Quilts, Quips, and other Nearsighted Adventures

It all began pretty innocently.  It was 2020.  We were in the middle of the Pandemic.  My local guild wasn’t meeting, but the raffle quilt committee was in the middle of our construction process.  If you’re not familiar with Guild Raffle Quilts, allow me to clue you in on their importance.  The quilt is constructed, and tickets are sold for a chance to win the quilt.  The money raised by this activity go to fund guild activities, such as speakers for programs and paying the rent for the guild’s meeting place.  Normally a quilt show goes along with the raffle quilt and between those two fund raisers, a guild finds itself in a reasonable economic place for a couple of years.

In 2020, there were no quilt shows because the Pandemic was in full-force, and everything was cancelled.  Which meant all of our guild’s funding would have to come from the sale of raffle quilt tickets.  Which also meant, Pandemic or no Pandemic, our raffle quilt must go on.  Our chairperson had farmed out blocks, collected them and constructed the center.  Janet and I were charged with the applique borders. 

And that’s when the “trouble” began.  Besides the fact we both like to applique, we both shared the same kind of humor and were former educators.  For several weeks, we’d meet on Friday mornings, work on the borders, and have lunch.  This wasn’t our first rodeo with raffle quilts together.  Janet had previously chaired the committee several times and I helped her.  However, in the isolation of the Pandemic, those Friday mornings were my islands of sanity in a sea of insanity.  Once the quilt was complete, we continued to meet on Fridays, asking a few additional friends to join us.

Which brings us to where we are now:  The Friday Grilled Cheese and Wine Club (GCWC for short). We (semi-regularly) explore grilled cheese recipes (because it is an all-around excellent sandwich) and pair those with appropriate wines.  In addition, someone may bring a soup, another a salad, and there is always dessert.  We also have morning tea with some type of goodie.  After all, we are a sophisticated bunch.  For several hours each Friday, Janet, Susan, and I work on our quilts.  Julie usually knits.  Julie is teaching me to knit.

Julie has the patience of a saint.

During the week, we send each other countless silly memes, but on occasion we also may pass along interesting tidbits of non-political news.  A few weeks ago, Janet sent me this: 

And asked if I had ever written a blog about buttons.  I couldn’t remember, so I googled my own blog, and the answer is, “No.”  I’ve mentioned buttons and how they influenced charm squares, but I’ve never devoted an entire blog to entirely buttons.  Well, that had to change.

Normally buttons are associated with garment construction.  I used so many buttons when I made my kids’ clothes, I honestly don’t think I put in more than a dozen zippers the entire time.  When buttons are mentioned, we think about buttonholes, clothing, and perhaps bags.   But quilters do use buttons.  We’ve used them as eyes for appliqued animals.  We’ve used them for the centers of flowers.  And on this quilt:

All those black dots aren’t tiny, black circles.  They’re buttons. Hundreds of them.  So what about buttons?  Why all the hoopla about some tiny, plastic disks which are generally used to hold our clothing on our bodies?  Afterall, a button is simply a fastener that joins two pieces of fabric together by slipping through a loop or sliding through a buttonhole.

Well, to begin with, buttons haven’t always been around, nor have they been used in garment or quilt construction.  We do tend to think of them as plastic disks, but in reality they may also be made of wood, metal, or seashell.  Buttons can be used on wallets and bags and may be used strictly for ornamentation. In the art world they can be used as an example of folk art, studio craft, or even a miniature work of art.  In archaeology, buttons can be significant artifacts. 

Before 2800 – 2600 BC, buttons didn’t exist.  They first appeared in the Indus Valley civilization during its Kot Diji phase, at the Tomb of the Eagles in Scotland, the Bronze age sites in China, and in Ancient Rome.  And at those times, they weren’t used as clothing fasteners.  They were ornaments or seals.  As a matter of fact it wasn’t until Egypt’s Eighteenth Dynasty we find buttons used as fasteners.  Prior to this they were used as clothing decorations.  The Egyptians used them in wig covers.  These buttons were formed from precious metals sewn onto strips of backing fabric.  Leatherwork from the Roman Empire incorporates some of the first buttonholes and buttons.  These buttons closed the legionary Loculus (satchel). 

Buttons were used to close cuffs by the Byzantine Empire and to fasten the necks of Egyptian tunics no later than the 5^th century.  In medieval times they were used in footwear.  During the 17^th century, box-like buttons were produced for smuggling drugs.  Buttons used during the World Wars were “locket” buttons.  Some of these buttons contained miniature, working compasses.  And during the Civil War, many uniform buttons were made of lead.  If a Union or Confederate company was running low on bullets, buttons could be melted down into ammunition. 

By 1918, the US government made an extensive survey of the international button market and discovered buttons have been made from vegetable ivory, metal, glass, galalith, silk, linen, cotton-covered crochet, lead, snap fasteners, enamel, rubber, buckhorn, wood, horn, bone, leather, paper, pressed cardboard, mother-of-pearl, celluloid, porcelain, composition, tin, zinc, xylonite, stone, cloth-covered wooden forms, and papier-mache.  Currently hard plastic, seashell, metals, and wood are the most common materials used in button making and the others only used in premium or antique apparel.  Over 60% of the world’s button supply comes from Qiaotou, Yongjia County, China. 

Historically, buttons have also followed trends in fashion, applied aesthetics and applied visual arts.  Button manufacturers used techniques from jewelry making, ceramics, sculpture, painting, printmaking, metal working, weaving, etc.  Buttons have been decorated with cloisonne’, embroidery, filigree, portraits, enamel, open-metal work, and hundreds of other ways to make them not only functional clothing wear, but also mini works of art.  Structurally, buttons can be attached by a shank, a stud, snap fasteners, magnets, or have holes on the surface which can be sewn through.  There are buttons called toggles.  These are stick like buttons, with a cord attached at the center.  They are passed endways through a hole and then rotated sideways.  Some buttons are made from fabric, such as covered buttons. However, the Mandarin button (or frogs) are knobs made of intricately knotted strings and are closed with loops.  There are also worked or cloth buttons which are created by embroidering or crocheting tight stitches (usually with linen thread) over a knob or ring (called a form).  Dorsett buttons, handmade from the 17^th century to 1750 and Death head buttons are of this type. 

So much for the history of the button.  At this point, you’re probably thinking, “Great.  We have buttons.  All kinds of buttons for all kinds of purposes.  But are they really that special, and if they are what makes them so special?”  Well…the Victoria and Albert Museum believe that buttons hold cultural, historical, political, and artistic significance.  This wonderful British museum houses a vast collection of buttons in their jewelry collection.  So does America’s Smithsonian.  Hammond Turner and Sons, a button-making company in Birmingham, hosts an online museum with an image gallery and historical button-related articles, including an 1852 article on button-making by none other than Charles Dickens.  In the United States, large button collections are on display at the Waterbury Button Museum of Waterbury, Connecticut and the Keep Homestead Museum of Monson, Massachusetts, which also hosts an extensive button archive and in Gurnee, Illinois, at The Button Room. 

But….what if I told you that the button…the common, cute, button has a surprisingly semi-scandelous past?

We know buttons didn’t appear until almost 5,000 years ago.  This particular button was made of a curved shell.  Most of the buttons used during this time didn’t appear in nice, straight rows.  Nope.  They were used here and there – no rhyme or reason – as sartorial flourishes.  Along with brooches, buckles, and straight pins, buttons were used in Ancient Rome as decorate closures for flowing garments.  However…the buttons didn’t work perfectly (as did none of the other options).  When a Roman person tried to support yards of cloth at a single point, the buttons used were took architectural heft and were made of bone, horn, bronze, or wood.  Some Roman clothing designers would opt for knotting the fabric securely into position, then topped the knot off with a purely ornamental button. 

It is also worth noting the Mycenaeans of the Roman era invented the fibula – a surprising modern forerunner to our safety pin.  The design was lost with them until it re-emerged in mid-19^th century America. 

All of this button finagling finally brought the button into the arena of its “sort of sexy” past during the Middle Ages.  Granted we don’t normally look at something like this

And think, “Gee…that’s kind of attractive.

But folks did during the Middle Ages – especially among the wealthy.  Around the middle of the eleventh century, clothes began to be made so close-fitting that they followed the lines of the body from the shoulders to the hips like a glove (Carl Kohler, A History of Costume).  Buttons helped with that snug fit along.  This didn’t mean clothes were cut more sparingly; wealthy people still liked the costly display of excess fabric.  But, on both men’s and women’s clothes, buttons helped accentuate the lines of the arm and bustline.  As a matter of fact, so many buttons were used, sumptuary laws were written to restrict their use. 

During the Middle Ages, buttons came in all shapes and sizes, but most of them had a shank.  Folks during this time preferred the shank because use of the shank meant the face of the button could be decorated freely.  The more expensive the button’s decoration, the more they were worth.  Wearing lots of buttons during this time meant money.  Franco Jacassi, reputed the world’s biggest button-collector, describes the Middle Ages as a time when you could pay off a debt by plucking a precious button from whatever you were wearing.  Italians still describe the rooms where powerful leaders met as stanze dei bottoni, or “rooms of the buttons.”

On women’s clothing particularly, buttons traced the body’s lines in all kinds of suggestive ways, making clothes tight in all the right placing or (a-hem) offering intriguing points of entry.  Along with ribbons, laces, or bows, buttons were often used on detachable sleeves, a fad which ran from the 13^th to 15^th centuries.  These sleeves could easily be swapped between outfits and laundered whenever they got dirty.  Courtiers might accept an unbuttoned sleeve from a lady as a love token or wave sleeves in jubilation at a jousting tournament. 

After the Renaissance in Europe, buttons, along with most things, became increasingly baroque, then rococo.  Among the most extreme examples were “habitat” buttons, built to contain keepsakes like dried flowers, hair cuttings, or tiny insects under glass.  Buttons were also hollowed out and allowed thieves to transport jewels and other booty secretly (a crime which was revived in a buttons-for-crime heroin-smuggling attempt in 2009). 

America finally entered the “buttons are for so much more than just holding your clothes on your body” phase around 1789 when George Washington’s inauguration gave the world its first political button.  Made of copper, brass, or Sheffield plate, these buttons could close a pair of pants or a jacket while simultaneously announcing the wearer’s politics.  Political buttons took on a more recognizably modern (and less functional) shape during Lincoln’s 1864 re-election campaign.  Buttons also were produced to announce his death and were on many mourning clothes during that time. 

However, it’s worth noting that buttons, like many items produced for those who could afford them, also have a shady past, too.  Folks who couldn’t afford the nice buttons for mourning or celebrations still wanted them.  But instead of purchasing them from a shop or button vendor, they had to craft them laboriously by hand. 

In Colonial America until the early 20^th century, working-class families counted themselves lucky if they had a hand-held button mold.  The mold was heated in a bed of hot coals, then filled with molten lead or pewter, which set into a button shape.  The sturdy metal buttons could then be covered with fabric or other cheaper embellishments. 

Extra buttons made at home could also be sold, which meant button-making could be hellish piecework.  Playwright Henrik Ibsen channeled his own awful memories of home button-molding in a pivotal scene in Peer Gynt.  Sent to fetch Gynt’s soul, the Button-Molder explains how the very good and very bad go to heaven and hell, but the middling-good are “merged in the mass” and poured into purgatory, an undifferentiated molten stream.  Charles Dickens, in an article from Household Words, welcomes the “miracle” of automated button manufacturing.  The writer describes how engravers cut steel dies into the latest fashionable shape, while women and children stamped out pasteboard and cloth to cover the buttons by machine.  Another machine stamped out the four holes which were becoming popular for men’s dress shirts, while another was used to “countersink” the button, pressing its center to form a raised outer ridge.

Just like with sewing machines (see this blog: https://sherriquiltsalot.com/2023/09/13/the-sewing-machine-renaissance-part-i/), a rash of patents soon clogged the patent office.  These patents protected nearly every aspect of button-making, from manufacturing methods for glass or mother-of-pearl buttons to cheaper wire buttons.  Even the button display cards were patented, and every improvement – either to the button or the display – brought around another file full of patents. 

However, don’t think that all this mass production of buttons slowed down the manufacturing of special and ornamental ones.  If you know anything about the various meanings behind flowers, the Victorian “Tussie-Mussie” buttons may be of interest. 

These buttons pictured tiny bouquets of flowers which held symbolic messages.  After King Albert’s death, Queen Victoria donned mourning buttons of carved black jet, kicking off a fashion among bereaved button-wearers. 

Once buttons became cheap enough to produce en masse, buttons by the hundreds lined most kinds of tight-fitting clothing, including shoes.  More buttons, closely spaced, gave the wearer the tightest fit.  But this fashion also presented a problem. Fingers were not very adept at fastening rows of closely-spaced buttons in tight, closely-spaced buttonholes.  The solution was the invention of a tool called the buttonhook.  This device looked like a crochet hook and could draw tiny, closely-spaced buttons through tight, closely-spaced buttonholes quickly. 

Today, despite the fact we have zippers and Velcro, the buttons are still used in clothing.  Buttons are dependable.  Zippers can jam, warp, or break.  Velcro (when used on clothing) is itchy and stiff.  And if it gets tangled with threads and other debris, it won’t stay fastened.  Hooks and eyes and snaps can be awkward to fasten and unfasten.  Buttons are easier.  And if the thread breaks and they have to be replaced, it’s a lot easier to sew on a new button than it is to replace a zipper. 

So now that you probably know more about buttons than you ever wanted to, you have to be asking yourself how this:

Came from this:

Our Grilled Cheese and Wine Club. 

The information Janet sent me definitely piqued my interest in buttons.  During my research I found out that buttons were made from shells.  Folks who lived along rivers would harvest these shells (usually freshwater clams). Workers used hollow bits to drill round button blanks from the shells.  

The blanks were sent to button factories, where they were made into finished buttons.  Between 150,000 and 200,000 pounds of shells were used at one button factory in Wisconsin.  The remainer of shells were ground up and used in road construction and as grit for chickens.  When Janet read the article she thought about her own button collection.

If you sew long enough – even if you don’t make garments – you tend to collect buttons.  Women who come from long lines of seamstresses and quilters generally not only have their own buttons, but also their mother’s, grandmother’s, and sometimes even their great-grandmother’s.  These collections can have buttons from shell:

And bone:

Not to mention the basic, plastic shirt buttons.  Generally there are some novelty and fancy ones, too.  Quite often you can purchase jars of antique buttons at antique stores and flea markets.  It’s interesting what you can find in these.  Beside buttons, you may discover old thimbles, rick rack, measuring tape, hooks and eyes, and lace trim. 

Tangible items which connect us with other creators from another place and another time.  Threads of the past which still stitch us together as the people we are today.  Just like old quilts, we can hold these relics in our hands and wonder who had them, where did they come from, and how were they used.  We marvel at both their beauty and their prosaic status as an everyday item.  And in some way, these buttons fasten a comforting thought:  No matter how much things change, it’s good to know that there are things that don’t. 

Buttons are one of those things.

Until Next Week, From My Studio to Yours,

Love and Stitches,

Sherri and Felix.

PS – If you decide to use buttons on your quilt, be sure to add them after the quilt is quilted. Buttons can be difficult to quilt around.

What comes to mind when you think about creativity ?  Paintings?  Music?  Films or plays?   Does quilting come into focus when you think about creativity?  If it doesn’t, it should.  Anyone who has made even one quilt is aware of all the decisions which have to be made – pattern, color, fabric, finish – a half dozen or more choices must be considered with any quilt.  However, I do think it’s worth noting creativity is a precious commodity and can run low at times.  For me, when 2023 ended, my creativity (and my energy and my mood) was at an all-time low.  It was a difficult year workwise, with many hours logged behind a computer.  And it ended on a particularly tough note with the death of one of my cousins.  Then 2024 uploaded no favors with mom having health issues and the unexpected death of a nephew – all before the middle of January. 

My creativity and  my desire to be creative and my yearning to produce anything creative were really non-existent.  I was tired.  My brain was tired.  I was seriously considering hibernating for most of February.  But fate, high power — call it whatever you want – intervened.  My guild’s first guest speaker for the New Year talked about creativity.  The Letter from the Editor in January’s American Quilter dealt with creativity.  And with all these signs pointing to ways to keep your creativity intact, I wanted to know two things:  How to massage mine back to life and if there were activities you could walk yourself through to keep away the burn out.

The first piece of information I discovered was that there are different types of creativity.  We tend to think of creativity under the umbrella of the arts – singing, dancing, painting, sculpting, drawing, etc.  There are actually four types of creative intelligence:  Deliberate and Cognitive, Deliberate and Emotional, Spontaneous and Cognitive, and Spontaneous and Emotional.  Deliberate and Cognitive creators are folks like inventors, such as Thomas Edison. These people can think through a plan and come up with a way to make it work to fill a need (theirs or someone else’s or the general populous).  Deliberate and Emotional creators are individuals who thrive on “A-ha” moments.  So these are the folks who research and try ideas and then finally something clicks, and it works.  They see the light, everything comes together, and it’s truly a “A-ha now I understand” moment.  They don’t mind putting in the work for the reward. Spontaneous and Cognitive are people like Isaac Newton who can observe something happening and then immediately connect the dots between that action and the reality of something else.  Spontaneous and Emotional creators are the folks we typically think of as creative – the artists and musicians who tend to wear the cloak of creativity in what is of thought as the normal way.  Quilters generally fall into the Spontaneous and Emotional category – to a degree.

The neat aspect of these four types of creative intelligence is this:  No person has just one type of creative smarts.  Nope.  Everyone has some spark from each of the four.  And to me – the mother of two very logical, engineering type of kids – it means all the mathing they do is just as creative as all the quilting I do.  It’s all beautiful.  You don’t think you have some of each of the creative intelligences in you?  Let me ask a few questions:

• How good does it make you feel when you’ve struggled to figure out some difficult quilting technique or pattern?  Don’t you feel wonderful when that “A-ha” moment happens, and the lightbulb goes off over your head?
• How terrific is it for you when you can make a half yard of fabric do the work of three-quarters of a yard?  Don’t you feel awesome when you can break down a complex quilting pattern into simple terms for yourself or someone else? 
• Isn’t a wonderful feeling when you can look at a picture of an antique quilt or a quilt pattern which is no longer in print and know – sometimes with even the briefest glance – how that quilt was made? 

I imagine, if you’re honest, you enjoy all of the above. None of these have anything to do with design or color or fabric selection – none of the “artsy” things about quilting.  But they’re all types of creative intelligence we have and use in our quilting.

But how do we keep our creativity on point?  It’s wonderful to know the different types of creative intelligence and how they all fit into our quilting world, but how do keep our creativity bubbling freely when we our minds and imaginations feel completely dried out and useless?  When you’re staring at the fabric stash and can’t feel any zing of enjoyment or have no desire to take even the first stitch, how do you cope?  How do you get your mind back into the flow of creating?

For me, the first step was taking a look at my lifestyle.  And I realize that sounds trite.  However, we all have a lot to do.  We wear a lot of “name tags.”  We’re employees or employer.  We’re daughters and sons.  We’re moms and dads and grandmas and grandpas.  We’re sisters and brothers and in-laws and a dozen other things I can’t even begin to name.  Many of us are in the “generation squeeze”:  We still may be dealing with our own children and now our parents need us, too.  Some days it’s hard to take a deep breath, much less be any kind of creative. 

So don’t.   Instead, look at yourself, where you are in life, and determine if any of that is choking the creativity out of you.  Are you facing stressors you weren’t anticipating?  In my case, this was a solid (and loud) yes.  Was this stifling my creativity?  Definitely.

How did I deal with it?  I allowed myself grace.  Usually I write 1,000 words each night, Monday through Friday, plus work on quilt projects.  I gave myself permission to take a couple of weeks away from both.  I was handed a series of events I had to process mentally and emotionally.  They were unplanned and unwanted, but I needed the time and I needed to be with my family – who are far more important than any words or any quilt.  When I returned to my studio and my laptop, I was still a bit shaky and still searching for the right thing to write about, but I did feel better. 

Are your days filled with too many “to do” lists?  Again, my case was a solid (and loud) yes.  I have “to do” lists for my job and “to do” lists for home and “to do” lists for quilting.  Don’t get me wrong.  I like lists.  I am a list maker (obviously).  Lists keep me on track, and they help me make sure I get everything done.  However, lists can also be gruesome taskmasters.  If you don’t feel you can relax at night until everything is crossed off your lists or let the lists dictate when and if you can spend time being creative, then there is a problem.  Keep in mind that a list is a bit like a budget.  Both are wonderful tools.  One manages money and the other manages time.  And it’s terrific if you can keep both in balance.  However, in the course of life, stuff happens none of us have control over, and nothing too overtly bad will happen if we have to break with either of them.  Try not to overschedule your “to do” lists.  Leave yourself some breathing room.  And, if you need to, tell yourself this:  I cannot be everything to everybody.  Sometimes it’s somebody else’s turn. 

Are you taking care of yourself and allowing time for self-care?  My answer is a solid (and loud) no.  Couldn’t tell you the last time I hit the treadmill.  I was lucky if I remembered to take my vitamins.  We ate out too much.  The years of allowing my lists and responsibilities to sabotage the critical care items I needed for myself were slowly creeping up on me.  I had to figure if I wasn’t taking proper care of myself, how could I possibly maintain the energy to be creative?  Most days after work, all I wanted to do was flop down on the couch and read or watch TV. 

Are you listening too much to the “inner critic?”  This is the imaginary person who lives in the back of our minds and constantly reminds us whatever we’re making isn’t good enough or “so-and-so (insert name of person you think quilts better than you do) wouldn’t have made it that way or made so many mistakes.”  First, let me assure you that you are good enough and your quilt only has to please you.  Listening to your inner critic can really throw a monkey wrench into your creativity.  I learned how to deal with mine a few years ago in of all places, a class on writing.  I took the class to receive the continuing ed hours I needed for my teaching certificate and my instructor was a much older, slightly built woman, white hair neatly pulled back from her face with the pre-requisite glasses perched on her nose.  She looked more like one of my Sunday School teachers back from my childhood than a writer.  However, this lady blew me away.  She had chased her family roots and found out one of her ancestors was a madam and ran a brothel in California during the Goldrush.  She was writing this woman’s biography. One of the students in the class asked how difficult was it for her to do this?  What was the hardest part?

“The hardest part,” she replied, “is shutting up that voice in the back of my mind which tells me every day how much my mother would not approve of such topics.”  To get that voice to shut up, she physically would take a chair, set it outside her office door, and invite the inner critic to take a seat and wait outside while she was writing.

So I tried it.  It worked.  The inner critic stays outside my quilt studio pretty well. 

This last point is one I really want to spend some time on because I feel this one impacts more quilters than even stress:  Are you in a creative rut?  Do you feel like you’re making the same thing over and over again?  Do you feel like all of your quilts look too similar or use too many of the same colors?  Do you want to make something different – something new and exciting but just can’t seem to pull it together to do that?  I could throw out some suggestions such as have a good quilting friend pick out your next pattern and fabrics.  I could ask you to sketch out what you believe is your ideal quilt and make it.  I could tell you to take walks (which are helpful), take pictures, enlarge the pictures on your screen, and take in the details and the colors.

But I won’t.

Instead I will offer three pragmatic suggestions which work well and aren’t quite as drastic.

• When you feel like your quilt isn’t working – whether it’s in the middle of a block, center construction, or the quilting – take a break.  Get up.   Walk away.  Go do something mundane.  Wash the dishes.  Fold a load of laundry.  Take a nap. Walk the dog. Do something which takes very little brain energy.  Often when we pop our brain into a neutral gear, the subconscious takes over and solves our problem for us.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve walked out of my studio in the middle of a quilty problem, gone to bed, and the next morning the answer came to mind immediately.  I think our brains sometimes need a vacation from the ”rut,” too. 
• Meditate.  In meditation, you sit with your thoughts and try to detach from them. Or you sit and focus on one specific thing, like your breathing or a mantra, that will help to move you away from your racing thoughts.  I find that focusing on my breathing is the best remedy for me.

I do a counting meditation where I count my breaths from 1 to 10, then 2 to 10, and then 3 to 10, and so on. When I get to just 10, I start over from the beginning. For me, this specific meditation requires enough attention to the sequence that (for the most part) I’m able to let go of the other thoughts in my head.

If I do find myself going back to the thoughts in my head, once I recognize what I’m doing, I let them go and return to counting.

But meditation does more than just help you get to sleep. It actually improves your creativity because it stimulates the neocortex, which is the part of the brain involved in creative thinking and problem-solving.

• Try something creative that’s not in your wheelhouse.  In other words, step away from the fabric.  Pick up a pencil and some paper and sketch.  Refinish a piece of furniture.  My current favorite creative-but-not-quilting activity is adult coloring books and knitting.  Those still use the same parts of the brain, but the actions and methods are different.  My very favorite creative-but-not-quilting activity is working with my youngest granddaughter.  She’s becoming quite the artist and we have a good time drawing together.  These different but still creative activities somehow can jumpstart the quilting part of us again.  Maybe we relax because these are new activities which means we have nothing to prove, and this jump starts out quilting mojo again.

Rick Rubin, in his wonderful The Creative Act: A Way of Being shared some great insights into creativity.

1.  Creativity is not just about the final product, but about the process of exploration and discovery.
2. The creative process requires a willingness to take risks and embrace the unknown, balancing structure and spontaneity, discipline and hard work.
3. True creativity  requires both vulnerability and authenticity.
4. The creative process is a continual process of experimentation and refinement to challenge conventional thinking and break rules.
5. Creativity is about connecting with one’s deepest self and expressing that truth. Embrace your perspective and voice.
   In closing, I think it’s important to remember, that while our creativity is indeed a precious commodity, it’s also organic.  It can ebb and flow.  It can be fed and revived.  It must be taken care of like it’s a living, breathing soul.

So this week, even if you don’t put a stitch into anything, feed your creativity. 

Until next week, From My Studio to Yours,

Love and Stitches,

Sherri and Felix

January is always a time for reflection and goal setting.  We tend to make resolutions and vow to be a better person, a better friend, a better quilter.  Personally, I gave up making resolutions a long time ago.  The word itself – resolutions – sounds stressful.  Kind of like if you don’t follow through with it, there’s a bounty on your head.  I much prefer the term “New Year’s Suggestions.”  This means the option to improve is there, but if you lack the follow through, there’s no harm, no foul. 

Last year at about this time I mentioned the projects I planned to undertake in 2023.  One of these was a temperature quilt.  I ran across several while perusing Pinterest one evening and was captivated by the idea.  Per my usual method of quilt making, I Googled the quilts and came across a lot of clever ideas.  It seemed quilt makers had been making these quilts for a while and there were so many great patterns for them.  What I had to weigh was my time allotted for quilting verses the demands of a pattern.  Due to my work schedule, quite often I don’t sit behind my machine until Thursday.  I also sew some on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays.  Many of these patterns called for making a square a day, reflecting the high and low temperatures of a 24-hour period.  This would mean by Thursday, I would already be at least four days behind. And depending on how complicated the block was, I may even be further behind by Saturday.  So either the pattern would have to be super-simple, or a block which reflected more than just one day’s worth of high and low temperatures.

During my search, I came across this pattern Budgie Block Party by Bethanne Nemesh of White Arbor Quilting.  The budgie-bird represented a week’s worth of weather.  The head and back represented the average high of the week.  The cheek and tail denoted the average low of the week.  The seven feathers on top of the wing showed the highs for Sunday through Saturday and the bottom feathers of the wing symbolized the lows for those days.  Bonus (at least for me) it was paper pieced, the sashing was sewn on the side where the ends of the feathers protruded (thus keeping those ends stable), and matching seams are pretty much non-existent.  Instead of making 365 blocks, I only need to make 52 since there are 52 weeks in a year and each bird represents one week.  The pattern was reasonably priced and easily downloaded. 

I completed the 52^nd bird on New Year’s Eve. 

Now I need to make some decisions about borders (do I need them or not), binding, and how to quilt it. Not to mention I still need to remove over half the papers. 

This has been a year-long goal, and while I am pleased to bring it to an end, I did enjoy this journey very much.  That said, would I make one again?  Maybe.  I think if several years have passed or I moved to a different location, I may revisit this pattern.

I have used this quilt several times in my 2023 blog posts.  I discussed how to paper piece with the pattern, and I showed several pictures of my progress as the year went along.  If in all this, you feel inspired to try a temperature quilt yourself, I do have a few suggestions to pass along to you.

•  Find a pattern you can live with for a year. 

I was fortunate to find the budgie-bird pattern.  It was perfect for me and my time limitations.  The first bird took me a couple of hours to paper piece.  However, after that first foray into the birdies, the next ones didn’t take as long.  By the time I got to my 52nd bird, I could clock one at slightly over 45 minutes, if I had all my fabric at my fingertips, had no interruptions, and didn’t have to stop and change programs on my Netflix viewing.

• Determine your temperature ranges and fabrics beforehand.

Many temperature quilts will not give list ranges and colors.  Those decisions are up to you.  I will warn you the larger the temperature range, the fewer colors will be used in your quilt.  For instance, if you break your temperature range into 15-degree increments, you’ll use all one-color fabric for temperatures between 85 and 100.  I personally think the happy medium is between 5 and 7-degree increments.  I used 5-degree increments with my birds.  Yes, that means you’ll use a lot of fabrics, but you’ll also have a lot of color to work with.  I researched Jamestown, North Carolina’s weather history to get a good idea of how low and high the temperatures could reach and started there.  I used blues for the coldest months, then faded into greens, then yellow, oranges, reds, and fuchsias.  For my birds, this was a great idea.  I have brilliantly colored plumage, except for the month of July.  It was hot.  The birds were nearly solid red in color.  They looked angry. 

I pulled from two different sets of fat quarters for my fabric.  I didn’t use up either set completely, and for the most part, fabrics were used consistently.  However, there were a few fabrics I used up entirely and had to find substitute fabrics to fill in the gaps.  Personally, this doesn’t bother me.  To anyone who doesn’t know this is a temperature quilt, it simply appears to be a scrappy one. I tried my best to match the substitute fabric up with the original fabrics and for the most part I was pretty successful.  I found myself using a great deal of teal color fabric in my birds and you know how tricky this color can be.  However, I think I pulled everything off well.  However, if “accidents” like this bother you, you may want to opt for half-yard or larger cuts instead of fat quarters. 

• Organize, organize, organize. 

Keep all your fabric for your temperature quilt together.  I sequestered mine in one of those zippered bags bed sheets came in.  This way they didn’t “accidentally” wander off and end up in another project.  And since my temperature quilt was paper pieced, I made several copies of the patterns at one time and kept the left-facing birds separate from the right facing birds and labeled them, so I could make sure I grabbed the correct patterns.  I also used this sheet:

To mark through each bird as I made it.  This way I could stay on track (this sheet was provided with the pattern).

One time-saving trick I did use was these:

These handy-dandy rolls are 1 ½-inch pre-cut fabric strips from Keepsake Quilting.  These saved so much cutting time.  I cut the strips of fabric the length of the block and sewed those on the side of the block where all the feather tips were every time I made a block.  Then I sewed strips to the bottoms of the blocks which needed the narrower strip (some required the 1 ½-inchs strips and others a 3 ½ x 6 ½-inch rectangle). 

I found keeping all these together made the most of my sewing time.  When I sat down to work on one of the birds, I wasted no time hunting for fabric, tools, patterns, etc.

• Make your rows or columns as you go.

This quilt was assembled in columns.  Each time I made a bird, I sewed it to the one it was attached to.  I carefully numbered each column, so I didn’t get confused, and the birdies all flew where they were supposed to land.  Then when each column was completed, I attached it to the column it went next to.  By the time I made the 52^nd bird on New Year’s Eve, all I had to do was sew that final column to the end of the quilt and I was through with the assembly process. 

I strongly advise this, if at all possible, especially if you make a block for each day.  Imagine the work which would still be ahead of you if you had to sew together 365 quilt blocks!

• The Weather Underground website will be your bff for an entire year.

At the end of each day, I tried so hard to remember to check the day’s weather and faithfully write the day’s high and low on a piece of paper.  But my days can get pretty crazy.  It wasn’t too many weeks into this journey that I discovered the Weather Underground.  This website has the highs and lows of nearly all the small towns and large cities in the United States.  If I missed recording the temperatures one day, I could easily check this website and find out the daily high and low. 

• Write down which fabric falls into each temperature range.  Either make a chart indicating which fabric is used for each temperature range or label the fabric itself with the temperature range.  You may think you won’t forget, but you will.  Trust me on this one. 

• Getting grossly behind is the kiss of death.

When I started my temperature quilt journey, I promised myself I would not get behind more than two weeks.  I was adult enough to realize that stuff happens and some weeks you get a monkey wrench thrown into the best laid plans.  The one time I allowed myself to go three weeks without making a bird was when I knew I was heading to a quilt retreat and would have more than enough time to make them.  Despite the fact I got pretty fast at this paper piecing pattern, it was still a bit on the complicated side.  Knowing myself the way I do, I realized if I finished the year with a lot of birds still to finish, I may not complete the journey – or resent it at the very least.  Since I really, really wanted to enjoy this process, I kept that promise to myself.  I didn’t get behind.  Every bird completed was progress.  And I did enjoy myself. 

If a temperature quilt is in your future, I advise you to pencil in a regular time to work on the blocks – whether it’s a certain time every day or one evening a week.  Allow yourself a margin – it’s okay to get behind X number of blocks – because we all know life can throw you some curve balls.  Grant yourself some grace.

Yes, I’ll make another temperature quilt.  I have one in mind with four-patches.   I would make four patches for each day.  Two of the squares would represent the temperatures of the day – one for the high and one for the low.  The other two squares would be neutrals.  For this one, I may allow myself a 10-degree temperature range.  And I want to use Civil War prints.  Then I would set everything on point.  The really great thing about this type of temperature quilt is I can pre-cut my squares.  Then when I had the time to sit down and sew, all I would have to do is grab the squares and go at it.  Even if I got behind, it would be pretty easy to catch up. 

Maybe this blog has inspired you to try a temperature quilt.  It’s still not too far into the new year to begin one.  And who says you HAVE TO start on January 1?  As far as I still know, there are no hard and fast quilting rules.  On the other hand, all of this may seem to be too much…too much information, too many blocks, too much organization. 

And that’s okay, too. 

Until next week, From My Studio to Yours….

Love and Stitches…

Sherri and Felix

Let’s talk a little bit about Charity Quilts.  I’m not talking about the quilts friends and family members want you to make for free “because you love making them and gosh, you have so much fabric you need to get rid of.”

Nope.

I am talking about those quilts quilters make and give to those folks who truly need a tangible hug to wrap themselves up in when there’s no one around to give them a two-armed one.  I’m talking about the quilts we give out of the compassion of our hearts because we do truly care about folks and the circumstances they’re going through.  These are the charity quilts I would like to highlight in this week’s blog.

Quilters, as a whole, are some of the most giving people I’ve ever met.  If you remember, when I decided I wanted to learn to quilt, it was not because I necessarily wanted to make quilts.  It was the quilters who were pouring themselves into me that made me want to take up the needle and follow them.  I needed more of that and them in my life.  We make quilts for folks we love who are getting married or are having babies.  We make quilts for birthdays and remembrances.  However, when someone we love is having a difficult time, we also tend to give a quilt or two to those folks.  Most quilt guilds/groups have an active charity quilt program.  It’s part of their mission statement (written or not) to help out groups by donating quilts.  My guild donates chemo quilts to our local cancer center.  Since 2012, we’ve given out over 1,400. 

These are the charity quilts I’m talking about.  And while quilters have given away quilts almost since the first stitch was put in a three-layered coverlet, charity quilts hit their stride in the early part of the nineteenth century.  These charity quilts were raffled, and the money was used to start libraries, support Sunday Schools, help abolitionists, and sponsor missionaries.  They were the backbone of many ladies’ aid societies and in the late part of the nineteenth century they were raffled to help support the Union Army.  World War I turned quilters’ attention to a national effort and quilts were made to keep soldiers warm, as well as raffle off to support “our boys in uniform.”

Today there are all kinds of programs that eagerly accept charity quilts.  Two of the most well-known are Project Linus (which also accepts knitted and crocheted blankets) and Quilts of Valor.  Ronald McDonald House, St. Jude, and the Shriners also accept quilts and Habitat for Humanity loves to have quilts for their new homeowners.  These are nationally known organizations, and your quilts may not stay in your community.  They may be sent out to others area which  needs them more than yours. If you’d rather have your quilts stay in your community, contact your local law enforcement agencies and the Red Cross.  Often an officer would appreciate a few quilts to keep in their vehicle for folks they may need to remove from a bad situation.  The Red Cross will take them to give to people who have had to leave their homes due to fire, flood, or other natural disasters.  The Social Services may appreciate them for foster kids.  Local hospitals may want them for cancer patients or small quilts for NICU units.  The list is honestly endless. 

However, as you’re looking into local agencies to donate your quilts to, be sure to do a few things first.  Don’t show up unannounced without an appointment and proceed to drop off quilts.  Call them first.  Explain what you do – you’re a quilter and you make quilts.  You want to donate those quilts; would the agency accept them?  Most of the time you’re going to receive an enthusiastic “Yes!”  Then ask if they have any restrictions – do the quilts need to be a certain size, can they have embellishment, etc.  Many organizations will have a few rules, usually concerning dimensions.  Quilts of Valor is a bit pickier, but it’s primarily about colors (they want red, white, and blue in the quilts for a patriotic theme since the quilt recipients are veterans).  Set a date you can drop the quilts off and get a contact name along with the contact’s email address and phone number. 

Let me also add this here.  If you call an organization and you suspect the quilts may not be used in the way you want (for example, sold instead of given to folks who need them), it’s okay to walk away if that bothers you.  Charity quilts, as with any other quilt you give away, should be released without second thoughts on your part.  If anything bothers you in the conversations you have with the organization, you are free to back away and find another place to donate your quilts.

Due to my work schedule, I don’t make as many charity quilts as I would like during the year.  After I retire, I hope to make one a month.  However, charity quilts are great stash busters (a bonus for you) and they don’t have to be super-complicated.  Half-square triangles, flying geese, square-in-a-square, or simple charm blocks sewn together can constitute a charity quilt.  I have about three super-easy quilt patterns I use for my charity quilts, and I know from memory how to cut my scraps for these quilts.  When I have enough block units cut out, I load up the Netflix, Hulu, or podcasts I want and spend a productive Friday night churning out a quilt top.  I straight-line quilt them with a walking foot, bind them, put a label on it and toss it in the washer (most places do want the quilts washed before you deliver them).  Then it’s ready to go. 

Some quilters may cringe at the simplicity of this process.  “Where’s the challenge?  How are those quilts going to make you a better quilter?”  Well, chances are they may not make you a better quilter, but they will make you a better person.  You’re giving of your time, materials, and skills.  And the recipients of those quilts don’t care if the quilt has taken Best of Show in Paducah.  All they know is someone cared enough about them to make them a quilt – a tangible, quilty hug for them to have when they’re all alone or scared.  Let me throw in that while they may not care about the lack of ribbons, they also may not know how to take care of the quilt.  I really like how my guild handles this.  Angie, the person over our Charity Quilt program, came up with the idea to have two labels on the quilt.  One tells the receiver the guild made the quilt, and we love them.  The second label has care instructions.  She has those labels pre-printed for us so all we do is sew them on.  You may want to think about doing something similar.  I do think a label works better than attaching a note – which could be lost. 

One final thought concerning charity quilts, and this doesn’t concern the recipients.  It concerns you.  The maker.  The quilter.  Do you ever think about what charity quilts give back to you?  I’m not talking about them reducing your stash or providing a great way to practice your quilting on either on your domestic machine or long arm.  I’m not even referencing the Biblical verse “It’s better to give than to receive.”  Nope.  It’s something even more personal and the only way I can explain it is to give a few examples.

In 2018, my daughter was diagnosed with cervical cancer.  We all were frightened and bewildered.  My guild, knowing what we were going through, handed me a quilt one night after our monthly meeting for Meagan to have as she navigated surgery and follow up.  It was white and teal – the colors for cervical cancer.  Those ladies didn’t have to be that attentive to detail, but they were.  That quilt – despite being hauled back and forth to the hospital, and wrapping two young granddaughters in warmth and love when their mother couldn’t – still is prominently on display at her home in Clemmons, it’s “good vibes” still gracing them with love.  Meagan remains cancer free.

My brother was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma in 2021.  Not being able to help much in any way other than pray and quilt, I made him a quilt out of University of North Carolina t-shirts.  It was as much a coping mechanism for me (because I could do nothing to help him but pray as I stitched) as it was a gift for him to show him how much he means to me.  I put the last stitch of binding in the quilt, loaded it in the car, and drove to Burlington.  I handed it off to him, we shed a few tears and a few hugs and life went on.  A stem cell transplant and follow up care later and now he’s cancer free.  This year, his birthday post to me on Facebook featured the quilt.  I had no idea it meant that much to him.

Probably the very first personal charity quilt I made was for my cousin, Kemp.  Kemp was diagnosed with Follicular Lymphoma, a non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, over eight years ago.  He was part of the Naval Reserve.  To honor that, I made him a red, white, and blue chemo quilt to take with him for treatments.  Which he did, and later my aunt told me the quilt kept him warm; the treatment room was chilly.  He went into remission and out of it.  After a series of chemo treatments this summer, he was once again pronounced cancer free. However, life often holds twists we’d rather not take, and this fall he developed a cough.  The cough turned to Covid Pneumonia and a whole bunch of other things which complicated his already-tenuous immune system.  On December 8, he passed away. 

My brother had a part in Kemp’s eulogy.  In that, Eric mentioned if the family had to take a vote on who was the favorite cousin, Kemp would win.  And the testament to that was the number of cousins and relatives who helped fill nearly the entire front of the chapel.  My aunt and her family had some of Kemp’s favorite things displayed in the visitation room.  His motorcycle jacket.  His Bible.  Some pictures from the past and others taken recently…and the quilt I made him so long ago.   Despite the grief I felt, I was glad something I made brought him some kind of joy, comfort, and maybe even relief.   I hope my aunt has the quilt and it’s now bringing her some kind of comfort as she grieves for her son – that the tangible warmth from it is like a hug from Kemp.

I wanted to tell you these three stories for one reason:  It’s important to remember your charity quilts do not stop with whoever receives them.  No.  The love, the need to make the quilt to try to ease some kind of suffering life unfairly hands us, goes on to other people.  When you make a quilt for someone, it doesn’t stop with that person.  It goes on.

To remind folks of hard-fought battles and hard-won victories.

To remind people how much you care.

To comfort those who are left behind.

Something to think about in 2024. 

From my studio to yours.

Love and Stitches,

Sherri and Felix

When you hear the term “Bridal Quilt,” usually the quilt which comes to mind is one made specifically for the bride and groom.  It’s given as a gift, it’s somewhat of an heirloom, and really good fabrics and your best construction skills are put into play.  You don’t mind paying the long armer a little extra to customize at least part of the quilting process, or you throw all your quilting skills into the top.  It’s a once-in-a-lifetime gift, and only the super-special people in your life receive one.  Right?

That is certainly today’s definition.  However, the term “Bridal Quilt” has been used for hundreds of years and its meaning has changed over time.  As a matter of fact, to really understand what a Bridal Quilt is and its significance, you must go all the way back to Medieval Europe and another nearly-ancient term – dowry.

  During the medieval period, the practice of dowry was significant in European culture, especially with its relationship to marriage.  It was a form of payment from the bride’s family to the groom’s family, usually in the form of goods, money, or property which accompanied the bride upon her marriage.  The tradition had deep cultural and societal implications, and one of the key components of the dowery was bridal quilts. 

Now before anyone’s hackles start to rise about the bride’s family selling her off, let me strongly reiterate, this was the expected norm even before the medieval period. The concept of a dowry goes back to ancient civilizations, but it took on a rather unique form in medieval Europe.  It wasn’t so much a monetary transaction as it was a reflection of social dynamics and expectations.  It evolved over time and was influenced by historical events, religious beliefs, and society norms.  It came to be a type of “insurance” for the women.  The dowry would provide the bride with some financial security in the event of her husband’s death or worse (at least during that time) divorce.  A nice dowry would indicate the woman came into the marriage with some means of her own – she had wealth and social standing.  This was enough to pave a smooth road with the in-laws and assure the bride’s family her social standing would mean she would be well-treated. 

What was just as important – at least among the families of rank and privilege – the exchange of a dowry from the bride’s family and the promise of the groom’s family to take care of her, played a crucial role in maintaining establishing the social hierarchy.  This “wealth swap” allowed families to strengthen their social networks, forge alliances, and consolidate power.  By marrying off their daughters with a substantial dowry, families could improve their standing in the community and enhance their social reputation. 

On the face of it, it seems pretty simple.  A family has a daughter they’d like to see married into a certain family.  Talks are held.  Goods are exchanged.  There’s a wedding and hopefully somewhere in all this the couple falls in love and produces heirs.  Not too difficult and shouldn’t take too long, right?

This is a process which could take months, even years to negotiate.  The ritual involved elaborate gestures and customs.  It involved lots of discussions between the families, often mediated by intermediaries such as matchmakers or family representatives.  To complicate the whole dowry process even further, dowries could vary depending on the region and social class.  It could contain land, livestock, jewels, household items, manuscripts, and books.  It was carefully curated to reflect the bride’s family’s wealth and social status, as well as provide her with the necessary resources to establish her new household.  Dowries were often understood to be a fore-inheritance – the contents of the bride’s dowry could be handed down to her daughters as a way to make sure the bride’s wealth remained within her lineage. 

So a dowry is more than just some cash, a few goats, and a quilt or two.  It was a multi-faceted practice that went beyond a monetary transaction.  It was deeply intertwined with social, economic, and cultural dynamics, shaping the lives and futures of brides and their families.  The evolution and significance of dowries highlights the complexities of medieval society and the intricate web of relationships and power dynamics that existed within it.

But how do bridal quilts fit into medieval dowries? 

Within the framework of the dowry, bridal quilts held special significance.  These meticulously crafted quilts were meticulously handmade by the bride, her female relatives, or paid skilled artisans.  Bridal quilts were not only practical items, but also deeply symbolic and served as a testament to the bride’s skills, creativity, and dedication.

          The Symbolism of Bridal Quilts

Bridal quilts were often adorned with intricate patterns, vibrant colors, and meaningful motifs.  Each stitch and design choice carried a deeper meaning, representing the bride’s hopes, dreams, and aspirations for her future married life.  The quilt acted as a visual representation of the bride’s journey and her transformation from a single woman to married wife.  Furthermore, bridal quilts were a form of artistic expression and showcased the bride’s domestic skills.  The time and effort invested in creating these quilts demonstrated her dedication to her future household and her ability to contribute to it.  The creation of these bridal quilts was a communal effort, involving the participation of the bride, her female relatives, and often the entire community.  The process of making the quilt was a time of bonding, sharing stories, and passing down traditions from one generation to another (any of this sounding the least bit familiar?).

Various techniques and materials were used in the creation of these quilts, depending on the regional customs and available resources.  The use of intricate embroidery, applique, and patchwork allowed for the incorporation of personal symbols, family crests, or significant emblems.  The resulting quilt was not only a functional object, but also a work of art, infused with personal cultural significance. 

          Bridal Quilts Leveled the Playing Field of Medieval Dowries

It goes without saying, some women’s dowries were wealthier than others.  Depending on the socioeconomic class of the woman and her family, some dowries were laden with gold, jewels, livestock, artwork, land, and critical political ties.  Other dowries were less impressive, due to the lower socioeconomic background.  However, the one item both types of dowries had in common were the bridal quilts.  The quilts leveled everything out.  A woman with lesser means could have quilts just as lovely as a woman of great wealth.  Certainly those quilts from advantaged families were made from more extravagant materials and may have had more intricate designs than other families, but the workmanship between the two could often rival each other. 

In addition to workmanship, the cultural significance of the bridal quilts remained the same across all groups.  Bridal quilts were held in great esteem and were often heavily featured in folklore, family history, story telling and songs.  They were a way to pass down cultural traditions and preserve the collective memory of a community.  They symbolized the hopes and dreams of generations past, carrying tales of love, commitment, and resilience.  Bridal quilts acted as tangible reminders of the bonds of family and community, connecting individuals across time and generations.

          So How Do Those Medieval Bridal Quilts Affect Us Today?

To be certain, this has been a process.  While the practice of dowries remained in effect in Europe, once settlers reached North America, things changed somewhat.  To be certain, dowries remained loosely in effect with the upper class, but they soon faded from practice completely.  However, Bridal Quilts remained popular with America for years – even up until today.  A couple near and dear to your heart sets a wedding date and you begin to weigh the pros and cons of making them a special quilt – what are their colors?  What size?  Can I get the quilt done in time? 

These questions are relatively new to the American Bridal Quilt Landscape.  Somewhere around the 19^th century, wedding traditions and Bridal Quilts were upended by the new, then-petite queen of England – none other than Queen Victoria herself. 

Queen Victoria was the one who popularized the white wedding gown.  Before her bridal fashion statement, a bride’s dress could be any color.  On the American frontier, it was often the woman’s “best dress” – one which was made for her as part of her trousseau and would also serve as a church/special occasion outfit.  As a matter of fact, Laura Ingalls Wilder was married in a new, black dress made by her mother.  Dresses which were made only to be worn once were simply out of the question – at least for most families.   Life in America, even though it was nearing its 100-year anniversary, was still somewhat hardscrabble.  If the Bridal Quilt was to continue to be a tradition, it would need to be updated and it would need to be practical. 

So now, the definition changed from Bridal Quilt to Bridal Quilts.  It would be more than one.  It became tradition that a single woman would need 13 quilts before she married.  Twelve of these would be made and completed before she became engaged.  These would be the practical, everyday quilts used on family beds.  A dozen quilts allowed a woman to have enough to change out her bedding as the seasons changed or if she wanted a different look.  Twelve quilts were certainly enough to have on hand without panic as her family expanded.  These quilts were made from left over fabric in the scrap bags of her or her mother’s, aunts’, cousins, and other already-married female relatives or close friends.  They were generally nothing fancy, but pleasantly utilitarian.  These twelve quilts were quilted and finished before she became engaged and then carefully stored, waiting for the time she became betrothed and started planning her own home. 

Among these twelve, it was tradition there should be a Tree of Life

A Flower Basket

And a Pandora’s Box or Double Wedding Ring.

Why?  These quilts were exceptionally challenging, and it was believed if a woman was skilled enough to make these three quilts, she was more than capable of handling the sewing for a household.

However…that thirteenth quilt…that quilt was special.  Traditionally, this quilt was the bride’s own design and once the quilt was complete, the pattern was destroyed because “it only belonged to her.”  To keep it, to allow it to be used by another, was considered bad luck. The final, bridal quilt was usually a very intricately stitched top, an applique quilt, or a whole cloth white spread.  The quilt was made from new, costly fabric, as well as the backing and batting.  Because of the expense of the final bridal quilt, it was never started until after the engagement was announced – and it was considered bad luck to begin the Bridal Quilt before an engagement.  And while the bride’s female friends could help with the quilting, the construction of the top was strictly the bride’s job.  Another “rule” to this was tradition was the quilt should not be completed until the night before the wedding. 

Now how much truth is actually in all these traditions is up for much debate. 

Did every bride in America have 12 quilts finished and in her hope chest?  Historically, no.  Think about how long it would take to piece a dozen quilts, quilt them, and have them ready by the time you’re of marriageable age as well as attend to all the other work you had to do.  Think about what a pull from family resources a dozen quilts made for another’s household use would be.  More than likely a young woman had a half a dozen or so quilts in her hope chest.

Did every bride make a Tree of Life, Bride’s Bouquet, and a Pandora’s Box or Double Wedding Ring quilt?  Maybe.  There’s really no way to tell.  Since those quilts would fall under the utilitarian tab, most of those quilts were “used up.”  However, the fancy Bridal Quilts were never used unless there was a special occasion, such as overnight guests.  Those quilts were seldom used and a large number of them lived until the 21^st Century and are held in museums.  Overall, these are very elaborate quilts with flowers, birds, vines, and cottages.  Some include figures of a man and woman in typical wedding attire.  At least one of these museum—housed bridal quilts only has the figure of a woman and a black square where the man should be.  We can only speculate why.   A few brides’ quilts have been found with a wide black border, making it a mourning quilt. 

          What About Today’s Bridal Quilts?

Eventually, the tradition of Bridal Quilts and all the rituals which went along with those, faded into obscurity.  Times changed and tastes changed.  Quilts became less and less popular as “traditional” bedding.  Then with the bedding readily available in stores, the Bridal Quilt eventually morphed into something quilters would make for those nearest and dearest who were tying the knot.  Today there aren’t any of the traditions that go along with our quilts.  The bride may pick out the colors and fabric, but chances are she doesn’t put a stitch in the quilt.  The quilt may be full of fancy work – applique, embroidery, custom quilting – or it may be a lovely, pieced quilt with an edge-to-edge quilting design.  What hasn’t changed is the love that’s stitched into them.

I’ve made a few super-nice wedding quilts.  Each of my children have been gifted quilts (not exactly on the day they got married – I wasn’t as dedicated of a quilter then as I am now).  However, I heard something in a guild meeting a while back which made me re-think wedding/bridal quilts.  I happened to be in a Zoom quilt guild meeting with the Warwick Valley Quilt Guild and Jenny Doan of Missouri Star fame was the speaker.  We had the awesome opportunity to view her quilt studio and ask her questions.  Someone asked her about wedding quilts.  She has a fabulous idea.  She doesn’t make traditional, fancy wedding quilts any longer.  She makes picnic quilts to give to the couple. 

She pairs the quilt with a picnic basket and needed items for the picnic.  Then Jenny includes a card with the gift which says, “Always Date” and a “coupon” for a replacement quilt once the original picnic quilt is worn out. 

What a grand idea. 

Until next week, From My Studio to Yours,

Love and Stitches,

Sherri and Felix

Let’s talk about quilt borders. 

I have two schools of thought concerning quilt borders.  First school – those quilters who consider their borders an integral part of their quilt, as important as the center.  Much care and consideration go into their design and color placement.  Second school – those quilters who breathe a sigh of relief that the quilt making process is over.  They cut the borders out, sew them on, and then send the quilt to the long armer or quilt it themselves.  Which school of thought is wrong?

The answer is….

Neither of them. 

Borders, like a lot of quilt making, is an extremely personal decision.  The final design of your border may depend on if the quilt is made for a special occasion – such as a birthday or wedding.  The design may depend on if the quilt is show-bound or destined to live on the back of the couch to wrap up in while you watch TV.  My school of thought about borders is this:  They are the punctuation marks of your quilt.  They are the end of the sentence.  They are the last impression of your quilt making skills.  Some quilts are destined to have exclamation point borders.  These quilts were made for quilt show competitions or for special occasions.  Then some need borders which are simply periods. These are cuddle quilts and play quilts and maybe even some bed quilts.  What I want to do with this blog is make sure you understand what borders are used for and how to put borders on correctly – any type of borders, from the fancy-schmancy applique ones to the plain strips of fabric. 

In the world of quilting, borders did not really come into play until around the twentieth century.  Before that time, most quilts were made from necessity.  They were made to keep folks warm on cold nights. There wasn’t a lot of extra money or fabric to make borders or sometimes even for sashing.  If borders were on a quilt pre-twentieth century, most of the time they looked something like this:

The quilt was appliqued and designed for special use, such as the best quilt in a household or a bridal quilt.  Borders were not something used willy-nilly on all quilts.  Of course now-a-days, we’re used to quilts with borders and quilts without borders.  I must admit that during my career as a quilter, I’ve made very few quilts without borders.  Most of those have been on the small-ish size.  With this in mind, I began to wonder exactly why we put borders on most quilts now.  For most of us, we either have enough fabric to make borders or we have the funds to purchase that fabric.  But having either or both should not be the final impetus to put borders on a quilt.  Are there construction reasons to add borders to your quilt? 

Well…yes.  There are some valid reasons to add those borders.  The first reason deals with our old friend, bias.  If a quilt is constructed with blocks which have some bias on the outside edges, borders will go a long way in stabilizing the bias.  As a matter of fact, if there’s a lot of bias involved along those outside edges, you may want to cut the borders out along the length of fabric instead of across the width of fabric.  The length of fabric has the least amount of stretch of any fabric cut and can hold that bias really steady. 

The second reason is it helps keep the quilt square.  Squaring up a quilt is defined as “The process of making sure your quilt has 90-degree corners, borders are straight and flat, and the length of the parallel sides match the length in the middle of the quilt.”  Squaring up your quilt is so important it needs to be done at each step of construction.  Make your block units, square them up.  Construct your blocks and square those up.  Then square up your rows, too.  If you diligently and consistently do this (yes, I know it’s a pain), you’ll find that once it is time to add on the borders, your quilt center – for the most part – will be perfectly squared up.  You can cut the borders to fit and sew them on without the hassle of easing either the borders or quilt center to fit. Then the borders will work like “book ends” to keep everything square as the quilt lives out its life on your bed, wall, or wherever, even with occasional trips to the washing machine. 

Borders can also echo the quilt’s theme or add some special “oomph” to it.  This isn’t difficult to do.  Does your quilt use a certain block throughout the center?  You could always make smaller version of the block and use it as cornerstones in your border.  Is your quilt an applique quilt which features an animal or flowers or even a figure such as Sunbonnet Sue?  Add those to the border.  You will continue to echo the theme of the quilt out beyond the center, and it will really make the quilt seem complete. 

Then there are those borders which are outstandingly awe inspiring.  These are those borders which are such an integral part of the quilt, you cannot imagine the quilt without them.  Indeed, if you were to remove those borders, the quilt would look half-done.  One of the ways to make such borders is to either have the borders intertwine with the quilt center,

Or have the quilt center expand into the borders.  Either way, it’s hard to imagine the quilt without those borders. 

Scalloped and mitered borders are also pretty impressive.

And then there are those rare times when you find a piece of fabric which does all the work for you.  Once in a blue, quilting moon, you may find material which pulls the entire quilt together in such a way you can’t imagine the quilt without it.

Let me also throw in this Zone of Truth.  If I am putting a lot of time, detail, and effort into a quilt, I tend to think of the borders as a blank canvas.  I can continue that detail into the borders, whether it be applique or quilting or piecing.  They’re mine to create as I would like to, because in the end of construction, the quilt has to please me and make me happy.

The last reason you may want to use borders deals with the size of the quilt.  To be sure, if you need to make a quilt larger, you can always add more blocks.  However, a quicker way to enlarge the quilt is to add borders.   I did this with the “Gone Fishing” quilt I made my husband a couple of Christmases ago.  I purchased a fishing panel and used it for the center of the quilt.  I added blocks, more blocks and floaters.  However, the quilt still wasn’t quite big enough.  Bill wanted the quilt to cover the bed, hang down over the sides, and have a pillow tuck.  Long story short, I had to make a king-size quilt for a queen-size bed.  By the time I got to the point where I had to make the borders, I was suffering from a fishy hangover.  I was well past ready to be done with this quilt.  Some quick measuring of the quilt center and the remaining fabric told me I didn’t have enough fabric to make solid borders, so I simply cut the remaining fabric into rectangles, sewed them together, and created the borders.  It worked wonderfully.  That pieced border pulled all my colors together.  Did I break the Gold Ratio Rule when I made these borders?  Absolutely (and I’ll explain this in a bit).  Did I care about that with this quilt?  No.  This quilt was not show bound.  It was made to Bill’s specifications, and he loves it.  He sleeps under it every night. 

Now let’s talk about the correct way to sew on the borders.  Like most anything, there is a right way and a wrong way to do this.  First, there are those quilters who will simply cut long strips of fabric, sew them to the sides of your quilt, then cut of the excess.  This is the WRONG way to sew on borders.  Trust me.  Yes, this is the easiest way, but it will make your quilt all kinds of wonky and your long arm artist will hate you.  Let me show you why. 

First of all, I made two identical, pieced quilt blocks.  For the purposes of this blog, we’re going to use these blocks as a quilt top.  I measured the block, which for this example is 12-inches unfinished.  I cut four strips, 20-inches long by 2 ½-inches wide.  The length gives me more than enough fabric for all the sides, even after I’ve added the initial two borders. 

I sewed the right and left borders on. trimmed them to fit, and then pressed towards the border.

Then I sewed the top and bottom borders on, trimmed them to fit, and then pressed towards the border.

Now let’s set that little quilt top aside and use the second one to put borders on CORRECTLY.

Step One:  Press the quilt top and then lay the quilt on a flat surface.  Since this is a small quilt, I can use my rotary mat.  When I work with larger quilts, I lay the quilt on the floor (which I have swept beforehand).  It’s important you have a hard surface so you can get an accurate measurement.  Then measure the quilt at the right, middle, and left sides along the vertical length of the quilt top.

Take these three measurements and average them together.  If you have squared up at each step of construction — each block unit, the blocks, and then the rows — these three measurements should be pretty close, if not the same.  However, if these three measurements are over ½-inch in difference from each other, it’s a good idea to take a long, serious look at your quilt.  Your seam allowances are majorly off somewhere and no matter how good you or your long arm artist is at quilting, it will not quilt well. 

In my case, my average length turned out to be 12-inches exactly.  Normally, I put the left and right borders on first. For this, I will cut two 12- inch long fabric strips which are 2 ½-inches wide.  Fold the strips in half to find the middle and lightly finger press the fabric.  You may want to place a pin in the fold so you can better see where the middle is.

Now do the same thing to the quilt top.  In my case, since the quilt top is small, I can fold it in half just like I did the borders and lightly finger press the crease to find the middle.  Of course, with a larger quilt, you would use a measuring tape to find the middle of the quilt top.

Match the middle of the border to the middle of the quilt and pin them together.  Then proceed to pin from the middle out on each side of the border.  Repeat on the opposite side. Sew the first border on and then press the seam towards the border. Repeat for the other side.

Now we need to prep the top and bottom borders.  Since this little quilt top is square, the top and bottom sides were originally also 12-inches square, but the left and right borders have now been sewed on, so it’s wider.  Measure the quilt top again, this time across the quilt to include the borders you just added.  Measure the top, middle, and bottom and average those three numbers together.  In this case, the three measurements are 16-inches.  I will cut two 2 ½-inch wide strips, 16-inches long and use the same method to sew on the top and bottom strips as I did the left and right ones. 

Here is where you will see the big difference between sewing your borders on the correct way and the wrong way:

The quilt which had the borders put on the correct way lies flatter, while the one which had the borders put on incorrectly doesn’t.  The outer edges are kind of wavy and everything is sort of uneven.  This means it will be more difficult to quilt and won’t look good on a bed or a wall. 

This correct method of border construction applies no matter what kind of borders you use on your quilt – applique, pieced, or strips of fabric.

Before we leave the topic of borders, there are few helpful hints I’ve picked up through the years.  In no particular order…

•  What if your quilt has no borders, but you’d like to add them?  Can you do this and how do you know how wide to make them?  Yes.  You can certainly add borders to almost any quilt.  And the trick to making sure they look in correct proportion to your quilt center employs the Golden Ratio.  The math is simple.  Take the size of the finished block and add the width of the sashing (if there is any).  Let’s say we have 12-inch finished quilt blocks in our center, and they are surrounded by 2-inch-wide sashing.  You add 12 + 2, then multiply the Golden Ratio (1.618) and divide by 4 (since there are four sides to the quilt).  So the math looks like this:

12+ 2 = 14

14 x 1.618 = 22 2/3

22 2/3 divided by 4 = 5 2/3, which we will round up to 6 for easy construction.  The widest a border could possible be for this quilt and still look proportional is 6-inches.  This 6-inches can be divided anyway you want to, as long as the total border width is not over 6-inchs.  So you could have two 3-inch borders, three 2-inch borders, a 2-inch and a 4-inch border, etc. 

If wide borders aren’t your thing, you can use this same formula except only multiply by roughly half the Golden Ratio — .618.  This time the math would look like this:

12+ 2 = 14

 14 x .618 = 8 2/3

8 2/3 divided by 4 = 2 1/8, which we will round down to 2 for easy construction.  The narrowest the borders could be and still be in proportion is 2-inches.  But what’s really great about knowing the narrowest and the widest proportions is this:  the border width can fall anywhere between the two numbers.   Technically you could use 3, 4, or 5-inch (or anywhere between those numbers) borders.

•  Make sure all your border fabric is cut on the same grain.  Cut it all width of fabric, length of fabric, or bias.  Don’t mix the grains or your borders will come out wavy.  This means you may need to sew some strips together in order to have borders the length you need (especially with WOF and bias borders).  If this is the case, be sure to join the strips on an angle like this, which is the same process used to make folded binding.

This type of seam helps in a couple of areas.  The first is appearance.  An angled seam is less obvious than a straight seam.  The second is weight.  An angled seams handles the pull of the border weight better than a straight seam – which is especially important with wall hangings.

• Although technically there are no rules about which borders are sewn on first, typically the left and right borders go on first and then the top and bottom ones.

• Because borders are long and they’re a lot to deal with coupled with the entire quilt center, there are some helpful ways to deal with them.  The first is to give yourself lots of room as you’re sewing them on.  Add an additional table to your quilting area, or clear off the surface around your sewing machine to support the bulk and weight of the quilt top and the borders.  This really helps.  Also make sure you pin enough.  You will pin if your add your borders to the top correctly.  Just make sure you have enough pins to keep the border fabric flush with the quilt center.  Sew the borders on with the borders on top of the center.  And quilting gloves make handling all the weight and bulk easier.  You just can grip it better with the gloves.

• Applique borders are a bit of a different beast.  The best way I have found to handle these beautiful borders is to cut the borders out several inches larger than needed.  Find the center of the border, lay out your applique pieces, and sew them on.  Then re-measure the border and cut it down to the size needed.  Applique tends to take up the fabric a bit.  If you cut it to fit before you applique, you may find the border too short when you sew it on.

• If you plan to finish your quilt with binding and no border, you may want to consider an “anchor border” (my term since it’s something you anchor the binding to), especially if your blocks are heavily pieced and/or there’s some bias on the outside edges.  This is a narrow border – no wider than 2-inches – in the same color as the background of the quilt, and seems to seamlessly blend into the center.  This gives you something with a bit more stability than a pieced block or bias edge to sew your binding to.  If you sew binding to a pieced or bias edge, there’s a greater chance the quilt center will stretch and become “unsquared.”  And personally I like my anchor border cut on the length of the fabric grain – it’s the least stretchy of the grains and stabilizes everything really well.

• If you have put a lot of time and effort into your quilt and at the end of the journey, you’re just ready to sew on some fabric strips and call it a day – don’t.  It’s easy to simply want to just finish the top, get it quilted and bound, and call it done.  If you’ve given the quilt lots of your time and attention to detail, it would be a shame to slack it on the borders.  Give yourself a day or two to think through a border plan.  If at that point, you’re still ready to cut out some plain strips of fabric and sew those on (correctly, of course), then go for it.  But chances are, you’ll decide to throw a bit more time and attention to those borders, too.

I hope this blog has shown you why it’s important to construct borders the correct way.  After all the time spent on the quilt center, the borders should serve to show off all that hard work, not detract from it. 

Tips From My Studio

Although I typically add my borders by sewing with them on top of the quilt center, this is not always the case.  I must weigh a few considerations.  If the sides of my quilt are not heavily pieced or appliqued, I can sew with the borders on top.  However, if the sides of the quilt are pieced or have applique placed close to the edges, I don’t want to “chop” any points or applique pieces off by accidentally catching them in the seam. Then I will sew with the quilt center on top.  This way I can make sure nothing is caught in a seam, dodging troubled areas if necessary.

Strip sets are one of my favorite quilting techniques.  They’re fast, accurate, and pretty much mindless sewing.  Find something to binge watch and get to it.  Next thing you know you can have tons of nine-patches, four-patches, or postage stamp blocks ready to go.  However, like all quilting techniques, there are a couple of extra steps you can do to make sure they look wonderful.  First, I handle these things almost the same way I do bias.  I starch the strips first, although not quite as heavily as I do bias pieces.  Second, if like the quilt tops in this blog, there’s a lot of strips involved, I don’t sew strip after strip onto the set.  I generally sew two or three strips together and then join those with another set.  This eliminates the constant handling of bulky fabric (you only handle joining the strip sets once or twice).  I’ve found it’s also easier to press the seams if you’re only dealing with a couple of joined strips.  However, this is a personal preference. 

There is absolutely nothing wrong with joining all the strips together, just be sure you flip the strip set as you go, so you’re sewing in opposite directions each time.  If you sew in the same direction, you may get “strip creep” – the strips of fabric shift and your strip set will look wonky. 

In case you don’t know, this pattern is called Rail Fence.  It’s a great way to use up your scraps and it’s super easy to make.  Cut your strips the desired length, sew them together, cut them into squares, and sew the squares together, rotating them so one set is horizontal and the other vertical.  This is one of my favorite patterns to use for charity quilts.

I don’t advise sewing really long strips of fabric together – nothing more than a WOF, which is generally between 42- and 44-inches.  I have issues with the seams twisting a bit if the strips are much longer than this.

At this point, you maybe asking, “Why does she use so much purple in her examples?”  Well, if you’ve guessed this may be my favorite color, you’re right.  Nonetheless, I typically don’t use a great deal of purple in my pieced quilts.  But anytime any of my quilting buddies have a surplus of purple fabric, it finds a home in my studio…and I have to use it up somehow….

From My Studio to Yours,

Love and Stitches,

Sherri and Felix

It’s that time of year again. 

I gave my 2024 predictions, and I announced this year’s theme.  And since the theme is “Welcome to My Studio,” I need to reveal what I plan to work on this year since you’re along for the ride.  My regular readers may remember this is a process I go through every New Year’s Eve.  I look over my works in progress, decide what I plan to finish as well as what I want to start.  I was way, way too ambitious in 2023, because I really struggled to complete anything.  Last year’s list looked like this:

To Finish:

High Point Quilt Guild’s 2021 BOM

Halloween Quilt I

Halloween Quilt II

Alphabet Quilt

Blue Quilt

Horn of Plenty for a New Generation

Reverse Applique Quilt

Colors of Springtime

To Start

Temperature Quilt

Flowering Gum

A Day in the Life of Sunbonnet Sue

Madonna Quilt

Garden Party Down Under

Windblown Tulips

To Start and Finish

Bags

“Lifers”  (These are those projects done almost entirely by hand which could quite possibly take this life and the next to complete)

A Day in Grandmother’s Flower Garden

Language of Flowers

So…let’s see where all these projects stand….

Those which were not even picked up, looked at, or thought about:  High Point Quilt Guild’s 2021 BOM and Halloween Quilts I and II.  While I do have all the block patterns for the BOM, have decided on my fabrics and colors, and even know how I will lay the quilt out, not one thread of fabric has been cut – however, I do have my fabrics, so points for that one.  I must quilt both Halloween Quilts and have purchased special glow-in-the-dark thread for those.  My excuse for this is my long arm is a hot mess.  I’ve had continuous tension issues with it since Sewing Machine Plus replaced the head.  I really try to keep a positive tone with my blogs.  I really, really do. However, if you’re in the market for a long arm, and I could give you one piece of advice, it would be this: Purchase it from somewhere relatively close to where you live.  I realize this isn’t always possible, but some long arm dealers do have techs who will come to your studio and work on your long arm.  I have to ship mine all the way to California if I have an issue.  I can’t begin to tell you what a hassle it is, and I can’t even get their tech to return calls.  I acquired my long arm from them due to their extremely reasonable pricing.  I have purchased basic sewing machines from them for my grand darlings, and that was a completely positive experience.  The Long Arm is a different story. 

My Madonna Quilt pattern has not even been opened, so you know where that stands.  I really want to make this quilt – it’s just precious – but it’s been backburnered.  Maybe this year?  Perhaps 2025?  Also not touched – neither of my “Lifers.”  My Day in Grandmother’s Flower Garden is stretched out over my long arm, so I see it every day.

 Every. Single. Day. 

The guilt is enormous.  My plan is to sew a little on this one at my Friday Sit and Sew and at night when I watch TV.  In all truthfulness, the directions for this quilt are so poorly written, I put it in time out for sanity’s sake.  I can only take so much of it at a time before I have to try to decipher what’s the next step. 

Flowering Gum needs some explanation.  First I really, really love this pattern.  It caught my attention the first time I saw it, and I planned to use it for my guild’s 2023 President’s Challenge using the Pantone Color of the Year.  I could use the Vivid Magenta in the flowers and upon completion would have a beautiful wall hanging.  I purchased the pattern, downloaded it, and began working.  Ruth De Voss, the designer, used a different paper piecing technique which I found was not user friendly (at least to this user).  It was one I had not used before and struggled with.  I realize paper piecing curves (which there are a lot of in this quilt) is difficult, and due to the fact I was on a tight deadline with this quilt, I abandoned it.  Instead, I made this quilt:

Of cone flowers, which took third place in the HPQG 2023 President’s Challenge contest.  But I’ve found Flowering Gum is still tickling the back of my mind.  So I pulled the pattern back out in November, and I do believe I can make the quilt, but will alter the pattern for applique.  Where’s there’s a quilty will, there’s a quilty way. 

Language of Flowers was pretty much sidetracked this year.  With everything going on, appliqueing something with hundreds of tiny pieces just didn’t work.  I have the next set of flowers prepped and ready to go.  Hopefully 2024 will give me the impetus to keep moving ahead. 

My Blue Quilt is sandwiched, and I’ve sewn around the sashing to hold everything in place so nothing will shift while I quilt it.  I simply haven’t taken the time to start it.  I completed the blocks for Horn of Plenty for a New Generation.  I plan to use a quilt-as-you-go method for this one.   I have all the pieces cut out to do this, I just need the time to sit down and decide what quilt motifs I want to use.  The Alphabet Quilt has all the applique pieces cut out and ready to fuse around the borders, and I have prepped the last three blocks of the Colors of Spring.  While I didn’t finish everything I wanted to in 2023, I did go a long way in moving them closer to the finish line.  My reverse applique quilt was completely completed and was used as a class example back in September. 

Throughout 2023, I collected fabrics for my Year in the Life of Sunbonnet Sue.  While I had plenty of scraps to make her dresses, bonnets, and aprons, the backgrounds for the blocks used quite a few landscape fabrics.  I searched and collected all year, purchasing bits and pieces as I found them on sale.  I think I have enough to start now and have the freezer paper pieces cut out and ready to rock.  Extra points for me – I also have the border and sashing fabrics in hand.  I also have the fabric for Garden Party Down Under. 

Windblown Tulips is completely sewn together and appliqued.  I need to find a backing and sandwich it. Bonus points:  I have the quilting thread!

My foray into bags did not happen.  I purchased bag patterns, bag making supplies, and in some cases the videos which went along with the pattern.  I really want to give those a try this year.  I want to do something a bit different. 

The temperature quilt is finished, except for removing the papers and quilting.  I need to make some decisions about possible borders (do I make anchor borders or regular borders?).  I have my binding fabric, which is an awesome stripe and pulls everything together quite nicely.  Bonus, it’s printed on the diagonal, so I don’t have to deal with bias binding.  I have an upcoming blog written about my year-long temperature quilt odyssey.  Long story short, yes I would do it again.  It was fun.

Okay…since our primary theme this year is Welcome to My Studio, I’ll take you along on many of my quilting journeys.  Here’s what to expect:

Domestic Machine Quilting – I will quilt both of my small Halloween Quilts and Windblown Tulips this year on my Janome M17.

Quilt as You Go – I will show you how I am working through my Horn of Plenty for a New Generation Quilt (or as it’s known in my house Fruit of the Loom).

More Raw Edge Machine Applique – I want to push Colors of Springtime a little closer to the finish line.  I’m pretty set on sending this quilt out to a professional long arm artist.  It deserves much better ruler work than I’m capable of giving it.

Design Decisions – I hope to start Through the Year with Sunbonnet Sue.  There are literally hundreds of decisions I need to make about this quilt.

Bags – I really, really want to make a few bags.  If we get to June and I haven’t mentioned them in a blog, someone nudge me.

Meanwhile, I already have a blog about the history of bridal quilts written and ready to post.  I also have one about borders – the correct way to put them on, when they became a part of the quilt process, and how to jazz them up if you want to.  There are plans for a very personal blog about charity quilts.  Hope everyone comes along for the ride and may 2024 be even more productive than 2023.  And a bit kinder.

Welcome to My Studio…it’s creative chaos.

Love and Stitches,

Sherri and Felix

Here we are again…365 days (more or less) after the first day of 2023.  The New Year is upon us, and once again (since it’s now tradition), the time has come to reflect back on my quilty predictions of 2023 and see how well I predicted what would happen in our quilting world.  So without further ado let’s take a look back at my 2023 prognostications and see how well or how badly I did.

• Prediction One:  Sustainability will remain important as more and more quilting goes “green.” I think I did pretty well with this one.  Sustainability, less waste in landfills, and re-purposing old quilts all were pretty hot topics in 2023 among most quilters.  However, I think the one sustainable fact which kind of hit me hard is this: new quilters (as a whole) don’t seem too interested in cultivating a stash.  When I began quilting, having a varied stash was almost a point of pride.  It was wonderful to decide to make a quilt and then pull everything you need from your own fabric.  I understand many new quilters aren’t interested in having a stash, but simply want to purchase what they need as they need it.  While part of me is asking “What fun is that?” another part of me realizes this does free up a lot of space in your quilting area. 

• Prediction Two:  Pieced quilts will reach a new high in popularity.  To be perfectly honest, I can’t vouch for how right or how wrong I got this one.  I do think I can state I saw more pieced quilts in quilt magazines this year than ever – and far more than any applique ones.  So maybe I got this one right and maybe I didn’t. 

• Prediction Three:  Two-color quilts will be abundant.  I think I blew this one.  After I made this prediction, I swear I don’t think I saw another two-color quilt in any quilting magazine or website. 

• Prediction Four:  The slow-stitching trend will grow in popularity.  This one is a solid 100.  Slow-stitching was everywhere – in both brick-and-mortar quilt shops as well as on-line establishments.  It has Facebook pages, Instagram posts, and Twitter (X) accounts.  I think a lot of sewing enthusiasts (not just quilters) have found slow stitching relaxing and fun.  I don’t think it will fade away anytime soon. 

• Prediction Five:  Dense quilting will be featured in the majority of quilts.  I think I scored pretty highly with this prediction, too.  If you look at the quilts shown at guild meetings, those in magazines, those on internet, and those who were juried into the larger quilt shows, they all were quilted pretty densely.  Then top that off with the fact that more and more domestic quilter-oriented sewing machines now have ruler feet. This means nearly anyone can perform beautiful ruler work on their quilts regardless of their long arm status. I don’t think dense quilting is going anywhere.

• Prediction Six:  Landscape quilting will become popular.  I’d give myself a solid 80% on this prediction.  I did see a lot more of these quilts in shows, magazines, and internet sites.  And from what I could tell, there were quite a few classes offered in their construction.  All of which makes me very happy.  Landscape quilts are so much fun to make!

Now…what do I think is in store of us in 2024?  Well, my predictions for this year are divided into two categories – fabric and projects.  So let’s look at the fabric forecast first.

• Kiss the “normal” neutrals/background fabrics goodbye. Yes, those whites and creams and blacks will still be out there, but by far they will be usurped with bright, clear hues which will serve as the “new” neutrals and backgrounds.  Even my beloved gray (my favorite neutral) will take a backseat to the brilliant rainbow colors which will be front and center this year.  Gone are the staid, everyday neutrals.  In their place will be cheerful colors which just make you smile.

• Look for more animal prints, geometric prints, textured fabric, and fabrics with metallic accents.  While we will still have flowers and other cute prints, more designers are showing animal prints than at any other time.  Fabric that gives the appearance of having texture (such as fur) will also be easier to find in 2024.  Material will also be shot through with metallic accents, giving our quilts a little “bling” and geometric prints of all sizes may take the place of florals in our quilts. 

• Most fabric will have cleaner hues with less shades.  It seems as if 2024 wants to cast away any of the lingering mental doldrums left by the years of COVID and the effects we all suffered through.  I think there will be lots of hues and tints, but not so many shades.  Which, if you remember color theory, isn’t necessarily a good thing.  You may remember a blog I wrote a couple of years ago https://sherriquiltsalot.com/2019/04/24/the-muddying-of-the-fabric-franchise/bemoaning the fact very few fabric families have a true dark – that they were literally all mediums and lights, which was why many of our quilts looked so “muddy.”  With only tints and hues, we’re going to have the same issue.

• Batiks will remain a strong fabric player in the quilt game.  Even with all the clear, bright, new colors, batiks will remain a solid mainstay in the quilting game.  Batik manufacturers are producing some lovely new designs and for those of us who use this fabric in raw edge applique, we are so happy!

• Digital fabric will still have a presence in quilting, but it will not be as big.  Those of us who have sewed and quilted with digital fabric know its strengths and weaknesses and sometimes those weaknesses are just enough to drive us nuts.  Unless producers can meet the challenges this fabric brings to the quilt studio, its place in our quilting world may lessen, no matter how beautiful the fabric is.  We may still use it, but not in great quantities. 

• Let me introduce you to an up and comer – Poppie Cotton Fabrics.  This fabric line is kind of a cross between Tula Pink and Riley Blake.  I do think this is an “up-and-comer.”  Check out their web page: https://poppiecotton.com/.  I’m not a huge fan of Halloween fabric, but they have some hauntingly cute prints.

Those are my predictions for fabric.  Now let’s look at what I think will happen in the projects part of the quilt world.

• Quilted Clothing.  I know I predicted this a few years ago and completely blew it.  However, I do think 2024 will be different.  I’m seeing a lot of patterns for quilted clothing on quilt-related websites, such as Laundry Basket Quilts, as well as in quilting magazines.  And we’re not just talking about jackets any longer.  I’ve seen capes, hoodies, vests, and skirt patterns advertised.  Hopefully these patterns are easy enough for folks who haven’t made garments in a long time like me. 

• Bags.  I have seen lots and lots of bag patterns on quilting websites, quilt shops, and quilting magazines.  I am also aware many shops/websites are now stocking all the notions and hardware needed for these bags.  Annie’s has an entire sales catalog devoted to bags and notions as well as videos to go with their bag patterns.  And for those of us like me who haven’t put a zipper in anything in years, well, they’ve made that easy, too. 

• Paper piecing is making a strong comeback.  I’m seeing this technique used in more and more patterns.  I know this is one of those quilting skill sets folks either love or hate (there seems to be no neutral ground).  However, there are some gorgeous paper piecing patterns advertised.  If you’re a bit rusty on this technique, or just trying to find your paper piecing Zen, 2024 may be the year to give it another try. 

• This is the year for block-of-the-months.  I’ll be the first to admit, this one is a little personal.   Normally, I’m the quilter who runs from these programs.  I take a lot of delight in designing my quilts or tweaking patterns, choosing my own fabrics, and sewing at my own pace.  However, from what I’ve seen in 2024, BOM programs are hitting it out of the park.  And the programs are not just wall hangings or bed quilts.  They’re bench pillows, door quilts, small quilts, and even bag-of-the-month programs.  The patterns are lovely and not too difficult, and the fabric which accompanies the patterns is lovely.  If you’re like me and have kind of turned your nose up at BOMs, this year may be the time to give them a second look.  If nothing else, they may be a type of mindless sewing and stress relief – you don’t have to decide on the pattern or the fabric, just cut it out and sew.  And for those of us who adore applique, there are some GORGEOUS applique BOMS this year.

That’s it.  Those are my predictions for our quilt world in 2024.  Now it’s time to introduce the theme for next year.  I had two themes in mind and spent some serious time waffling between the two.  I finally decided this morning the theme would be “Welcome to My Studio.”  I have a lot under my needle this year and would like to use what I’m making to emphasize techniques and skill sets as well as vent any frustrations I have and explain how I fixed them.  I will still write history blogs on quilters and quilt blocks (because it seems like a lot of my readers really like those) and will definitely entertain any topic a reader throws at me.  Just keep in mind if you send me a topic, I generally already have three blogs “in the can” before it.  It may take a month before I get to yours.

Lastly, my regular readers may remember I lost Sam back in June of 2021.  He was my constant companion, sitting beside my sewing machine while I sewed or beside me on the couch when I was hand sewing.  My blogs were always signed with “Sherri and Sam.”  I had Sam 22 years before he crossed The Rainbow Bridge, so it truly was a difficult time for me.  I missed him terribly.  For my birthday this year, my husband handed me the normal gifts – a lovely sweater, a nice piece of jewelry, dark chocolate, and a good bottle of red wine.  The last gift bag was filled with cat toys.  Later that day, he took me to a cat adoption at a local pet supply place.  It was there I found this sleek, handsome, and sweet guy…

Meet Felix.  He’s a seven-month-old sweetheart who’s a rescue kitten out of Trinity.  He’s a cuddler and has already carved out a place in my studio – on a low shelf right above the heat vent.  He’s well on his way to being properly spoiled. 

Happy New Year Everyone!

From My Studio to Yours…

Love and Stitches,

Sherri and Felix

As I write this, it’s not quite the end of November.  Usually by this time of year, all the presents are purchased, and the tree is up. 

Not this year.  This year my heart is heavier.  It seems there is unrest everywhere.

Countries.

Cities.

College campuses.

Even though I no longer listen to the news on a daily basis (I do read the headlines every morning), I hear enough to know the world is chaotic place at the moment.  It’s scary. 

Thousands of years ago, the world was in a similar situation.  The Romans occupied the Middle East, brokering a tentative, uneasy peace with the religious leaders in the area.  And it was in the thick of these circumstances, along with heavy tax collections, that a baby’s cry announced a coming peace. 

Let’s hold fast to this promise in the upcoming days.  And until then, let’s be a little kinder, a little gentler, a bit more understanding with each other.  Let’s hold our loved ones close and hug our friends more often. 

Merry Christmas from my house to yours,

Love and Stitches,

Sherri

Santa baby, just slip some fabric under the tree for me
Been an awful good girl, you see
Santa baby, so hurry down the chimney tonight

Santa baby, a Janome M17, light blue
I’ll wait up for you dear
Santa baby, so hurry down the chimney tonight

Think of all the fun I’ve missed
Think of all the quilts that I didn’t quilt
Next year I could be just as good
If you check off my Christmas list

Santa baby, I want a quilting cruise and really that’s not a lot
Been an angel all year
Santa baby, so hurry down the chimney tonight

Santa honey, one little thing I really need
The deed to a quilt store
Santa baby, so hurry down the chimney tonight

Santa cutie, and fill my stocking with thread and scissors
A new cutting mat would be just fine
Santa cutie, and hurry down the chimney tonight

Come and trim my Christmas tree
With some buttons and quilt finery
I really do believe in you
Let’s see if you believe in me

Santa baby, forgot to mention one little thing
Some quilting bling – like some earrings,
Santa baby, so hurry down the chimney tonight
Hurry down the chimney tonight
Hurry, tonight

(Apologies to Philip Springer and Joan Javits)

This blog is not for quilters.  Nope.  Not at all.  So right now, if you’re a quilter, what you need to do is print this blog out, highlight the gifts you want, and send copies of this blog to your significant other, friends, children, and other family members.  As a fellow quilter, I’m doing you a solid.  I want you to have all the quilty goodness under the Christmas tree you could ever want.

With that said, if you’re not a quilter but are related to one or love one, do yourself a solid and read this blog.  Take it with you when you shop.  If you have questions, leave them in the comments.  I’ll do my best to help.

Quilters are wonderful people, but buying for them can throw a non-quilter into a mental and emotional tailspin. Sure, we like fabric, but we can be pretty darn specific about manufacturers and colors.  We like quilt patterns, but don’t purchase an applique pattern for a quilter who is only a piecer.  So what’s a non-quilter to do?  With this blog I want to offer a few suggestions which will make the quilter in your life super happy and earn you major points for taking the time to find them such wonderful gifts. 

•  Quilting Related “Stuff”

There are t-shirts and sweatshirts, coffee mugs and wine glasses, notebooks, stickers, and pens which are quilt related.  Missouri Star has quite a few options.  Etsy is full of them.  Maker Valley is a new shop (at least new to me) which has quite a few great selections. 

•  Specialty Pins and Needle Minders

First, let me say these type of pins:

Are great.  They can be used for more than just pinning seams together.  The flat heads are large enough to write on.  I number mine and use them to keep blocks and rows in order. 

However, no one has ever said pins should be dull (dull as in unattractive, not dull as in a blunt point).  Dritz has some really nice, numbered pins and Etsy has several shops which offer cute pins such as these:

Just because you’re doing something as mundane as pinning, doesn’t mean it should be dull and boring.

Needle minders are cute magnets, generally enameled, which are used to help you keep up with hand sewing needles (which have a way of disappearing).  The minder comes in two pieces – the pretty top and a strong magnet on the back.  You place the top part on your block or quilt or your shirt and use the magnet on the back of the fabric to hold it in place.  These magnets are strong – so no worries about the needle minder falling off.  You simply place your hand sewing needle on the top when you’re not using it and it will stay firmly in place.  This is super-handy – no worrying about where your needle is.  And for those of you who have canine or feline friends, no worries about them finding the needle for you by stepping on it or swallowing it. 

•  Good Lighting

There are two ways to look at this option.  If the quilter in your life enjoys traveling with her projects or attends quilt retreats, you may want to splurge for a portable light.  Ott lights are my favorite, as their light bulbs are pretty close to natural sunlight.  They come in all sizes and can easily be packed up to take with you wherever you and your quilt projects go.

If the quilter in your life is the stay-at-home type, you may want to look at lighting for her sewing machine or hand sewing area.  There are a couple of things you want to look for with good lights.  First, the closest they can get to replicating daylight, the better.  Second, sewing lamps can do so much more these days than just make it easier to see.  Lights for quilters can come with USB charging ports for your phone or iPad, storage, magnifiers, and trays. 

•  Quilting Notions

Rotary cutting mats, Hera markers, glass head pins, thread conditioner or beeswax, rotatory cutter replacement blades, Wonder Clips, Clover seam rippers, Kai scissors, or sewing machine cleaning brushes are great gifts – and many are available on Amazon!

•  Block of the Month Kits (BOM)

This is the gift that keeps giving for months.  And this is a very personal choice.  I can go years without participating in a block of the month and then suddenly in one year, there will be a several I absolutely love.  This is definitely something you should consult about with the quilter in your life before submitting your credit or debit card for payment.  Currently there are wonderful quilted bench pillow BOMs, door quilt BOMS, and small quilt BOMs, not to mention a wide variety of bed quilt and applique BOMs. 

•  EQ 8 or Other Quilt Designing Software

If the quilter in your life enjoys designing their own quilts, or tweaks published patterns to suit their fancy, you may want to gift them software like Electric Quilt 8.  There are other quilt designing software packages, but the reason I mention EQ8 is that it’s pretty user friendly and intuitive.  Plus there are lots of YouTube videos and imbedded tutorials in the software.  If the quilter in your life really enjoys the program, there are even on-line classes available (which may help you with your Christmas list next year.)

•  On-line classes

And speaking of on-line classes, thanks to Covid and Zoom, all kinds of on-line quilting classes are now available to quilters of all levels in all kinds of techniques.  You will need to definitely ask about this one – don’t just find some random on-line quilting class and sign the quilter in your life up for it.  Ask if there’s a particular instructor or a particular technique he or she would like to learn more about and if they would be interested in on-line learning.  I personally love on-line classes, but I do know quilters who would prefer to be in a normal classroom setting. 

•  Fabric

This one seems obvious.  You have a quilter in your life, you purchase that person fabric and everyone is happy – you’ve found a gift, there’s fabric to sew – a complete win-win, right?

Nope.  Unless it’s the right kind of fabric, you could really mess this purchase up.  Even my dear husband, who has lived with me quilting for nearly 40 years, would not dream of buying me fabric unless I was along with him.  He knows enough to make sure it’s 100 percent cotton, but any other characteristics?  Nope.  Not a clue.

If the quilter in your life has given you specific requirements – such a fabric house, fabric line, colors, etc. – and you’re comfortable purchasing these on-line or at your local quilt shop, go for it.  Otherwise, I’d advise you to forgo actual, physical fabric for a much safer option:  gift cards.  Chances are  the quilter in your life has mentioned where he or she likes to buy fabric on-line or at a local shop.  And quite often you can purchase a gift card from the comfort of your home via your cell phone or lap top and it will be emailed to you immediately (for those of you who wait until the last minute to Christmas shop, I’ve just reduced your stress level – you’re welcome). 

Added bonus, the quilter can also use the gift card to purchase non-fabric items they may need, such as thread, stabilizer, or rulers.  

There is also one more additional fabric-purchasing option.  If your quilter has mentioned he or she adores one particular fabric manufacturer, check their website.  Sometimes the manufacturer may have a monthly subscription available.  For a monthly fee, they will send fat quarters, layer cakes, or even yardage to your quilter.  And often they may have more than one type of selection.  They may offer Christmas fabric or stash builders.  There are even a couple designed specifically for beginner quilters.  Ask a few discrete questions and this may be a great option for your quilter.

•  Sewing Machine

Okay, this is definitely a purchase you need to make with your quilter.  Sewing machine manufacturers upgrade their machines yearly.  And if the quilter in your life is like me, they may go years before an upgrade truly catches their eye and is worth the expense.  So don’t go out and make this purchase willy-nilly without mentioning it to your quilter (although chances are if he or she wants to upgrade, they’re already making all kinds of comments about it).  However, rule of thumb is, if you can’t remember the last time their sewing machine was upgraded, then it may very well be time for a new machine. 

Send Them Away to Quilt with Other Quilters

Our quilting world is full of quilting cruises, quilting retreats, and quilting trips to places such as the Houston Quilt Show, APQS Paducah, Lancaster, Missouri Star, Ireland, England, France, and lots of other places.  Ask the quilter in your life if they would like to go.  Quilting magazines are a great reference for these trips – there are so many ads in them for quilt-related travel.  Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville fame hosts several trips each year.  From my own personal experience, I can tell you it is wonderful to get away from your everyday life and spend time with other people who have the same passion as you do. 

I hope I have done both the quilters and non-quilters a solid with this blog.  To the non-quilters who have quilters in their life, I really want this blog to serve as a sort of shopping guide for you.  For you quilters, I hope you find those deeply desired quilty related items under your tree – you’ve been good all year and certainly deserve them!

Until Next Week, Remember the Details Make the Difference!

Love and Stitches,

Sherri