On the border

I finished piecing the top of my sister's signature quilt from her wedding. I think it needs a border. I've got an idea about what I want to do, but would welcome suggestions. I have a lot of the white fabric left, a little of the light pink and not much of the dark pink.

Virtual shop hop: Willow Creek in Kalona, Iowa

If you find yourself in Kalona, Iowa, you must visit Willow Creek Quilting and Gifts.

This shop has hundreds of bolts of fabric that are all neatly organized so that shoppers won't get overwhelmed. The shop has the largest supply of Civil War and 1930 reproduction prints that I've ever seen in one location.



There also is an entire room dedicated to baby quilts. And if modern fabric is your style, they've got that too, although most of the prints have a country feel.


Be sure to check out their supply of kits and vast collection of wool fabrics. It also is the only place I've been able to find a pair of Machinger quilting gloves, and I've been searching since last Christmas when the dog chewed a finger off of mine.

Kalona quilts continued

The Kalona Historical Village put together an exhibit just for the Iowa Illinois Quilt Study Group that featured quilts with a family story. The quilts are absolutely remarkable and I'll them speak for themselves.

Amish quilts: Striking solids

The Iowa Illinois Quilt Study Group was held at the Kalona Historic Village, which features a nationally known quilt and textile museum.

There also is an Amish population near Kalona, Iowa, so the museum has a gallery dedicated to traditional Amish quilts. I love the look of Amish quilts. The solid colors are so simple on their own, but when they're put together the quilts come alive.

What is even more remarkable, is the women who made the antique Amish quilts didn't have an education past the eighth grade and no training in geometry.

Family stories in quilts

I went the the Iowa Illinois Quilt Study Group for the first time last weekend. The study topic was family quilts.

The only family quilts I have are ones that I'll make and pass down to my children someday. And I hope that these hypothetical children will cherish these quilts so that they don't end up at an estate sale or on Ebay when I'm gone.

That's where appraiser and lecturer Janette Dwyer purchased many of the baby quilts she brought to show as part of her lecture, "Baby Quilts: A blanket with a heartbeat."

As you can imagine, antique baby quilts in good condition are rare since most of them received several washings and were used until they were worn out. Many of the surviving examples we have came from wealthy families who could afford to make more than one baby quilt.


Some of the most adorable quilts Janette brought with were quilt kits from the 1950s of embroidered scenes such as bears, babies and animals.

Janette's advice for deciding when to buy an antique quilt is: "If I want it or I don't have it. ... Also if you touch it twice, then buy it."

One thing that was emphasized over and over again was to get as much information as you possibly could about a quilt from the seller when you buy it. But take the provenance with a grain of salt, because sometimes oral histories are not correct and the information garnered from the fabric and pattern put it in a different time period than family history places it.

I'll be writing more posts about the Study Group later this week. It was pretty neat, and I have lots of pictures of some really amazing quilts.