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Irene's (Mostly Purple) UFO's

Story Submitted by: NancyAnn1959

Irene’s (Mostly Purple) UFO’s by Nancy Allen In August of 2006, a lovely elderly lady named Irene came to see me after the quilt shop where I teach referred her. She had fallen and injured her shoulder and was unable to quilt. She was getting up in years and her children had urged her to get her sewing room in order and finish up some projects. She brought me three quilts to finish for her. One was a small Christmas wall hanging, kind of like Sun Bonnet Sue. Another was a large lovely hand appliquéd quilt with tulips in several shades of pink, leaves and vines. The last was all hand pieced of little squares and triangles of several small purple, pink, green and light blue calicos. It took me a few weeks of work to fix the problems, piece rows, add borders and get the quilts ready for long-arm quilting. The little wall hanging just needed binding. I called the number Irene had given me and left a message saying she could come pick them up, or I would deliver them to the quilter if she preferred. A few days later, Linda, the shop owner, called me to ask if I had heard what had happened to Irene. Her daughter found her sitting in her Sunday clothes, in her favorite chair, with a book in her lap. She had peacefully passed away. I didn’t even know that she was 85 years old! Her daughter Julie asked me to have the quilts quilted and to call when they were finished. A month or so later, she came to pick up the quilts. The purple one was to have been a Christmas present for a family member, but we didn’t know for whom. She said there were several other UFO’s and asked if I’d be interested in finishing them as well. I was happy to do so; it would have been a shame to leave them as UFO’s forever. Julie brought 2 more projects: The first was a very large Amish style sampler. It had 16 blocks, all made from solids of red, blue, deep pink, black, and of course, purple. A few blocks had been cut out but never pieced, a couple of blocks needed to be taken apart and fixed, and I had to come up with 1 block on my own. The sashing had not been completed either. It was a challenging but fun project. The other project we called Julie’s Quilt. Julie could remember as a child, helping her mother pick out many purple fabrics, mostly calicos and small prints. She helped cut out 5” squares. Her mother then arranged the squares, pinned them in rows and labeled each row. The cutting was done quite crudely, just as a small child would have done. Irene had wisely used a ½” seam allowance. But, only a few rows were ever sewn together. Julie remembered that she was supposed to help her mom with this project, but was not really interested and so as the years passed, it just never was completed. I also found a striped fabric that worked great as the border with mitered corners. I took both quilt tops to be quilted by our very talented long-arm quilter, Tara, and they turned out beautifully. Julie was thrilled to have her quilt done after all these years. In the box with all the purple fabric were several more yards of additional purple fabric. This was of a totally different style than Julie’s quilt, one of them almost an Asian print. It was obviously meant for a different project. Julie asked if I could choose a pattern and make a quilt from this purple stash. I quickly grabbed a “Quilt in a Day” book and showed her a pattern I have made several times that works well. She said “go for it!” and I got started. I estimated that there were about 2 yards of 6 different fabrics. I cut strips and sewed. I cut squares and sewed some more. I cut triangles and sewed. On and on it went. Before I realized what I had done, I had pieced many more blocks than I would need for just one quilt. And there were still several yards of fabric remaining. I checked with Julie and her sister Jinni (all 5 of Irene’s children have “J” names) and they decided I might as well make 2 quilts. These would not be as large as the earlier quilts, so I could quilt them myself on my home machine. It was fun making them similar, but with different borders. They turned out well, if I do say so myself! I later learned from Linda at the quilt shop that Irene loved Quilt in a Day. When Julie picked up the 2 purple quilts, she brought me 1 last project. This one was all in blues, surprisingly. It was sort of a star, similar to a large lone star, only with 3 intersecting stars and each diamond area was made up of gradating strips. There were about 12 different blue and white fabrics in all. It must have been quite a difficult pattern and I could see why Irene got stuck. It was unclear what she intended it to be, maybe just a tablecloth, maybe a quilt. Julie wanted it made into a quilt. Luckily, there was a yard extra from about 6 of the fabrics. I took it apart in a few places to fix intersections, and sewed strips all around to frame it. There were 24 points and 18 miters! I then puzzled over whether to try and piece white fabric or to appliqué the whole thing onto a large square. I ended up doing the appliqué and then thought about a border. I chose one with gradating strips that appear to be woven like chevrons. Another white border and it was ready for quilting. It will be labeled “Irene’s last quilt” and will be stunning. From each of the projects, I have many scraps. I’ve told Julie and Jinni that I can use them when making charity quilts in my guild. They liked the idea that Irene’s fabric scraps would be used to comfort patients at the hospital, migrant children or the homeless. They have made many donations of fabric, yarn and other craft items that they found while cleaning out their mom’s house. This whole endeavor lasted over a year. I’m kind of sad that there are no more quilts from Irene to work on. Even though I only met her once, I felt close to her while working on her projects. It has been a real honor to help keep this lovely woman’s quilting legacy going by making sure all the family members get a quilt “From Grandma’s (mostly purple) Stash”.

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Do You Hear What I Hear?

I know most of you could not possibly come to La Veta for my Christmas concerts, so instead I was able to put together a video of one of the songs from concert for you. The song is Do You Hear What I Hear and it was the opening song of the show. It had been twenty years since Kat Bowser and I have peformed together. I had a blast creating the arrangement and I hope you'll enjoy this holiday song.

Justin taped the four shows from different angles - so the video is a compilation of them all.

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12 Days of Christmas Remix

Click Here

Just when you think you have heard this song one too many times - Kudos to the men of IU

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Stopped by a Cop - Winner

As you can imagine it was VERY hard to pick a winner. From pirates to alligators and simply speeding and bribing - your ideas were awesome! The judges were stumped when trying to decide who had the best story. after hours of deliberation, they put all submissions in a hat and drew a winner - Congratulations BETH in MI - you won! I do have to say, your story was VERY good!

I will reveal one secret of the picture. The Hummer is not mine.


I'm sorry, Officer. I spend so much of my time telling others that there is no such thing as the quilt police, I guess that just out of habit, I ignored you and your big ole flashing lights, as well! No, it is NOT unsafe for ME to drive and hold a camcorder at the same time. I do it all the time. Just go to my website at www.thequiltshow.com and watch my videos. For, as you can see from this bag I'm holding, I am a QUILTER! We quilters are accustomed to multi-tasking at all times. Why, I sometimes have 15 quilts in progress at the same time! Really! (And, compared to some of my friends, I am a mere rookie at multi-tasking!) So, you see, it really would not be unsafe, disrespectful or against the law for me to drive along this superhighway, shooting video footage of myself driving, talking into the camera about quilting and ignoring your siren and flashing lights.

Stay tuned for more story telling opportunities!

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Photo Album Quilts with Wendy Butler Berns

"Together We Can" by Wendy Butler Berns

Do you enjoy making quilts and taking photographs? Why not combine both to create an outstanding quilt? Wendy Butler Berns' newly available book Photo Album Quilts will certainly be helpful along the way. Wendy takes you from the creation of a line drawing based on an enlarged image, to fabric selection, to construction. Breaking the process down into managable segments makes the task much less daunting. The book includes 25 inspiring projects to get you started. To find more information on Wendy Butler Berns and her work click here.

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Photo Album Quilts with Wendy Butler Berns

"Together We Can" by Wendy Butler Burns

Do you love quilting and photography? Why not combine both in one outstanding quilt? Wendy Butler Berns' newly available book Photo Album Quilts will certainly help along the way. Wendy takes you from the creation of a line drawing based on an enlarged image, to fabric selection, to construction. Breaking the process down into segments makes the taks much less daunting. The book includes 25 inspiring projects to get you started. For more information about Wendy Butler Berns and her book, click here.

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Let's Celebrate - 25 Thousand in Our World Wide Community!

Look at us - We are twenty five thousand strong - WOW - time to celebrate. Thank you to EVERYONE who is a part of our world wide community - Just wait until we hit 50 thousand - one of YOU will win a top of the line Bernina courtesy of ARJJ (Alex, Ricky, Justin and John) - Help us spread the word!

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Holiday Home Tour - part 4

As we made our way through the homes I noticed we had a quilter/crafter on the tour. Her sewing room was incredibly organized, but what I found more fascinating was................check this out!!!

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Hewlett-Packard Custom Quilt Label kit

Look what we found while searching the web! Some of you may already know of this or have even used it, but for those who haven't, we thought we'd post this information for you from the HP website:

With the HP Custom Quilt Label kit, quilters can design and print their own custom fabric story labels, made-by labels and matching gift cards. The story labels allow quilters to tell the story behind the quilt with their own words and images, while the made-by labels provide quilters with a custom means of signing their work. For gift giving, a matching card can be created to match the quilt or the occasion.

This easy-to-use software provides step-by-step instructions, tips and suggestions to help users quickly design quilts using a number of templates and themes. Quilters can choose from an extensive variety of quality artwork, color schemes and templates or they can create their own designs using personal text, photos and graphics to make their labels look as artistic and unique as their quilts. The software is both PC and Mac compatible.

The HP Custom Quilt Label kit is available now at hpshopping.com for an estimated U.S. retail price of $24.99.(1) More information on the kit and where to buy it is available at http://www.hp.com/go/quilting.

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Manchester Antique Textile Fair

Fallowfield, Manchester, Great Britain, March 9, 2008. This fair incorporates the Societies and Guilds Show, lectures and demonstrations with 130 stands piled high with fabulous textiles and garments from all over the world which are collectable, hangable or wearable. Racks of vintage dresses and ethnic clothing, textiles from the mysterious East, wearable Japanese kimonos and Chinese robes and Central Asian ikat coats. Bundles of braids, loops of ribbons, boxes of buttons, silks and satins, English costumes from 18th and 19th century, embroideries worldwide and knitting, along with old household linens from France. Arts & Crafts textiles and newly fashionable 20th century Artist/Designer Textiles will also piled high. Children’s’ clothes from across the globe, smocks, hats, shoes and bags from the 18th century to 1970’s.

Dealers travel across the country, some from France, set out their stands in a huge hall that is quickly transformed by the colours and textures of beautiful fabrics. Specialist book dealers, and conservation experts, all gathered in one convenient place for the amateur or professional’s delight. The Embroiders’ Guild will have a bookstand, whilst the experienced practitioners from the Quilters and Lace Guilds will demonstrate their skills and be pleased to offer advice.

For full details of lectures, dealers attending, Society and Guild presence please refer to www.textilesociety.org.uk

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