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To start this week’s post off on a whimsical note – the photo at the top of this post was taken in lower town, Paducah during Quilt Week. The area was having a “quilt displays in the storefront windows” contest and this clothing store topped mushrooms with quilts. So cute!

Then, there were a number of patriotic challenges exhibited at the quilt show in honor of our nation’s 250th birthday.

I didn’t organize these photos according to the individual challenges, I just snapped pics of a few of my favorites.

“Fourth of July Celebration!” by Cynthia England struck me as very clever.

“This Eagle Flies Upon the Wings of Adversity” by Mary Randall is filled with so many intricate sampler blocks.

“Kaleidoscope USA” by Colleen Monti combined stars, pentagons, hexies and diamonds in an interesting way – and I loved the red and white striped binding.

The details on the next two quilts was nothing short of spectacular!

And this one just made me chuckle – it’s called “Stars and Stripes”, and was made by Barbara Cline.

“Carefree Highways” by Carol Duffy was actually a part of the judged quilt competition. Each of the star centers is a counted cross-stitch block from a State.

Here’s a detail of Kentucky, since that’s where we were 😊.

And I think, if I had to pick a favorite, it would be “E Plurbus Unum” by Jennifer Gottleib.

God bless America!!!

On Wednesday night a reception was held at the National Quilt Museum to celebrate it’s 35th “birthday”. The huge charcuterie spread was delicious.

I was thrilled to be there when a representative from Paducah’s Mayor’s office presented a plaque to Meredith Schroeder honoring her as the “Duchess of Paducah”. Meredith, her late husband Bill, and their family have been a huge blessing to the quilt world – and to me.

The museum also had a wonderful display in honor of the annual “New Quilts From an Old Favorite” challenge. This year’s theme was “Food”. Some of you may remember a quilt I made last year that fit the theme of the challenge (click here and then here to read about that quilt). My entry wasn’t accepted, but many wonderful quilts were. The contest was sponsored by Royal Dansk cookies. Royal Dansk shipped crates of their cookies to the show for the celebration, and students at a local college designed a unique display for the cookies. It was a huge spool of thread complete with a wooden needle. Each of the guests were given a tin to take home at the conclusion of the ceremony. What a treat.

Jessica Drennan made the first place winning quilt. She cleverly included Royal Dansk cookies in her design. Brilliant! Click here to see the other winners.

I spent quite a bit of time browsing the wonderful vendors at the show. I couldn’t resist snapping this photo of Alex Anderson working in the Creative Grids booth. What a talented and down-to-earth lady who has earned a big name in the quilting world and yet isn’t above demonstrating their products for the customers.

Then I found a colorful booth that didn’t have any fabric or notions for sale. But Tami had her own stunning fused glass quilt creations.

The piece behind us is one she made after researching quilt blocks from each State. She calls it “Threads of History 1776 – 2026, 50 State Quilts in Fused Glass”. Here are some other items she had for sale.

I couldn’t resist taking one of her garden stakes home with me. Click here to visit her website!

The last day of the show I wandered over to a small shop called Artist Endeavors, located in a strip mall near where we were staying. Cheryl carries fabric, especially wool, and she holds classes. As I looked at all her lovely things we began to chat. I discovered we had a sweet connection. I’ve mentioned before that I’ve been helping to hang the show since 1989 with a group of quilters from Sun Prairie, WI. When AQS decided to hold a quilt show in Paducah, my friend Klaudeen Hansen and the Prairie Heritage Quilters were invited to Paducah to help them put on the show. To read about their connection to the show click here!

In the beginning my friends Arlene and Jean made the dogwood toppers for all the winning ribbons at the show. Arlene passed away many years ago, and Jean is no longer able to attend the show or make the ribbons. So, AQS found someone else to do this. And I discoverrd it was Cheryl! Here we are with one of her toppers:

She told me she made 91 ribbon tops for this year’s show. What fun to make this connection.

And the scariest moment during our trip took place on the sidewalk outside our B&B. Lori and I were sitting at a table having lunch when a man walked by with a huge yellow snake draped around his neck. Lori wouldn’t even turn to look, but I couldn’t stop staring. I looked it up and it’s a Burmise Yellow Python. I didn’t have the foresight to take a photo, so I found this online and – yup, that’s what I saw.

You just never know what you’ll see during Quilt Week in Paducah!

I’m starting this week’s post with some of my favorite large quilts from last week’s show, but I’m including some additional fun stuff at the end, so please scroll all the way through. Now for the big quilts:

If you’ve been watching the AQS website and/or Facebook page you will have seen this quilt. I had to start with Linda Neal’s quilt “A Calm Day at Sea”, because is was hands down my favorite. She said that she wanted to do a variation on a Baltimore Album quilt – and what a variation! I wasn’t surprised when it won the Viewer’s Choice ribbon.

Linda’s attention to detail is delightful ~ inside the circles and out!

Along the sea bottom:

And up top on the pier. A person can’t help but be captivated and amazed.

So what else can I share? Lots, as you’ll see…

“Searching for Whys” by Susan Nixon is a pattern I’ve admired before – and she did it beautifully. After I’d taken the photo I actually met Susan. She was in my Friday night class. That’s when I learned that she made this quilt while going through chemo treatments. She told me with tears that it was an important, healing part of her journey. What a beautiful blessing!

“A Time for Gathering” by Louise Thibaudeau looked so peaceful compared to many of the hundreds of quilts hanging in the contest, but I loved the sweet appliqués and uncluttered simplicity.

I felt the same way about “Birds of a Feather” by Kathy Madziar. The simple cross hatching behind the appliqués was a perfect choice of quilting design.

“Duval in Dots” by Tony Alicea is quite different from the previous two quilts, yet it too grabbed me. I think it’s the fact that this entire large wall quilt was made with only 1/2″ squares.

I’d seen “Beauty in the Broken” by Kathy Wylie in previous AQS magazines, but it was so special in person. All of the black areas in the outer border and center of the quilt are the black curtain showing through her cut-work. Amazing.

I often come upon “One Block Wonder” quilts at different shows. I’m especially intrigued by the ones that are made from 7 of the same printed panel. “A Stroll in our Autumn Years” by Lois Kindley began with a lovely panel – and the colors blended so well in the hexagon blocks (plus – I love orange).

“Lapin” by Megumi Mizuno is made with a great amount of hand-work.

Here’s a detail shot. Her appliqué and embroidery are beautiful. And just look at those tiny hand-quilted stitches!

I was very impressed. But then I came upon “Lollipop” by Antonia Kort-Hering. Antonia won a special ribbon for hand-work, causing me to be really impressed!

This photo shows why she won the hand workmanship award.

“Old Fashion Sampler” by Glady Cline uses old lace doilies in a charming way throughout the quilt.

This quilt was so long it had to be draped over a lower rod. I know you’ll enjoy a close-up of the blocks and doilies.

“Thousands of Thimbles” by Shelley Stallard is a scrap quilt covered with thimble shaped patches. I’m guessing those patches were about 1 1/2″. The sashed areas make it so interesting. WOW!

You may remember from last week’s post, that I enjoyed meeting 5 quilters from China. Well, at the awards ceremony one of the group got up to accept the ribbon for their friend Jing He’s quilt “Lili Li”. Jing couldn’t make it to the show, but her friends were very excited for her, and her quilt is lovely.

“Voyage of Threads” by Cole Reese Whitaker was another ship quilt I just had to share. It is quite large, and even though the shapes are somewhat simple, the overall effect is impressive.

The next two quilts are just for fun. This bed sized quilt by Nikki Woolsey is called “Pop”. It really made me smile.

And “Little Girl Danji and Kitten Jenny” by Jinyoung Lee was unexpected and delightful. Don’t you just love the little girl peeking over her shoulder at you? Sweet!

My final favorite from the show is “Flowers for my Granddaughter” by Judy Powell. The appliqué and piecing are very nice, but I especially loved the twisted ribbon border. Those of you who’ve taken my Seminole workshop know how much fun it is to make this border with Seminole piecing. The 3D results are lovely.

While wandering the show I ran into a dear friend, Bonnie Browning.

She was the “queen” of the AQS shows for many years, and did a wonderful job of making each show run to perfection. Since she’s retired she said she’s been working to find funding for the quilt murals to be added on the wall surrounding the convention center. So far there are 4 quilts on the wall (these 3 plus one added this year). She said there are more scheduled!

Shortly after bumping into her, I found myself looking at Bonnie’s very own miniature quilt in the National Quilt Museum. How lovely!

I’m so grateful to have taught at the Paducah show the past two years. This year was so busy because of my parent’s health issues (in case you’ve been following their story, mom has been in hospice care for 10 months and is still with us. She is nearing the end, and Dad sits with her every day. We are very blessed). So, I never got around to applying to teach again. Imagine my delight to be contacted by Lauren at AQS a few months back. She said she knew I’d be at the show and they had a Friday night time slot open for me to teach. What a wonderful invitation! I had a full class for “Quilt, Slash, Create” and the ladies were the best!

And I’ll close this week’s post with a photo of the biggest needle and thread in Kentucky. It stands on a corner near the convention center.

You just never know what you’ll see in Paducah. Besides the quilts, and the interesting people I’ve written about so far – there are some stories about the trip I’m saving for next week. Stay tuned…

Last Sunday Lori and I headed down to the 40th annual AQS quilt show in Paducah, KY! It’s been such a warm Spring that the ornamental pear trees that line our driveway were blooming 3 weeks early (see photo above). That meant the dogwoods were not blooming in Paducah, but the roses were!

And they smelled heavenly. Everything was beautiful and green. We unpacked and set up our “studio” in the kitchen of our the second story guest house as usual (note all 4 quilt sissies hanging around on the mirror top center 😁).

Our deck and the patio nextdoor were busy with squirrels – yes squirrels. Perhaps they showed up after reading last week’s post.

We enjoyed their antics, and I’ve always thought they were cute… until I discovered they were living in the attic above my third floor bedroom. They woke me at sunrise with their scurrying around. Grrrr!

Late that morning we headed over to the convention center and helped to hang the quilts. Once they were up it was time to pin the miniature quilts into the cases. We really enjoy doing this. Even the glamorous parts, like cleaning the glass:

Well actually, arranging the quilts is a lot more fun.

And I can’t wait to show you the “Best of Show” miniature because it’s filled with mini mariner’s compasses. Just look at the points in the center compass! The narrowest ones were less than 1/8″ wide!

It’s always an exhausting day, but I wouldn’t miss it – and I haven’t for 36 years. What a blessing! Whenever I travel to quilt events the quilts themselves are a wonderful focus, and yet I find meeting the quilters and their friends to be just as wonderful if not more so. So please watch for a few “It’s the people” insets as you read.

It’s the people! The next day my friend Susan arrived from Wisconsin and we all went to the awards ceremony. We sat at a table with 5 women who had just arrived from China. They were delightful, and so excited to be at their first AQS show. On Wednesday I met up with two of them at the show and we exchanged contact information. New quilting friends – what fun!

The first day of the show Susan and I attended a lecture on yarn couching by Bethanne Nemesh. Wow! Not only is she a creative and talented quilter, she adorns clothing and home accessories with yarn couched animals and botanicals. Just look at some of the coats she shared with us.

While explaining her technique she kept saying that it was actually quite easy. Susan and I are hoping to get together and do a bit of couching ourselves. Will let you know just how “easy” it really is. Stay tuned.

There were 400 contest quilts on display at the show, and many more in special exhibits. It’s much too much to take in all in one day. So, after the lecture I headed to the wall quilts and vendors on the second floor of the convention center. I hope you’ll enjoy my sharing a few of my favorites quilts with you from that day.

One of the first quilts that caught my eye was “Out of Chaos” by Judy Zoelzer Levine. Judy and I have been friends for years and of all her quilts, this is my favorite. I love orange – and the design is captivating.

I am often attracted to quilts with dimensional perspective and “Visual Voyage” by Inger Blood has such depth.

I was surprised to find that “MONA Perspective” was made by Caryl Bryer Fallert Gentry. She is one of my favorite quilters and teachers, but this isn’t her typical style. As with all her quilts, everything is done to perfection.

For some reason I’m drawn to nautical quilts, and there were quite a few amazing ones in this show. “Harraseeket” by Carol Russell captured this calming scene so well. Just look at the reflections in the water.

A little farther down the aisle I found “Beyond the Seas” by Isabel Munoz. I’m quite sure it’s a wholecloth, meaning there is a white fabric background and everything else is thread painted in black. Stunning!

Solitude by Judith Phelps won the Brother Best Wall Stationary Machine Workmanship Award. It is also heavily thread painted,

and because she changed her bobbin thread with each change of the top, the back is just as gorgeous as the front.

But of all the quilts on the second floor “Storm of the Soul” by Laura Franci was my favorite. It’s all raw-edged appliqué and her attention to detail blew me away!

It’s the people! As I was wandering through the wall quilts Jacqueline approached me and said “Hi Chris, I was hoping I’d run into you. I took your free motion quilting class here 2 years ago and I was short $3 to purchase your book. You gave me the book anyways and I’ve been wanting to pay you back with interest ever since.” She handed me a $5 bill. What a sweet lady! When I tried to decline she wouldn’t let me, and then she said that she was a long arm quilter and she is still using some of the techniques she learned in that class. I was joyful and humbled. A teacher can’t hear anything better than that a student is using what they learned in class. Thank you Jacqueline!

At this point I was only part way through the small wall quilts, so here are a few more. I loved the vintage feel of “Swinging Bonnet Babes” by Rhea Mowery, and her quilting added so much motion.

“Wagon Train” by Karen Lambdin is a lovely grandmother’s flower garden quilt with stunning quilting. What a wonderful backdrop for the sweet wagon train. Charming.

Katie Henrich made “Flight of Wonder” from a photograph she took of her sons on the beach. The “geese” flying along with the boys against the beautiful seaside backdrop makes this quilt special.

And speaking of capturing special moments, “First Look” by Paula Longshore is just too sweet!

When I walked up to “Small Town USA” by Christine Gillespie I found the buildings charming, but then I noticed that the trees are what are holding the horizontal rows together. The black curtain behind is showing through. How clever.

And since we’re on the subject of clever… my final quilt from the upstairs gallery is “Let’s Open the Zip” by Noriko Nozawa. The “open” areas are filled with buttons, notions, yarns and threads. Sew very clever.

I hope you enjoyed some early parts of this wonderful trip. Stay tuned next week for even more inspiration.

My kids gave me this mug for christmas.

Everytime I have my morning tea in this cup I’m not only reminded of my kid’s thoughtfulness in giving it to me, but it makes me think of all the “squirrel moments” I’ve been experiencing. You know – it’s like when you’re talking about one thing and then your brain switches gears and you do a topic u-turn.

This got me to thinking about quilts I’ve made with squirrels on them. When my niece was expecting I made a woodland creature quilt for Josiah Thomas. The creatures were quilted in from drawings I found online.

Squirrel!

Every place we’ve lived there’ve been squirrels. The high numbers were probably due to my love of feeding the birds. A few weeks ago you might remember that I shared this photo of a quilt featuring bird feeders, birds ~ and the resultant squirrels (click here for that post).

I found squirrel photos at the library and stitched them with my repliqué technique (this was made long before I was able to find these things on the internet). The post with this quilt asked for readers to share quilts with birds, and those bird quilts were shared in last week’s post. So… does anyone have squirrel quilts they’d like to share? I’m sure they’re not as plentiful, but thought it was worth asking.

I couldn’t remember any other squirrels on my quilts, but I have a friend who makes the most delightful paper pieced animal patterns. Her name is Mary Hertel and her business is Quilts by Marney. I met her when I participated in an event entitled Top Stitch a few years ago. It was sort of like a sewing version of the British Bake Off (click here to visit that post).

Mary’s the one with the hummingbird umbrella. I figured she would have to have a squirrel pattern. Well – she didn’t. But did she have bunnies!!! They are adorable, and just in time for Spring!

Marney also has loads of other animals, each one cuter than the last. To visit her site click here!

As I was looking up squirrel quilts online I found squirrel bedding that is just too cute, and available on the Walmart website.

Isn’t it hilarious? And the perfect bedding for someone who is REALLY into squirrels 🤣!

Do you have a squirrel quilt to share? A bunny quilt would be fun to share too! If so, please send a photo my way 😁.

Thanks to everyone who sent me photos of their bird quilts! When I originally posted about the ThreadBender’s “Birds Eye View” challenge, I received quite a few nice comments. One was particularly interesting. I met Tomi Fay when she took one of my classes many years ago. She was the one who shared the history of Seminole dolls with me (click here for that post). Since then she has shared quite a few fascinating tidbits of information that have found their way into my blog. Her comment to the “Birds Eye View” post was another I knew I needed to share with you! This is a portion of it:

“are you familiar with Birds Eye maps? An artist would visit a community, walking the streets and sketching each building. Then he went back to his studio and drew the town in detail from his sketches. The view of the town was not directly overhead but at an angle.”

I was intrigued by this information and did an online search which led me to a delightful video about this type of map. If you’re intrigued too, please click here.

Thank you Tomi Fay for once again enlightening us 😊!

And now for some bird quilts. First, I wanted to start with the blocks at the top of this post which were made in classes I’ve taken over the years. What follows are photos sent to me by some blog followers.

My friend Laura and I took a class on recreating photos of animals in raw edge appliqué. This is one of the quilts she made using the techniques from that class:

“Here is my Snowy Owl quilt. I started making it all white but, thought it would be too boring. I added color so I guess it’s really not a snowy owl.”

Wonderful! I love her choice of background fabric!

I met Margit in Arizona, and have shared many of her quilts here over the years. This is the bird quilt she sent me:

“In my early quilt years in MA I made a quilt with leaves. I was running out of fabric for the border so I added leaves and a paper pieced cardinal. The female cardinal is hand appliqued and is hiding in the bushes. The title of the quilt (44″x44″) is ‘Looking for Mrs. Cardinal’.”

Beautiful!

Kathy Hughes sent me this:

“This week’s subject of birds brought to mind a quilt I made recently that I call “Bluebirds” of Happiness. The BEST part of my Bluebirds of Happiness was that it was made of ALL scraps – except for the backing !  A friend shared the bird pattern…and I just flew with it ! The bright colors just make me happy!”

Delightful!

Then Diane emailed me with this photo of her prize winning bird quilt!

“I just won a 3rd place ribbon on my Pretty Birds (Elizabeth Hartman pattern)quilt at the Southwest Florida Quilt Guild show in Punta Gorda , FL“

Congratulations on the ribbon. It was well deserved!

And here’s a photo of another prize winning bird quilt. Carolyn mixed piecing and appliqué into a captivating collection of birds and flowers.

“I made this in a class with Roberta Williams. Loved her dearly and miss her. Got a Blue Ribbon at State Fair 2014. It is raw edge appliqué and free motion quilted on my home machine It hangs in my dining area.”

It is so lovely. I miss Roberta too!

My friend Judy sent me her “Birds in the Windows” quilt, and it’s a lovely way to round out this week’s collection:

The rest of this post isn’t about quilts, but it does have something to do with birds. Over the years we’ve had cardinals decide to peck at our windows in the Spring. We learned that when they are mating they become very territorial and when they see their reflection in a window, they think it’s another bird and they attempt to scare it away. It usually lasted for a few days and it was interesting to see them up close through the window.

Last spring changed all that. We had robins that pecked at all the windows in our home mercilessly. They spit slime all over each one, and did this for a few weeks. When they stopped we were so grateful!!! I washed the windows ~ and a week later they started all over again! This went on all summer long. Mike and I thought we were going to lose our minds. We placed plastic owls around the windows, and they ignored them. We taped newspaper on the windows (was it ever dark in the house!), and they pecked it off so they could continue to peck at the window. We hung aluminum pans from string so they would ratttle with the wind but that didn’t work either. Finally Mike hung tarps over our windows and from the ceiling of the front porch.

By then it was September and their visits began to wane. I am no longer a robin fan. So when they appeared in the yard this Spring I wanted to cry. Instead, I did some more searching online for solutions and found one we hadn’t tried. It was recommended we cut blackbirds out of black paper and tape them in the windows. Sounds easy enough. Mike ran to Walmart to get black card stock, and I found a few silhouettes online and scanned them into my Brother Scan and Cut.

It worked beautifully ~ so I taped them in all the windows. The one on the back door was in front of the macrame hanging our daughter-in-law made, and it looked great (this is where we saw the first robin pecking this year – and pooping all over the stoop – grr).

The trouble was, the reflections in the windows caused them to disappear from the outside (no matter how hard you look, you won’t see it)

When I blocked the reflection with my body, I could almost see it (thus the arrows).

I took them all down and taped them to white paper, cut them out again and put them back.

We’re hoping it will work. I’m tired of living in dark rooms all summer, and listening to that annoying noise. Stay tuned.

Last week’s Crazy Quilters show was sew well done. As usual I like to go through the show and pick a few of my favorite quilts to share with all of you. I look for the little things that make each one special. As always, I wish I could share every quilt because I love them all, but that isn’t possible. So here are the ones that intrigued me. To start with, I had the privilege of giving a Judge’s Choice ribbon. As I’ve said before, this is fun because I can take off my judge’s hat and just pick a favorite. This year I chose Peggy Otto’s “My Lifetime Sewing Journey”.

She starts in the upper left corner with a gingham apron, and a photo transfer of the pattern ~ with “Peggy Sue” embroidered in chicken scratch.

I’ll let her tell you the rest:

I think it really appealed to me because back in the 90s I made a sewing journey quilt for a contest entitled “Reflections”. I chose to name my quilt “Reflections of My Quilting Heritage”. It was my first “Accordion Door” quilt, so it was made from three quilts: two were cut into strips and sewn together into the accordion part, and they hung from the back quilt via Velcro (I wrote a post about this technique back in 2021. Click here to read it). At the top of this photo you’ll see the view from the right. It includes hand mirrors with the faces of the my great, great grandma Mary who was the only quilter in my family tree. Then there is my mom who taught me to sew, my friend Sharon who taught me to quilt, and me; along with sewing tools and garment/quilt motifs.

The view from the left (at the bottom of the photo) begins with a replica of one of the log cabin quilts made by grandma Mary. The artsy stripes in the upper right are done in my Parallelisms style, which I’d just started doing at that time. The back quilt is sprinkled with shisha mirrors to add more reflection. What a blast from the past! I haven’t pulled that quilt out in quite a while. Maybe it’s time has come 😊.

I apologize for making you join me down that bunny hole ~ let’s get back to the CQ show.

If I could have given a second place “Judges Choice” ribbon, it would have gone to “Tulips and Butterflies” by Linda Schubert. Her color gradation of fabrics through both the flowers and butterflies is delightful, especially on the colorful confetti background.

The quilt which won the Best of Show ribbon was “Forest Galorest” by Mary Enge. Everything about this quilt was well done! And each and every animal is delightful! I took my photos right after the judging, and before all the signs were pinned to the quilts, so I don’t know if this was a pattern or Mary’s original design. Either way she did it so very well!

Congratulations Mary!

One of the first quilts I saw when I entered the show was “Jo Morton Mini” in honor of the book Little Women. This is my granddaughter Sommer’s favorite book, and we’re going to a local production of the Broadway play for her birthday next week. So I had to snap a pic, and then I realized it was made by my friend Karen Moore. I didn’t know she made minis! Great job Karen! ~ and congratulations on the ribbon.

Around Town by Lois Smith is simply striking!

The colors, fabrics, appliqué and piecing are all well done… and there was a mariner’s compass in the middle! I love it! Here’s the story:

The “United States Bird and Flower Quilt” by Nellita Lee brought back memories of quilts from long ago. Her story makes this quilt even more special.

and here’s a close up of the Wisconsin block:

Such lovely embroidery. Well done Nellita!

Suzi Bank’s quilt “Viva Las Vegas Mystery Quilt” had an intriguing feel about it that drew me closer to discover why.

It turns out that the border and many shapes in the center of the quilt were made from a very interesting digitally printed fabric of used watercolor paint trays. Her color choices made it come together beautifully.

The colors in “Grandeur” by Nancy Andritsch drew me in too (I really am a color junkie!)

Then I realized her “ad lib” border was another reason this quilt “grabbed” me.

“Starburst” was made by 12 year old Millie Lebeck. Wow! You’ll love reading about it in her own words.

Great job Millie! Keep up the good work 😁.

“Posh Gobble” by Lori Migliaccio is covered in fun quilting, and the piecing is great too.

As I was putting this post together I realized that Lori did the quilting on the next two quilts also. All three quilts demonstrate her skill and versatility.

“Sparrows” is Barb Lancelle’s quilt. She wrote on her attached card: “The “Sparrows”‘ pattern called for all the birds to be the same. I made mine with Wisconsin birds instead!”

They certainly are cute… and chubby!

“Hope and Harmony” by Juli Meeks got my attention because of the lovely and unusual block. It’s like a clamshell with feathers, and they were appliquéd beautifully. But what amazed me was the way she pieced the binding to match the border, right down to the mitered corners. What wonderful attention to detail. Well done Juli!

“Dog Family” by Melody Ryddner was made from an Elizabeth Hartman pattern. Her dogs were just so cute I had to take a photo, and the spiral quilting was a great choice. I guess I’m not alone in liking it – “Dog Family” got one of the other “Judges Favorite” ribbons.

Patriotic by Nancy Gruenewald is a wonderful mix of wool and cotton; and appliqué and piecing. Her embroidery is lovely too!

At first “Ombre Geese” by Carie Bronson looks like it has a bit too much background ~ but just imagine how amazing this quilt looks on a bed! Especially with the rounded corners. Modern and marvelous!

Brooke Furmanek’s “Bargello” is one of the nicest I’ve seen in a while. The pattern and fabrics are all so happy together.

And I’ll conclude my pics from the show with Ivy’s Butterflies. When my daughter was little she called them “butterbugs”, and I love that each pair of wings contains a different pair of blocks. The color palette is a bit unexpected – and lovely.

After noticing all of the above, I read the story ~ and I knew I had to share it. What a special memory quilt.

I was disappointed to realize I hadn’t taken a photo of the quilt tag, so I don’t have Ivy’s Mom’s name. I’d love to give her credit. If you’re reading this and know the maker, please share her name in the comments. Thanks!

I’d like to extend a big thank you to everyone at the Crazy Quilter’s guild for once again putting on a great show!

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And one more thing…

Lori and I just hung the ThreadBender’s “Word” challenge at the Watertown Public Library. Please make plans to stop by if you’re in the area.

We also have a new store in town ~ Madison’s Crafts and Fabrics. Click here for the link to their site!

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Wishing you all a blessed Resurrection Sunday!

I shared the ThreadBender’s recent challenge “Birds Eye View” a few weeks ago. This weekend those quilts are hanging at the Crazy Quilter’s show in Mukwonago, WI. The photo at the top of this post shows them all hanging together and they look great! (if I do say so myself 😊). The show is open until 3pm today, so if you live nearby and have a free Sunday afternoon, please head to the middle school in Mukwonago.

Those who are very observant might have noticed a quilt in the above photo that wasn’t previously on the ThreadBender’s site. A week before those quilts were due, I was on a Cattail retreat with friends. While Mary and I went for a walk through the melting snow I came upon a moment when I just had to snap a photo;

It was a close range “Birds Eye View” type image, and it really intrigued me. I’d already made my challenge quilt ~ “Kansas City Departure” (click here to read that post), but I had this strange desire to make another. A week after those quilts were due for jurying at the guild meeting, I changed the photo to grayscale,

and enlarged it to the proper size using MS Excel™. I then printed many 8 1/2″ x 11″ paper sheets using a technique I’ve posted about before (click here for that post), and taped them together to make my full sized pattern. I knew I needed a good leafy fabric and found the perfect one online.

The rest of the fabrics were pulled from my stash and the fun began. I chose to sew directly onto the printed photo using raw-edged Repliqué, beginning by adding the snow to the leaf fabric (you might notice – I forgot to take photos while making the quilt, so these were taken later and include quilting).

Then the tree trunk and the rake were stitched in place (I liked red better than the green on the original photo).

I knew that doing this all raw edged would result in some fuzzy edges ~ and I’m trying not to let it bother me 😂.

Finally my boots and legs were added. I enjoyed the entire process and had it finished quite quickly ~ simply because I was having fun.

It was done in time for the Crazy Quilter’s show and I named it “Spring Thaw”.

I was thrilled to have it hanging with the entire exhibit.

I always love the Crazy Quilter’s show, and have been honored to be one of the judges for the show many times over the years. This year had an added blessing. My friends and I were at a retreat at Tall Pines in Mukwonago this week. The retreat ended on Friday ~ and I was to judge the show at one o’clock that afternoon. The judging was a joy, and the quilts were wonderful. I took pictures of my favorites and I’ll share them with you in next week’s post. Until then… I have a true confession that I hope will make you laugh, or at least help you to remember what not to do the next time you’re basting your quilt sandwich together.

I chose a Wisconsin “Shop Hop” fabric from may stash to put on the back of the Spring Thaw quilt.

It seemed like the perfect choice. As I was beginning to pin the layers together I actually said to myself “Chris, check to make sure the back is positioned so the top is at the top”. I checked and decided I had it right. WRONG! Thus the sleeve is at the bottom of the quilt in the above photo, and when hanging the back is upside down 😩. It was all quilted before I noticed. I’ve decided to say I wanted it that way 🤣.

Last week I enjoyed sharing part of my adventure at the Indiana Heritage Show. This week I’d like to feature my wonderful students. I was invited to teach my three favorite classes (although it’s hard to pick favorites 😊). I started the show with Architectural Repliqué, arriving early to arrange everything.

None of the students had done this type of appliqué before ~ and they all caught on fast!

Because I was able to drive to the show I had room in the car to take all the samples I wanted. Each time I teach this class I make a block along with the students ~ and I have quite a collection of them. In 2015 I did a post about the 70 blocks I’d collected up to that point (click here to read that post). I’ve added many more since then. Hopefully they’ll become a “neighborhood” quilt (or 2, or 3) someday.

The following day I switched gears and jumped into drafting and stitching Mariners Compasses. It was a special group of quilters for many reasons, not the least of which was the kindness they all showed me when I tripped over my suitcase and landed face first on the floor. I’d never done that in front of a class before, and I don’t plan on doing it again. Thankfully I only had minor injuries and I learned some good lessons (“watch where you’re going” and “slow down”). After a brief break we were back at it and the students did great.

I have two additional sweet memories from that class. Prior to it I ran into Mary Ellen. She and her friend Maureen traveled with me to the Tokyo Quilt Festival in 2020. A few years later they invited me to come to Indianapolis and teach Mariners Compass for their guild. Mary Ellen didn’t need to take my class this time, because she really caught on the first time (see photo!) I’m so pleased she thought to bring her quilt so I could share it with my students. Isn’t is amazing?!?

And this is her label. Thanks Mary Ellen!

Also, I had a husband/wife sewing team in class. Bryan and Denise were so much fun, and their compasses were each beautiful ~ but definitely different. Don’t you just love Bryan’s red background?!?

It was a wonderful day in spite of my clumsiness ☺️.

The Saturday class was “Where Do I Start With Fiber Art”, and it was the perfect finale. I was joined by a group of very creative quilters.

And here are some of the fascinating designs that resulted.

I’m so blessed to be able to share my passion for quilting with wonderful, creative people.

Each day we were blessed with a long lunch, and I was very grateful because I wanted to visit the vendors too. I was able to catch up with a few of them who have become friends over the years, simply because we’ve met at different shows. One who was new to me was Chris Schulte who owns Green Light Quilts. Her patterns and quilts were lovely, but what intrigued me was a new line of fabrics she’s designed for Marcus Fabrics.

Each segment of fabrics on the sample card above represents what is printed on a bolt. The segments are 8 different fabrics in one hue (color). So, when you purchase yardage, you get 8 different coordinated fabrics. The card above was for her brights, but her more muted pieces were lovely too. The collection is called “Strip-It”. According to the Marcus Fabrics website the brights won’t be available until July,

but the softer colors were in her booth. I decided to buy a yard of off-white prints. It will be a blessing the next time I want a variety of background fabrics in a quilt (I apologize for not pressing the fabric first).

After class on Saturday I went for a walk and had a lovely stroll on part of the Indiana University campus (praise the Lord ~ the rain had stopped). A block away from the Convention Center was a parking garage with oodles of half square triangles decorating the outer walls. I started my post about this show last week with quilt designs on carpet, and now I’ll end with more hanging from buildings.

Sunday’s ride home was bright and sunny! It was a wonderful trip!

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And one more note for the ladies in my fiber art class on Saturday. I mentioned a fused binding technique that I like to use on my art quilts, and I said there was a tutorial on my blog. I was so sure I’d written one, but I can’t find it. One of the quilters in the class wrote to tell me she’s finished her piece and wants to know how to do the fused binding (I hope this encourages others to complete theirs 😁 – atta girl Tearle!) Since the technique is not original to me, I went online and found a video that’s similar to the way I do it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrrARxm9JH0. The only change I’d make is to use a wavy blade cutter on both sides of the strips so that none of the long raw edges fray, on the front or the back.