Two weeks ago Ann Blasdel took a class with me, through the Austin Area Quilt Guild, and she has totally finished her quilt! It’s beautiful! Well done, Ann, and thank you for sharing your quilt with us!
You can find the Spring Bling class with my other classes on Creative Spark. In the online class, MJ Kinman teaches the gem medallion and I teach the machine applique. When either of us teaches this class to a guild, only one of us is on the zoom answering questions for all the techniques in the class. Students get unlimited access to all the videos, hers and mine.
Ann said: “The videos were very clear and presented in a very organized way. Really nice to be able to follow them.”
Thank you again, Ann, and congrats on the fast finish and beautiful quilt!
I shared the Flutterbye Butterflies pattern with Margery Tadder, an internet friend, a while ago. I asked her to keep it a secret until the book was closer to release. The book, 100 Whimsical Applique Designs, is available now for presale so it is time to share Margery’s Butterflies :-). I love it so much!
At long last, I’m sending a picture of my butterflies using your lovely Flutterbye pattern. I’ll be 93 December 1st and compared to some of my contemporaries, am doing wondrously well. After surviving a long bout of pneumonia and slowly regaining energy, am back out and about and grateful for it! I used the butterflies for a pillow. Am really happy how they turned out after a couple false starts.
Over the years I have saved family signatures thinking to use them in a quilt. It never happened but on the pillow back will trace the names of those who have passed away. It will be the perfect place.
This is my finished(yay!) Flutterbye pillow and also one of the back although it didn’t turn out as I had hoped. My plan was to scatter a number of signatures in a freeform way, but about went out of my tree trying to trace them so they didn’t look like a jumbled mess! After wasting a couple pieces of fabric, got serious and did a few the easiest way possible!
Love the butterflies and tulips and they are such pretty and cheery spot on this cold and snowy day! But what’s not to love about this darling pattern?! The pillow does need to be stuffed again as this form is too loose. You probably know the story…the Navajo women purposely make a mistake in their weavings so the gods won’t be angry because only the gods are allowed to be perfect. I tell you, if there are any Navajo gods looking down on my pillow they definitely aren’t mad! haha.
Thank you many times again, Becky, for your generosity and kindness, and Best Wishes to you and your family for a very Happy Thanksgiving!
Margery, thank you for sharing your pillow and the story to go with it. I think the signatures on the pillow back are perfect as they are and I’m not entirely sure that it needs more stuffing—but that is your call :-). I hope you keep right on stitching because it does bring joy, both in the doing and the finishing!
I machine quilted together two vintage tops to make one quilt. The trip around the world side (below) is very nice. The pattern is easy to read… it’s happy!
The quilt top I put on the back has alternating 3″ squares and 9-patches made from 1″ squares. There isn’t an underlying theme or color palette on this side. It is mostly prints, plaids, and stripes that are individually wonderful, but together are a hot mess. Your eyes have nothing to focus on.
Look at the two, together…
Your eye can rest and explore the trip around the world. There isn’t any resting when you look at the 9-patches. And more to the point, there isn’t any real pattern.
Generally speaking, when we go to the effort to cut fabric apart and sew it back together, we do so for a reason. I wonder if the maker of the 9-patch just wanted to sew and had no other plan… because that’s what it looks like. And I absolutely understand that because I have done that myself with equally questionable results 🤣.
But that doesn’t mean you can’t successfully test the boundary between pattern and chaos. I wrote about the quilt below, Carnival, made by Joan Goetteman and Audree Sells, in this blog post. It was my Judge’s Choice at the Chaska Fall Splendor Quilt Show in 2022.
Yes, there is chaos, but it is not total chaos. There is just enough pattern to keep your eye happily busy. You may not be drawn to this level of visual activity, but I still love this quilt.
If you are interested in making this sort of quilt, go for it! Here are a few tips:
When you find a quilt that embraces this sort of chaos, study it a bit to see what does and does not resonate with you.
Consider how to create some sort of recognizable arrangement/pattern.
Group colors in a way that enhances the plan you have in mind.
I thought I would share my quilt with you. I started it over 10 years ago in Virginia. My granddaughters would visit from Colorado every summer for several months. After work I would pick them up from the child minder and take them to the community pool. (Micky’s pool, as they called it). He was a friend who offered us free access to his community pool, his children had grown and no longer used it and he still had to pay for it as part of his homeowner’s dues.
I would bring my Stars in the Garden blocks with me to hand applique, after watching your videos, I found a sense of peace of mind and a soothing experience.
I started to quilt it 3 months ago and hated what I did, so spent hours with my ‘quicker picker, back sewer’ taking it all out. Decided on 1 inch blocks around the applique and I had a little help!
His name is Gloomy! I enjoy your Jim shots and thought you would enjoy mine.
Thank you Marian for sharing your beautiful quilt—and Gloomy!—with us. I am certain that I’m not the only one with a grin on my face :-). Your quilt is cheerful and beautifully made. Well done, you! And lovely that you have such nice memories woven into it. I’ll bet it is great to sleep under.
I recently taught at the Fall Splendor of Quilts show in Chaska, MN, where I got to award a Speaker’s Choice ribbon. The quilt I fell in love with is this one, made by Joan Goetteman (with me, below) and Audree Sells.
The quilt is named “Carnival” because of the nine traditional “Carousel” blocks in the quilt. The blocks were made using the paper-piecing method and assembled by the late Audree Sells, my best friend, mentor, and unofficial adopted mother (her idea). Her biological daughter Suzanne Thiesfeld suggested the name.
Audree made the top. Joan repaired missed stitches from removal of paper and yo-yos, stitched “broderie perse” floral pieces at some of the intersections of blocks that had only been basted, and she heavily hand-quilted the quilt. Joan is now the owner of this lovely quilt.
Joan wrote: As a charter member of the Chaska Area Quilt Club that began in 1988, co-founded by exceptional quilters Audree Sells and her cousin Phyll Eder, I have learned so much from these two women. Namely how to make tiny, even quilt stitches and with adages “just do it, get it done” and “it will quilt out”!! I miss them both dearly. This award is in honor of Audree. R.I.P.
JOan Goetteman, Carver, MN
I really do love this quilt. It makes me smile :-). The picture does not do it justice.
Carnival by Audree Sells and Joan Goetteman
The show ribbons were lovely, hand-beaded by a few members of the guild. In a nice coincidence, Joan made the speakers choice ribbon using a design from one of our books. And, yes, she did ask permission for that :-).
There were many lovely quilts in the show and I enjoyed seeing them all. I encourage each of you to get out to some local shows, in addition to the big shows. Big shows have big quilts but not always the extra-fun, quirky quilts that I love the most.
Thank you, Joan, for sharing your quilt! Well done!
Piece O Cake Blog 