A Quilting Force to be Reckoned With: My Interview with Anita Smith

I am so blessed to be a quilter.  Not only have I had the wonderful opportunity to take classes and make wonderful quilts, but I have also had the privilege to meet so very many exceptional men and women who are not only proficient in their craft, but they also have unique stories to tell.  And many of those men and women have not only helped me become a better quilter, they have also helped me become a better person.  Their stories have touched my heart.  And a few have touched my soul.

Such is the person of Anita Smith.

I “met” Anita more years ago than I’ll admit.  I’ve always enjoyed applique – it’s my favorite quilting technique – so when I found an ad in a long-forgotten quilt magazine for The Applique Society, I sent in my dues.  After a few years, I had the privilege of serving on the board, and that’s when I met Anita.  She was the founder and past president of TAS.  Eventually I rotated off the board and she came back as President, setting the “little” applique group up to spectacularly meet the challenges of the 21^st century.  Throughout this time we chatted on the phone, emailed, texted, and once saw each other at the TAS Annual Meeting.  The stitches which joined us as friends quickly tightened as I learned more about her.  In October, I asked Anita if she would share her story with the readers of my blog.  She graciously agreed.  My interview with her is below, along with some additional comments from me.  Please note English is not her native tongue – German is. And despite the fact she claims she still struggles with her words sometimes, the passion she has for her quilts shines brightly despite any language barriers. 

Anita: Thank you Sherri, for asking me to do this interview for you.  This is the first time someone has asked to interview me.  I have had to really take the time to think through why I have done what I have in my quilt life and especially my applique life. I hope I have adequately answered the questions you have asked and have made the interview interesting for those reading it.

1.     Tell me about your past.  Where did you grow up?

Our family immigrated to America in 1956 after the war in Europe left that country in poverty.  We were sponsored and ended up in Ohio. My parents were tailors and I lived in Ohio until I got married.  In 1971, when my husband and I married in California, we lived in the San Diego area where he was stationed in the Navy during the Vietnam War era.

Anita lives on Whitbey Island, Washington.  She often posts pictures of her home on her Facebook page.  It’s gorgeous.  And despite the fact I’m not a cold weather fan, I think living there would kind of be like living in a fairy tale.

How did you end up on Whidbey Island?

When a good friend moved to Washington State in 1978, I visited her and fell in love with Whidbey Island.

 And could you tell me a little about Whidbey?

It had a simple and down to earth living.  It has ocean water all around the island with clean fresh air.  The atmosphere was more “back to earth” and we were getting into that lifestyle during this time. We love living on the island. It is like being in a woodland retreat area, but we live there full time.  The evergreens, mountain views, ocean views, eagles and whales abound in the area. It is so restorative to live here.

2.     Why did you decide to learn to quilt?

Shortly after moving to Whidbey in 1979, I met a lady at the camping resort we were staying at who was into quilting. She invited me to go to a local quilting class she was attending.  It was a major turning point in my life. My parents were tailors, but I didn’t learn to quilt from them.  I only learned how to “tear out things” because they were perfectionist with their sewing. So when I met Helen Thompkins in 1979/80, she was someone I could learn from because she made sewing/quilting fun and positive.  Helen taught the old way in hand piecing and in quilting and best of all she offered lots of encouragement and humor. 

Anita’s First Quilt

Were you self-taught or did someone teach you?

After learning how to do the basics in quilting with Helen Thompkins, I had people ask me to teach them how to make the quilt I was making.  I loved helping people learn and so my quilt teaching began in 1981. I love, love teaching beginners and also those who don’t think they can learn. I have so many success stories. I show them what they CAN DO and not focus on what they already think they CAN’T DO. Because I was teaching beginners and intermediate students, I needed to learn more and there was not much available at the time.  So I learned from books and magazines how to quilt. I wanted to do the hand method because it was more adaptable to my style and also my goal – friendship and a slower pace of the quilting process.  I was not big into machine piecing at the time. I still love teaching the simple hand method and process. Many people are “product minded and focused.” I am “process minded and focused.”

3.     I know applique is your passion.  When did you decide this would be your “calling” in the quilt world? 

In Helen Thompkin’s class I fell in love with the freedom of applique. I loved that with applique, the restrictions of squares and triangles disappeared, and the freedom of shapes and design emerged. I began to teach applique more and more as more students wanted to learn.  There were a few that became star students and accomplished much.  After teaching one of my students the Baltimore Album style applique, she showed a friend who happened to have an original family Baltimore Album quilt. We all researched this quilt after she showed it to us.  What an amazing experience  it was to hold an “authentic” Baltimore Quilt!  I continued to keep in contact with this family and we worked on replicating this quilt over the next few years. I also created the historic “The Captain’s Quilt”.  I am still working on this quilt and hope to finish it in the next year or so.  While on a family trip in 1996, I had the opportunity to go to Baltimore and was able to attend the first Baltimore Applique Society quilt show. That was a life changing experience to see all those beautiful Baltimore style quilts. 

In October 1997, Anita along with several of her applique friends and with the support of some well-known applique artists, founded The Applique Society.  Through the years it grew from a small, local-ish group to a group of appliquers from across the globe.  At first it was a loosely formed group, with some local chapters, linked with a bi-monthly newsletter.  When Anita returned as President, COVID pushed Zoom into nearly everyone’s consciousness, including the TAS executive board.  We now have monthly meetings via Zoom as well as great workshops with nationally and internationally known teachers.  Trust me, if you like to applique, the $25 dues is some of the best money you’ll spend. 

But it all began with this woman and her vision.

What prompted you to start The Applique Society and how did that come about?  Can you give me a brief history of where it came from to where it’s at today?

It was while I was at the Baltimore Applique Society Quilt show I got the “vision” of an applique group which would go around the world and have many members.   I was in the hotel room where I was staying and began to write down the vision. I still have that notebook today. After I got back home from that trip, I spoke to a woman who had begun a large quilt group in our area which was very successful and drew many in the Pacific Northwest area.  She was so very helpful to answer many of the questions I had and then she gave me the name of Jeannie Austin.  Jeannie was immersed into Applique and Baltimore quilts.  It was after talking to her about my trip to Baltimore and the Baltimore quilt we discovered on Whidbey Island, that we became good friends and very involved in the Whidbey Island Family who had the Baltimore quilt.  We proceeded to help the family understand the value and significant history of the journey of this quilt. 

Elizabeth – Jane – Anita –Robertson Quilt

The daughter of this family just finished writing about the journey of this quilt and the history surrounding it.  She completed her own exact copy of the original quilt, and the book has the patterns of this quilt too. Here is the link in case you wanted to learn more about this amazing story and history. It has captivated me! It has impacted me! And this family has impacted me! It is amazing when a quilt is so impacting in our life.

The Robertson Quilt – Track its journey from Baltimore to Whidbey Island

https://www.therobertsonquilt.com/

In December 1996, I discussed the possibility of starting an applique group in our area with some well-known applique quilters and received great “do it” feedback. I put 100 invitation letters in the Freeland post office on Whidbey Island.  That invitation letter went to all the quilt groups in Washington State I could find addresses for, to see if there would be enough interest in starting an all-applique group in the Pacific Northwest.  I began hearing back from some and expected about 30 people in the spring of 1997.But when the day came, over 80 people showed up at the little local quilt shop in Edmonds, Washington. The steering committee was formed, and the people were in place to make history; The Applique Society (TAS) was birthed that day. October 1997 we became a nonprofit corporation in the State of Washington. In October 2022 we celebrated 25 years as TAS. In the fall of 2018 I joined the TAS board again and along with open minded board members, we have taken TAS to a new direction of this applique journey. We have gone to online Zoom monthly meetings and a quarterly newsletter. We have nationally and internationally well-known teachers give presentations and classes via Zoom. TAS is growing and moving with the times of how to reach out to the world with the “language of cloth”. We all understand this language of cloth even if we don’t speak the same language. We have met so many wonderful people through the World Wide Web. Check us out at www.theappliquesociety.org

No conversation with Anita is complete without talking about the quilts she has made or is in the process of making.  Many of her quilts are from her own designs.  All of the quilts are beautiful. Despite what she says about perfection, her quilts are pretty darn close to it.

4.    There are four quilts you’ve made which really speak to my heart and I’d like for you to talk about those:

1790 Love Entwined redrafted by Esther Aliu

Now this is a good start to ask about the quilts I have made and am in process of making. Love Entwined is a great one to start with. As soon as I saw this quilt in 2013, it grabbed my heart.  I just knew I needed to make this quilt.  Because I was not familiar with the history 1790 Georgian Era, I decided to do some research and see what colors would be used during that time period. Since the original quilt was photographed in black and white, there was no color information available other than the description by the photographer and that information was subjective.  I researched the Georgian Era and was able to get great info from an architectural designer friend.  She had resource books she copied and scanned that showed the colors and the structures from that time.   I took that info and then went to my large collection of fabrics I had been building the last 10 years. I usually would get 1/3 to ½ yard pieces of fabrics with interesting designs on them which would give an applique piece some depth and movement.  I had been working as an office manager for a doctor at the time and took some of my paycheck to buy fabric each month that was on sale.  So, because of this, I had all the fabric I needed for this project.  I just loved the process of choosing the fabrics.  I would choose the fabrics and then put them into one of the extra-large zip storage bags – 2ft x 1ft x 7 inches (60cm x 51cm x 18cm).  I will not use any of the fabric in that bag until my project is finished.  The fabrics are contemporary designs and colors are different than what some would use.  I have taken the “family colors” of the Georgian Era and worked from that source to create what I have done so far. I love, love the colors I have chosen.

I worked on this quilt from July 2013 to December 2015 when life changed for me.  My second mom got dementia, broke her hip, and had to move into a nursing home. I was her Power of Attorney and had to travel to Florida to deal with all the contents of her home, her 10ft x 20ft storage unit, and then sell her house. It was an intense period, and I had no time to stitch. So the quilt was waiting for me to finish it when I got back.  It will get finished and worked on… soon. My mother, who was a tailor, saw the quilt in 2015 and had some positive comments about it.  That was a rare thing coming from her.  She told one of the staff in the nursing home she was in that “her (Anita’s) stitches are better than mine.”  She did not tell me directly.  I only overheard her saying it.  So when I finish this quilt, I will have good memories of that comment and this picture of her looking at it and inspecting my handwork.

 Anita’s mother inspecting Anita’s Love Entwined Quilt

Some of you may wonder at Anita’s term “Second Mom.”  This woman’s name was Lillian Kemp.  Both Lillian and her husband, Jack, played large roles in Anita’s life.  I’ll let Anita explain this before we move onto the second quilt:

Lillian Kemp was my second mom.  When Brad (my husband) was transferred to San Diego, he missed his girlfriend back in Ohio. In March 1971, he went walking on the Coronado beach near the Navy base.  That very week I had gone to the local Baptist Church for a revival meeting at the invite of Brad’s father.  I accepted Jesus that evening, and my prayer was “God you know how badly Brad and I want to get married, you work it out.”  Jack Kemp would go around and pick up sailors for the weekend and bring them home to a give them a meal and take them to church on Sunday.   He saw Brad walking on the Coronado beach and picked him up.  Lillian and Jack talked to Brad about this girl he was missing, and Lillian said, “Maybe in a few months when you get settled, you could have Anita come out and stay at our house”. 

 Brad wrote to me about it and the plan was made for me to go to Jack and Lillian’s house in two weeks.  We were 18 years old and in love and nothing was going to stop us from being together.  I was there in April and then on May 8, 1971, we got married in Jack and Lillian’s home with their Pastor officiating the marriage.  Lillian became my second mom.  Her only child, a son, died tragically two years later in a car accident, and we became even closer.  She was also a spiritual mother, too, in my walk with God.  So God answered my prayer in that simple Baptist church on the day of my Salvation. In 2021, we celebrated 50 years of marriage.

Good Grief (1856 Huguenot Friendship Quilt – Triplett Sisters pattern)

“Good Grief” became the name of my quilt in 2020, based on the 1856 Huguenot Friendship Quilt pattern by the Triplett Sisters. In March 2020, my good quilting friend did not survive open heart surgery and died at 65 years old. We had done so many quilting and applique things together and then she was gone. I had to do something to refocus the grief and loss. I helped the family with sorting through her quilting area, but the grief was still so deep.  So I decided to focus on something creative.  In May 2020 I began the Huguenot Friendship quilt. 

Little did I know how much this quilt would be important in the grieving process in 2020.  Each block was “doable”, and each block brought color and focus on beauty instead of sadness. I also had a garden to grow and canning to do, but the blocks were also part of my year. I “stitched a garden to heal the soul”.

Then September 3, 2020, my mother died at 91 of sepsis and organ failure. My two sisters were able to be with her when she passed. I prayed for her at home because it all happened so quickly and there was a limited amount of people who could see her because of the COVID restrictions in the hospitals. So I did not go to her.  At least she was not alone as many people were that year. She died in the hospital with her two daughters (my sisters) with her. My brother also could not make it either. It was sad.

October 2020, they finally opened the nursing home my second mom was in, and I could go see her. But I was only allowed to visit for 15 minutes a day.  For two weeks I went every day to see her and my last day I was able to be there 30 minutes. During the off times I was in my hotel room and worked on the applique for the Huguenot Friendship blocks.  I had cut and basted all the blocks before I left to go on the trip.  It became the focus. I also listened to positive messages on YouTube. Dealing with GRIEF… at just losing my mother, more GRIEF… realizing my second mom was not far behind…

Then December 22, my second mom died.  She was finally free from her dementia, from her broken body, and from the world of loneliness. Her sister died in the same nursing home just that past August.  This is why she stayed in Florida.  I wouldn’t/couldn’t take them away from each other.

Grief became “Good grief” in this quilt.  I stitched a garden to heal my soul.  Those who have experienced grief and loss understand this journey. The colors I chose for the center were different.  I had some fabric that had bees in it and had that in beige, red and black.  I again chose fabrics from my collection which were unique and had interesting designs and colors on them.  The black became the border because in Europe it is common to put a black border around cards to announce the death of a loved one or funeral notices. I thought this was perfect for my “Good Grief” quilt.  That is what quilts are, a language spoken in cloth which is understood, no matter what unique language we actually speak.

“The Journey of Hope” quilt

I have been working on this idea of “The Journey of Hope” for many years.  I always wanted to make a quilt about my family’s heritage but was not sure how to do that.  In the fall of 2018 I took a class from Susan Standley about a westward journey through the book named “Hope’s Journey”.  It sounded really interesting and so I went to the classes.  I learned a lot each month but because it was talking about the journey which women took to go west in America, I had a hard time connecting with their stories.  I began to think about my own journey to America and I journaled about my thoughts on this subject as I was going through the classes with Susan. 

The author of the book, Betsy Chutchian, came to one of the meetings.  It was at this meeting I told her about my idea to try and make my quilt more personal to my family’s history story by using blocks I researched from other books and libraries of old blocks.  I did lots of searching and found my best sources were “The Quilters Album of Patchwork Patterns” by Jinny Beyer and “Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns” by Barbara Brackman.  EQ8 in conjunction with the Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns created Block Base. It was a wealth of information to search out names of blocks which would work for my quilt idea.  Searching out the right names and the right sizes all were possible with the resources I found. At the end of the classes I presented the name of this quilt as “The Journey of Hope” to Betsy and got her blessing with a label for the quilt and  it was signed by her saying “Follow your path… Hope’s Journey – Betsy Chutchian 2019”.  In 2019 I did all my block research and then it was time to design the quilt.  Now that has been a journey and process!  I have sketches in my notebook but each one was inadequate.  My only source in 2019 was the Jinny Beyer book.  The next challenge was how do I get these blocks to fit into my design?  There were so many obstacles in this process. Then in 2020 the Block Base and the Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns joined forces.  I ordered the book and program, and it changed the whole idea of my focus.  Now with EQ8 I could create the blocks I had put down on a list and make them into the size I wanted.  But first I had to pare down the list to what would fit in the area I wanted to make a quilt.  What size would I make this quilt? 

That is when my desire to use the Fibonacci method of quilt sizes came into play. I knew I was limited on the full size of the quilt being 105 inches, so I found a ratio that would work with that and came up with the 65 inch center with 10 inch borders. Then I found I could make the blocks in the center 5 inches, 10 inches and 15 inches and still be within the Fibonacci ratio. Patterns were picked and the design emerged. I also wanted to put the name of the quilt in the border.  I had to research a German Typographer and found one.  I was able to get the print for the quilt project design and just recently completed the typography with border sizes and patterns.  The blocks in the center of the quilt will tell the story by their block names, like farmers daughter, wagon wheel, Ohio Star, snowball wreath, danger signal, cross and crown, and many more.  There are 55 blocks in the center and 4 blocks in each corner.  If I hand piece one block a week (which is reasonable), it will take over a year to make that area.  Then I would do the applique in the lettering for another half year or so.  This will not be a fast quilt.  The outer border is still waiting to be designed. So 2020 was taken up with the “Good Grief” quilt and 2021 was trying to heal from the loss of my mothers and my friend.  I thought I was finally on the mend and able to proceed with the things needing done in my world.  BUT 2022 proved to be a difficult year. 

From January 2022 to July 2022, I lost 5 key people in my life to death.  Again the grief wants to engulf you.  It was harder this time.  REFOCUS, REFOCUS, REFOCUS and I worked through the summer with gardening to work through the grief.  But I also had time to reflect too.  It was at that time I thought about my father’s family and their journey during 1939 to 1945. My father’s family came from East Prussia.  In 1945 the Russians invaded East Prussia and killed, tortured, and violated men and women.  They took the land away from any German/East Prussian property owners. 

During this invasion and while they were trying to escape, my father’s grandfather  watched his beloved 22-year-old granddaughter killed in front of him. My father’s father died also in the invasion.  They both had to be buried somehow in the worst winter in the area and the frozen ground took a week to dig the hole for both of them (granddaughter/son-in-law).  There was so much loss, starvation, and death around them. I can’t imagine the losses they had to deal with and the emotions that go along with that. My father was 17 and his brother 18 when they were forced into joining a military or die that day. In 1945, his 3-year-old and 5 year old brothers only had their grandfather to take care of them. How did these people have HOPE? How did these people, my ancestors survive this?

I am the family historian, and I was able to get the last letter that great grandfather wrote in 1949 before he passed away. In this letter there was a message of HOPE.  Hope of his other granddaughter who was going to America, hope of a future.  He spoke of making sure they got a Bible when they came to America and make God and the Bible were an important part of their lives.  With this they would have HOPE. There was NO bitterness in that letter. No anger of the loss, ONLY HOPE in all the words to her. My father gave me this letter and told me it was from his Grandfather and would weep telling me about this letter. After I had it translated (it was in old script writing) I understood why the letter impacted him so deeply. I tear up just reading it too. It is like this great grandfather is still speaking to his family today.

As the family historian, I have collected all the stories of the family’s journey to freedom and HOPE. I think it is now that this story needs to be told in 2022. We all need HOPE again. 

I have been thinking a lot about… how did this man find HOPE in that difficult time?  How did my parents find HOPE during a time of hopelessness and poverty in the country we immigrated from? So it is time for the story of “The Journey of Hope” quilt to be told.  Watch for the progress in the coming year.

Sisterhood Quilt – The members of TAS from around the world who sent in blocks since 2000 to 2022

The Sisterhood center block design was a wonderful gift to The Applique Society (TAS).  Bunny Leighton had heard of my vision for TAS —  that it would reach applique lovers from around the world who knew and understood the “language of applique.”  She took this vision and created the design “The Sisterhood.”  Bunny captured the heart and soul of The Applique Society.

I took that design and made the block.  It is 34 inches high by 34-1/2 inches wide.  I used fabric that would represent the cultures shown.  I even found actual Japanese fabric for that culture. 

Once I had the center finished, I thought, “What else can I do with this block now?”  The idea was to have as many people as possible who were interested in doing so, make a block for the quilt. Some only did their signatures.  Others made simple applique blocks and then others made more detailed applique blocks. Blocks from around the world were sent to me to include in the quilt.  This quilt, when finished, will be in some museum for historic value documenting the applique lovers of this time period and The Applique Society.  I’ve spent 23 years of collecting blocks for this quilt.  Right now I am in the process of seeing what I need to do to finish the quilt and begin to do the quilting.  I would really like to hand quilt the center.  So maybe a combination of machine quilting and hand quilting will happen.  We will see what takes place as it gets closer to that phase.

If you would like to make a block, send your block to

Anita M Smith

P.O. Box 491

Freeland, WA 98249-0491

USA

Block details

**Cream or Off-White Cotton – washed

**7-inch block… I will cut the block so please keep the design inside the 6-inch design area

**Use a Pigma Pen or archival pen to write on the block

**Applique Design and/or embellishment is welcomed

**On each block please include your full name, city, state, and country

**Also include the date, month, and year you completed the block

What has each quilt taught you? 

In writing about all the quilts above and the journey I have taken with each one, I see it taught me I love to tell stories with fabric, my first love in quilting is applique and I love to “paint with fabric.”

How did you decide on the designs?  How did you decide which fabrics to use? 

Each quilt is unique and each one is created based on an original idea.  Even the quilts which were from a pattern like the 1856 Huguenot Friendship Quilt was turned into a unique quilt by using different colors and an additional name. “Good Grief” stitched a garden to heal the soul.  It brought healing.

The Journey of Hope was planned one way and then when new information and opportunity to create something unique in unique sizes came about, it changed the whole idea and now it has taken on a life of its own. The Journey of Hope continues to tell me what to change and what to add.  It is fun when a quilt “talks” to you.

Love Entwined pattern is going to stay as it was created.  What changed was the fabric, the colors from what was seen so faintly. I love that the quilt was photographed in black and white because then it unlocked the creativity of each maker for their own version of the quilt. Love Entwined was the first quilt that “talked” to me and told me what fabric to use.  It surprised me what fabrics I chose, but they worked. 

See below the original from a book and then the redesigned center by Esther Aliu.

 

 

5.  Where do you see yourself in five years as a quilter?  Do you have goals?  If so, what are they? 

That is a very good question.  In five years I will be 76.  I  hope the quilts I have at the top of my list  “to be finished” will have been done and  have gotten into one of the major quilt shows and that some will win major awards. We can all dream… but I know from the quilts I have seen, the level of perfectionism one must achieve in order to win awards may be out of my reach because of the fact I will not obsess with perfection in my work.  I will do my best in the work I do, but the perfection goal is not there.  I do know my work has to “speak” and must have “heart” and has to “deeply move” the viewer.  Good Grief did this. I watched at our local fair where it was hung, that there were many brought to tears, and many had difficulty speaking after reading the label or the note I put with the quilt.

When I finish “The Journey of Hope,” my goal for it is to put it in Houston and then see what it does.  When it is finished being shown around, I will take it to Germany and present it to the East Prussian Museum for the historical value of its story. I hope it moves people to heal and to have HOPE.

6. What was it like being interviewed by Ricky Timms?

I was so nervous to meet Ricky.  He is so well known and  I didn’t know what to expect.  When I met him he IMMEDIATELY put me at ease.  Before I was recorded, he asked many questions, and I answered them.  It was then that he went over what his goal was and what he hoped to ask me.  Also where to look and what quilts would be focused on. Once the interview began, Ricky asked the questions just like a friend would ask.  All the preparation ahead really helped, and I felt totally at ease in the interview.  Ricky said he was given a chance in his life with quilting and so he was giving people a chance to share their ideas, quilts, and stories with the interviews he gives.  He was giving back what he was given and passing on the kindness.  It was an honor to meet him and talk to him.

7.  What other hobbies do you have besides applique and quilting?  (Details on your garden and food preservation would be greatly appreciated).

 My other love I enjoy is working in the garden and my yard.  I love the outdoors in the Pacific Northwest and to hear the owls hooting, the birds singing, and to watch the bees and hummingbirds.  You can listen as the bugs fly by and watch a dragon fly light on top of a fence. You can see the swallows fly and catch the bugs. You watch spring blossom and nature begin again after the rest of winter. Doing the physical work outside confirms to myself that I can still manage on my own things that others would hire out to do. I have helped my husband build a fence around our two large lots. I painted them with stain last summer.  Building flower beds and watching the Irises grow and the lavender attracts the bees again.

I also love photographing nature.  I love being able to see if I can create it in applique. I post these photos on Facebook to share with those that may not know about such simple beauty.

My favorite thing to do is to take a walk on the beach where my son lives and look for Agates. I  explore the earth near the beach and imagine what people and Indians were doing over 100+ years ago in the area. I love walking in his woods and listening to the quiet and smelling the earth and the ferns abundant on his property.

My life and goals are simple.  I keep my applique techniques simple.  I seldom watch TV.  I enjoy learning and listening to positive messages.  Since losing nine people in two years, I am reminded my time on earth has an “expiration date.”  I know where I am going and that gives me peace.  What I do want to do is live my life to the fullest while I am still on this earth and fulfill the plan God has for me to do.  I know doing applique and quilting, working with TAS, canning and gardening, and being a mentor and teacher to those who God brings into my life — all these things have purpose.  So I want to fulfill my purpose on this earth.

8.     What is the one quilt pattern you would make again and again and why?

I have made the Disappearing 9-patch for Veterans Quilts in a group I am a part of.  It was lots of fun and so I made some regular quilts with that pattern.  I love that you can have a core fabric and then because of the way you cut the 9-patch there is one square that will be larger than the others.  That one can be a fun fabric like I plan on using for a special quilt for a family member I want to make.  Plus the 9-patch can be any size and it can still be successful. Just try it… you will like it…

Usually at this point in my blog, I’m wrapping things up.  I search for a few well-chosen, possibly witty words to close out my column so you will remember it long enough to remind yourself to read it again next week.  I can’t do that with this blog.  The words which Anita has spoken and written so eloquently are more than enough for all of us to remember what she said, and even more so the journey she has taken as a quilter.  She’s a remarkable woman and so extremely talented. 

I am so blessed to have her as a friend.

Until next week – Remember the Difference is in the Detail!

Love and Stitches,

Sherri

PS: All photo credits for this blog also go to Anita