Blog

Aprons, Quilts & Surprise Parties

6 Comments

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 .

Creating a Lecture for the Great Wisconsin Quilt Show

10 Comments

I’ve taught for the Great Wisconsin Quilt Show every year since it began (including when it was called the Madison Quilt Expo), and in 2019 both of my lectures sold out. I hate to admit it but that hadn’t happened for years – and it was quite exciting. I was accepted to present that same lecture again in 2020 – and we all know what happened to the Madison show last year.

For 2021 the Great Wisconsin Quilt Show has decided to go virtual once again. I was invited to send in a proposal to create a virtual lecture with PBS, to be offered during this year’s show. I really miss teaching in person, but in this world we need to be flexible. So I proposed my

lecture again – and it was accepted! Praise the LORD!

I constantly marvel at how many other fields of knowledge I need to grasp in order to simply do what I love – teach quilting. Thus it was time for me to jump into something new again.

PBS gave me the option of creating my own video or having them tape me virtually via Zoom. I went for the second option and was given a date to get together with their team and check the lighting, sound, etc.

I set everything up in my studio and all of the tech experts at that Zoom meeting felt it would work. Two days later I picked an appropriate quilt for the backdrop, got dressed up, and logged into the Zoom meeting… only to discover that my home internet connection wasn’t strong enough for a quality production (everyone was surprised that this didn’t show up previously). Since we live in the country and our internet options are few – it was a quandry. After a lengthy discussion, I realized that I needed to haul everything over to my parent’s condo and try again. A new Zoom was scheduled for 2 hours later, and when I called my mom and dad they responded with an enthusiastic “YES”!

I really transformed their living/dining room!

In “show business” I’m learning you have to make do to make it work, even including the stack of encyclopedias under my computer to get it to the perfect height. I borrowed the big black light, top left, from my daughter-in-law, and it needed to be placed directly in front of me, so here’s the set-up from my perspective:

My parents were pleased to play a part in it all, and during the filming they hid out in their respective dens/computer rooms so as not to make me nervous. That’s the funny part of this story! I have lectured in front of live crowds of over 300 quilters without a single butterfly, but that morning my stomach was doing flips. Once I logged in I confessed this to Tina and she told me they were filming in real time. This meant they would not be stopping and starting, and if I messed up I should just continue as I would for an in-person lecture. This was actually comforting to me… and the cameras started to roll.

They wanted me to begin with a few minutes of my introduction to make sure everything was working right. One minute into it, from down the hallway, I heard my dad sneeze 🤧 . I ignored it and continued for a minute or two longer. When I was done with the test, Tina said it all went well but they couldn’t figure out what the “short, unusual” sound was – they were pretty sure it wasn’t on their end. I confessed it was a sneeze and the team laughed as I went down the hall and closed the door.

After that the actual taping went very well and I was relieved that my nervousness disappeared from then on out. Tina and company said it was all good…

and you can learn all about “Quilt-As-You-Go” this September by signing up for my lecture at the virtual show.

All of the information about the Great Wisconsin Quilt Show, including how to sign up for the show and classes, can be found by clicking here! And the good news is that all of you who do not live in Wisconsin can “come to the show” too!

Barn Quilts – a Wonderful Recurring Theme

6 Comments

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!)

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

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!

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

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!

Sun Embellishing – Part 2

5 Comments

In a previous project I paired larger triangle shaped beads, that had big holes, with a metallic yarn threaded through them for a “seaweed” effect.

When it came to beading the rays I found these delightful square orange beads. Since the square beads had big enough holes to do the same thing, I quickly searched my yarn/cord bin to find a piece of gold braided ribbon. It was thin enough to pull through the quilt top at the ends to finish each ray, and stitching it down with the beads was great fun (note: the fine pins are holding the beads in place as I stitch).

Once the sun itself was embellished, I felt it was time to add more rays in the sky. If I beaded them through the wool batting, I would lose the trapunto effect I wanted behind the sun. So, before I beaded the extra rays in the background, I trimmed the batting away behind the sky.

At this point I realized it would be difficult to machine quilt around the lines of beads once they were stitched in the sky, so I layered the top with backing and a thin batt, and straight pin basted it together.

Next I took a photo of the beaded sun with my iPad. I’m able to “write” on the screen with my “iPencil”, so I used it to audition quilting designs. There are phone apps that allow you to do this using your finger as the pencil; or the image can be printed, put in a plastic page protector, and drawn on with a washable marker. Here is the design I liked the best. I’ve also done this with Glad Press and Seal™ (click here for a post on that technique).

I drew similar lines onto the quilt top with a sliver of soap and quilted around them, leaving a path for the beads. Then, to make the trapunto batting under the sun “poof”, I meandered in the background.

Even though the sun itself had been quilted already, it needed to be quilted through these new layers. The quilting didn’t need to be as heavy, but even doing just a bit presented the problem of the beads being in the way. To make it work I quilted over some of the existing arcs and lines with a zipper foot. Where there’s a will, there’s a way 😁.

The beads in the sky were added, the quilt was faced, and voila… my sun quilt is done!

I’m working on making this into a 3 hour class. If your guild is interested – let me know 😁.

Sun Embellishing – Part 1

7 Comments

Before I began “beading the sun” I decided to back my piece with wool batting (if you missed last week’s intro to this topic click here). In this way I’m able to hide my knots in the batting and have a more substantial surface to hold the beads.

My plan was to trim away the batting from behind the sky after the beading is done, and layer it all with a flatter cotton batt. This will create a trapunto look behind the sun.

Next I gathered my beads and supplies and began laying out some favorites from my collection:

I added an arc of fasteners to the layout:

then I auditioned some snaps and interspersed beads to see how it all would look:

Next I marked the areas to be quilted.

The quilting needed to be done before the beading. I used a bright variegated thread to quilt the “channels” and “fillers”.

Once quilted – the beading could begin! I found some very intriguing beads in my collection (I’m as addicted to collecting beads as I am to collecting fabric!) This circle bead has the holes going through from the side and room for an additional bead in the center.

I’m really enjoying stitching down the fun patterns:

There are more beads to come, but I’ll save that for next week’s post.

And speaking of beading… I found this post on FaceBook (the text is part of the post):

Isn’t this just screaming to be beaded??? I actually wrote Harvard University and obtained permission to make a piece of beaded fiber art based on this amazing photo. We’ll see if I actually do it 😊. I can’t imagine how anyone could think that something this tiny and complex could happen by chance. God’s imagination is infinite!

Beading the Sun

4 Comments

Happy Independence Day! With all the recent days of sunshine and heat, I thought it was a great time to tell you about my most recent project. It came to be with inspiration from three different directions.

I received a comment from Karen to a recent post about my mailing tape beading technique (click here to link to that post):

“Let us know when you will be teaching another class in adding beads to a quilt.  I have tons of beads and need some ideas on how to use them on a quilt.”

This got me to thinking that I haven’t done any beading classes for a long time. Then the ThreadBenders group chose a small challenge theme of “Sun”. This challenge had very few rules – “make a quilt with a sun on it” 🌞 . On top of that I was excited about the wonderful way Clara embellished a wall hanging with fasteners (click here to read it). This all came together in my brain and I jumped right in to my beaded sun quilt.

So where did I begin? Well – I needed to have a base for my beading and it needed to contain the sun. I chose a wonderful, bright hand-dyed fabric for the sun and a beautiful blue hand-dyed fabric for the sky. These were fat quarters from my stash and the colors alone made me want to continue. I drew an appropriately sized 1/4 sun (it seemed to fit best) on a piece of freezer paper, cut it out, ironed the shiny side to the sun fabric, and layered it with the sky. Then I stitched along the outside of the paper, through both layers.

all the way around.

The paper was peeled away and the excess sun fabric was trimmed next to the stitching, ala my raw-edged Repliqué technique.

Leaving me a wonderful top to embellish.

I trimmed the sky fabric away from behind the sun to reduce bulk (and who would want to waste any of that beautiful fabric?)

During this entire process I was contemplating where and how to embellish. Stay tuned to next week’s post to see where I went from there!

Remembering a Dear Friend

7 Comments

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:

After a few years Maggi’s husband retired from his job at the Milwaukee Art Museum and he did freelance work for other museums. This moved them to New York – and it was sad to say good-bye.

About a year later the program person for the Empire State Quilters guild called to ask me to teach for them. I suspected it was at Maggi’s suggestion, and a wonderful trip it was! Maggi was recovering from shoulder surgery, so she couldn’t participate in the guild activities, but I had a lovely visit with her and David in their condo near Central Park. Then, after my teaching obligations were over, I was able to meet up with her at the Metropolitan Museum of art to visit a fascinating exhibit and have lunch. I did 2 blog posts about that amazing trip and you can click here for the first, and read the continuation of the story here.

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.

Yikes! Spiders on a Baby Quilt!

6 Comments

A new little girl was recently born into our family. My nephew and his wife have been the subject of a few of my blog posts. You may remember them as the ones who brought me back African fabric from their time in the Gambia with the Peace Corps (click here for a post about those fabrics, and click here for one with Kevin, Alex and the wedding quilt I made them that was inspired by, and backed with, those fabrics).

Roan Mary Walters is a joy! And she needed a quilt 😄. Last summer my Open Lab group met a number of times in each other’s yards, and on one of those days we brought in items to share. I picked up an unfinished top with fabric inspired by the book The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle.

For some reason I just knew it would be the perfect quilt for Roan, so I layered it with bright green fleece and straight line quilted it on my HQ Sweet 16 with my channel ruler.

Then I free-motion quilted 5 of the red squares with my own webs just for fun.

I quilted “Made with love for Roan Mary by Aunt Chris” along with the words to “Jesus Loves Me” in the borders.

And in no time it was done. I showed it to Mike and he was a little surprised that I would make a quilt with spiders on it for a little girl. That thought hadn’t crossed my mind (this isn’t the first time I’ve mentioned that we don’t always think alike 🤪). I chose to move forward anyways and wrapped it up with a copy of the book. We gave it to Roan when we saw everyone on Mother’s Day. Not only did Kevin and Alex love it, but Kevin’s brother Adam said he wanted one for himself (my nephew Adam is a grown man who did a tour of duty in Iraq! I guess I’m going to have to do some searching for more VB spider fabric online).

Here’s Roan with her new quilt and her grandma Mary Sue.

If you’ve heard any of my lectures you may remember me mentioning my dear sister-in-law who talked me into taking a quilting class back in 1987, never finished her first quilt, and contributed greatly to my addiction!!! This is her! And I’ll be indebted to her forever 😊.