A lot of excitement has been arriving in my mailbox recently! First came the latest issue of Quilting Arts and an article about the Milwaukee Art Quilters and our award winning Jennings quilt (more about that to follow :-)). Then came the Summer issue of the National Quilting Association‘s magazine – “Quilting Quarterly” – and Wendy Rieves and I are cover girls! Our quilt, “Welcoming the Son Into Our Garden” is featured on the cover of the magazine!
We are thrilled and I have to give Wendy a lot of credit because those beautiful sunflowers are her creation. Thanks Wendy!
So, now for this week’s actual topic:
I’ve mentioned the Milwaukee Art Quilters in previous blog posts and during the AQS show in Paducah this year, a group quilt we made won an award. I believe the Jenning’s Homestead Quilt was the first project made by this group that wasn’t made for competition and it’s been winning awards in every show it’s traveled to – go figure :-).
The Jenning’s Homestead quilt is an example of a slice quilt and here’s the story:
When Marq began we would hold our monthly meetings in member’s homes. As our numbers grew this became a bit difficult. One of our founding members, Suzanne Riggio, came to the rescue. Her daughter and son-in-law, Theresa and Paul Jennings, owned a business and made space available for us to meet. Over the years they never charged us anything for this privilege and Suzanne suggested to the group that we make a slice quilt of their beautiful, historic home as a “thank you”. Another member, Judy Zoelzer-Levine, had had some success with this technique and volunteered to enlarge a photograph of the home and divide it into 24 portions. All willing members were given a picture of the home (for color and continuity),
an actual sized “cartoon” of their chosen section (this was mine),
And a mapped “cartoon” showing how the portions fit together:
We were allowed to use any techniques of our choosing and were asked to leave at least 1″ extra fabric all around our block to aid in putting things back together. Suzanne preferred the colors/theme to be early Spring so that the house would not be blocked by foliage. Once the blocks were completed they were assembled and the quilting was done by Terri Kirchner.
We invited Theresa and Paul to a meeting where we presented them with their quilt. They were stunned and overjoyed. Suzanne then informed them that she wanted to enter it in a show or two because it did turn out so well and … the rest is history!
Marq and the quilt were even featured in the most recent issue (June/July) of Quilting Arts magazine. It is such a blessing to be a part of this talented group!
Have you ever been a part of a slice quilt project? Please comment and tell us about it!
PS My daughter-in-law sent me this picture of Sommer at Discovery World on the lake front in Milwaukee. She seems to be reaching for the Calatrava designed Quadracci Pavillion at the Milwaukee Art Museum. It made me smile!
Hazel (Sis H) says
WOW!!! You and Wendy are making a wonderful splash in the quilting world.
Beautiful days here in Alaska lately….I have been setting out lots of bedding plants and herbs. Back to quilting when it rains
Jacki Iannarelli says
Your sliced quilt story brought to mind a story that is true and it happened in our quilt guild “Loose Threads” of Grafton WI. When our guild was young (we have been together now 20 years) many of us had just finished our first quilt class. We decided to make “friendship blocks” of the hostess’s choice. (We met once a month in each others homes). Of course everyone said that theirs’ wasn’t very good and could find fault with it when they turned it in to the hostess. I put mine together, entered it in a quilt show and won 3rd prize in the group category. When members saw their square hanging up in the quilt for all the world to see along with the third place ribbon on it, I think it gave members a lot of courage to continue quilting and next year we had several of our members enter the quilt show and the one who had the greatest doubts won a 1st place in her division. It just goes to show you that working together on a quilt can bring great result as you well know.
Margaret says
Thank you, Chris, for that explanation of how the quilt was made.
I first saw that piece @ our (Its A Stitch) show in 2012 where it
received a Viewer’s Choice ribbon (& probably another ribbon also). It
is a fascinating piece.