A "consolation prize"

There were so many great comments on my Moda blog post!  It was really fun to read everyone's comments and to see that Log Cabin is still a first quilt for so many people. Log Cabin never seems to go out of style or wane in popularity.

And tomorrow on the Cutting Table blog, Moda will announce one winner from the September comments on my post and that person will receive Log Cabin Ruler #8037 and my Log Cabin ABCs book!

There can only be one winner, so we have a "consolation prize" for everyone else - place an order through our website that is over $30 that includes a Log Cabin product and we will ship it for free. This offer expires at midnight your time on October 3, 2013.

The fine print: Free shipping applies to domestic addresses; foreign addresses will be charged actual cost of shipping less $5.95. Shipping adjustment will not show online but your order will be adjusted at the time it is processed by Customer Service.

I'm Moda's Guest Blogger Today!

Moda's Cutting Table has been celebrating National Sewing Month every day of September with a new guest blogger.

Today that's me! I was so happy to be invited. Head over there quick to learn 2 tricks for Perfect Log Cabin Blocks, with photos and videos! Including a demo on why it's important to cut patchwork on the lengthwise grain -- Grainline Geeks Unite! :)

I hope you enjoy my blog post. Be sure to comment for a chance to win blog candy!  The winner will be announced on the Moda Cutting Table blog Oct. 2.  Just click the measuring tape:

Update: The contest is over, but you can still read the blog post on Moda's Cutting Table. :)

Fabulous Edge Finish -- Our No Binding, No Bulk Finish

Quilters are raving about this great new way to finish placemats, table runners and small wall quilts. It is especially nice on some quilts, such as art quilts, where a traditional quilt binding actually disrupts the flow of the design.

But remember, it is done before you quilt, not after!

It is similar to what some people call a pillowcase finish, but without the bumpy, bulky edge. That bulk in a pillowcase finish is caused by the batting seam allowance that is sewn in the seam piling up when the piece is turned right side out. With our method, we prevent any batting from ever being sewn into the seam.

Let me show you how with this small decorative table mat.

The secret ingredient is Marti's Choice Fusible Tape. It is a light-weight, fusible, non-woven interfacing repurposed from the sewing industry and conveniently packaged in 30-yard rolls, either 1" wide or 2" wide. For this process, I like the 1". We call it tape because it is narrow and comes in rolls, but it is not adhesive tape. It is heat fusible and must be permanently positioned with your iron.

This is what you need:

1. Your quilt top
2. A prepared backing piece (read on for details!)
3. Batting
4. Marti's Choice 1" Fusible Tape

To prepare the backing, cut a backing piece that is a little wider than the front and at least 3 inches longer. Cut it in half horizontally. Put the two sections right sides together and join them with a 1/2" seam allowance, leaving a few inches unstitched in the center. The opening is where you will turn the quilt inside out later! Press both seam allowances in one direction.

Layer the pieces and, using the top as a template, cut away excess batting and backing so they are exactly the same size as the top. BUT we don't want the batting to be the same size as the top. We want it to be 5/16" -- just a little more than 1/4" -- smaller all the way around. We could cut 5/16" off all four sides, but instead, separate the batting from the other two pieces and cut off 5/8" on two adjacent sides of your batting piece.

Bonus Tip: "Worth the Price of Admission"

You know how cutting batting can leave fibers in your cutting mat? But did you notice that when you trimmed the backing fabric and batting away there were no fibers in your mat? Any piece of paper will protect your mat the same way. Use just one layer of newspaper, printer paper, etc., and don't worry -- one sheet of paper every now and then won't dull your rotary cutter blade.

Now it is time to secure the batting to the wrong side of the front of the quilt. With the front face down, center the batting on the wrong side of the front. One side at a time, cut a strip of batting tape as long as the batting. (No need to measure, just do this at the ironing board, unroll the tape and cut to length!)

With your iron at a medium heat, press into place. I like to run the tip of my iron along the edge first, just securing the batting tape to the seam allowance -- it creates a tiny ridge. (Increase heat if tape did not secure -- iron temperatures vary!) Then go back and press the rest of the tape to the batting. (Cover polyester batting with a scrap of fabric, especially if you have raised the iron temperature.)

Continue with three other sides. The batting is never going to curl up or pull out of place -- you could call it permanently pinned!

Because the fusible tape and batting are the same color, we added the orange lines to define the edge of the batting tape.

Put the prepared front and prepared back right sides together and stitch all the way around using a 1/4" seam allowance.

Again, in the close-up, you can see the orange line shows the edge of the fusible tape and the green arrow points at the stitching line.

Turn the project inside out through the opening in the center back. It looks awful in the process...

But suddenly, it is flat. Give it a light press, especially along the edges. NOW you can quilt. I'm showing the back since I only quilted in the ditch and you can't see anything from the front. If you quilt enough, the quilting secures the opening, or I use a little strip of paper-backed fusible web on the seam allowances.

Ask for Marti's Choice 1" Fusible Tape, product #8220 (60 yards) at your favorite quilt shop or go to www.frommarti.com. Also available in 2" width, product #8221 (30 yards), which is more desirable for joining batting sections on full size quilts.

UPDATED Dec 2014

For some reason, my reply to Robyn's comment will not post. The answer to her question is the method above is almost the same as the method in the booklet that comes with the fusible tape. In between this post and that product packaging, we realized we could eliminate a step, which is why the instructions are a little bit different -- but either way works great!  :)

International Quilt Day

It's International Quilt Day and as a featured artist on a past episode of The Quilt Show, I wanted to let you know about a gift that Alex and Ricky have put together for quilters around the world. 

Beginning today, Friday, March 15 through Sunday, March 17, everyone who signs on to The Quilt Show will have free access to over 120 of their internet shows, including my episode #504.  You can watch the shows, check out the great tutorials, browse the gallery of over 19,900 member quilts, visit the forum for answers to the most burning quilt questions and lots, lots more. And if you missed my show, you can see it now.

You can also enter the TQS prize drawing with fantastic prizes from companies we know and love like Bernina, Gammill, Superior Threads, AccuQuilt, C&T Publishing, RJR Fabric, and Ricky and Alex will have gift baskets to give away too.  The grand prize is a new Bernina 550QE sewing machine!

I wanted to make you aware of this amazing event so you can take advantage of everything this exciting weekend has to offer without leaving home and all for free.
 
Please share this news with your quilting friends, fellow guild members, social networking friends and local quilt shops so that they don’t miss out on this fun weekend.  And feel free to post an abbreviated version of the details on your Facebook page. I want everyone to know about this amazing 3-day celebration of all things quilting.

So check in at www.thequiltshow.com and enjoy the shows and exploring The Quilt Show website and all it has to offer!

And I’d love to have you view my show, Episode #504.

Free Conversion Charts for the original Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt

Edit: If you are interested in receiving the conversion charts described below, use the "newsletter" link on our website www.frommarti.com.  The 1920s conversion chart mailings do not follow the same format as the new 1930s Quilt Along. Please note that this blog post is dated 2013 and refers to the original Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt book.  If you're interested in the 1930s Farmer's Wife Sew-along, there is info about that in my blog archive in the January 2018 files. Note that the same basic template sets are used to make the 1920s and the 1930s Farmer's Wife blocks. :) Thank you.


Probably every time you hear someone mention the Farmer’s Wife Sampler Quilt, you think one more time, "I would like to do that someday." Well, now is the time! We can make it easy for you to cut small blocks accurately, which makes them super easy to sew.

The great thing about a sampler quilt is that you can learn a new method or technique by making one block vs. one quilt. It is a great way to fast forward your quiltmaking skills! I always try to remind quilters who use the From Marti Michell templates that their use is not restricted to quilts that I design. Our templates are very versatile and can be used to cut at least 80% of the classic patchwork patterns you will see in a book or magazine.

 

So, when I picked up Laurie Hird’s book, The Farmer’s Wife Sampler Quilt, published in 2009, I could tell in one quick look that it was a great collection of classic blocks and most of them could be cut with our templates. 

I also liked the story behind the book. Laurie included a collection of prizewinning letters from the Farmer's Wife magazine's contest, "Would you like your daughter to marry a farmer?" along with 111 block designs to make a sampler quilt. My mother was a farmer’s wife at the time the Farmer’s Wife magazine was published, and she had two daughters. I couldn’t help but wonder if she might have entered that contest. For the record, my sister and I both married engineers. If you're married to an engineer, you'll understand when I joke, “I’m thinking of running a contest:  'Would you like your daughter to marry an engineer?'”  Here Mary and I are laughing at that idea!

 

Because the magazine contest was held during the 1930s, I chose ’30s reproduction fabrics for my blocks rather than Civil War prints. But the blocks are fun in any fabrics, batiks, brights, blue and white, etc. I admit, ’30s fabrics aren’t my favorites, and I had never used them for small blocks like these -- I learned why solids were so popular during that time! Depression era prints and reproductions are almost all the same density and value, so without solids, it's hard to get the contrast you need to see the patchwork. 

I was able to cut 101 of the blocks in the book with our templates! Here are a few of my blocks:

I have always loved diagonal set quilts so I will probably use the layout in the book. The hard part is deciding what color to make the sashing strips. “That green” of the 1930s was so popular because it was almost a neutral to the popular pastels of the time—just like leaves go with flowers, that green goes with almost everything. Or maybe I'll use creamy off-white with green cornerstones, or lavender for my mom -- she loved to tell how she was the talk of the neighborhood when she painted a bedroom that ’30s lavender! I’ll let you know when I decide.

The Original Farmer's Wife Template Conversion Charts (book cover shown above) 

At quilt shows, people were asking if our templates could be used to make the Farmer's Wife blocks. So, with the permission of the publisher, I put together a set of instructions for using templates to cut 101 of the blocks in the book, cross-referencing the template numbers in the book. In other words, our instructions mean nothing if you don’t have the book. Rather than follow the book numerically, we have sorted blocks so they have something in common. Usually, they share the same shapes or piecing procedures. 

A typical chart

We have put the blocks into groups of ten and periodically, we create a new mailing list and send PDF charts for cutting 10 blocks with our templates every two weeks. If you want to cut all your blocks with templates, we offer options for another 10 blocks, too.

Because the block designs are created from all different grids (3x3, 4x4, 5x5, etc), it takes several template sets to cut them. The great thing about our templates is that they are common shapes in common sizes, so you can make many different block sizes with the same template sets. 

More Details about the Original Farmer's Wife Conversion Charts
Many people ask us for "the" Farmer's Wife template set. There isn't one template set, because we have been making the template sets since 1995 and each template is unique; we don't duplicate sizes from set to set (except for a piece in the Feathered Stars sets, which is also in one of the A-B-C sets). If you have purchased our templates in the past, you probably already have some of the templates we used to cut our blocks.

The way it works out (because the 6-inch blocks are 3x3, 4x4, 5x5, etc), 101 of the 111 blocks in the Farmer's Wife book can be cut with several different sets of our templates. I substituted 10 other blocks that can be cut with templates, like LeMoyne Star and a 5-patch basket, and made a really cute little block with 3 rows of mini Tumblers.  

The most frequently used sets are A, B, D, N and S.  The "most" blocks you can make with one set is Set B, followed by Set A. Occasionally a piece or pieces from another set is used, like 2 pcs. in Set M come up once or twice, one from C. If you own the 1"-2" Log Cabin Ruler, or the small Kaleido-Ruler, they're handy for a few other blocks. That kind of thing.

A few times a year, we start a new email program where we send a PDF every 2 weeks to a new Farmer's Wife mailing list.  There are 10 charts, so it takes a few months to get them all; each one has about 10 blocks grouped by which of our templates they can be cut with, and the first one is Set B.  The 2nd uses Sets B and A, as I recall. The 10th PDF has 6 or 7 blocks to cut with Set S, and the PDFs in between use a mix of templates.  

The best thing about the PDFs is that we eliminate seams wherever possible, so you get used to looking at a block design and thinking about ways to cut/sew more efficiently. Then you can "scale up" the same kind of planning for making bigger blocks more easily and accurately. 

Visit our website to check on the date when the next mailing will begin. If we're in the midst of a mailing program, bookmark the page and check back later, or write to the office.

Thanks for reading this far!  :) 

Unbeatable Quilt Binding Trick!

Shades SoftFuse PremiumNo-Pins Quilt Binding

In case you don't know about SoftFuse Premium, you should! It is, without a doubt, the softest paper-backed fusible product available for fusible appliqué. Here are a few reasons why we love it:

• It is not necessary to windowpane. (Windowpane, a step that is a pain, but is required to prevent stiffness with so many fusible products. It is that technique where you cut out the middle section of the fusible before applying it to a large section.) Also, if you have used that method, haven't you noticed the tell-tale line where the fusible stops?
  
  
• Shades SoftFuse Premium is so soft you can hand quilt or hand blanket stitch through it. •If you choose to machine quilt, the needle does not leave large holes as it does on with the stiff stuff.
  
  
• I'm proud and happy to say that there is a good chance I was the first Shades SoftFuse Premium customer in the United States. I would like you to think it is because I'm on top of everything in the quilting world, but the whole story is that our daughter, Stacy Michell, owner of Shades Textiles, is the importer and distributor of SoftFuse Premium. Stacy is the appliqué artist in the family - most of you know my emphasis is on patchwork, but I use SoftFuse Premium a lot!
  
  
• For example, this is a technique I use every time I bind a quilt. If you want to be happy with the results, please don't do this with a stiff fusible. If you don't have SoftFuse Premium it is easy to get at www.softfusepremium.com or ask at your favorite quilt shop.

1. First, cut narrow strips, approximately ¼" wide of Shades SoftFuse. It is easy to do with rotary cutter and ruler from any of the packaged sizes or the rolls. It can even be done with scraps and small bits that are left over from an appliqué project.

2. Iron the SoftFuse Premium strips to the folded edge of prepared French fold or double fold binding. Leave a small edge of binding exposed. Leave the paper backing in place. These photos are on a bias binding cut 2 ¼" wide and then folded and pressed in half, wrong sides together.

3. Sew the prepared binding to the quilt edge. Make sure the binding is SoftFuse Premium side up!

4. Trim away the excess backing and batting -- the paper backing is still in place.

5. At the ironing board, remove the paper backing and roll the binding to the back. (For a flatter finish on the front, lift the folded edge of the binding away from the quilt and give a very quick light pressing motion to the binding before you roll the binding to the back - not pictured.)

6. Make sure the binding covers the stitching line and extends beyond it about 1/8". Press in place. Looks great doesn't it? (Yes, if you were rushing to put a binding on for Show and Tell at the guild meeting, you can stop right here and finish by hand or machine later.)

7. To finish by machine, I usually use invisible thread on top - but in the bobbin, Aurifill 50 wt , naturally, that matches the binding and when I stitch in the ditch from the top….

8. I get this nice finish on the back and a very nice soft binding. How cool is that!
Here is a close up of the back side of the binding.

For more information or to purchase please visit www.softfusepremium.com

I'm sorry the blog has been inactive for so long -- a result of my being so active for so long! I've done a lot of traveling to teach, met some terrific people and been to at least one country I never dreamed I'd be visiting: Dubai! I've also been busy designing new quilts and coming up with new products for the From Marti Michell tool line. (Like the Long Skinny Sashing Star Set for Peaky & Spike sashing stars.) I plan to come back and share some great quilts and great stories soon, but I wanted to let you know we're running a "12/12/12" sale. Not to mark the end of the Mayan calendar! But because I'm fascinated by chiasmus.

From Wikipedia: ...the figure of speech in which two or more clauses are related to each other through a reversal of structures in order to make a larger point; that is, the clauses display inverted parallelism.

12/12/12 isn't really chiasmus because it doesn't read backwards like it reads forwards, but it must have a word to describe numerical occurrences like this. December 12, 2012, will be the last time all three numerals in a date are the same until January 1, 2101. Or 01-01-01. So! You can save 12% on anything our site, even fabric and quilt kits, through midnight your time on 12/12/12. Visit our Website for all the details: http://www.frommarti.com/special.shtml Happy holidays!

A Little Quilt History

"Infinite Variety: Three Centuries of Red and White Quilts" from the collection of Joanna S. Rose is now on exhibit in NYC. One of the beauties the American Folk Art Museum is using to advertise the show is a stunning circular optical illusion quilt.

I remembered seeing such a quilt in Cyril I. Nelson's 1985 Quilt Engagement Calendar published by E.P. Dutton, and I was sure Ms. Rose had purchased that quilt for her collection. The text below the photo of the quilt in the calendar (last week of September if you have it) notes that a second quilt, almost identical and "obviously by the same hand" came to light a week after the Dutton quilt was photographed. It's probably safe to say that quilt is the one in the exhibit! The red and white circular piecing and the 4 corners on the calendar quilt are identical to the Joanna S. Rose quilt. The calendar quilt does not have the curlicues at the N-S-E-W positions and the very center is white rather than red. Fraternal twins - maybe the quiltmaker wanted to see if the quilt looked different with a different center? And did she prefer the one with or without the curlicues?

I remembered the year of the Dutton calendar and the red and white quilt, in particular, because I had purchased a quilt in 1984 that had similar op art piecing:



The circular center is 15" and consists of 468 pieces (!) with a button at the center. I think the center was pieced by one person and the quilt was finished by someone less skilled, although the Mariner's Compasses are very good. The Dutton quilt is dated c. 1920 but the fabrics in my quilt hark back to the late 1800s.



The blue fabric is all the same print. See where the dark color appears to have migrated and some of the white areas look green? That tinge is probably from oil left behind where fingers repeatedly touched the fabric. The day I bought the quilt, I had told the dealer he could leave it hanging up and I would come back later. As I was writing the check, at least 5 people ran their hands over the center area and expressed astonishment that it was really pieced. Who knows how many hands had tested the quiltmaker's skill? We decided then to take the quilt down!

If you go to the Red and White Quilts exhibit, I hope this story adds a little to your enjoyment. If, like us, you don't get to go :( you can scroll down on the Museum page (link at top of this post) and choose one or more of the digital & social media ways to see the show. :)

Sand Sculpture

When I say I quilt, it is very common for people to say, "Oh, I just don't have the patience for that!" Now, I don't think it takes patience to quilt. I think it take patience and a lot of skill to do sand sculpture!

When Richard and I were in Hawaii right before Christmas, we admired and enjoyed these sculptures in the Waikiki Sheraton. They were created by Jill Harris and Thomas Koet of Sensational Sculpting. Thomas is the World Champion of Sand Sculpting.

We thought they looked way too much like us! Or is it we looked way too much like them!

If It's Tuesday, It Must Be Belgium

As a traveling quilting teacher, I have occasionally woken up with that "where am I?" feeling. But, I can say, if the wallpaper features candy kisses...



...you are probably at Hershey Lodge in Hershey, PA, and the event is the Quilt Odyssey. I was very pleased to be on the teaching staff for the 10th anniversary event in July 2009. If you've never been, it is a very nice event. The vendor area has something for everyone but is not overwhelming. There is a very nice quilt show and the class participants were very enthusiastic.

In addition, I got to have a fun dinner and catch up with Jennifer and Dave Kay who were vending. For several years Jennifer was one of my most productive sewing associates. She also frequently traveled with Stacy and me to shows. She and Dave now manufacture Homesteader mid-arm quilting machines and have a very nice computer controlling unit, adaptable to any mid or long arm machine. Here we are with one of the Homesteader machines:



I got to say "Hi" to Chuck Myers. Here he is with one of the Aurifil displays:



Marje was not in the booth. I call Chuck and Marje the Johnny Appleseeds of Aurifil thread. For several years, they have travelled the country doing quilt shows and carrying the full line of Aurifil thread. They have undoubtedly been the first people to introduce many quilters to the wonders of using Aurifil Make cotton threads as well as Aurifil's wonderful wool thread. In full disclosure, as they say on the TV news shows, I am the US Spokesperson for Aurifil, so I especially appreciate their efforts!

A Quilt Shop in Every Port

For those of us who love fabric, we recognize that fabric is a perfect souvenir. When we completed the Alaska cruise this summer I said to Richard, "I have never been on a trip where it was more convenient to stop, shop and buy fabric." Even better, each shop had a slightly different focus. So to benefit all of you who may take an Alaska cruise, I say "be prepared to buy fabric!"

I mentioned Changing Tides in Juneau in a previous post. My favorite part of that store was the Barbara Lavallee designs, but they also feature some other unique Alaska artists' designs as well as being a complete quilt shop and offering cross stitch and yarn.

In Sitka, Abby's Reflection had special fabric just with Sitka designs. A must if you are doing an Alaska memory quilt. There was one non-Alaska fabric I was particularly searching for and even though Abby's Reflection was the smallest of the shops we visited, she was also the one that had the fabric I really needed - and it was on sale! That is why you have to go to every quilt shop on the trip!

Totem poles have always fascinated me and we saw the best ones in Sitka on this trip. Here are Stacy, Jeff and me at a totem pole photo op!'


We did a search to find more totem poles for anyone who would like to see more of them. They're amazing! Check out "Alaska in Pictures".

All of the shops were easy to get to, but The Silver Thimble in Ketchikan was the closest to the dock. Here is a picture looking from the deck to the small shopping mall that houses The Silver Thimble.



During the cruise season they double their store space and house a huge selection of Alaska friendly fabrics. The store is owned by Betty and Bill Gale. Ten years ago when I taught on my first Alaska cruise, we arrived in Ketchikan very early and they kindly opened early for us. Furthermore, one of the local quilters was also a reporter for the local TV station and she came to the shop and interviewed me - what fun! Betty and the crew at the Silver Thimble also specialize in kits of Alaska memory type quilts. If you think the people accompanying you may balk at visiting a quilt shop in every port, but you want one souvenir quilt, this would be the shop that has made it the easiest to buy and buy quickly!

Our ship made one last stop in Victoria, BC. Satin Moon is not as easy to get to as the others, but worth the visit. The store and the Website are both very tourist friendly.

My recommendation is to visit all of the Websites and be prepared for how you are going to include your favorite place to shop at every port on the cruise. Also, the order in which I mentioned shops is from the north going south. Some cruises will stop in the reverse order.

On our previous trip to Alaska, we also toured on land. If you are fortunate enough to get to do the same, there are wonderful quilt shops in Anchorage, Fairbanks and a couple of towns in between! It is a great state for quilt shops as well as unbelievable scenery!

P.S. Does having my name on Beyonce's Website put me one degree away from her name or one degree away from her? Scroll down that page to find Eleanor Levie's book Skinny Quilts and Table Runners. I guess if it's skinny, Beyonce knows about it! :)

I Adore the Art of Barbara Lavallee

Around 10 years ago, Richard and I went on a quilters cruise to Alaska for the first time. I taught on a cruise sponsored by Dee Lynn and Audrey Waite, who also run Quilt Camp in the Pines in Flagstaff, AZ, each summer and quilting in the Desert in Phoenix each January. On that trip to Alaska, I was introduced to the charming art of Barbara Lavallee. I can't look at her work without smiling.

Fast forward to this past summer when I was thrilled to be one of the Featured Artists on the Quilt Camp at Sea Alaska Cruise. Yes, it was during the summer (June 29 - July 5) but who cares that I'm just getting around to some of the stories! It was a perfect trip for our 50th wedding anniversary celebration and our entire family went.

Here Richard and I are enjoying the sun on the desk as we had a glorious day cruising Glacier Bay.

When I read about our first stop in port, I was very pleased to see that Barbara Lavallee would be at Changing Tides quilt shop in Juneau to meet quilters and sign books. It turns out that Jan Nardone, the owner of Changing Tides, has been responsible for making Barbara's designs available in cross stitch and quilt patterns. For more info see www.alaskastitching.com.

On my first trip to Alaska all of my Barbara Lavallee purchases were paper, so I was really pleased to be able to buy fabric items. Here is one of the quilts made from Barbara's designs hanging at the store.


After getting my purchases signed, I asked for a picture with these two lovely and talented ladies. Left to right are Jan, Barbara and me. As we chatted, I discovered Barbara is just as charming as she is talented.



There were over 125 people in our group. Because of tight schedules, I didn't even get to visit with all of the teachers, but here I am with JoAnne Gordon. She was teaching hand applique and loves Aurifil Mako 50/2 so much that she winds bobbins and gives them as handouts in class.



The Barbara Lavallee wallhanging project that JoAnne is holding was very appropriately her class project on the cruise. It's called Eskimo Yo-Yo. If I have my story correct, JoAnne makes many of the original applique designs for photography of the Barbara Lavallee patterns.

Another one of my favorite artists is the painter Rebecca Barker, who was the other featured artist on the cruise. Rebecca's very appealing "quiltscapes" are frequently transformed into calendars, greeting cards and jigsaw puzzles, and I am a frequent purchase of them. It was very nice to get to talk with her. Visit her Website to see why I love her work. www.barkerquiltscapes.com

Catching up with technology, as well as the 1850's at the Wisconsin Fiber Arts & Quilt Museum.

Catching up with technology … or trying! That is, we took these pictures in May at the Wisconsin Fiber Arts and Quilt Museum University Days, but between internal memory, lost connecting cables and you don’t want to hear the rest of my sad story, this is the first time I have had all the pictures together and it was such a fun event I can’t resist sharing.

 

The fledgling museum has acquired property in Cedarburg, Wisconsin on which many buildings from the 19^th century still stand. The plans are drawn and most of the money raised for a major renovation of an1850s barn that will be a first class textile museum with climate controlled storage, research rooms and galleries. In the meantime, the small farm home has been refurbished for shows that change quarterly and the barn is used for large events in its current condition – rustic, but wonderfully rustic!

Luella Doss, a long time friend and a pioneer in every aspect of Wisconsin quilting affairs (i.e the state quilt search, the Wisconsin State Guild, etc.) was the person who asked Stacy (our daughter and also a quilting professional) and me if we would put together an exhibit for the museum and also teach at the University Days. As the time approached, they begged Richard to come along as he has volunteered printing of brochures for the Museum, among other things.

It was crisp, but clear and beautiful as we arrived to be greeted by beautiful poppies that would become our landmark for the correct corner for the museum.

Tents and extra “facilities” were already in place around the museum grounds when we arrived, including a display of the drawing of the future museum.

In the meantime, our classes would be held in the barn. Now I knew Luella had said classes would be in the barn and as an Iowa farm girl I have a real fondness for barns, but, I admit, I didn’t really envision this degree of BARN! Here is Stacy standing in front of the barn as we got ready to unload.

After the initial surprise I fell in love with the whole concept and was envious of the imagination that would say, “We’ll hold classes in the barn, have a potluck lunch and raise some more money for the museum ." 

This is a view of my kaleidoscope class. 

There was lots of good food  -- just like there would have been at an old-fashioned barn-raising and quilting bee.

Look how beautiful this quilt looked against the barn boards:

Yes, those are openings between the boards – built that way to prevent spontaneous combustion, I’m told. Fortunately, it did not rain. 

As a bonus, we three Michells got to spend time with my sister and her husband, Mary and Dave Fuchs and their son Mark and his family who all live in the Mequon/Cedarburg, WI area.

Klavon's In Pittsburgh

If you like ice cream and you are nostalgic about the "good ol' days", you'll love Klavon's. 

We discovered it when we were in Pittsburgh for Quilt Market in May, but had temporarily lost the pictures. 

I hope you will enjoy seeing the Michell Marketing crew enjoying.

Brenda Asmus, Marti Michell, Diane Gabb, Stacy Michell, Mary Huey - Richard Michell took the picture. 

Check out the phone booths. 

The drug store originally opened in 1923. The original Art Deco soda fountain, the fixtures, inlaid Terrazzo floor and even the banana split dishes are all in place. 

The store was recently reopened by the Klavon grandchildren and here I am clowning with one of the Klavon grandsons.

See and enjoy at Penn Avenue and 28th Street in the Pittsburgh Strip District. 

www.klavonsicecream.com