finished from your May 18 & 19, 2013 workshop at Ladies Of Lakes Guild in Minocqua. After New Years Day this year, I decided it was time to pull out the bagged beginnings of the projects which I had saved. What a fun way to spend the 2024 winter days, and to get familiar with my new Bernina 790 Plus machine. First: After finishing the top, I opened up the fabric which I planned to use as the backing only to find the parallelism I had made during the workshop…..I now have two completed wall hangings!

Second:  Mariner’s Compass. I always want to make “flying geese” and incorporate them with the compass. I may have gotten carried away but love the results.   

I also made two ‘barn quilts’ using your method which are on display on our barn. Thanks for the  inspiration,   Glennes”

WOW!!! Thanks so much Glennes ~ your quilts are amazing!

Now, the rest of this week’s post came about because of a blog issue. My website and blog were constructed using wordpress.com back in 2010. A while ago I started getting a banner at the top of the “dashboard” on my site saying that I’ve used up a lot of space and I need to clean things up. I guess sharing a blog post a week for 14 years would take up quite a bit of space. So I started going through my posts from the beginning and deleting the ones I no longer think are necessary. It’s been a slow, but entertaining process.

In one of those early posts I linked my readers to a truly mesmerizing video of dancing quilt blocks. I felt it was worth sharing again.

To see it for yourself click here. You won’t be disappointed!

Then I read an ancient post with an idea from my past that I actually had mentioned to my friends while on my last retreat. I didn’t remember the details precisely, but I think its is as good an idea now as it was then. I called it “Post Tripping”, and here it is from 2011:

“It took me most of Monday and Tuesday last week to unpack all the stuff I had taken to Paducah this year, do some laundry and catch up on mail, etc.. At that point I was left with the pile of new stuff I bought at the AQS show. It got me to thinking about quilters and shopping. I’m not sure if this will sound familiar, but there have been many years when I start packing for my annual pilgrimage to Paducah and unearth the complete, and untouched, pile of stuff I had bought there the previous year (a bit embarrassing to admit to, but I bet I’m not alone :-).

This is rather guilt inducing and I truly dislike feeling guilty, so I’ve come up with a plan. Actually, my friend Laura and I brainstormed this idea 2 summers ago when we attended the Milwaukee Bead and Button Show. We walked out embracing our treasures and decided we couldn’t go back the next year unless we did something with at least 3 of our purchases! It ended up being a good challenge and we both were up to it. We used our 3 items in a short amount of time and felt quite virtuous.

So, here’s a photo of my Paducah 2011 “had to haves”:

You might notice a bit of fabric. Who can resist? There’s a few books and a bunch of embellishments, along with 1 tool I’ve already used. I’ll tell you about it in a future post.

I believe this type of personal challenge will help you to not only alleviate the guilt, but inspire you to use that great stuff. One additional recommendation is to assimilate the stuff you don’t use into the stash so you avoid finding those pesky piles next year.

And that’s it. So……………What do you think? It can apply to quilting trips, or shop hops, or???

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And here’s one more idea from the past that many of you might find helpful. A few times each year I have someone contact me to ask me if I know of anyone who’d like an old quilting frame. I usually don’t have much advice for them since old frames are not in demand at this time. Well, a friend of mine shared what she did with hers in a post from 2013.

“I met my friend, Eileen Rozumialski, when she signed up for our Sew We Go trip to Ireland. She was a fairly new quilter at that time and a delight to get to know. She has recently retired and shared a story with me about her new quilting studio. It was a story and an idea I think you will enjoy.

I often run into quilters who have inherited quilting frames from a relative. They usually are not sure what to do with them. I now have a suggestion and here’s Eileen’s tale in her own words and pictures:

“You might remember I mentioned some time ago having my grandmother’s quilting frame.  I would guess it must be 100 years old.  We finally figured out how to mount it on the wall so I could use it for displaying quilts.  3 of the boards are up and currently holding a quilt my great Aunt Ida hand pieced and quilted around 1940 using flour sacks and the maternity tops my mother wore while carrying my brother and myself.  I was actully unaware of them until my Mother passed some years ago and the quilts were found folded up and “stuffed” in pillowcases!  I learned she (my mother) had always been afraid to use the quilts as they were so precious to her.  Am hoping with hanging some of the creases will disappear.  As you can see on the picture the friend who figured out how to hang the frame figured out new pegs so I can raise or lower the horizontal piece.  We then used the 4th board in my new work studio (also in my basement).  I am thrilled beyond measure to be using the frame (and to now have a studio to sew in).

I know the frames were left unused in the rafters of a garage for probably 50 or 60 years before I figured out what to do with them and had a place to do it!  They were a piece of my family history I wasn’t ready to throw out and am so glad now I hadn’t.”

I’m so pleased Eileen cherishes all these pieces of her family history and thank her for allowing me to share them with you. Has anyone else found a new use for an old quilting frame?”

These old posts are new again! I think there are some great ideas covered here. I hope you do too…

and I’ve deleted enough old posts that the problem banner has disappeared from my site, so I can continue blogging for another 14 years 🤣.

I’ve been participating in a Murder Mystery Quilt since the beginning of the year (to read about it please click here). Each month we get instructions for new blocks, and a chapter of the murder mystery. Here are the blocks I’ve made for January through April:

This month’s blocks contain sixty (yes ~ 60!) 1 1/2″ finished squares – whew! They started out as 3″ cut half square triangle blocks (hst):

and when it was time to trim them up I thought I’d try out the Clearly Perfect Slotted Trimmer™ I purchased a few months ago. The idea behind this tool is to square up the “hst”s before they’re pressed open. The ruler also has short slots along the edge for cutting off the “dog ears” ~ a clever idea!

I laid the dashed line along the seam according to the directions and squared up a few blocks only to discover that they were all a few threads smaller than they should have been. Hmm. So I trimmed the next few with the dashed line a few threads above the seam, and that worked. Now this is just my opinion, but as I continued I found trimming off the corners in the slots a bit tedious. That’s when I decided it was time to pull out my trusty Bloc Loc ruler and make a comparison.

The bloc Loc has a 1/4″ groove along the diagonal that fits snuggly over the seam allowance on a hst that’s been pressed open. It can be centered on the square, and the first 2 sides trimmed:

Next the square is rotated 180 degrees (I like to use a small mat and just swivel the whole thing), and the remaining 2 sides are trimmed at the correct size.

Both rulers did a great job of keeping the diagonal seam aligned with the corners, so points won’t be lost when piecing, and both were easier to use than just a regular square ruler. After making quite a few with each, the Bloc Loc was the one I prefer. Do you have a method you like? 

These hst blocks were combined with new contrasting fabric squares to make them into “split quarter square triangles”:

They are cut at 2″ and will finish 1 1/2″! And they all went together to make the pieced portion of the May blocks! These blocks all finish 6″. Isn’t it amazing how much a block shrinks once it’s sewn together?

But that wasn’t all we had to do. Each block had a yellow rectangle added to it. Here are my completed May blocks:

I love the bright colors of all the blocks, but with all the variety I can’t imagine how they’re going to come together in the finished quilt. Thus the mystery! Stay tuned ~ there are more blocks to come!

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And… here are just a few photos from the Art Walk in Watertown last week. We’ve had a LOT of rain recently and Tuesday night was no exception. Fortunately it was only “spitting” at the start, so Mike and I walked up and down Main Street enjoying all the art work – and the shops. Each year banners are painted by residents and hung up and down Main Street. This one captured the essence of the “Art on Main” program:

And this banner was flying across the street from my quilts:

The banners will be on display all Summer.

All the local schools had student work on display in different storefronts.

And chalk drawings were scattered up and down the sidewalks.

The 90 year old Main Street bridge is being rebuilt, so there was a detour along the walk, but that just added to the adventure.

As we reached the end, the rain was increasing, and I found my favorite bit of sidewalk art. Isn’t this drawing lovely in spite of the raindrops? It convinced us that it was time for dinner at Mullens Ice Cream.

Yum. It was a very pleasant evening.

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And I just need to share one more yummy photo. The quilter who runs the murder mystery put out a challenge to the participants. We were to make a Greek recipe (since the mystery takes place in Greece), and post it this month for extra credit. I tried my hand at baklava, and here it is with my blocks (do you think I could call this “block-lava”?)

The pun was bad, but the baklava turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself ☺️.

Before we get to the “topic of the week”, I’d like to share some information about the Art Walk in Watertown, WI happening this coming Tuesday night. Artists will have work on display in businesses all up and down Main Street on May 28th, from 4 – 6! I have a grouping of my quilts hanging in the front windows of Hafemeister’s Funeral Home. You know you’ve made it when you have your work hanging in a funeral home ~ LOL!!! Mike and I did the hanging of the quilts on Tuesday.

and they’ll be there from now until after the art walk.

Mike got some interesting photos during our hanging session ~ with reflections from Main Street. Note my elbow in the upper right on this one. He was actually trying to photograph me hanging the quilt inside the window, and instead the quilt was captured under a reflection of the mural on the side of the florist shop across the street.

In this one I can’t quite determine where I stop and the buildings begin!

Here’s the map and information for anyone interested:

Praying for good weather 😊!

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And now for the charity quilt post you’ve been waiting for (along with a tutorial on a great way to make the backing fabric fit for a quilt that’s just a bit too big):

At our most recent Fiberistas meeting both Ruth and Barb shared their passion for charity quilts, and Lori had a quilt to give away too. Some of their quilts and ideas were thought provoking, and I felt they were worth sharing. Ruth is making quilts for cancer patients going through chemo. She chose fun patterns to use up some of her large stash of older fabric.

Some of the fabrics in this quilt came from family garments!

Each quilt needed to have at least one heart on it. Isn’t it clever how she added them here in the side borders ?

This is the ministry and link she’s donating her quilts to:

https://www.comforterministry.com. These quilts should be about 50″ x 70″.

Ruth also found this information in a Facebook discussion on the best sizes for lap quilts etc for nursing homes/skilled nursing facilities:

Then Lori shared a fun baby quilt that she’d made for her new great niece.

She explained that the quilt was 50″ wide, so she needed to piece the back. Her technique was new to me and I was intrigued. She said that when you have a long enough piece of 44″ wide fabric for the back you can piece it diagonally.

And here’s how. My sample is just a small piece of scrap fabric from my chunk jar, but you’ll get the idea for doing this with yardage.

First cut the fabric diagonally:

Then slide the two pieces until they are the right width:

Sew this diagonal seam:

and cut off the excess:

Very clever. I can’t believe I haven’t seen this done before. Thanks Lori!

Next up for show and tell was Barb. Her group from church loves to make baby quilts and they came up with a delightful way to package them ~ cake boxes!

Here are the ones they have already made ~ waiting for little ones to be wrapped up in them.

Barb also had a quilt hanging that she recently finished. It was from a workshop I taught many years ago.

I love the details she added with her embroidery machine!

So many wonderful quilts and such great sharing from a talented and generous group that only had 4 members present. I love these ladies!

And one more thing:

I received a lot of positive feedback about the directions for the walker bags last week. Please note that if you decide you want to make a walker bag in the future, simply type “walker bag” in the search box on this blog ~ and that post will appear! You may do that with any previous tutorials I’ve shared 😁!

Many years ago I was given a big pile of upholstery fabric samples, and I found a pattern online for walker bags that are super easy to make. I made quite a few of them at that time for nearby nursing homes and assisted living facilities. I also demonstrated it for my quilt guild, Patched Lives, and it ended up being a very successful charity project. I wish I knew who originated the pattern so I could thank them.

Recently my mom’s been on a medication that makes her lightheaded at times, so she often uses a walker because she doesn’t want to fall (she’s very wise). While at the Evergreen Quilt Show in Green Bay I saw a scrap of upholstery fabric in the “free box” of their rummage corner ~ and I realized it was just what mom needed. I couldn’t find the pattern after looking in all the usual places, but it was easy enough to remember, so here’s the quick version:

I began by folding the fabric, right sides together, in the size and shape I wanted. It was 15″ across and 42″ long when folded (30″ x 42″ when opened up). I cut off the excess, sewed the three open edges with a 1/2″ seam allowance, left a 5″ space for turning along one edge, and trimmed off the corners.

Next it was turned right side out and pressed.

Both long ends were folded up towards the center leaving about a 6″ gap, and the edges were pinned. I chose to make one of the pockets a bit deeper than the other.

The entire length of the sides were sewn with a 1/4″ seam allowance, backstitching at the tops of the pockets, and additional lines were stitched to divide the pockets into usable sections.

I added the “pocket dividing seams” in white on the photo above so they were more easily seen. The smaller pocket on the upper right is the perfect size for mom’s cell phone. Now she won’t have to dig around for it in the big pocket.

If the bag was draped over the walker at this point, and something heavy was placed in a pocket, the whole bag would drop to the floor. Thus the need for two 2″ pieces of Velcro™. They were stitched to the back of the bag, parallel to the folds at the tops of the pockets, and about 1/4″ from the pockets (white dots mark this).

I used a zig-zag stitch to secure the Velcro™, and then it was ready to be placed on the walker.

She’s using and enjoying it!

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This week I also wanted to share a few photos with you from Barb in Florida. She was in my Repliqué class at the Southwest Florida Quilt Guild meetings this past January (my most recent book ~ Modular Memory Quilts ~ includes instructions for Repliqué. Click here to read about it). Everyone made a small house block, and I was thrilled to learn about what Barb has done with my technique:

“I finished my house and it was on display at the 2024 SWFQG show – Linda Lacko used it on the education table.  I then made a replique for a friend who is terminally ill – we are creating a memory book and I got a picture of her backyard pond.  It was much harder to do and there are some mistakes, but still everyone says it is really good. I will be working on my 1948 red truck next. 

Loved your class and am thinking about a quilt using your method for the 2026 SWFQG show “every quilt has a story”.”

I think her pond is delightful, and I’m so glad Barb perservered when the technique seemed a bit tedious. I emailed her back after receiving her photos and asked if I could share them on the blog. This was her response:

“Of course you can use my photos.  Am glad that you believe them to be useful and encouragimg for others.  After really trying the method, it is easy.  I have shown the Pond picture to other guild members, and they ask, “how did you figure out where to start?”  I truly tried to follow your method of what is the furthest back in the picture and work out from there.”

Great advice. I can’t wait to see Barb’s next repliqué quilt.

Have you used repliqué in a recent project? Please send photos!

A huge part of the fun of traveling to quilt events is who you travel with. I’ve had so many wonderful travel companions over the 35 years I’ve been attending the AQS show in Paducah, and this year was no exception. Lori and Janis are good friends whom I’ve known for a while, and we meshed well on this trip. They both enjoyed sewing in our kitchen when we weren’t “doing the show”. I brought Aletta (my beige featherweight) for Janis to sew on, and they got along well.

Lori was designing a new quilt, and when she taped the blocks to the window it looked like stained glass.

I set up Irma (my machine) on my usual corner of the table and realized I really do love the color orange (pic on the left 😊). I decided I’d work on a new One Block Wonder top, and had so much fun playing with all the kaleidoscope-like designs.

Sometimes we even ate in the kitchen, and other times we checked out a few of my favorite restaurants ~ like Flamingo Row!

Lori is also a quilting teacher and an expert on scrap quilts. She has a wonderful online presence, and a great website: https://quiltingwithlori.com/. Lori has loads of free patterns available, and she does live and zoom meetings and classes. This year she had two quilts in the AQS calendar, and was part of the “Meet and Greet” autograph party!

Please do check out her site. What a blessing quilting friends are!

And then there are the new friends you meet at the show. I had so many lovely quilters sign up for my classes. Yes ~ I was blessed with the opportunity to teach at this year’s show! I taught two free-motion quilting classes, as well as my “Seminole Sampler” and a new class I call “Silhouettes and Shadows”. All of them went “sew” well.

It was very exciting to have Katelynn in my Seminole class. She lives in Florida and is of Seminole Indian heritage! She had such interesting information to share, and even had beads in authentic colors.

One of the other fascinating people I met on this visit to Paducah was Karen Nyberg ~ the astronaut. Some of you may not know that she actually made a quilt block while on the Space Station.

The National Quilt Museum had an exhibit about her during Quilt Week.

She was scheduled to do two talks in the museum during the week, and I was so glad to have been able to hear her speak. IQA in Houston held a star block challenge in her honor while she was on the Space Station, and some of those quilts were on display in the museum. The one with her block was behind her during her talk.

She shared about how difficult it was to sew a quilt block together in outer space, and many other fascinating things involved in living on the Space Station. She’s designed two lines of fabric from the photos she took while in space, and a few of her quilts were on display. This one showcases her first fabric line:

This was my favorite.

The quilt of her husband, fellow astronaut Doug Hurley, was also well done.

At the end of her talk we were able to have our photos taken with her. I met up with my friend Judy in line and we now have proof that we met Karen 😁.

The last group of people I’d like to tell you about in this post have become very dear to me. As I’ve mentioned, I’ve been helping to hang the quilts in Paducah since 1989, and many of the people at AQS have become good friends. I think it’s about time I thanked them on this blog for all the kindness and encouragement they’ve shown me over the years.

From the first day I helped with the show Bill and Meredith Schroeder and their family were welcoming and appreciative to everyone. They never put on airs, and actually worked right along with the rest of us. Meredith and her daughter Lynn Lloyd continue to help hang quilts to this day. I’m so grateful for their friendship.

From the very beginning there has been one man that seems to have his finger on the pulse of most all of the important details involved in actually running the show ~ from hanging the quilts to keeping the classes running smoothly. His name is Terry Guill and he has been a good friend and great blessing to me over the years. Here we are rolling the art quilts to be shipped home after the show.

And then there’s Bonnie Browning. She came on board as the Executive Show Director a few years after I began to attend, and she was the perfect person for the job. A fine quilter in her own right, Bonnie did it all with her good organizational skills, and great sense of humor. This was her last show before retiring, and she will be missed. Congratulations Bonnie!

So many dear friends, and so much fun!

But Quilt Week 2024 had to eventually come to an end. After Lori, Janis and I did our best to support the vendors, the stores, and the artists, we still had some room left in the van. We are praising God for a wonderful adventure and safe travels home.

Can’t wait for next year!

Who would have thought that tripping on an uneven sidewalk in lower town Paducah would lead me to meet 3 very talented artists? But it did. As I walked past a building on Madison Street I tripped and Diana Fox, who was sitting in the shade at the side of the building, asked if I was ok. Then she asked if I was a quilter ~ and invited me in 😊. She told me she was an “Artist in Residence” at A.I.R. Studio Paducah. We entered the gallery space of the studio and I was stopped in my tracks. Just look at this wonderful work of fiber art.

Diana calls this piece “Tree Rings”, and you can read all about her art and life by clicking here! She lives in Colorado and does workshops and trunk shows. She is also friendly and fun to talk with. She led me to the studio area where I met Donalee. Donalee used her creative talents as a jeweler in her pre-retirement life, but now she creates beautiful abstract fiber art, and she teaches too. Click here to visit her website.

As we were all talking and laughing, Beth Shillig entered the studio. I have been intrigued by her work for years, but never knew anything about her. Beth’s interlocking ovals and fascinating quilting designs really speak to me. She owned a Bernina dealership in her previous life, but now she’s a full time artist. It was wonderful to meet her too ~ and buy a pair of her hand dyed bamboo socks. I love bamboo socks and hers are so pretty! Click here for her website.

What a joy to meet all three of these friendly, delightful and talented quilters. I know you’ll enjoy visiting their sites!

Then…

Over the past few years at the AQS show I’ve been captivated by the work of an artist from the Ukraine. Natalia Lashko has a fascinating style of quilt making, and I’ve posted photos of her work numerous times. This year was even more interesting because AQS had an exhibit of quilts from the Ukraine and there were many of Natalia’s quilts there. Here are two of my favorites: “Snow Apples. Where Does Childhood Go?”

Milky Way. Heavenly Guides. Chumaks:

My photo of the story card from this quilt was of poor quality, so here’s what Natalia has to say about it:

“In the old days, Chumaks (Ukrainian merchants) went to Crimea for stuff and, at night, they navigated along the light stripe in the sky, which is why the most popular name for our galaxy in Ukraine appeared – the Chumaksky Way (literally). Traditionally the Chumaks delivered salt, fish, and various goods to Podolia (the area where my family lives) and sold them in a nearby city. In hot weather, warm air often moves in the evenings or at night, as if touching us. In calm silence, we dream, looking at the night starry sky. And it seems to me that it is at this time that the souls of the Chumaks descend to earth, like angels from the Milky Way, touch us with a warm touch of air, gently hug and continue their hard work, caring for our well-being.”

And here’s a close-up of the pieced 3-D stars in the sky, the “straws”, and prairie points too:

Lori commented in my last post with a question about the straw technique of the Ukrainian exhibit, so I did a bit of investigating and found some information that causes me to love these quilts even more. Natalia started out doing straw embroidery with real straw, and she has a website that explains it beautifully. It is a traditional technique that has become a lost art in the Ukraine, and I know you will find her work as amazing as I do. This first one I chose from her site is called “Noel”:

I love what she said about her work on “Noel”:

“There was difficulty with portraits, because they have to be graceful and beautiful. I had a lot of experimenting. Imagine the face of Jesus just two millimeters and centimeters, in which I must depict the eyes, nose, lips, and that it was a child, with plump cheeks that he was beautiful. From all that I have embroidered, and this many characters, Jesus was for me a pleasure.” Amazing!

She’s done straw work on garments too:

And isn’t her straw embroidery on fabric stunning?!?

Click here to visit her site and read all about this fascinating form of art ~ and her amazing skill in doing it.

Next I decided to search for information about how she’s adapted her straw technique to make quilts. I found an episode of the Quilt Show in which Ricky Tims interviews Natalia after she’d won her first award in the USA at the IQA show in Houston. To watch the entire interview (and I recommend watching it all) click here!

Natalia creates her straw tubes and stitches her quilts completely by hand. She is truly an amazing, improvisational artist. There are so many talented artists with work on display in Paducah, and I hope you’ve enjoyed “meeting” a few of them.

As I completed this week’s post I realized I have more about our Quilt Week adventure that I want to share. So please stay tuned for next week’s conclusion, and enjoy a closing photo I took along the river.