It seems that we all have questions about which quilt batting should be used in our quilt projects. Many have favorites that they have used for years. However, the makers of quilt batting and the types of quilt batting to buy has exploded. The elements discussed in this blog on quilt batting can help you ask the right questions to choose the best product for any given project.
Oral history is a wonderful thing. What’s more fun than sitting around with family and friends sharing stories and memories? Laughter and tears and shared experiences are the ultimate glue, the bond that ties us to one another.
A female who inspires great passion is inherently interesting. Often she is someone people either love or hate – there is no in between. In the quilt world that person would be someone everybody knows but with a past you can’t quite pin down – Sunbonnet Sue.
In 2007 I was lucky to be part of the fledgling Washington County, Iowa, barn quilt effort. Following what other communities had done since the first barn quilts were created in 2001 in Ohio (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quilt_trail), about a dozen citizens gathered to discuss how to decorate the many barns in this very agricultural part of the world with quilts. Several years later, the project received a gubernatorial commendation and Washington County became known as “The Barn Quilt Capital of Iowa” for having more quilts on barns than any other county (well over 100). This is my recollection of what our committee did and how my husband and I made our own barn quilt.
Let’s come clean: There is no consensus on washing quilts. Whether to wash them, how to wash them… There are, however, some things to consider that might help guide you the next time you find a hacked-up fur ball on your beloved creation, or discover that your brilliantly placed wall hanging has been a landing zone for kitchen-grease-laced dust all these years.
Nothing is more disappointing than rooting around in closets and trunks to haul your seasonal or holiday quilts out of storage for the family visit only to find them creased, wrinkled and unwilling to lie flat.
The friendship between Oprah Winfrey and Maya Angelou and the textile artistry of Faith Ringgold not only linked three amazing, important African American women in life but also made history when one 73” x 73” quilt sold for $461,000 in September 2015.
While it’s true that high tech sewing aids like permanent glues and fusible fabrics have somewhat supplanted the need to attach cloth to cloth with thread, needles remain the single most necessary piece of sewing equipment we use. Here are some interesting things to know about your needles.
First Quilter: “They say the one who dies with the most fabric wins.”
Second Quilter: “You know you can’t take it with you, right?”
First Quilter: “In that case, I don’t intend to go!”
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