Quilt turning on the studio bed -Part 2

The bed that holds the quilts is an odd size antique East Lake Bed. It's close to 3/4 size but I had to have a special mattress made for it.
Over 45 years ago when we lived in Ohio I passed up a chance to buy one of these along with 4 crazy quilts for 25 cents at a country auction. I still kick myself about that.
I paid a whole $10 for this 30 years ago! We had it stripped and we refinished it.


I made this quilt in a class I taught "Quick Kid's Quillts". It turned out to be so much more than a simple kid's quilt.


This Amish Shadows quilt is one of several I have made.


Another Amish Shadows with blocks made at the same time. I didvided them into two groups. This was made from the group that contain yellows and golds in the blocks. The blocks in the previous one contained blues and roses.

This quilt also originated in the "Quick Kids Quilt Class". I call it Amish Pathways.
It uses a very unique color palette, even more unique when I created it.

50,000 - WOW

The neo counter I started using in December 2008 on my blog just registered the 50,000th visitor.
I have had visitors from 108 countries. I don't think I could even name 108 countries!

Thank you to each and everyone who has visited my blog. It is so much fun sharing my quilts and other important parts of my life with you.

Quilt turning on the studio bed

As I put the quilts back on the bed in the studio this past summer I photographed them on the bed as I added each quilt. I did this so it would make it easier to find any particular quilt.
This shows the bed before I started layering on the quilts. You can see the trolleys under the bed with the small quilts. On the left in my antique treadle sewing machine, another story, another time.


This is a sampler quilt I started in the late 1970's. At that time there was a very limited selection of quilt fabrics available to us. There are only 5 different (3 different print patterns) fabrics in this quilt. It was done quilt as you go. The borders are cut and ready to add but this in not high on my priority list to finish, even though it won't take a lot of time.


This is a 1920's quilt. I became the custodian of this quilt top that my great Aunt Alma had pieced. I had it quilted by an anonymous Amish quilter. All it needs is a binding. I just need to find the correct fabric to bind it.


I also became custodian of this quilt top pieced by my paternal grandmother Matilda Gruenwald Koeper. She was the sister to my great Aunt Alma.
If you have seen Julie Silber's lecture "The Grandmother Connection" you have seen this quilt top. If you haven't seen Julie's lecture, book it for your guild or conference. It is probably my favorite quilt lecture of all time, not just because I am one of the featured quilters. You will love it. I found a quilter who's work I felt was the quality I wanted to do the quilting on this. She started the quilting, but had to stop when her wrists gave out. I am still searching for someone who can complete the quilting with the same quality of work.

Please stay tuned as there will be several more posts to complete the layering of the quilts on the bed.
If you look at both of these quilts it looks like the sisters shopped together or traded some fabrics.

Millennium Time Capsule

We celebrated New Years Eve 2000 with our 4 local grandchildren. If you would like to see the Millennium quilts and their story just click Millennium quilts in the right side bar.
One of our activities was creating a time capsule, contained in the basket you see.
We decided to open it this year so had a pizza party and had the grand opening.



This poster features many New Years Eves but the emphasis is on our Millennium celebration.


The first item on the agenda was enjoying the delicious pizza from one of our local pizza parlors.


Jeff and Cooper did the honors opening the time capsule.


These are some of the things that were in the time capsule.


Heidi is modeling a tiara that was in the capsule.


When we celebrated Christmas this year I had each of the kids pick their favorite color from a selection of paint chips and sign and date it. They had no idea why I was asking them to do it. They forgot they had picked their favorite colors as we celebrated New Years Eve 2000 and that they were placed in the time capsule. Here is Dana with her sample from this year and her samples from the Millennium.


It looks like Kierstin dressed to match the colors she choose in 2000 and picked an accent color this year.


Since Cooper was not born until long after the Millennium had passed, he only had the colors from this year.


Jeff has loved orange for a LONG time but evidently hadn't chosen it at the time of the Millennium.


The time capsule contained little bottles of bubble stuff. Everyone, young and old enjoyed blowing bubbles.


And here are the original 4 participants from our Millennium party all grown up!

I don't think anyone enjoys my puzzles more than Cooper. I click the autosolve and they go click - click - click and he is fascinated.

Honey, I'm home - AGAIN!

The weather in Florida turned warm for my homecoming. What a treat after spending several weeks in Wisconsin. We are also receiving a much needed rain that should last all night. Perfect sleeping weather.

I had a perfect trip down. The flight left and arrived on time. My luggage was waiting for me when I arrived at the carousel. My good friend Lynn was there to pick me up as soon as I exited the airport. Life doesn't get any better than this.

I am looking forward to a wonderful winter and I have left the cold and snow behind for those of you who love it!

My New Great Studio - Rerun 9, Last studio rerun in series

Many of you have seen the photos of my Florida studio on March 13, 2009. I decided to make some changes since I am sewing more this year.

I have moved my sewing machine to the great room. It has a perfect view of the TV as I sew. I also have a view out the sliding glass doors of the golf course. I can open the sliding doors to enjoy the glorious weather. I've even considered moving the machine to the lanai! This is also a perfect set up if I have a friend come and join me to sew since a sewing machine can be set up on the kitchen table or the small folding table I have.
I am keeping the ironing board in the other room for now. I will get more exercise and in a small house like this you don't get enough exercise.
The bar you see behind the machine belongs on the lanai but we have not moved it out there yet. It makes a perfect place for me to put things I will need as I sew.

I wanted to layer and baste this Eight Point Star for a One Arm Quilter and figured out a way to get a large enough area. I brought my folding table into the kitchen eating area and wedged it up against the peninsula counter. Even though there is about a 1 inch height difference it worked perfectly. I taped the backing down with painters blue tape and layered the batting and the quilt top. Now it is ready to quilt any time I have the inclination to do so.

A studio can be created just about anywhere you have a little space if you really want to sew.

My Southern Studio - Rerun 8

This is where I store all my notions, threads,small sewing supplies, embellishments, small pieces of batting,rubber stamps and miscellaneous items. It is really a TV cabinet that was part of a storage wall for the guest room. This piece didn't fit so I repurposed it here. The center section has doors that I can close and you can't see what is behind them when the room is being used as our second guest room.

This is where I usually use my sewing machine. It is within arms reach of the cabinet in the last photo. I want to be able to see something when I sew and when the blind is up I can watch all the traffic and walkers go by, but more importantly I can enjoy my nieghbors beautiful yards across the street. I sometimes move the machine to the great room or the lanai.


The two wood cabinets are our old dressers that were damaged when a TV fell into them. We had them repaired. I store fabric in the drawers. My Florida fabric collection is significantly brighter than my Wisconsin collection. I also store interfacings, wrapping paper, gifts and other items behind the doors. The white cabinet in the center is my office.

My Florida library has far fewer books and magazines than I have in Wisconsin.

I find it easier to do my cutting at the kitchen counter in the great room and do my ironing there as well.
My "studio" is something anyone can create. Almost everything is repurposed or very inexpensive. Actually the entire house is furnished with repurposed or very inexpensive things.

You may have noticed you didn't see a design wall. I generally work smaller here so I just prop pieces up to look at them or tape them to something. The one larger piece I designed was laid out on a bed using a formula to distribute the blocks and then I took digital phtographs to decide if I was pleased with it. I did purchase a tension rod I can put in the closet opening and gray felt to use as a design wall. I haven't found I need it yet.

I find if you have a desire to create you can do it almost anywhere. I have seen studios that are even more modest than this one and I have seen some awesome work created in them.

Studio Rerun 7

Last week a topic of discussion on the Quilt Art list was where do you keep your thread?


Just about the time I finished my studio I was extremely lucky to find this thread spool cabinet in my favorite antique store.
The thread you can see in the front of the drawers is almost all old wooden spools with thread on them. I don't use them as the thread has probably lost it's strength.

Behind each one of them is space for about 10 spools of thread. I place similar colors behind each of the front spools.

Odd size spools go in the 6 bottom drawers.
It's both a beautiful and practical piece to enjoy in my studio.

Studio - Rerun 6

This is an overall view of my studio taken several years ago. You see the design wall which is about 30 feet long. It is covered in flannel (queen size sheets) and has 4 movable sections.


This is the fabric storage with the center two doors open. The photo was taken soon after I moved into the studio. The shelves are 12 inches deep which accomodates fabric folded into 4 thicknesses across the width. As you can see there are also sections that accomodate larger pieces of fabric. I arrange my fabric by color.


This is a photo of the same area taken today. Do you notice how I changed the distance between the shelving so now I can store the fabric vertically rather than in piles. This has made it much easier to see what I have, take fabric out and replace it. I periodically rearrange my fabrics getting rid of those that no longer fit my needs.
PLEASE FEEL FREE TO SHARE THIS PHOTO WITH ANYONE WHO CAN'T UNDERSTAND WHY YOU NEED ALL THAT FABRIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I couldn't do what I do and create the quilts I make without this palette to work with.


When I first moved into the studio I realized I hadn't made any accomodations to store finished quilts. I used to keep the larger ones on the bed in the guest room and ceremoniously remove them as my guests got a quilt show and Oh'ed and Ah'ed!
This got old fast and I realized I needed a better system.
I had purchased this 3/4 antique East Lake victorian bed years before for a pittance at an auction. My husband refinished it and we put a mattress on it. This is where I store my quilts. You see the top quilt here, but there are probably close to 50 quilts under it.
The smaller quilts are stored on two trolleys that pull out from under the bed. This has proved to be a great storage system as I am able to store them all flat.
The art you see on the wall is not a quilt but a painting by Frank Salcido, an Indian artist who's work I love. On the design wall you see several pieces of silk I dyed. I intended to make a unstructured jacket from this fabric to wear for the opening of my show. When I realized what the weather would be that day I changed my mind!

Studio - Rerun 5...and there is still more to come

I have made progress in getting my studio in much better shape.
I still would be embarassed to take a overall shot but I have several vignettes of various areas to show you.


Quilting Grannie has a new home on top of my thread cabinet. She looks much happier surrounded by all the miniature quilts which are in proportion to her size!


In response to previous posts I have been corresponding with other quilters about their fabric storage. One thing that is a concern to all is protecting our fabric from fading. My system involves my movable design wall to keep the fabric from fading. Since this is not a practical solution for most of you I have another suggestion for anyone who stores their fabric on open shelves.
These are my "Messy" bookcases. The ones you saw some time ago were my "Neat" ones in case you didn't figure that out!
I purchased spring loaded tension curtain rods and felt to cover the front of the bookcases. I also did the same with the opening to the store room in the center which does not have a door. I just cut the felt to fit the width, sewed a casing on top and adjusted the curtain rods to fit inside the space. I also have used the felt "curtains" to pin some of my quilts to for display purposes. You could use any fabric to make a "curtain" for open shelves.. I also have used this system to display quilts that hide some "messy" cabinets in the bedrooms.


After visiting other blogs and seeing sketch books ready to use I decided it was time to clear off the drafting table and set up a sketching area. I have started to use this area.


I love these plastic storage drawer units. This particular bank of them is under one end of my cutting table. You can take them apart and put them together to make them whatever height you want. This group holds my polymer clay supplies.


Since I am "Licensed To Quilt" I put a license plate in the front of each drawer in the cabinet that holds my large cones of thread. Do you see any difference between these license plates?


This doll was made by Delores Jacobs from Illinois. You have previously seen some of her limited edition Santa's on my blog. I provided the fabrics and lace for her to make this for me and she obliged with red hair which I had at the time - just not quite that bright. I call her "Kay, The Quilter". She is now back on top of the messy bookcase with The Bride and Miss Liberty.

Studio - Rerun Part 4

When I changed this quilt into this circular design it reminded me of the Spirograph's my children got from Santa. Do they still make them? I still have two sets up in the studio.


The men very seldom came up to my studio. One year when we had so many people here for Thanksgiving my son brought over a big screen TV and set it up in the studio. Of course after dinner we knew where to find the men!
The Spirographs are on one of the lower shelves at the right of the photo. When we were building the addition my husband had to carry our granddaughter up the old pull down stair way so she could see the roughed in studio. She said "Grandpa, this is where my shelf is going to be." That area is still the grandchildren's shelf, although they find things all over the studio to use to create things.

Studio - Rerun part 3

Since many of you asked to see more of my studio I am adding part 3. Stay tuned for more views.



I have spent several days reorganizing my quilts and where I am storing them. This is a three quarter Eastlake bed I bought for a pittance at an auction many years ago.
When I designed my studio the one thing I didn't take into consideration was how I was going to store my quilts. One day I had a visitor in my studio and she said you need a bed - quilts belong on beds. It took me a while to figure out how to do this.
We refinished the bed, added a mattress and I had a place for my larger quilts.
My husband built the two trolleys that slide under the bed and that is where I store my smaller pieces.
The top quilt is an antique quilt that I had a friend hand quilt for me.

As I put the quilts on the bed this time I took photos in the order they were placed on the bed. This will make it so much easier when I want to locate a specific quilt.


Jubilation is the top quilt on the bed as it is the largest. It reaches all the way to the floor on both sides. I have low E glass in my windows so I don't have a problems with fading. I also have tubes to screen out the UV rays on all my flourescent lights.

In addition to all the finished quilts on the bed I had been storing many works in progress on one of those folding wooden clothes drying racks. It was large and unattractive so I found other storage space for them. I also have two quilt racks that I put at the end of the bed to store some of the works in progress.

Of course I have a lot of quilts hanging through out the house and in the lower level where I have created a gallery of quilts.



My studio assitant, Quilting Granny, is surrounded by some of my miniature quilts. She is currently residing on top of my antique thread cabinet. She likes to vary her surroundings and has also spent time in my living room.

Studio - Rerun 2

Introducing my studio assistant
How many times have you said "If I had a studio assistant I could accomplish so much more?"
I am very fortunate to have had a studio assistant for over a quarter of a century and she does help me a lot.
I was glad to have her around as she makes it possible for me to accomplish more than I would think posssible.

One important thing when choosing a studio assistant is to find someone who does not expect you to talk to them all the time.
I also prefer someone who is a quilter themselves.
I don't feel they must have the same quilting style as I do, but they must be passionate about their quilting.
They have to be able to stay on task without your constantly telling them what to do.

She is not easily distracted. A few years ago my then 2 year old granddaughter thought my assistant was unfriendly. Heidi looked up at her and said "Hi!"
When my assistant didn't even answer her she got the strangest look on her face.

A positive attitude is another important attribute.
She never expresses a negative opinion not matter what I do.

She has never put things in a place that I can't find them.

She is older than I am so I can draw on her wisdom.

I would like to introduce you to my studio assistant.











She has a few more wrinkles than I do as you can see in her closeup.


"Quilting Granny" by Sara Baker 1984

My Studio - Rerun

One of my most popular posts was showing different parts of my studio. I am sharing it again for those of you who missed it.

I've decided to share some photos of my studio with you.
These are raw unstaged photos.
I had hoped to get things looking really neat to take some photos but finally came to my senses.
This is a real WORKING studio and this is about as good as it gets.

I think your reactions will be one of two things:
1. Gee, that's a wonderful studio and I wish I had all that space. . . OR
2. My studio looks so much neater that hers, I'm glad I don't have to deal with all of that.


This is the lounge area. It's a great spot to sit and do hand work or read. It's also where friends can chat and sew. Most of the furniture was purchased on eBay from Denmark, Belgium, and Chicago!


This is the nuts and bolts working area of the studio. Sometimes it looks a little better, often it looks much worse! It has sewing machines, a cutting table, and ironing area and various storage cabinets.
I am up in the treetops on the second floor of our home as you can see from the windows.


This is the library area. I have a lot of books in the studio. They are all related to art, sewing, quilting, fabric dyeing, etc. I'm only showing you the part where the books are nicely arranged!


I also knit both by hand and with knitting machines. The yarn you see here is displayed in an old post office desk.
When I got this all set up my son came up to the studio and said "OK Mom, when are you going to knit!"
My response "What, and spoil that beautiful arrangement." But I do knit and I rearrange the yarn so it looks beautiful all the time.

Perhaps at another time I'll share more photos of the studio with you, but this is a good overview.

When the studio was completed in 1993 Quilters Newsletter came to our home and took a lot of photos of our home and my studio. It was featured in a 4 page spread in the March 1994 issue. If you have or can locate that issue theres a lot of photos to see.
And they were taken before I messed it up!!!!

Family Christmas/New Years Celebration - Part 2

My family from Minnesota visited this weekend. We celebrated Christmas and New Years Eve together.

I commissioned the same artist who made the Santa's for my siblings last year to make one for each member of their family. She really outdid herself on these. Each one had so many items personalized to the recipient. I had given her some information about each of them.
The fur was from a mink coat I had. I also had a very small piece of the fur left from my Moms mink stole that I had used for the sibling Santa's. I sent it along and asked her if there was some way she could use it on these. She made the pom pom on each hat with the fur.

I supplied the velvet for their coats and coordinating fabric for their under dresses. On Jessica's the fabric I chose for her under dress matched one of the Pillowcases of the Month I had made for her a while back - purely coincidence. I also have continued to use the little plastic deer on each Santa along with a sprig of the old fashioned holly with berries. I wanted these to be truly something that will connect them with their parents, grandparents and great grandparents.

There were so many clever personal things on each one. I was ecstatic when I saw them. Skis, fishing tackle, playing cards, cribbage boards, worry dolls, teddy bears, blocks with their initial and mine, Grandpa's Kiwanis pins, ornaments, and so much more.

Blake is missing from this photo as he was in Tempe, Arizona playing in the Iowa State marching band in the Insight Bowl. He did arrive in Wisconsin and I'll continue this story on another post.