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You may remember a post I wrote last year about my niece’s daughter Rosemary who came over to learn to quilt.

I also shared a little bit about her mom, Kaitlin, and her “Anatomical Art” business ~ Lyon Road Art.

Please click here to read that post.

Kaitlin recently opened a brick and mortar shop for her business in Waunakee, WI, and she started teaching painting classes. My preferred medium is fabric, but I was thinking it would be fun to take a class from my niece ~ and then the opportunity presented itself. Kaitlin offered a class for grandmas and grandkids. I couldn’t resist inviting Sommer to go with me (her brother Trey had a playdate with a friend that day), and my mom invited Sommer’s mom (my daughter-in-law Betsy) to be her granddaughter for the class. The day came and we all had a wonderful time. Kaitlin’s shop is lovely:

As is her studio; and she’s a very talented and encouraging teacher.

The project she designed was of a pair of turtles. I haven’t done anything with watercolors since grade school, and it was fun.

My dad came along to kibitz (his word, not mine 😊) and it was extra fun to have him there.

Sommer decided to put a blue, watery background on hers ~ a perfect choice. Everyone did great and a good time was had by all (the class was actually full, and we were less than half of the group)!

I’m not persuaded to leave quilting for painting, but it’s fun to try something new ~ especially with people you love.

You can follow Kaitlin on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=lyon%20road%20art

My friend Eileen is a treasure. We’ve traveled together and belonged to the same wonderful quilting groups. She’s always been there for me, and recently she caused me to laugh out loud. After I posted about making “Sidelights” for my sink (click here to read that post), we were chatting and she told me she thought I was the “MacGyver” of quilting. I guess I do love to solve problems with supplies I have on hand 🤣!

And that side of me showed up again this past November (I’m finding our new home just needs creative fixes). You may have noticed this new quilted “fix” in this photo from last week’s post ~

or maybe you didn’t notice it, but you’ll know all about it soon enough. Here’s the story:

Mike and I have always had homes with natural fireplaces. This is a good thing because my husband loves “playing” with fire. Well, much to his dismay, this house has a gas fireplace which we’ve pretty much ignored until the weather turned cold. What made us think about it was feeling the cold air pouring in at the bottom of the fireplace. We called a chimney sweep in to clean it and answer questions, and he said the flue needed to stay open a crack to vent everything ~ and the cold draft couldn’t be helped. YIKES! So I went through my UFO bin and found some blocks leftover from a quilt I made for my friend Margaret (for the story about this quilt click here).

They were 16 patch blocks I acquired in a guild exchange and they made a lovely quilt:

I had 5 blocks leftover, so I cut pieces the required height and sewed them end to end, making sure no seams needed to match (just for fun). I then began hunting for a stiff piece of something to stabilize everything. In a “studio” box that is still waiting to be unpacked I found a foam core sign from an old quilt exhibit. It just needed to be cut to size and mailing taped into a long enough rectangle:

I then sewed the block pieces into a tube, backed it with black fabric:

and slid the foam core into place.

The end was hand-stitched closed, and it was ready to be tucked in place. I think Mike’s mom’s china cat approves!

Now we just have to remember to remove it when we want to have a cozy fire (like after our New Years Eve dinner last night).

I think my ideas are a little tame for the MacGyver nickname, but I’m grateful for the creative brain the Lord gave me, and for wonderful quilting friends who make us laugh.

Since I took this photo the Autumn decorations have come down and Christmas decor is still in place. I guess I’m also grateful that the Lord has given me so many blog ideas that the seasons are changing before some of the posts make it live 😊.

Happy New Year everyone. May it be filled with smiles and fun quilting projects!

What a blessing to have Christmas fall on a Sunday. Our church usually has the Christmas service on Christmas Eve, and that’s when we are together with my Dad’s side of the family. I’m so joyful to be heading to worship on this Christmas morning!

The past few weeks have been exciting. It’s been such fun to find new places for all our decorations. To start, the 12′ Christmas tree that looked lovely in our old home was just too tall for our new one. So we found it a good home, and then found a new tree at a thrift store. It’s 9′ tall and fits beautifully!

I love the perspective from the second floor walkway:

There’s a quaint shelf under the kitchen cabinets that now holds some of my favorite pieces.

Each year I look forward to cookie baking day with my mom and dad. For the past few years we’ve held it at our home, but my oven hasn’t been working right, so we got together at my parent’s condo. Praise God, I’ve never missed a year of this lovely tradition and usually the kids and grandkids join in. This year Brad, Sommer and Trey were there.

I finished the Santa Wreath that Cathy and I were working on in Michigan. These guys make me smile!

I could do without the below zero temperatures this year, but it is truly a white Christmas – and it is beautiful!

Praying each of you has a blessed Christmas and a healthy and happy New Year!

This is really a whole house update 😊. We are making progress and so happy to be blessed with our lovely home.

In a previous post I mentioned my friend Elliahna. She is the high school student who’s been painting much of the interior of our home.

She recently finished all of the rooms upstairs and she did an amazing job! Having a teenager paint for us has been a great blessing. She often makes me smile, like when she ended one day only halfway done in the guest room. Here’s what I found when I took a peek after she’d left:

And here’s how it looks now:

Lovely!

In my last new home update I shared my dreams for my new studio (click here to read that post – by the way, Elli loved the pillowcase I made her 😊).

John has been busy working on my studio closet.

When he had the walls and shelves in place he asked me to put stuff on them so they would settle before he secures them. What fun!

As of yesterday the closet doors have been hung. I’m getting excited. It shouldn’t be much longer and I’ll be able to put what I need where I need it! Although, with Christmas less than a week away, my part in this may not happen as quickly as I’d like. I’m so looking forward to putting it all together. God is good!

Currently I’m listening to a crew busily replacing the siding on the outside of the house. After moving in we discovered that there were many high places in the siding where birds had pecked through and actually built nests inside the walls. It took awhile for us to find a company we trusted to make it right, and we’re grateful to finally be getting it done, although I wish the weather would cooperate for these hard working men. As of a few days ago the yard was a muddy mess, but the last two days of snow and cold have made it look better.

All the Christmas decor I’d hung on the walls inside has fallen (or been taken) down because of the hammering, but we know we are so very blessed and this craziness is only temporary! Stay tuned, my next update should include photos of my finished studio and home exterior!

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And I’m excited to share one more quilt with skinny sashing. It was made with flannelette by Sandra in Saskatchewan. Beautiful!

Thanks for the photo Sandra!

Way back in January, while on retreat, I sewed on a quilt for my neighbor and dear friend Diahann Lohr. She had purchased the fabrics with her “then to be” daughter-in-law Jess, with the intent of making them a wedding quilt. Di is an amazing graphic artist and website designer. I think she’d say she’s more of a quilter wannabe who doesn’t really have the time or inclination to complete the quilts that she desires. So this is the second quilt I’ve pieced together for her (click here to read about the first one).

Jess found the pattern online and printed it out, not realizing the directions were for a lap sized quilt that was to be made from layer cakes (packs of 40 pre-cut 10″ squares of coordinating fabrics). She chose not to use layer cakes for their king sized quilt, and this presented a bit of a problem. Can you imagine trying to figure out how much yardage to purchase in this situation? Well… the salesperson at JoAnn’s did just that. Keep reading to find out how well she did.

By the second day of retreat I had the blocks done (all 121 of them!) and I did a little “the blocks are done” dance around the room:

Then I began laying it out on the design wall. With only four main fabrics it was a bit tricky to get a balanced look. Praise God for the large design wall at Cattail Retreat!

Next came the 3/4″ finished sashing between all the blocks. I didn’t get that completed until a week after the retreat and the sashing really made everything pop. I put the top on my bed and sent a photo to Di and Jess. She decided she wanted a small border added.

At this point I need to share my thoughts about that talented mathematician at JoAnns. This is all the fabric I had leftover after making the quilt top:

The only thing she didn’t allow for was the additional border and the binding – which she wasn’t responsible for figuring out anyways. I am amazed that she could figure it out that closely – or maybe it was just luck 😁.

I put on the border and gave it to Di so she could pass it along to our friend Sue at Aunt Susie’s Longarm Quilting.

That was quite a while ago. Recently I realized I’d started this post, but never shared it with you. So I emailed Di and asked if I could have a photo of it on Jason and Jess’ bed. Di told me that every time she went to take the picture either the dog or a kid climbed up to jump on the bed 🤣.

I almost think I’d rather have a kid/dog in the photo ~ just for the fun of it ~ LOL!

So grateful the quilt is done ~ and for my sweet friend Di. She is a great blessing to me.

Our ThreadBenders group recently had a great opportunity to exhibit some of our quilts in a lovely show in Marquette, MI. My friend Cathy’s sister lives in the Upper Peninsula, and that’s how Cathy found out about the show. She did the legwork to get our quilts entered and delivered way up north for the show this past weekend. Then she invited me along to see the quilts and bring them home afterwards. It was a bit snowy, windy and cold, but the sun was shining and the scenery was beautiful. I especially enjoyed this sunset from our motel room window.

Each member was welcome to enter a number of their quilts and encouraged to choose some from our recent challenges. The show’s staff did a great job of keeping our quilts together as exhibits. This was the first time we were able to use our ThreadBenders banner – with all the blocks in place (click here to read a post about it).

And our quilts got a lot of interest.

As with other shows ~ I’d love to show you all of the quilts, but I only have room for a few of my personal favorites. I hope you’ll enjoy them 😊.

A Place in Our Hearts by Christine Jenkins

Flower Power Galaxy by Karen Dill was made using raw-edged reverse applique. I’m intrigued!

African Nightmare by Carol Mihalko. Carol said it was a nightmare because it took her a year to complete.

The next quilt is also by Carol and is entitled Yooper Row by Row. The rows are of sites in the upper peninsula and, if you’re not from the area you may not know that Yooper is a term for the UP.

There were quite a few quilts made using gradation/ombre fabrics, and I couldn’t resist sharing a few:

Aurora by Carol Bowling

Good Vibrations by Cynthia Yackel

This next one was made for a challenge to put words on quilts, and Karen chose some of my favorites from the book of Galatians.

Fruits of the Spirit by Karen Maki

My Girl by MaryJo Busch is a favorite of mine. MaryJo is a ThreadBender, and talented long-arm quilter, who made this quilt for a challenge in a different guild. She recreated a piece of art hanging in a local hair salon using Shiva Paintsticks ~ in the style of Degas. Lovely!

The vendors were also great. My favorite was Rae Warner.

Rae is a retired art teacher who creates the most fascinating dolls. Their faces are drawn with colored pencils and each one was a delight. Esmerelda just had to come home with me.

I began this post with a the view from our motel room. Here are a few photos of the inside:

Yup ~ Cathy and I brought our featherweights and spent the evenings stitching away 😁. We’d purchased kits for Santa wreaths on a previous adventure and it seemed like the perfect time to get ’em done.

It was a great motel room and it even had a wheeled table that was just right for our machines.

Thanks to Barb and Lynn, and all the members of the guild, for making our quilts look great!

Stay tuned for finished photos of our Christmas wreaths, and a lesson I learned about featherweights!

One of the small challenges our ThreadBenders group held last year was to make a sun quilt. That was it. No other rules, but the reason Vicki came up with this challenge idea was because she watches CBS Sunday Morning and they post artwork featuring suns. She told us the artists never know if or when their sun might appear. Once our quilts were made she entered them all at our local CBS affiliate. To see all of the quilts our group created click here.

Last June a non-quilting friend of mine said she saw my name on tv. I looked confused and her response was “your name was there, and a picture of a quilt with a sun, but I think part of it was missing”. I showed her the quilt and told her the design was meant to be a quarter of the sun shining down from the upper left corner (like when we would draw landscapes as children). We laughed. I was sorry I missed seeing it.

Over the next few months Vicki saw many of our quilts appear on tv and tried to photograph them (which I thought was quite a fete since they’re on the screen for mere seconds). Then, last week she sent me this:

My quilt was repeated! Woo Hoo! I was so grateful she sent me this photo, since I’m never around to watch tv on Sunday morning. Actually, since we’ve moved to our new home we haven’t even pursued getting tv service. Mike and I just aren’t tv watchers. We had an antenna at our previous home, and can’t find anyone to put one up here. So we read in the evenings and this house has kept us plenty busy the rest of the time.

I’m so pleased Vicki took the photos of our quilts. Here are the others she’s spotted so far:

I was impressed that she got photos of so many, but then she confessed that she tapes the show and can pause to snap the pics 🤣 .

Vicki suggests other artists make and send in their rendering of a sun, in any medium. You never know when you’ll have your 15 seconds of fame!

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Also…

Lenora emailed me a question about last week’s post:

“I am quite taken with the quilt in the picture of Valeria’s show and tell 2018.  Would you know the name of it?”

I didn’t, but I’m hoping one of you might”.

Here’s the photo:

Please reply in the comments if you have any information about this pattern. Thanks!

Last month I presented my Compass Capers lecture to a Modern quilt guild just north of Milwaukee. It’s a delightful group and I had a lovely time. One of the quilts I bring to show in the talk was a gift to me from a different quilt guild I belonged to many years ago ~ Common Threads. I was President of that group for 2 years and when I stepped down I had the wonderful surprise of being given a quilt from the guild. It has a Mariner’s Compass at the center which is surrounded by autographed rail fence blocks.

The making of the quilt was supervised by a friend named Valeria Peterson, with help from Pat Smith. Valeria made the center compass, hand-quilted the entire lap sized quilt and added the prairie point border.

I was not only surprised, and appreciative, but overwhelmed by the beauty and workmanship of this wonderful quilt! It was a joy to read the names and messages from all my guild friends.

It goes without saying that Valeria was a talented quilter. She had some physical struggles and suffered with pain a lot of the time, but that didn’t stop her from being an amazingly generous person. She also had a passion for animals and veterans, and donated quilts, supplies and money to be a blessing to many. I’ve always felt honored to have a quilt made by her and I snuggle under it often.

Well, after my talk to the Modern guild I received a lovely note from their President that included this message:

“There was no time to share a Valeria story with you.  I was so touched to see one of her projects at the meeting.  She was also a member of our Guild AND a frequent and generous donor to our charitable project, Quilts of Thanks.

  She would routinely stop at Material Matters and hand in a check for $1,000 to purchase fabrics for Veteran’s quilts.  I was blessed to longarm quilt the very last quilt purchased with those funds right after she died,  and which included some blocks she had made just before her death. Fast forward a couple of months, and a lady posted in Nextdoor Thiensville that her son, a Navy LT.  was coming home on leave after many months serving on a submarine.  She had recently moved to Thiensville, from another suburb, but had no family in the area to welcome her son home. The community rallied around her and her son, and there were probably 75 people with balloons, streamers, signs…and me, with a patriotic quilt….the one I just described. Instead of putting my name on the quilt label as a maker, I chose to put Valeria’s name on that label.  We presented the quilt to the son, and as they were looking it over, the Mom, who is a Nurse Practitioner, gasped.   

She was Valeria’s nurse practitioner, and had taken care of her in the last weeks and moments of her life. And that, I would say, was Divine Intervention.  Valeria’s gift, to a woman who meant so much to her,  after her death. So that is my Valeria story!   Hugs, Joan”

I wrote her back and asked if she could provide me with more information for a possible blog post and if she had any photos of Valeria. she responded with these photos and a portion of the news article:

 “Lt. Sean Condon US Navy received a Quilt of Thanks this afternoon at a community celebration welcoming him home from deployment. It was awesome to see so many members of the community turn out!”  
Assistance in piecing additional blocks was from Suzanne Grohe and Joan Cain. Quilting by Joan Cain. Pieced blocks and fabric from Valeria Petersen. ” 

in closing Joan wrote:

“We always say that the quilts pick their recipients….there are a lot of stories, and if you didn’t have faith before you started…you do after you’ve been a part of it all! Joan“

This is a wonderful story and tribute to Valeria and I felt you’d want to read about her too. The problem was – Valeria was a very humble person and didn’t like to have her photograph taken. But the story continues. A few weeks ago I taught for the Common Threads quilt guild and asked if anyone had a photo or story they’d be willing to share. Laurie was kind enough to go through their photo archives and get me permission to copy a few of the pics. I loved this one from when we were on the guild board together. Valeria is the tall one in the middle, Pat Smith is far left and I’m far right.

And here’s their copy of my quilt:

This next one is of Valeria during guild show and tell in 2018:

And with one of her dog quilts:

I am so grateful to say that I was a friend of this wonderful woman, and happy to share a small bit of her story with you. If anyone has any Valeria stories they’d like to share, please include them in a comment to this post.

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Also ~ After reading my stained glass side lights post (click here to read about it), a few friends sent me photos of stained glass quilts they’d made. Kay sent me her Sunflower:

Laurie said she made her landscape in a class with Wendy Kleman who had them use grosgrain ribbon as the leading:

Lovely quilts! Thanks ladies!