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After setting up our machines at Ripon College we began the first day of Top Stitch at Bungalow Quilts. Judy’s bungalow is filled with fabric, projects and inspiration!

Samples of her umbrellas and lampshades hang around while bolts full of colorful possibilities are everywhere!

Selections were made and the Top Stitchers couldn’t wait to get to our machines and begin day 1 of the competition.

As these posts continue I’ll introduce you to each of my teammates, one per weekly post. I hope you’ll forgive me, but I’m not going to link you to the sites of these wonderful, talented women until my last Top Stitch post, as they’ve already posted some of the upcoming photos and I’m hoping to keep them a surprise until the end of each week 😃.

This week I’d like you to meet Mary Hertel of Oshkosh. In the following photo Judy is filming a mini-class on how Mary made her hummingbirds and added them to her umbrella panels. Mary is the owner of Made by Marney, a delightful paper piecing pattern business. She is a very creative free-spirit, with loads of talent, and I’m so pleased to call her my friend.

Here’s some insight into Mary from her own blog:

“I’ve had a super creative drive all of my life.  My designs are fueled by my past.  Growing up in a rural farm community gave me a love for nature and animals, as you will see from my designs.  My great love for children’s artwork is also evident in my wonky animals…which no doubt comes from teaching children’s art for thirty-five years.  My motto:  “A Day Can’t Go By Without Creating Something…”

Mary is also very generous and was a real blessing to me as day one was waning. I had decided to add a little zip when drafting the pattern for my compass umbrella by adding a star in it’s center.

I’m very glad I did, but that extra piecing step added quite a bit of time onto the paper piecing process. I discovered I sew much faster in my mind than in real life and… by the time the judges arrived at 4:30 I wasn’t done. Mary offered to sew the lining panels together for me so that I was able to put the top together and pin it into the frame just in time. Thanks so much Mary!

Judy was ready with her video camera (ie. phone) at a moments notice every day. She wanted to record as many tip and technique demos as she could for the Top Stitch video that will be available on C & T Publishing’s Creative Spark in the future (more info to come).

There were moments towards the end where I felt a bit like I was sewing in a “sweat shop” (ha!ha!), because the pressure was on!

All of us “Sewlebrities” are teachers and own our own businesses, so the lunches were a whirl of conversations about marketing, social media, etc. I learned so much!

Judy was one of a panel of three judges and they deliberated quite a while. In the end our scores were very close. The umbrellas were each beautiful, and very different from one another. Our personalities and skills shown through. Mary’s paper piecing was her delightful focus. Jill is second from the right. She has a great eye for coordinating fabrics . She leans towards clean lines and classic designs. It’s hard to see from the photo, but Deanna’s red umbrella has a sheer outer layer with silver bling trapped between the layers. When she moved it “rain” shimmered within her panels.

We were all pleased – and exhausted. After our success with day one we headed home thinking about the next day’s project – hanging lampshades!

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I hated not actually finishing my project, but Judy’s pattern was great and I had it all sewn into the frame shortly after returning home from Top Stitch. I was pleased with the way the mariner’s compass pattern fit into the umbrella shape, and pleasantly surprised that the points all fell where I wanted them to (it was a unique pattern to draft!).

It’s sewn onto the frame now and just needs a coating of waterproofing, according to the pattern, to make it truly functional.

When I showed it to Mike he said he thought actually using it in the rain might soil it, and instead we should display it in the house as a work of art. What do you think?

As predicted, last week’s apron post was a popular one, even with the linking error in a number of the emails I sent out. If you read my blog early last Sunday, you may have been confused by being prematurely directed to a post about “Marker Dyeing” and not to the Aprons post. Please click here to read the Aprons post if you missed it (or if you’d like to read the comments 😊).

I enjoyed reading all of the comments and suggestions last week. Shellie asked about Sommer’s apron, and I’m not sure what I did with the pattern, but I did find a simple tutorial for a similar apron on a site called Patchwork Posse. Click here for the instructions.

This past week Sommer and Trey helped me make an apple pie while wearing their aprons (it was Sommer’s idea to put them on 😁).

They’ve grown up just a little since I first made the aprons.

Lorraine sent this message with photos:

“A friend showed me how to make a child’s apron using a kitchen hand towel. I decided to make one for each of  my great-grand nieces. Since I am known for my button collection I made sure that each apron was decorated with buttons. From the looks on their faces, I think the girls liked their aprons!”

And here are Reaghan and Avery wearing their aprons!

Adorable!!! Thanks Lorraine!

Then Eileen texted me with her comment and a pic of the lovely apron she made in Open Lab:

“Read your great blog today on aprons!  Have fond memories of my mom’s and grandmother’s aprons, but unfortunately don’t have any of those and don’t know what ever happened to them. There is something special to me too about aprons…maybe it’s the working in the kitchen together with people we love that elicits the fond feelings. In any event, I did make this apron (photo attached) for my sister’s birthday in April 2018. You helped me with some pattern details with it in Open Lab Quilt Class at WCTC, so you had a hand in its construction too!” 

I remember this apron. It’s so pretty! I’m sure Geneen loved it! Thanks Eileen!

My friend Julie sent me an email about an apron she made:

“Here is my granddaughter Ava with her apron. She loves baking with Grandma Julie.”

It seems baking is a wonderful connection for many grandmas and grandkids! Thanks Julie!

The next email I received was a blast from the past. Laurie’s note brought back some wonderful memories:

“Hello, Chris.  
You visited our West Alabama Quilters Guild in Tuscaloosa in 2011 for a fun weekend workshop and we appreciated you coming all that way.  Here is a snapshot of you and me together as well as one of you with guild members looking on as you demonstrate a technique! 

In 2010 we had put on our local quilt show with “Celebrations” as the theme.  Many of us made and wore our quilted aprons during that show.  It was great fun to make the aprons and more fun to show them off!  Here is a set of photos from that show.

Some of those aproned ladies appear at the top of this post and here’s another one of the fun photos Laurie sent:

What a great idea for quilt show workers! These ladies “do” aprons well!

Laurie continued with a true confession about her apron addiction. It made me smile:

I have gone radical, as my husband says, because I wear one of my many quilted aprons while I do errands in public as the pockets are more convenient than carrying a purse.  I now tend to build my outfits around a good quilted apron – for social events, too!  Aprons are so comfortable and easy to add a splash of color to my outfit. I like this “tabard” style.  I first saw this style in a quilting magazine – In the September 2013 issue of American Quilter magazine – Suzy’s laminated New York Apron

After seeing these photos of her beautiful aprons, I can see why she builds outfits around them:

Thanks so much Laurie. I absolutely remember you – and the wonderful time I had with your guild!

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I can’t resist sharing just one more photo that arrived in my inbox this week, even though it’s not about aprons. I did an online Mariner’s Compass Workshop for the East Iowa Area Quilters a few months ago. Here’s Cindy’s email:

“Hi Chris
I finally finished my 1st Mariners compass!  I love it. Shorter spikes turned out great I think.  Thank you again for the class.  You were very good at making every aspect of the process very clear. I really enjoyed the whole process and keep thinking what if I do this or that.  I know I will do more.
Sew Happy, CIndy”

The overall octagon shape really shows off the varied spike lengths. Great job Cindy! It sounds like you’re hooked on compasses just like me 😊.

Early last year I did 2 posts about hankies and was overwhelmed with the response. To read those posts click here and then click here). Hankies certainly touch a cord in our hearts.

At the time I thought it would be fun to do an apron post too, since they are both a part of family history for most of us. I began compiling ideas for that post and only recently realized that it never made it as a “topic of the week”. Oh well – better late than never 😊!

I decided to begin this post with the story of an event that took place quite a few years ago. We planned a surprise birthday party for my mom and I thought she would enjoy a display of our family aprons. So I hung them on a clothes line along our loft. I attached tags with the name of the owner to each one.

The apron second from the left in the above photo was made for my mom by her mum when she was married.

The white apron with turquoise trim hanging where the railing begins its descent in the photo below was made by my mom’s mother, my grandma Irma. Mom told me that her mom made many of her own aprons and as I was hanging this one I discovered that it was never worn. In fact, one of the ties was never finished – and my grandma Irma’s needle and thread are still attached to the apron, mid-seam! What a delight to know that my grandmother held that same needle!

The story of this pink and blue one was so special I actually typed it up for the party. It says “Made from hankies by Ginny when she was in 8th grade for her Mom”.

Don’t you love the variety of color and style in just these few aprons? I still wear some of them, but most of the time I don’t take the time. In our era of casual clothes that are easy to wash – I think I’m just too hurried or lazy.

But in recent times aprons have become popular once again. I even made one for my granddaughter Sommer (click here to read that post).

My friend Juleen sent me this photo of a quilt she made for a friend from aprons that represented the months of the year.

Here’s her email:

“I had to do lots of math to make this come out correctly.  If there was a pocket on the apron, I made sure it was included in the block.  You’ll never know how many times I picked up those aprons and put them down before I could figure out what to do.  Karen’s aunt—the gift giver—embroidered the month on each of the waistbands so I made sure to include that in the block.  There were only 2 that didn’t have a month so I embroidered them myself.  The January apron was the worst.  It was made of taffeta with satin ribbon as the waistband with a layer of netting over the taffeta.  The netting was full of glitter pieces so I removed them and then put them back when the quilt was quilted.  That block gave me the most problems until I finally backed the taffeta so it would be more firm.  Once that block was done, I had no problems with the other 11.  Karen and her mom were pleased with the result so I was happy too.”

Thanks for the pic and the story Juleen. I’m sorry it took so long for me to share it 😊.

I’ve seen many hankie quilts, but not many made from aprons. Have you made an apron quilt? Have you made an apron from a new pattern for yourself or someone else?

And now for the rest of the story...

Prior to the party I’d been thinking that my mom would enjoy a big surprise party for her 75th birthday (She’s actually 87 now, so that was a while ago). Mike, Dad, and my brother and his wife, were on board with the idea, so I made up some fun invitations with the heading “Sakes alive Ginny’s 75!”

Well, a few days later mom’s best friend called me with her own little poem. When I answered the phone she said “You’re in a fix, she’s 76! Yikes! It was too late to change everything, and I will never live it down. But you can imagine how surprised she truly was when the garage door went up and everyone yelled surprise on her 76th birthday 😁.

She loved the hanging aprons – and the entire party!

So… do you have an apron story you’d like to share? Please comment, or send photos to me at .

I’ve done posts about wooden quilt blocks hanging on barns, fabric quilts with a barn theme, and even sales held in barns. I love this topic and was happy to visit it again when my friend Margaret sent me information about an event her guild is hosting in West Bend, WI, which includes a lecture on the Barn Quilt Movement, and a class where you can paint your own barn quilt!

Please join the It’s a Stitch Quilt Guild as we host this amazing lecture on August 12th, 2021, at the Jackson Community Center (N165 W20330 Hickory Lane, Jackson, WI 53037) starting with registration at 6pm and lecture beginning at 6:30pm. A dessert bar will be available. Cost to attend is $10 for non-members.

In addition, we are providing a Barn Quilt Painting workshop with limited space availability on Friday, August 13, 2021, at the Jackson Community Center from 9am-3:30pm. The cost is $60 per person and you will go home with a 2’ x 2’ painted barn quilt board of your own. Confirm space availability first before sending payment by emailing Marilyn at

(PS – The above link to Suzi’s site doesn’t work – you can access it by clicking here!)

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She followed this information up with a story about the lap quilt she recently made for her brother.

“My brother just turned 70 & still farms the home farm where we grew up (Trempealeau County).  I once told him that his red barn with the end facing a state highway would be the perfect place for a “Barn Quilt” … I proceeded to explain, but could tell that was never going to happen! (He has recently told me about seeing one!)
Then I found this panel (in my closet) & decided to make him a “retirement quilt” (even tho he has no intention to retire!) When I looked at this barn, I thought about the name “corn & beans” … which is what he raises on about 1000 acres …

… so … I used that pattern to make a label for the back!

Don’t you just love the way quilters can “personalize” their gift to fit the recipient?!?

Thanks Margaret, for sending photos of this charming quilt and it’s story!

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And speaking of charming 😁 – you may remember the quilt I made for my nephew and his wife’s baby girl (click here for that story). They recently sent me this email and photo:

“Roan Mary loves her quilt. She loves looking at the colors! We use it nearly every day.”

What a cutie! It’s so wonderful to know our quilts are being used and enjoyed!

I met Maggi Gordon many years ago when she signed up for my class at WCTC. She was friendly and funny, and a great addition to our Open Lab group. Over the years we got to know each other better and occasionally we met for lunch. I remember telling her one time that I loved her British accent and I asked her where she was from. Her answer? … she was born in Mississippi! We both had a good laugh about that one.

It turns out that her husband is British, they lived in England for 30 years, and their boys were born there. While in London she worked as an editor for craft books and eventually she began writing books about quilts and their history. You could easily have a few of these in your collection (and this is only a sampling of her many books).

I remember the day she told me she was an author of quilt books. I responded with: “why are you taking my classes?” To which she chuckled and said that writing about something and actually doing it are not always the same. She told me she liked to make simple quilts, but enjoyed the ideas and encouragement she got from the Open Lab classes I taught. That’s the great thing about the Open Lab formula – we all learn from each other!

During this time Maggi decided to write a book about vintage quilts. She asked all of her friends to share their quilt collections with her. She worked with the UW in Madison, to research, photograph and evaluate each one. Here’s the book description:

Warman’s Vintage Quilts
More than 300 collectible quilts, dating from 1825 to the late twentieth century, are illustrated in full color to tell of the rich history of quiltmaking. A description of each quilt includes the pattern name, the materials used, the date and where known, the maker’s name, and a collector value.  Hints on starting, expanding, and maintaining a collection are also given.

I was thrilled to be able to have my collection documented by her, and honored to receive a copy of the finished book. It’s a great resource!

This is just one of the quilts I have in the book:

During that time we stayed in touch and she even participated in my Floss Frenzy challenge back in 2014. You can read all about the challenge here, but in brief, I was blessed with a gift of a huge amount of embroidery floss. I sent those who wanted to participate 3 skeins of thread, chosen at random, and asked them to do something (really anything they wanted) with it. The response was great! Here are the threads sent to Maggi and her finished butterfly quilt. She didn’t get hers done by the deadline, but sent me the photo later.

To see all the quilts in this viewers choice challenge, click here!

As time went on she and David decided to move to California to be near children and grandchildren. Maggi and I stayed in touch while playing Words With Friends – and chatting online. A few months ago she stopped playing and I didn’t realize until this past week that she had passed away from metastatic breast cancer. She was always so upbeat and fun, and now I know she wasn’t one to burden others with her problems. I had no idea and am truly sorry for her family and friends.

To read about her and all of her books, you can visit her website at: http://www.maggigordon.com/

Maggi was a wonderful woman, quilter, collector and friend, and I am grateful she was a part of my life.

I think it’s finally time to take the winter quilts off the beds and clean them for storage (It’s 92 degrees today, although in Wisconsin you can never be too sure 😊). My friend Mary recently asked me for advice on doing this and I thought it might be helpful to share it with the rest of you. Here’s what I find works well for me:

I would avoid dry cleaning, especially since all the materials are washable.

Choose a rainfree/windfree day. Use a front loading washer, as it uses centrifugal force rather than the agitation of the toploader that can put pressure on stitches.

Load the quilt and select cold or lukewarm water and Orvus soap. This is available at quilt shops in small quantities or at Farm and Fleet – as a horse soap where it is much less expensive. I use it for delicates and it’s great for other laundry, especially if you have a septic system; as you need only a tablespoon per load, and it’s very gentle. Since we’re using cool water to wash the quilt, I dissolve the Orvus in a cup of warm water before adding it to the machine (can you tell I used this wooden spoon when dyeing my denim blue socks?)

Once the quilt is washed, I lay a sheet beneath the washer opening and gently dump the quilt out onto the sheet. Try not to yank or stretch anything as wet threads break easily.

Wrap it up in the sheet and carry it outside “Santa” style.

Lay a dry sheet out over an area of grass or a clump of bushes

and lay the wet quilt on it to air dry – this again is easier on the stitches than hanging it on a line.

If the sun is bright, or there is a fear of bird droppings, cover the quilt with another sheet. You may need to place heavy objects at the corners of the sheets to keep things from blowing if on the ground, or use clothspins to hold the sheet to the bush.

Once it’s dry – or almost dry – it can be air fluffed in the dryer on no/low heat for a few minutes. And remember to do any mending on the quilt before you carefully store it for the summer.

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I’m posting this week from the Cattail retreat center near Lodi Wisconsin. This is the third time I’ve been with this group and we’re having a wonderful time!

Sewing,

eating our retreat treats (and so much more),

and getting things done!

It’s been a blast and I’d like to leave you with a smile. Saturday was Laura’s birthday and we gave her a card from the gang:

We decided it almost looked like us, but not quite. Photoshop to the rescue – and Laura even joined in as a cat (per her request).

Happy birthday Laura! Thanks for planning another wonderful retreat!

Ever since I was a child I’ve loved getting mail, and in response to a few of my recent posts I’ve really been enjoying the daily trip to the mailbox.

In April I posted about my first “Non-virtual” class since the pandemic began (click here to read that post). My friend, Jo Jacobi, followed that post up with this email:

“Hi Chris, I love reading your blogs! The one you posted about teaching Seminole patchwork reminded me of one the first quilting classes I took. Helen Kelly taught Seminole at a WQI Symposium. My project is still a UFO but I was so enthusiastic that a friend gave me an authentic Seminole apron and tiny doll. Probably made for the Florida tourists. I want to give them a good home instead of keeping them stored away. I will send them to you if you give me your mailing address.”

The package arrived a few days later and I was thrilled!

The child’s size apron is delightful and the tiny doll is only 3″ tall! She is wearing a beaded necklace and her head is even made with the traditional palmetto leaves.

I’m looking forward to sharing them in future classes. Thanks so much Jo!

On top of that I received 2 postcards after my Fabric Postcard post (click here to read that post). Christy’s was the first:

The hummingbird on the front is lovely. Then a few days later Marilynn’s flying geese flew into my box:

These were so much fun to receive that I decided I needed to return the favor. But what design should I use for the front of the cards? I pulled down the bin containing my paints and inks, with the intent to create something pretty, only to find a stack of fabric pieces I’d made on a previous “play day”. They were perfect for the cards, so I cut them to 4″ x 6″ and fused them to rectangles of a very stiff interfacing I found in another bin.

The cards were pretty, but most needed a focal point.

It was time to pull the Scan n Cut off the shelf and cut out some letters.

I stitched down the words. Then these card fronts were fused to another piece of fabric from the bin for the backs.

I satin stitched around them for the finishing touch (Marilynn and I both learned not to put cardstock on the back because it tears away along the dotted line). Then messages were written, addresses/stamps applied, and they were off to return the smiles to some of my friends.

What a blessing quilting friends are!

A few weeks ago, when I posted about “Binding Odd Angles”, Barb commented with a question, and it’s a great segue into this week’s post:

“Hi Chris, On the Christmas Hexie you made, did you use 2 1/2 inch strips and how big did it end up when finished.  Were you able to get all the cuts out of one width of fabric.
Thanks much.”

In answer: yes, the strips were cut at 2 1/2″ and require 1 strip each of 5 different fabrics. The stripped units were cut into 60 degree triangles, and the topper finishes 20″ from flat side to flat side.

And this week’s post is about those toppers! Last week I shared my dear husband’s encouragement concerning my new sewing machine. This week he has consented to let me share this story and, as my “pins” post from January insinuated, we’re noticing many quirky differences between us now that we’re together so much.

You might remember this photo of the toppers I made at our our December quilt retreat

When we visited friends during the Christmas season, we would gift them a topper with a holiday plant.

The first one we gave was to Brad and Deandra early in the Christmas season. Theirs was made from a contemporary line of Christmas fabrics – I loved the little trees in the black print:

I was so pleased when Deandra placed it in the middle of the kitchen table. Then we had a lovely visit.

The next day Mike asked me if I was disappointed that she placed the quilt upside down on the table. I responded “no she didn’t”. He repeated that she did and we went back and forth a few times before he grabbed one of the remaining toppers and flipped it over saying “this is the Christmas side”.

I burst out laughing and said “you’re just like your mother”. He looked confused and hurt, so I apologized and shared the following story (if it sounds familiar, I do share it in my Quilt Tales lecture).

Years ago (we’re talking the 1990s) we purchased small quilt hangers to give to our parents for Christmas along with a small Christmas quilt. This gift had an ulterior motive since both sets of parents were hard to buy for (like us, they were blessed and didn’t really need anything). I reasoned I could make them wall quilts for their hanger for the different seasons. The next quilts I made for them had a July theme.

I chose to back both quilts with a log cabin cheater cloth,

and sent Mike’s mom’s to her in Iowa as a birthday gift. She called 3 days later to tell me how much she loved the quilt! I believe her exact words were “Dad hung it right away. Those little children are just adorable!”

I guess it was hard for her to tell the front from the back because there was no sleeve and, not being a quilter, she didn’t realize all the work I put into the flag side. So, I took a breath and responded: “I’m so glad you like it” 😁. We talked a little longer and after I hung up – I laughed out loud. Mike happened to be passing by and asked me why I was laughing at his mom. I told him what happened and he didn’t think it was funny. He said I should call her back and tell her the truth.

My response: “Why? She’s happy”. He rolled his eyes at me and walked away.

Fast forward 27 years. He’s now made the same assumption his mom did, and once again I found it funny. I stopped laughing when he asked me why I was kind to his mom, but couldn’t resist telling him he was wrong. Oops. So I apologized and then it was his turn to laugh. We do like a bit of good natured kidding, and what fun is life if we can’t laugh at ourselves?

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And… to keep you smiling… I’d like to introduce you to the Quilt Sissie’s cousins, the Flat Suzies:

Terri sent me this photograph recently along with their story:

“Hi Chris,
Your story/photo of the “Flat Stanley” dolls was inspiring to me. We have a “birthday group” of 5 ladies. We have been together over 30 years. We all belonged to the same church when we started and are quilters. Now we are spread out in all parts of the county. Most years we gather together to celebrate our birthdays. Of course this year it wasn’t possible. To celebrate a birthday January 30 in Goodman, WI, we each made a “Flat Suzy” and sent them by mail. In how the Lord works, they each arrived in the mail consecutive days (from around the country) leading up to her birthday. She knew nothing of our gathering for her birthday party and was just thrilled! It was so much fun for all of us – planning, sewing; joy, creativity and connecting with one another while not being able to physically be together. Thought others might like to hear how your blog inspired us, and in turn inspire them in these strange times.
The Lord worked through you to bless us. Thank you and the Lord’s continued blessings on you! Love in Jesus,
Terri, Susan, Charlotte, Diana and Diane”

You’re so welcome! Wendy and I are thrilled to have been an inspiration! God’s blessings to each of you too!