Blog

I”m still mourning the loss of JoAnn Fabrics and Crafts here in Watertown (and everywhere else 😔).

The last day I shopped there, as I was commiserating with my favorite clerk over our loss (and finishing off the bolt of lime green Kona Cotton), I asked if we could take a photo together.

We really have so few options in my area. Even Walmart has downsized it’s fabric department 😔. So you can imagine my elation when I heard there was a fabric store moving into downtown Watertown! It’s owned by Haley and her family, and you can click here to read her story.

Haley isn’t a quilter, but she loves crafting and fabric. Her store is bright and colorful, and all the displays in the center of the floor are on wheels so they can be moved aside when she sets up for classes!

She has oodles of notions and supplies, and more of everything is coming in daily. She has some nice quilters cottons and, because she’s into other types of sewing, she has garment fabrics too!

As I walked around I learned about a new type of laser cutting machine.

It’s quite intriguing. Rather than have me try to explain it – here’s the scoop:

Haley and I did a bit of chatting about classes, and I’m excited to think about the possibilities. I’m grateful for her vision, and hope that you have shops coming in to fill the void left by JoAnns in your area. Haley’s shop may not be a full sized quilt shop, but it is a lovely option.

I’ve reached that point in life where my parent’s health is failing and they need our help. I’m so grateful we can be there for them, even if it means I haven’t been in my studio much this summer. So when Mike needed a pair of jeans hemmed I looked forward to going downstairs and sitting at my machine. As I glanced around my eyes landed on the bulletin board that’s been with me through most of my sewing journey.

It’s so full, and this time the big yellow sunflower is what caught my eye. It is easily the most unique ribbon I’ve ever won. It was an Originality award given out at the 2003 Wisconsin State Fair.

Isn’t it delightful? The petals on the flower are wired and the cow is sew much fun (especially her little “moo” ears).

Something you may not know about the Fair is that the prize money (premiums) for the winners is a small amount. So local guilds are asked to sponsor different categories and then provide additional monies and special ribbons. In 2003 a Milwaukee area group named Quilters Anonymous sponsored this category and I was very blessed to be the recipient.

The sad part is I couldn’t remember which quilt won that award. This was going to take a bit of sleuthing (sorry about the photo – I couldn’t resist 😂).

I began by searching my computer for photos of quilts made in 2003. Oops ~ I have folders for 2002 and 2004, but no 2003 (how’d that happen?)

Next I grabbed the big three ring binder of quilts I made early in my quilting life. It was fun to look through, but I was disappointed to find that it only had photos through 2001.

So now what? I have a box that holds all the ribbons my quilts have won over the years. Perhaps I could find the State Fair ribbon that went with that quilt. Eureka ~ it was about a third of the way down in the box.

What a blessing to see that I’d written the name of the quilt on the tag: “Blessings” 😊. I must admit I didn’t remember it won that ribbon at all. It’s a quilt included in my lecture “Silhouettes and Shadows” and the reason is pretty obvious ~ it contains two large silhouettes of parents holding babies.

The part that was original was the photographic overlays. I’d read about a technique in which you iron a sheer fabric (in this case organza) onto freezer paper, cut it at 8 1/2″ x 11″, and print photos on it by running it through an inkjet printer. I decided to try it with black and white images of my kids when they were little. It worked! And once printed they were fused to the silhouetted background, and quilted around to hold them in place.

I’m sure those images are not washable and would probably disappear if the quilt gets wet, but I have no intention of washing it. Have you every played with printing on unusual fabrics? Please send photos if you have.

I’d like to send my thanks to Quilters Anonymous. I’ve known some of their members and am wondering if anyone remembers who made this delightful ribbon?!?

Oh, in case you’re wondering, Mike’s pants did eventually get hemmed 😄.

Over the past few weeks I’d collected photos for two stories I wanted to share. I occassionally like to share short stories, but for some reason I like to group them in threes. Then, just a few days ago, Carol sent me an email that I felt would be a perfect addition to this week’s post. I hope you’ll enjoy all three.

While speaking to a lovely quilt guild in Oshkosh a few weeks ago, a quilter named Connie came over and showed me a very clever idea for upcycling sweatshirts. She’d originally decorated the sweatshirts with her embroidery machine. Recently she decided they’d been worn enough and it was time to make them into oven mitts. She did a fine job of lining the mitts with Insul Bright™ batting to make them heat proof, and her finishing was very well done.

And here she is with her mitts!

I asked her what she planned to do with them, and she said she was going to hide them away for her family to find when she’s gone. They’re so delightful that I think, if it were me, I might like to see their faces when they get them. But either way ~ they are so clever. Thanks for sharing them with us Connie!

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

Recently I was putting things away in a cedar chest and found a pieced runner with a typewritten sheet of paper attached. I don’t remember having it at all, and I was pleasantly surprised by the bit of family history it contained. My parents had visited an elderly relative many years ago and that’s the reason I have it now. There is no back, batt or quilting ~ just blocks and a ruffle.

My mom is a geneologist, so she took good notes when they were with Esther. Here’s the story Mom gave me:

What a delight to have the story to go with the “quilt”. Thanks Mom!

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

Then, after last week’s post about words on quilts, Carol sent me this email:

“This is the most heartfelt quilt that I have ever made.  Two years ago, my husband was in chronic kidney failure and on dialysis.  He was on the transplant list for 3-4 years when the call came that a kidney was available.  We were excited for him but also saddened to learn that his donor was a 15 year old girl who died tragically in an accident.  Several months later he sent a letter to her parents thanking them.  Her mom replied and told us a little about their beautiful daughter Sarah.  I offered to make a quilt for them in Sarah’s memory.  Sarah loved sunsets and her favorite song was Something in the Orange by Zach Bryan.  The quilt I made was inspired by a quilt that I saw on Pinterest (I later found out that the inspiration quilt was made by Nicola Ritter of Perth, Australia).  If you zoom onto the bottom left part of the quilt, you can see where I quilted the lyrics of the Zach Bryan song.”

Carol’s email continued:

“A year ago we traveled to Rapid City, SD and met Sarah’s parents. It was very emotional for all of us. Our local TV station did a 2 day news story about our meeting and the quilt.“

To watch the news story please click on the following link:

https://www.kfyrtv.com/2024/06/25/i-know-shes-close-organ-donors-family-connects-with-recipient-through-special-gift

Carol agreed to let me include her quilt and it’s story in this week’s post, saying she hoped it would encourage others to become organ donors!

Dear Carol, Thanks for sharing your story and your beautiful quilt!

After the post I did about my recent Fruit of the Spirit quilt, Margit sent me a photo of a quilt she made with words on it. I met Margit Kagerer while visiting my friend Evelyn in Arizona years ago, and have admired her work ever since. This is what she wrote to me: “I free motion quilted the Gettysburg address into Lincoln’s profile. The quilt was shown at the Houston show in 2024. I did many quilts with text, mostly poetry.”

WOW! Thanks for sending the photo of your quilt Margit!

After getting her email it occured to me that words have played an important part in the quilt world for quite a while. I have fabric printed with words that I’ve collected over the years, and in the past decade they’ve become even more popular ~ and readily available. I’ve been especially intrigued by the fabrics of Tim Holtz in recent times (click here to see some of his fabric ~ and be inspired). My collection of wordy fabric includes some with quilt phrases, patriotic themes, Scripture, etc.

As I mentioned in last week’s post, I’ve even written a book on educational quilts for kids that’s all about words ~ and my technique for making them without fusible web so they stay soft and snuggly. This was my first Snuggle and Learn quilt. I made it for my granddaughter Hanna 18 years ago.

Another kids quilt I designed using Repliqué was the Critter Quilt. It was fun to put the words inside the animals.

I’ve put words on quilts in many different ways over the years. When my nephew Adam was little he was really into fish and he asked me to make him a quilt. I was fairly new to quilting, but it sounded like fun. I found a pattern for the fish blocks and scattered them on a blue background. When I began the free motion quilting I realized the space to fill was large, and my attention span short. So my quilter’s ADD set in and I decided to “write” on the quilt in thread to fill some of the space. On the back of the following photo (please excuse the quality of the photo ~ it’s old 😊) I wrote the story: “At Thanksgiving Adam asked me to make a quilt with fish on it. I made this for his Christmas gift. He loved it! Among various other designs in the meander quilting I included “Adam’s Fish Quilt”, “Made with love by Aunt Chris”, the names of his siblings and cousins, and “Christmas 1989”.

Here’s the best detail photo I have of the quilting. I think you can make out “Adam”, but the rest are not as obvious.

Since then I often write messages and Scripture verses in the borders of the wedding and baby quilts I make for family and friends.

On a few gift quilts I’ve included names in appliqué, as on this one I made for my niece Kaitlin’s wedding shower:

The next one has been in a number of my lectures. It’s called “How Beautiful ~ Liberty”, and it’s one of my Accordian Door quilts. That means it’s made from three quilts: two are cut into vertical slices, sewn together, and hung on the third quilt with Velcro™. So there is a different view from the left and from the right. This is the view from the right. The base quilt words were made with a Brother Scan and Cut™, fused in place, and then stitched down with the quilting.

Have you made a quilt with words you’d like to share? Please send photos to: .

I had a unique speaking opportunity back in early April. I usually speak and teach for quilting groups ~ and I love it! Sometimes I even have the chance to share some of my antique quilts with historical groups. And there have been just a few times where I’ve been asked to share my quilts as well as my faith journey, and how God has worked through both.

Every Spring my church has a delightful ladies retreat with other churches in our fellowship in Wisconsin. We all meet up at a conference center on Green Lake. It’s an area filled with so much natural beauty.

This is one of my favorite photos from a previous Ladies Retreat. My friend Margaret and I enjoyed this delightful statue in front of the main hall.

Over 600 women (and a few men who help out) arrive for fellowship, learning, food, and fun all focused on Christ.

There is usually a main speaker, and a number of others who do smaller break out sessions. Miriam and Rebecca are a mother/daughter team who shared the main speaker spot together this year. They were a wonderful encouragement to me in many ways.

As were all of my friends from church who were able to attend.

This year’s theme was “The Work of His Hands”, and I was invited to be one of the “break out speakers”. What a perfect theme for a Christian quilter!

It was such a blessing to have this opportunity. I began my talk by sharing how I learned to sew as a child, and then moved into how I got “roped” into quilting by my sister-in-law. I know many of you have heard this story.

But then I shared how Jesus saved me during the lowest point in my life, and how he used my new faith and quilting to get me through some very difficult times. There came a point in this journey when I realized I wanted to make quilts to honor Him, and the stories of some of those quilts were the conclusion to my talk; like “Into the Light ~ a Journey of Faith”,

And “God is Light and in Him is No Darkness at All”.

I was overwhelmed by how many dear women came up after the talk to tell me that my story was an encouragement to them, as well as the many who said they loved learning things about quilting they never knew. A dear friend actually asked me “what on earth is a feed dog”? 🤣

One of the wonderful things that came of this was that Miriam (our main speaker), whom I’ve known casually for years, asked me if I would bring some of my quilts up for her closing talk and share them with everyone, since many of the attendees weren’t in my session. A week later she invited me for lunch and was so helpful in sharing things I would need to know if I begin speaking to Christian women’s groups. She then invited me to speak to a group of over 40 young women she mentors at Maranatha Baptist University. What joy!

I find it humbling that God can use the difficult parts in our lives to be a help to others who are struggling. I also am amazed to realize how God gives us talents we can use for His glory in ways we previously couldn’t have imagined. And now I’ve been asked to speak and share my faith/quilt journey with women at some of the churches represented at the conference. God has opened a new door of opportunity! I’m praying He will use it for His glory ~ and I’m excited that I can share my passion for quilting with women who aren’t knowledgeable about it, or addicted to it ~ YET!

Last week I had a lovely time speaking and teaching for a guild in Rockford, IL. My friend Lori is the program person there, and it was such fun to spend time with her and the Sinnissippi Quilters. I especially enjoyed sharing my Silhouettes and Shadows lecture with them because the first quilt I show in the talk is my Lake Sinissippi quilt (note the shadows on the pier).

Rockford, IL, our home in Watertown, and my parent’s cottage are all located on a portion of the Rock River; the cottage portion being a dammed up area of the river that formed a lake back in 1845. I began to wonder why the Rockford version of the name was spelled differently from our lake. After an internet search I got my answers:
Sinnissippi in Rockford ~ The Rock River is a tributary of the Mississippi River, approximately 299 miles (481 km) long, in the U.S. states of Wisconsin and Illinois. The river was known as the Sinnissippi to the Sauk and Meskwaki peoples; the name means “rocky waters”.

Lake Sinissippi in Hustisford, WI ~ The lake was originally called “Cranberry Lake”, and then “Hustisford Mill Pond” and “Lake Hustisford.” Later, the name was changed to “Sinissippi”, from an Algonquin phrase, “sin sepe,” which means “lake-like river.”

Either way, it was fun to share this quilt with them. My other lecture was also well recieved, and they had a wonderful system set up for the lecture to be seen live and via Zoom.

The next day I had a fun group join me for my “Where Do I Start With Fiber Art” workshop. We had such a good time that I couldn’t resist doing a collage of each of them with their art in progress:

Thanks ladies!

Towards the end of the class, I did a demonstration on some of my beading techniques. As I was sharing my favorite one, I mentioned that it had been featured in an article in AQS magazine many years ago. I looked it up and, since I have a lot of new quilters on my blog, I thought it was time to repost it. I call it “Well Behaved Beads”! Here goes:

Trying to pick up tiny beads that are sitting on a table, with a tiny needle, which is tethered by a thread to your work, can be aggravating. Years ago I came up with a way to make those beads behave and have them a lot closer to my work surface. These techniques are included in my book “Where Do I Start With Fiber Art” along with other beading tricks and information (click here to purchase a copy of that book).

The magic tool is clear mailing tape! And it’s really quite simple:

When the Lord dropped this idea into my brain, I was working on a project that was using a mixture of beads. I decided to sprinkle the beads on my quilt, near the area I wanted to bead, and placed a 2″ length of mailing tape over the loose beads. This held them to the quilt so they couldn’t run away. Once my needle was threaded and I was ready to begin, I rolled the tape back onto itself so a few beads came to the top.

I was then able to touch the tip of the needle to the hole in a bead and – it hopped right on! I stitched it to the quilt and continued unrolling and beading until I was done, or I had to stop.

If I stopped before I was finished beading that area, I simply rolled the tape back down against the quilt to capture the loose beads and went about my business until it was time to bead again.

Hint: If it’s going to be more than a couple of hours before you get back to the beading, I recommend rubbing the beads off the tape and into a container as they will get sticky if left on the tape too long (ask me how I know 😊).

After beading in this fashion for a while, a new idea hit! I could use the tape to keep the beads behaving and precisely where they’re needed by wrapping the tape around my finger:

1.  Wrap a piece of mailing tape, sticky side out, around the forefinger of your non-dominant hand (i.e. left, if you’re right handed).

2.  Pour the beads you’re working with onto a flat surface and dip your taped finger into them.

3.  Knot your thread and bring it up through the quilt where the first bead needs to go, touch the tip of the needle to the hole in a bead and it will hop onto the needle. Stitch that bead to the quilt and repeat.

Voila! Beading can be done in the doctor’s office, at kid’s sporting events and even in a moving vehicle. One of the best advantages of this technique is that the beads are close to the work area and so, as the thread gets shorter, the beads are still easy to reach. Also, the tape tube can be pulled off your finger if you’re called away, and slipped back on when needed.

I hope you’ll give it a try! Please send comments or photos if you do.

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

And one more thing…

Marie was in my class in Rockford and before I even had this post ready to go she sent me a photo of the FINISHED art quilt she made in class.

It’s always so much fun for me to see what a talented student does with the techniques from my classes. Great job Marie!

 

Recently the ThreadBenders had a small challenge that invited members to make a quilt using a word or words in some way. Whenever I take this type of challenge I like to come up with new ideas and try different techniques so that it becomes a learning experience. That was the case this time, so I didn’t use the Repliqué technique from my book, but rather I decided I would hand embroider my words. The question then became ~ which words??? As I often do, I prayed about it, asking the Lord for ideas that would honor Him. I’m never disappointed with this method 😊.

And what words came to me? The”Fruits of the Spirit” from Galatians 5:22-23. So I grabbed some fruity colored fabrics, wrote the words on them, and took them along to embroider while traveling to and home from Paducah.

A week before the challenge was due I decided I’d better make those words into something. Hmm. Well ~ fruit is often round, so I found my Perfect Circles™ templates and followed the included instructions. I’ve used a running stitch to gather fabric around a template before, but this method recommended “painting” the seam allowances of each circle with starch after gathering the seam allowance to the back, and then pressing with an iron to set the crease. It worked great!

Once they were made I wondered what I should do with them. Hanging them from a tree branch seemed pretty obvious. And what’s wrong with doing the obvious? I had a delightful fabric in my stash that was printed with Bible verses about love, and fusing the branches to it was simple enough. I pinned a few different arrangements to my design wall, adding leaves as I went.

The leaves were then fused in place, and the fruits were appliquéd with invisible thread and a very narrow zig-zag stitch. I set the machine with a 1 width and a 1 length,

making sure that the needle went into the background only on the right, and into the edge of the circle appliqué on the left.

Here’s a close up of the stitching. It almost looks as good as hand-appliqué.

After the fruits were attached I decided I wanted them to puff a little, and I had an idea for how to add a bit of trapunto. First I trimmed out the background fabric circle from behind an appliqué, 1/4″ from the stitching.

That became my pattern for cutting out a batting circle not quite 1/4″ wider than the circle.

This was tucked under the appliqué, and repeated for each circle.

Til they were all “stuffed”.

Now it was time to layer and quilt. Free motion quilting in the background around each circle made them puff nicely. And I had a lot of fun stitching veins into the leaves. A gradation fabric made for the perfect binding, and it was finished in time for the ThreadBenders meeting this month.

It was such fun veining the leaves.

And even more fun seeing what “words” my friends used in their quilts. To see those quilts please click here, and enjoy!

While in Janesville last month I met a delightful young woman and her grandmother. As I remember the story, Aria wanted to make a fabric book, and her grandmother was more than happy to help her. She wrote her story and then the stitching began.

During show and tell at the meeting her grandmother Char got up and told us about Aria, and that her book had won two ribbons at a local quilt show. Then… Aria read her book to us all. What a special experience! I was thrilled when she agreed to let me share it with all of you.

While reading she told us with a smirky smile that the the fact that her grandma Char taught her to sew, and she has a cat named Gizmo, had nothing to do with the story. Sew – here’s my favorite photo of the evening ~ Char and Aria together with her book!

I’m quite sure you’re all glad you read my post this week 😁! Thanks again Aria and Char! We can’t wait to see what you come up with next!

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

Also…

In the Mariners Compass class the next day Cindy showed me some compasses she found on a free table at their guild and asked me what she should do with them.

WOW! They’re gorgeous! I suggested she make miniature compasses to place in the center of each ~ and she gave me a look I’m sure you all can imagine 🤣. I’m still noodling on it. Any suggestions???

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

And one more thing…

Last week I was once again invited to hang my quilts at a local business for the Watertown Arts Council’s Art Walk on Tuesday May 28th. Mike helped me hang the quilts in the Main Street windows at Hafemeister’s Funeral Home on the 27th,

so I didn’t have photos to share until this week. It’s a lovely display space, but the etched windows aren’t great when it comes to taking photographs of what’s inside.

The quilts will be up until Tuesday of this week, so please stop by for a look if you’re in the area.