Pine Burr class

We've all enjoyed looking at Jean Ayre's spectacular Pine Burr quilt. Now you can learn about Pine Burr quilts, their history and how to make them - she's offering a class. 

It will take place Saturday, June 30 from 9am to noon at the Walkabout Retreat and History Center between Lawrence and Baldwin. 

You need to pay in advance: $25 if you bring your own fabrics, an additional $15 will purchase a precut kit. Kits must be reserved in advance.

Contact Jean Ayres to reserve a spot and or kit, or for more information: ayresjean@gmail.com

Art Tougeau

The local art car parade is today. You can read all about the parade history here.

Last night was the pre-party . It was great fun AND we got to hear the Kansas City Ukesters (note handsome guy with shades on left - that is my husband). Our friend Charles who thought up the parade is in the blue Hawaiian shirt.

The entries celebrate creativity. Thrift too.  The guy gesturing here was exclaiming, "They were throwing all this stuff away!" Note the groovy metal lawn chair seat AND the crazy quilt pillow backrest.

Of course, I am drawn to entries that include textiles. The seats of one groovy car were covered with a crocheted blanket (that is the reflection of my camera in the window).

I like this car covered with torn fabric strips.

Here are a few detail shots so you can see the construction. The fabric strips were attached to a paper cover. Note the inventive use of duct tape to hold the paper cover to the vehicle.

What's your favorite?

I spotted Victoria Findley at market and since we often admire each other's improvisational work, I stopped to say hi.

What's your favorite thing you've seen so far, she asked?

Wow, what a good question. I told her I was crazy about the Cloud 9 fabric booth, it was new to me. The Ed Emberly animal fabrics are terrific. It was hard for me to name just one.

Not so for Victoria. Her favorite booth was Marcia Derse. Hurry over there, she said. So I did. Oh my gosh I was in heaven. I photographed most every thing there. Marcia wasn't there, I was sad about that.

This quilt showed some of her fabrics.

This wall showed MORE

Look how good they look on chairs! I want them all!!

The New Kids in Town

A few markets ago, I recall much talk about how to attract the new generation of quilters. At this market, they are all over the place, jazzing it up. Instead of old sensible shoes, they are wearing these HIGH HEELS!

Look at Melody, oh how I wanted to pack up her booth and take it home with me. And boy does she know how to pose. I do think I saw that lamp on Mad Men last week......

Moms are in the background, proudly taking photographs of their designer daughter (at the Tula Pink booth) at work.

The guys in suits are talking to the daughter. That means business, deals, good good stuff. This is not only that proud mom's designer daughter, it is also her son who is the computer guy ("and I was always telling him to get off the computer and go out and play!" she said, shaking her head at this turn of events)....

I understand they do not want to be called sewers. OK, I can see that. I'm working on getting used to this sewist thing.....

Market Quilts I Love

I feel fortunate to be in the quilt business and see what vendors show - without the pressure of buying for a shop. So I'll share some fun things I liked enough to photograph as I wandered through quilt market yesterday.

This was just one of the things I liked at the SUCH designs booth. Pieced houses like these were popular, I saw them in many booths. The animals designed by Carrie Bloomston were great, her booth was too crowded to get a shot of them!

THIS is a design inspiration wall in Denyse Schmidt's booth. I had read that she did this, and was fascinated to see an example of it at her booth.  I see fabric swatches, old photos, little drawings, maps......

And wow, even Sonny and Cher! back when they were both so young and cute and on TV every week. Note the Partridge Family and Mary Richards, reporter.....

I liked these quilts. They feature Windham fabrics by Lotta Jansdotter. Note the random salesperson's head that will appear in a market photo if you are not careful....

How about the biggest hexagons ever? They were featured at Nellie's Needle Quilt Patterns booth. Note there are often random people in front of you at market.....

I'd been hearing about Amy Butler's booth, how they assemble it at home, then truck it to market. Here it is it was gorgeous.....

Read more about market at Barbara's blog, we both have a lot to say (always).

Market Report #1

Quilt Market is in Kansas City this week! We've got lovely weather for it and the usual lively crowds - what fun it is to have everyone here.

I got to hear Amy Butler speak the other night. She presented a talk about her life and work. I was particularly interested in her new venture, an online magazine called Blossom. It will be free and will debut in July.

At Amy's schoolhouse yesterday, she gave away swag - fabric bags! I love mine, it is #20426 (yes, more than 20,000!) made by the green bag lady, see more about her at www.greenbaglady.org. When they ask paper or plastic at the store, we are to exclaim FABRIC! How cool is that?

Barbara Brackman gave a wonderful talk about the many free resources you can access on the internet. Free patterns especially. She'll be blogging about market this week, check it out.

I'm looking forward to the free quilt exhibit at the Kansas City Star Press Pavilion this week. Stop by if you are in town.....

A sweet Mother's Yellow Rose quilt

I spoke about memory quilts at the April meeting of the Town & Country Quilters of Southwest Missouri  in Joplin. Several members brought memory quilts they had made. I was impressed with this one made by Ruth Pendleton. After her mother Elma Rosbrugh passed away, Ruth and her older sister, Lolis Rosbrugh gathered her clothing. Ruth wrote this:

"So far I have completed 2 bed-size quilts and have a good start on 4 more at this time.  I am leaving an empty block at the bottom of the quilt where I can embroider a yellow rose, which was Mother's favorite flower.  I will be calling my quilt Mother's Yellow Rose.

Since our  father, Marvin Rosbrugh, has passed, Lolis is cutting his clothing apart and is making quilts for the family also.  So far, I think she has delivered 3 of the ones she is working on.  She is adding darker colors for the filler blocks.  Again, we are using the quilts and not putting them away to sit for further generations."

The plan is to make 6 of these quilts - one for each of Elma's children - and 16 for her grandchildren. With this simple and very utilitarian design, she can piece together smaller scraps to make the  square blocks.

Here's Ruth, wearing a vintage bonnet that  belonged to one of her sisters - Mary Beth or Marjorie.. Ruth said this would mean the bonnet is a 1949 model or a 1952 model. She wore it because it was hat day at the guild, this one won the vintage category prize, of course. 

Happy Mother's Day! I thought you might enjoy this story on this lovely day.  Many thanks to Ruth for sharing her lovely project with all of us.

A Pine Burr RUG

I was invited to see the textiles collected by a retired KU professor, Doris Stubeck. As we looked through her delicate, intricate pieces, my eye kept wandering over to a rug nearby. I could only see a corner of it, but it looked interesting. The fabrics seemed very practical, like they were from worn-out clothes.

When I got a closer look, I saw it was a pine burr RUG. Can you believe this coincidence, that I would see so many pine burrs in such a short time? This one was assembled on a very sturdy backing, like a heavy feedsack. You can see that the stitching is fairly close together. Because the points face OUT on this piece, the edges are a row of points.

It's a small rug, about 2 1/2' wide by 3 1/2' long.

Here's a detail shot. Doris found it at an antique shop/estate sale/garage sale years ago, as she did much of her collection. She doesn't use a computer, but she said it would be ok to show it here. I am delighted she shared it.