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Madison Quilt Expo 2019

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It’s that time of year again! The night’s are getting cooler (at least they are here in Wisconsin ?), the leaves on the trees are just beginning to turn color, and the Madison Expo was a great success! And, just so you know, they announced they’ve changed the name of the show to the Great Wisconsin Quilt Show!

I arrived in Madison on Wednesday morning and helped to hang an exhibit of quilts by the ThreadBenders entitled Photo Inspiration: Door! We are a fairly new art quilt guild and it was very exciting to see our quilts hanging at this wonderful show.

We’d love to have you visit our ThreadBenders site and see each of these delightful quilts “up close and personal”. To do just that click here!

After hanging these quilts on Wednesday I went to visit my friend Evelyn and work on our Japanese jackets (There’s a fun story that goes with these jackets, but it’ll need to wait for a future post). We got them done in time to pose together at the show.

This was the 15th year of the show and I’ve been blessed to teach there every year, but this time was a little different as I didn’t have a class on Thursday. So I attended a great lecture by Deanna Springer on “Celebrating Nancy”. Then I took in the quilts, shopped the vendors, and had an all round wonderful day.

I stayed with my friend, Laura Krasinski, at the Clarion Inn attached to the convention center. This year we were on the 8th floor and the view was great.

The main portion of the Alliant Energy Center, where the quilt show is held, is on the far left. The Holiday Inn Express, where I taught my Friday workshop is the building on the right. The main structure in the center is the Colosseum (no part of the quilt show was there), but the arrow is pointing to our beautiful state Capitol in the distance. I couldn’t resist zooming in for a better view:

I entered two quilts in this year’s show and it was an honor to have them hanging with so many fascinating quilts.

I pinned most of my log cabin blocks to the above quilt so they wouldn’t walk away, but I left 4 tethered with ribbon in case passers-by wanted to try my modular technique. The quilt show volunteers are trained to not allow any touching of any quilts. It was a little disappointing, but I am very grateful to all the wonderful volunteers who make this show possible, and I understand that they have to follow the rules to keep all the quilts safe.

I’m sure the winning quilts from this year’s show will be posted soon on the show’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/WIQuiltShow/

Each year I like to highlight a few quilts that didn’t get ribbons. These are pieces that really touched me (there were so many I liked, but I only have room to share a few). For those of you who couldn’t attend, I hope you find these quilts as interesting as I do.

Joan Beyerl Pierner from Suamico, WI made a fun version of Kim Lapacek’s pattern “Dresden Neighborhood” entitled “Outer Space Dresden Neighborhood Quilt:

I’ve seen many versions of this popular pattern and this one made me smile. Then, as I traveled along the aisles, I found a quilt that took Kim’s pattern to a whole new level. This is the “The Family Board Game Quilt” by Marcia Wachuta of Boscobel, WI:

Her description says: “…I wanted to make a quilt that was a game board for my grandchildren, with the Dresden as the center and all the little houses connecting with pathways to each one. Each house represents a family member’s home.” – how creative!

The next quilt was made by my friend and co-teacher Mary Alice Hart. It’s called “Roses For Caroline”:

It was quilted by Mary Francis and a portion of the description says: “This quilt, started after the birth of my granddaughter, was my introduction to hand appliqué.” It is very different from Mary Alice’s usual work, and it is Beautiful!

Skippers Friends is by Shirley Guier of Houstonia, MO and her description read “I started working with leather last year and wanted to try something of my own”.

I really wanted to know more, and wondered if it was truly a quilt (3 layers held together with stitches). A kind white glove volunteer was nearby and helped me to discover that the answer was yes!

Shirley had placed the batting and backing against the center of the back of the quilt and the stitching was very impressive.

This next quilt was made by Laura Sipes of Clinton Iowa, and is entitled: “Sunshine: Generation Quilt”.

It is more traditional than many that I’m posting about and I love it. The pattern, colors and quilting all work great together. Here’s a portion of the story: “One of four quilts made by three generations: myself, sister, mother and grandmother, made possible through a block exchange. Each quilt looks different regardless of the same blocks used!” I think it’s Delightful!

Another traditional quilt that drew me in was Scrappy Pineapple.

At first glance I commented to my friend “wow – look at all that paper piecing”. Then I read the card only to find the quilt was made by my friend Janell Weinberger of Sun Prairie, WI and it wasn’t paper pieced! Here’s what her description states: “Love the technique Eleanor Burns uses in her book. Makes the pineapple pattern so easy to piece! I did change the sizes of everything to make it much smaller”. She made the block much smaller – yes – but the quilt is bed sized! Another delightful quilt!

My vote for Viewer’s Choice this year went to Deborah Hyde’s quilt entitled “Persephone (Jenn)”:

It blew me away! Each piece is 1/2″ square and the mosaic technique not only perfectly captures the subject, but it does so while using a traditional quilt block pattern. And it’s quilted through every square! Here’s a close up:

The description states: “Inspired by Greek mythology, my lovely neighbor was the model for this work. The pictorial aspect of the work is complicated by the overall pattern in which it is embedded – the traditional Amish quilt pattern “Sunshine and Shadow”. I wasn’t surprised to discover that it had won the Viewer’s Choice ribbon for this year’s show. Congratulations Deborah!

It was a spectacular show – and that didn’t include the vendors, special exhibits, etc.. I’m so blessed to be able to attend every year. And to top it all off, I get to teach! As always, I had a wonderful time sharing with students through my lectures and workshops. This year my lecture was entitled:

I had great groups both days and we all learned and laughed together:

I taught a workshop on how to break through the roadblocks when it comes to choosing quilting designs, and I think I learned as much as the students. It was a great group – and I only wish I’d remembered to take a photo to share here.

This year I was able to attend a number of excellent lectures and my favorite was by Mary DeRay. Her topic was Sashiko

And her quilts were stunning.

Her work is a fascinating mix of piecing, applique and Sashiko stitching. And Mary is full of energy and inspiration!

It was a spectacular show and I’ve already booked my room for next year!

Did any of you who went have anything else to share???

Rick-Rack Curves

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I’ve discovered a fun new border technique that looks much more difficult than it really is. The secret is rick-rack!

It’s actually a lot of fun to make, especially if you put squares in the corners so you don’t have to figure out how to make the sides come together ?.

Here’s how:

Measure the sides of your quilt top and cut background border strips at this measurement by your desired border width (this is my pink fabric and the four borders were cut 18 1/2″ x 5 1/2″)

Next – cut a piece of freezer paper at this measurement and fold it in half, then into quarters, and continue until it’s at about 3″ or 4″ wide. Then draw an “S” as in the photo below and cut out along the line (be sure the line begins at the bottom left, at least 1/4″ from the edge for stability).

Cut along this line. Open the paper patterns out and lay each along a border strip to see which curve looks best. Iron your chosen pattern to the right side of the second border fabric, shiny side down.

Cut 1/4″ away from the paper the entire length.

Peel the paper from the fabric and lay the rick rack so the bumps are just touching the curved edge on the right side of the fabric. Stitch in place down the center of the rick rack. When using the standard jumbo rick-rack, this stitching will be 1/4″ from the edge. (My thread matched in my original image, so it didn’t show – I added the dotted line to the photo to make it more obvious).

Fold the rick-rack to the back along the stitching and press (I didn’t think the dotted line was necessary this time ?).

Place this piece along the long edge of a border strip, right side up, and stitch in the ditch, on the rick-rack, in a thread color to match the rick-rack.

Repeat for the opposite border and attach both to the quilt.

Make the borders for the remaining sides. Cut the corner squares at the same width as the borders and sew one to each end of these border strips. Then add them to the quilt top.

It’s all done by machine and I think this border adds a lot of excitement to the quilt.

Please try this technique and let me know what you think. I’d love to see pictures!!!

African Fabrics

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My nephew Kevin and his wife Alex spent the first 2 1/2 years of their married life in Africa with the Peace Corps. When they returned home they brought me a very special gift – fabric! I was overjoyed at their thoughtfulness. This is a photo of 4 of the pieces I received, along the selvedges. Aren’t the colors delicious!?!

They married shortly before they left for Africa and now that they’re back we have the privilege of celebrating their marriage with them in November. We had a shower for Alex yesterday and as of Thursday I still wasn’t sure what I would get her. Then it hit me. I’ve been having a lot of fun with a new product line called “Quilt As You Go” by June Tailor™. They actually print the pattern onto batting and it makes the process simple and fun. One of their placemat lines would be perfect!

I’ll be doing a blog post about their products in the near future, but for now just know that it made a last minute project a breeze. This is the piece of fabric I chose to use:

And this is the project package insert with a few additional fabrics:

It may not be clear from the photograph, but the center area of the placemat in the pattern picture shows it being pieced on the diagonal in yellow fabrics. I took advantage of the stripes in the African fabric and cut the center section on the diagonal to get the same look. Next I quilted on the lines of the fabric before adding the side borders – quilt as you go!

The project took me 1 1/2 hours from cutting to binding. What fun!

I couldn’t resist “signing” both placemats with my initials and the year, in the lower right corner:

It was a fun way to repay their thoughtfulness to me – and a unique gift. But, it still wasn’t quite enough, so I searched through my cupboard to find a candy dish of my grandmother’s. Now I was happy. And, from the look on Alex’s face, I think she likes them (as you can see, I used a different African fabric on the back – making them reversible.

If you’d like to learn more about a variety of quilt as you go techniques I’ll be doing a lecture on this very topic at the Madison Quilt Expo, September 5-7.

It’s called You Can Quilt As You Go and I’ll talk about the June Tailor products, as well as many other tips and techniques for doing things quilt as you go.

I will also be doing a 3 hour workshop on Friday entitled Road Block Removal.

This is a workshop for quilters who struggle with trying to decide how to quilt their quilts. I begin the class by sharing a trunk show of quilts displaying many different ways to quilt them, by hand and machine. Then we gather in a circle and I invite the students to throw the unfinished quilt tops they’ve brought in on the floor. Everyone in the group brainstorms how to quilt each one.

To register for my class and/or see all the other offerings click here. The Expo is also looking for volunteers and they asked me to share this:

It’s a wonderful show – it’s coming soon – and I hope to see you there!

Quilted Bible Cover – part 2

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Last week I began sharing my “Book cover” adventure with measuring, cutting and stitching the words. Jackie commented that she wanted information on the Brother ScanNCut™. It’s an amazing electronic cutting (and marking) machine for cutting out fabric, paper, cardboard, etc.

I found a good video on how use the ScanNCut™ on-line. To access that video click here.

These amazing machines are available at Sew Much More in Waukesha. If you don’t live in southeastern Wisconsin, loads of info can be found on Brother’s website, along with purchasing instructions. Click here to link to it!

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And now for the step-by-step photos on how to make the book cover, once the outer cover is quilted. The measuring and cutting instructions were covered in last week’s post. Click here to access that information.

  1. Press under a ¼” hem, twice, along one short edge of the lining fabric.   Topstitch in place.
  2. Iron the flap pieces (right side out) in half so they are 4” x the length.
  3. Place the folded flaps on the right side of the quilted cover along the   short sides, with raw edges aligned. (I didn’t take a photo of this step, but what you would see is the side flaps on both ends of the quilted front covered, with the cover showing through in the middle. In the photo below, the green area under the pencil is one of the side flaps peeking out from under the hemmed portion of the lining.)
  4. Place the lining on top, right sides together. It will be short on one edge, and it doesn’t matter which. Pin. Stitch all the way around using a 1/4″ seam allowance (rounding off the corners is a nice effect).

5. Trim corners and turn right side out through the opening created by the short end of the lining.

6. Turn the side flaps to inside and press entire knife edge well.

7. Insert book/Bible:

And ENJOY!

This really is a simple project. I hope you have the opportunity to make one for yourself… or someone special!

Quilted Bible Cover – Part 1

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Over the years I’ve made a number of book/journal covers, for various reasons. Most often it was as a project for one of Wendy and my Sew We Go adventures.

Recently I’ve been concerned because the large print Bible I purchased at an estate sale was breaking down on the corners.

This is the Bible I carry back and forth with me to worship services, and I didn’t want it to fall apart. Making a cover for it was the perfect answer.

I thought you might like to know how it’s done. I began by taking measurements:

  • From top edge to bottom edge plus 1” will be the length.
  • With the book closed, the width of the cover from edge to edge around the spine plus 1” will be the width.

Then I cut:

  • 2 rectangles of fabric at this measurement – one for the cover and one for the lining.
  • 2 pieces of fabric 8” x the length measurement for the inside flaps.
  • 1 piece of batting at this measurement.

I smoothed the cover fabric, wrong side against the batting and pinned through both layers.

To stitch the words on the cover I needed a pattern. I got out my Scan n Cut™ and a roll of contact paper to create a stencil.

The contact paper allowed me to stick the stencil to the cover fabric. Then I threaded the machine with gold metallic thread, and free motion stitched the words in place, stitching a second time to make them stand out.

Here’s a view from the back side:

The hand marbled fabric I’d chosen for the cover was so beautiful, I didn’t want to do too much quilting on the rest of the cover. So I marked diagonal lines with a sliver of soap and stitched them using feed dogs and a matching thread.

I was pleased with the quilting and jumped right into putting it all together.

Covered Bibles, books or journals make great gifts. Would you like to have the instructions for making the actual cover?

Stay tuned for next week’s post ?!

Buried Treasure

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Last year I wrote a post about a quilt my friend Eileen made for her husband Ken (to read that post click here). It was a traditional bear’s paw pattern done with a fun, new technique.

This past week she came to class with a vintage family quilt top and it’s story:

“Ken grew up in Kentucky and his mom was a quilter. In her later life she became ill with cancer and moved in with Ken and Eileen in Wisconsin so they could take care of her. While she was with them she continued to make quilts. After she died, another relative was allowed to live in her house in Kentucky (for 15 years after her passing!). Recently, Ken took ownership of his mother’s home and, as he and Eileen went through they found a quilt top they didn’t know existed, buried in a bag of material in a closet.”

What a coincidence – it’s another bears paw!

Eileen was quite excited to find this treasure and brought it back to Wisconsin to wash it – and now she wants to finish it.

She brought it to Open Lab this past week and we were all intrigued by the “fussy cut” stripe used in the sashing and border.

Then we noticed that all three of the fabrics used for the paws was the same print in a different color way. It’s quite an interesting print and I was wondering if anyone out there has an idea of what decade this fabric is from. If you have any information to share, please comment to this post.

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And thanks to everyone who left a comment on last week’s post about the cutter quilts. I found your stories such fun to read!

If you missed those comments – click here – and then scroll down to the bottom of last week’s post!

Cut a Quilt?

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I love quilts. I especially love old quilts – and they don’t need to be museum quality. As many of you may know I have a lecture about my “less than pristine” collection of quilts I call But I Still Love You. I also have 3 other vintage quilt/clothing lectures – and you can read about them on the classes page of my website. Click here to see them all!

Sadly, I occasionally come across a quilt that is in such bad shape, it is unusable.

These are often called “Cutter Quilts” and some crafters will cut them up and make something new from them. This used to make me sad, but over the years I’ve come to believe that it’s better to make them into something new and lovely, or even useful, than have them sit in a box or be thrown away. I am very much against cutting up vintage quilts – unless there is really no hope for them.

Many years ago I made this teddy bear from an embroidered quilt I purchased at an auction. Most of the embroidery had been worn away, so I salvaged the best parts.

I used to participate in craft fairs and one of the friends I shared a booth with made old world santas from tattered quilts. Anita hand stitched the faces and embellished them in unique ways. I had to buy one:

By our next craft fair I was making crazy quilted coats for her santas, we split the profits and they were a hit. I was happy because I was still a “non-cutter quilt purist” at that time and it stopped her from cutting quilts apart.

I think the incident that changed my mind on this topic came about way back when I first began teaching quilting at Madison Area Technical College. I had a delightful woman in my weekly class who was a bit quirky. She lived out on a farm and decorated it with tattered quilts, pigs and anything purple.

Sadly, she came to class one day to say that her husband had run off with another woman and left her with his debt. She needed to have an auction and, through tears, invited all of us to come and give her treasures good homes. I was happy to oblige. I still have a number of her ceramic and wooden pigs in my kitchen. I bought two of her quilts and they were in very bad condition. So I stuffed them in a closet and tried to forget about them.

A few weeks later I was thinking about what I could do to cheer Jeanine up. I decided making a pig out of the tattered quilt with the purple ties would be the best use of that quilt. I cut out the good parts, lined the ears with purple and wrapped it up to bring to class.

She cried – but she loved it!

A while later Jeanine came to class with a smile on her face. She had met a wonderful man. They got married, moved to Florida and had 2 beautiful little girls. Don’t you love a happy ending?

So, if you have a family heirloom, and it is really falling apart, giving it new life might be the right thing to do. Especially if it can be made into a number of smaller items and shared with family members who would appreciate it. Cutting it into smaller “chunks” and placing them in a shadow box or frame is a nice option. Making a number of small table toppers is also a good idea – or maybe Christmas stockings!

I did a bit of web surfing and absolutely loved the idea of placing a quilt piece inside an old window on Sadie Seasongoods website. To read this delightful story click here.

If you’re wondering how I came up with this blog topic – I recently received an email from a site called Jen Reviews. This is what it said:

“My name is Jess and I’m the Editor at Jen Reviews. I was doing some research and just finished reading your wonderful blog. I just published a beautiful cutter quilt snowman tutorial complete with step-by-step pictures and detailed instructions.”

I went to her site and her snowman made me smile. Click here to link to the instructions. 

Have you done something with a tattered quilt? Would you like to share? I’d love to hear all about it at:

A Rotary Blade Changing Aid

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While in Paducah this Spring Eileen and I stopped by a vendor booth owned by Cynthia Ellis. She is not a quilter, but she does beautiful wood turning. I already have a lovely turned seam ripper and pen, but what caught my eye were her magnets – they’re beautiful:

I wasn’t sure why I needed one and then she made it clear. Changing the rotary blade in my cutter is always a nervous time – I don’t like to bleed! With her Magne-Dots (magnets with handles) there’s nothing to worry about. Let me give you a quick step-by-step:

Begin by taking your cutter apart. I like to lay each piece out in order, with the part closest to the handle piece facing up, so it’s easy to put back together.

Pick up a Magne-Dot and grab the old blade.

Lift it off the cutter screw:

And dispose of it in your sharps container.

Pick up the new blade from its case. If it’s a multi-pack, pick up the stack. You’ll notice the lubricant on the blades. This often makes them stick together.

To separate the blades, place the other Magnedot on the bottom blade and slide them apart.

Place the new blade on the cutter screw.

I find it helpful to use the top of the second Magne-Dot to hold the blade while releasing the first Magne-Dot.

My fingers never came near the sharp edge of the blade and I’m ready to reassemble my cutter!

I love it when artists come up with great ideas for using their work and I feel it’s an honor to purchase from them. I’ve ordered a number of pairs of Magne-Dots from Cynthia’s website to give as gifts. To visit her site and get your own Magne-Dots click here!

And remember – they work best in pairs!