More Quilt Photos

Greetings from rain soaked Minnesota.  The spigot has turned on and won't seem to turn off. I think our drought is officially over!  This seemed like a good day to post another blog. So, more photos for you to enjoy. We wanted as part of our special "Quilter of the Year Exhibit" to display some quilts from our own collections.  It was fun to choose a variety of quilts, some of which you may not have seen before.

 Nancy chose a couple favorites. Her fish quilt really drew quilters in.  I think a lot of Minnesotans  are attracted by fish!  It is especially fun with its three dimensional fins!  She made it for a show at the shop called "Fur, Fins and Feathers".  The design is a variation of a pattern by Ruth McDowell from the book Symmetry.

She also chose her Pickle Dish Quilt.  The idea came from the book Material Obsession 2 by Kathy Doughty and Sarah Fielke.  It is foundation pieced.  How fun to select all of those prints and then decide how to combine them.

I chose to put in the Oh, My Stars Quilt.  This is one of my very favorites.  The pattern is by American Jane.  I love to piece lone stars and I got plenty of practice!  I was able to use the Wing Clipper by Studio 180 to make the piecing of all the sawtooth stars easier!  I wonder how many prints are in this quilt?  Do you ever count? 

I also chose the Autumn Trails Quilt.  This is from a pattern by Lori Smith of From my heart to your hands.  I do love all the "Northwoods" prints that are available and have been collecting them to use in a quilt.  I think I have the perfect spot in my house to hang this one.  Almost as good as having a cabin.

In the next blog, we'll show you some of the Glad Creations quilts we chose. 
Until then, keep dry! and keep quilting!
Susan

2013 Minnesota Quilters Show

Nancy and I are still coming down from the high that we’ve been on since being chosen as "Quilters of the Year" by Minnesota Quilters.   This is such a great honor!  As part of this we were able to have a special exhibit at the Minnesota Quilters Show in Duluth.  We want to thank all the members of Minnesota Quilters for making this such a special event.  Each year we are absolutely amazed that such a huge event can be put on by volunteers.  We can’t even imagine the work and time that goes into planning the annual quilt show.  And you may all have been exhausted, but you all still looked like you are having a wonderful time!  So first of all “Thank You”!

It was fun to set up our special exhibit.  We were able to include some Glad Creation patterns and also some of our favorite quilts from our personal collections.  We had 16 quilts on display—plus a bunch more in our vendor booth.  It was fun to run between the 2 booths and greet so many of our friends.  We got more hugs than we’ve ever had before and it was great to chat with quilters who have made our patterns, taken classes from us or just visited our shop.  We heard so many fun stories about their experiences.  

Just to give you a glimpse , I’ll include a few photos from our exhibit.   I’ll add more photos in the next blog posting.  

We tried to get an overview of quilts we have made during the 37 years we’ve had our shop.  This first quilt is called Harvest Medallion.  Nancy made it in 1981 and it appeared on the cover of Quilter’s Newsletter Magazine in 1982.   It was made using traditional template techniques, hand appliqué and hand piecing.

We also included our family quilt that we made for our parents 50^th Wedding Anniversary.  We had collected family photos and sun-printed them on a specially treated fabric.  We followed the techniques in a book call One of a Kind Quilts by Judy Hopkins.

Our Sylvia’s Quilts were a fun addition to the display.  They were made as part of a club we had at the shop based on the book Sylvia’s Bridal Sampler from Elm Creek Quilts by Jennifer Chiaverini.  This club lasted  2-1/2 years and ended with an exhibit of about 40 quilts at the shop.  We were pleased to be able to share this exhibit at the 2012 Minnesota Quilters Show in Rochester.

The other paired quilts we put in were our Total Eclipse Quilts from the Judy Neimeyer pattern.  We made these for a staff show called Companion Quilts.  These were both made using the same pattern, even some of the same prints, but how different they came out.

So--thank you Minnesota Quilters!  We really appreciate all the work you do in supporting quilting in our state. If you missed the Quilt Show in Duluth, the next one will be in St. Cloud next June.  And if you want to be part of this great group, you can check it out on their website at http://www.mnquilt.org/meetings.html.
 
Watch for more photos in our next blog posting.  
Susan

Reminiscing

Back in 1976, what would make a person think they could open a quilt shop?  And who would have thought that in 2013 it would still  be a growing business with new quilters all the time?  Nancy and Glad had a vision, although I’m sure they never expected all of the changes that have happened in the quilting industry.

For Nancy and I the honor of being selected Minnesota Quilters “Quilters of the Year for 2013” has led us to do some major reminiscing!    It’s been fun to remember some of the classes we used to teach, the projects we worked on and the changes in the quilting industry.  Some of those were really fun, from today’s point of view, some were a little strange, some were industry changing!  Every now and then, one of these projects seems to reappear as something completely new!

 Some of you have been our friends since Glad Creations opened in 1976.  You have gone through many of the changes along with us.  Others of you are newer friends and may have missed some of the fun changes that have happened. We thank all of you for being a part of our lives. You have really enriched our lives and we hope we have enriched yours.

So here’s a little trip down memory lane!    Which of these things do you remember? 

• Templates and hand piecing, fabric at $3.25/yard, Quilt as you go Sampler Quilts.

• Folded Stars in 14” hoops.  Oh no!  We just got some new patterns in for Folded Star Pot Holders!

• Basket making classes and supplies—luckily we had a bathtub for soaking the reed.

• Shadow appliqué—thick yarn showing through voile

• Sherenschnitte—paper cutting with tiny scissors

• Fabric Dying classes with Jan Meyers and Debra Lunn, both of whom became world famous!

• Teddy Bear classes—yes, we sold fur, eyes and joints!

• Wrap around skirts with machine appliquéd apples, strawberries, flowers around the bottom edge and puffy appliqués on chambray shirts

• Quillows—a quilt that folded up into its own attached pillow.  We got sore muscles demonstrating this at one of the Minnesota Quilt shows.

• The Quilt Show at Gustavus College in St. Peter when the temperature must have hit 105 degrees in the vendor mall.

 

• Ginghers scissors—what an amazing new product—we no longer had to rip strips for log cabins—we could cut through  8 layers of fabric at a time.

• The invention of Rotary Cutters and mats—a huge change! 

• The 1^st time a machine quilted quilt won Best of Show at Padukah and the outrage it caused.

• Acceptance of machine quilting and the growth of the Long Arm Machine Business.

This could go on and on………

We’d love to hear comments, stories, memories, favorite projects from Glad Creations.  Feel free to comment.  And be sure to stop and visit us at the Minnesota Quilt Show in Duluth.