I was so lucky that one of the temporary exhibits at the Vesterheim Museum was  a quilt show!  These were quilts made by area Norwegian/Americans.

I love signature quilts, and they had a lot of them!

This was a fundraising quilt made by the Big Canoe Lutheran Church women.

Members of the congregation paid five or ten cents to have their name included in the quilt, then it was raffled off.

This quilt was made in the early 1930′s in Decorah.

It was a fundraiser for the hospital auxiliary there.

I love the green-on-white and white-on-green combination and the circle quilting at the corners of the blocks.

This quilt was made by the Highland Lutheran Church Ladies Aid Society.

It was purchased by Pastor Holie, who served the church from 1897 to 1915 .

It was used for years on his daughter, Olga’s, bed.

When Olga passed away, her daughter had it draped on her coffin to represent the community in which she was raised.

This Wagon Wheel signature quilt was made by the Baldwin Lutheran Church’s Ladies Aid Society.

It was a gift to the pastor.

This quilt was quilted by twelve year old Ellen Knudson in 1865.  It had been pieced by her mother and grandmother.

This Ocean Waves quilt was made by Nellie Long in 1878.

Ingeborg Hanson made this quilt in 1870 for a Ladies Aid raffle.  Her sister-in-law, Anna, held the winning ticket.  The funds were used to help build the Cedar Valley Lutheran Church.  Many congregations had Ladies Aid Societies before they had church buildings.  Through quilts and other efforts, women made significant contributions to church budgets.  The stems and leaves on this quilt would have been green when it was made, but green was a fugitive dye and has faded to a light tan.

Mathea Norde started this quilt while she waited for John Wrolstad to return from the Civil War.  John served with the 15th Wisconsin Volunteer Regiment, also known as the Scandinavian Regiment.  After the war, he and Mathea married and had twelve children.

I was surprised by the large amount of yellow used in this quilt.

This log cabin quilt was made by Mary Haugen in the late nineteenth century.

It won first place in the Minnesota State Fair.

Clara Rikansrud made this quilt in 1922.

It was a graduation present for her son, Aurthur.

This quilt honors the twenty pioneer women members of the Highland Lutheran Church.

Margurite Paulsrud and Olaf Rossing married on June 20, 1929.  One week later, Olaf was ordained as a Lutheran minister and the couple moved to Bagley, Minnesota, to serve their first parish.  Before they left, Marguirte’s mother and aunt presented her with this crazy quilt dressing gown.  They thought she needed something  warm for Minnesota and something nice as a pastor’s wife.  In 1937 they presented her with the matching lap robe.

This crazy quilt dressing gown was made by Helena Rossing around 1900.  It is embroidered with Bible verses in both English and Norwegian.

This quilt, whose blocks represent the Norwegian flag, might have been made in 1914 when Norway gained its independence.

A modern Norwegian flag quilt being raffled to benefit the museum.

The next three modern quilts were made to represent Rosemaling, the Norwegian decorative painting style usually seen on wooden items.

I loved the Vesterheim Museum in Decorah.  It celebrates the Norwegian/American heritage of the area.  Imagine packing up everything you own in one of these trunks and heading off for parts unknown.

I just adore the decorative painting on the trunks.

Even functional joinery like this takes on an artistic flair.

I’m always amazed that no matter how stark people’s surroundings may have been, they still took the effort to make things beautiful.

A bed with graceful curlicues doesn’t sleep any better than a plain bed.

Even a stool made from a stump gets decorated.

And a functional corner cabinet just becomes another place to showcase beauty.

I think our desire to beautify our surroundings is what separates humans from animals.

I love these butter molds, so intricately carved.

Handles that look like horses.

More horse handles, these on mangle boards.  They were often made by a young man as a betrothal gift.

These bowls are both beautifully carved as well as painted.

Ditto.

Judging by the date, I think someone must have lovingly carried this from “the old country.”

But it’s not just the wooden items that were made to add beauty.

I’ve seen women making bobbin lace, and it’s amazing how fast they toss those bobbins.

Did you know that fringe on your towels was a sign of wealth?  It showed that you could afford to use valuable linen just for decoration!

This cradle loom is used to make the decorative bands seen above.

And do you recognize these sewing items?  They are knitting needle holders, a sewing kit and a yarn holder.

And something from a little more modern age–this refrigerator door was painted in 1939.

Lucky for me, one of the temporary exhibits at the Vesterheim Museum in Decorah was on area quilts.

The squares on this quilt are simple, but the embroidery was beautiful.

At the top it says, “My Uncles, Aunts and Cousins/Made By Lena Wernson/Quandahl, Iowa.”

I wonder if she made all the blocks.  The writing on them differs, so she may have asked her relatives to each embroider a block.

Of she may have had them write on a block and she did the embroidery.

I guess we’ll never know for sure.

At least she signed and dated it!

There were lots of antique shops in Iowa.

Besides the vintage quilts, I’m always drawn to the kitchen ware.

Every time I turned a corner I was ready to re-do my kitchen in a new color!

Oh, the possibilities…..

Even some nice orange accents.

I couldn’t believe the number of pitchers and glass sets.

They were everywhere.

There’s one fewer in Iowa now.  The dots just had to come home with me!

Dang, I should have bought the Art Deco one, too.

Does this look like a Nine-Patch???

Or this?

How about this??

All these layouts were done with these six blocks.

After I cut them in half!

Your center blocks don’t have to be solid, or even all the same color.  I just did that to make the illustrations clearer.

I hope you’re having fun with the Summer Nine-Patch Project.

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Bob and I have gotten into the habit of taking a weeks vacation every year after Spring Quilt Market.  For years I’ve wanted to vacation in Iowa, and I finally, finally got to do so.  Not only was I happy to get to Iowa, it appears the people of Iowa were happy to have me!

We traveled through several Amish communities, including Harmony, Minnesota.

And, as you might expect, there was lots of corn in Iowa–lots of corn!

Right now it’s growing 2″ a day.  Imagine!  It was obvious to us in the week that we spent there.

We found some great antique stores.  I loved the displays.

Among our favorite things were the museums, like the Hardin County Farm Museum in Eldora.  The signs here indicated this is part of the Silos and Smokestacks National Heritage Area.  It isn’t open except for special occasions, but we met a nice old gentleman there and he asked if we’d like to see inside.  Two hours later, we were wishing him goodbye and sending him home for a late dinner (he had called his wife, though!).

I’ve known about Vesterheim, the Norwegian/American Museum in Decorah for years, and was finally able to visit–don’t tell my Swedish relatives!

We happened upon this old mill after closing, but they were expecting a vintage car group, so invited us in for a tour.

We got a personal tour of a turkey farm.

Here’s a beautiful view of the Skunk River in Ames…..

….and the Mississippi River, which divides Iowa and Wisconsin.

Of course we got to visit lots of tractor collections.

And even the National Farm Toy Museum.  Did you know there was such a place?

We went to quilt exhibits…….

…….and saw quilt barns…….

…..and visited quilting friends in their shops.

We even crossed the Mississippi so we could visit Stockholm—Wisconsin, that is!

And we saw Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House in the Big Woods.

Iowa was great.  Stay tuned.  There will be more of our Iowa Adventure to come…..

A belated Quilt Market post.  Why? Because I spent the week after Market in Iowa!  Yes, IOWA!  And I loved it.  But more about that in an upcoming post–or two.

The day before Market starts is a crazy day of classes and presentation called Schoolhouse.  I presented two Schoolhouses, one for Fabric Shop Network on a program I’ve written called Stash Pot Pie.  The other was for Timeless Treasures, who manufactures my fabric designs.  My friend, Karen Montgomery, also designs for Timeless.  Her  presentation was right before mine.  We both showed up in the hallway a little early, only to discover we had dressed alike!

My new Dear Dorothy fabrics and quilt looked great in the Timeless Treasures booth.  It’s so fun to see my name up there–almost as much fun as seeing it on the selvage!  The quilt is a free to download pattern on my website, and, of course, kits are available!  The dresses are from patterns by Izzy and Ivy.

I also discovered some of my toile fabrics used by the talented designers from Beach Garden Quilts.

There was a new exhibitor there, Chitter Chatter Designs.  Mom’s the designer, but her daughter and her mother were both there helping her.

This was my favorite new booth, Hemma Designs.

I don’t know what I liked best–the fact the “Hemma” is Swedish for “At Home” or their fresh, new designs.

Make new friends, but keep the old…….

Here I am with Jill Mead, editor of Quilts and More, Elizabeth Stumbo graphic designer for Quilt Sampler, Linzee MacRae, Pam Viera and Monica.  Hmm, I wonder what’s afoot?

You probably already know that my sista friend, Monica, had her first fabric line debut at this market–Holiday Happy.

Her Gnome-A-Claus is so adorable!

I know someone who’d love a green sewing table!

And in the quilt exhibit area, was this quilt, entitled Remembering Sweden by Helena Sheffer.  If you’ve ever been to Stockholm’s Old Town, you’d recognize it immediately.

And, oh, I even had dinner in Hell’s Kitchen!

My mom and dad recently invited a group to a suite for a Mariner’s game.

It was great fun watching the game, even though we lost in extra innings.

The food was great, and so was the company.

I even wore a coat!

Bob loves the girls, you know!

I love it when the grounds crew performs while doing their job!

We had a visit from the Moose!

Even the big kids liked him!

My recent trip to Las Vegas with my mom, sister and daughter wasn’t about gambling, it was about eating, shopping and being entertained.

The first night we were there, Melissa and Grandma went to see Donny and Marie.  Melissa grew up watching them and mom fell in love with them on Dancing with the Stars.

That same night, Sally and I went to see Terry Fator.  He’s the ventriloquist that won America’s Got Talent a few years ago, and, boy, does he have talent!  Besides a ventriloquist, he’s an impersonator.  His act would be great even if his lips did move!

I loved all his characters, but the funniest was when he got a big guy up from the audience, dressed his like Cher, and talked for him.  Then Terry donned a Sonny wig and they sang “together!”  Honestly, if you’re ever in Las Vegas, don’t miss this show.

In our hotel we went to see the Cirque de Soleil show called “O.”  It’s done in the water.  Well, some of the time.  First the stage is a pool, then it’s a stage, an so on.  The guy taking the high dive really has to trust that the guy operating the stage mechanics doesn’t foul up!  It was amazing.

Melissa provided some entertainment for us–and a gathered crowd–when she got up-close and personal with a mime!

Good thing she’s young and cute!

Shoe shopping…..

This is the size Michael Jordan wears!

We tried to get Melissa to buy some new evening wear.  Love how she tried it on, hanger and all!

This was my favorite display.  It’s at Brighton and the dress is made from their tissue paper.  Amazing!

The Brighton store at the airport had this mannequin dressed in newspaper!

I wanted to buy this mannequin, but it wasn’t for sale.  It sure would have looked cute in the studio!

Check out this window display.  Those are pantyhose!

So, here’s what I had to pack when it was time to go home.

And this is the size of my suitcase!  Believe it or not, I got it all in–well, a little of it had to go into my carry-on.

Viva Las Vegas!

I just had an email from one of my newsletter subscribers reminding me of a speedy way to make nine-patches.  I’d seen it done years ago, and forgotten all about it.  With this method, you get two nine-patches at a time.  How perfect for our Summer Nine-Patch Project! Now you can make two blocks a day faster than making one block the traditional way.  That means you’ll either end up with twice as many blocks, or you’ll only have to sew every other day!  Thanks, Peggy, for the reminder.

Here’s a tutorial on how to make the Two-For-One Nine-Patch blocks.  The example is for a 9″ finished block, but at the end of the tutorial, I’ll give you the formula (and chart) so you can make any size block you want.

1.  Layer a light and dark fabric, right sides together, and cut a 10-1/2″ square.

2. Using a 1/4″ seam allowance, join the squares together on two opposite sides.

3. Take the to your cutting board and measure in 3-1/2″ from one stitched side.  Cut.

4. Measure in 3-1/2″ from the other stitched side and cut.  You will have two stitched segments and two unstitched strips.

5. Press the stitched segments toward the dark fabric.  Add a contrasting strip to one side of each block.

6. Stitch and press toward the dark fabric.

7. Place the two segments right sides together with the seams running in the same direction.  If you pressed everything toward the dark fabric, the seams will nest together.

8. Now stitch together across the previously made seams.  Stitch both opposite sides.

9. Cut 3-1/2″ from each seamed edge.

10. Press toward the side with the most dark fabric.  Add the unstitched strips to the pieced segments, dark to light.

11. Voila!  You have two mirror image blocks!

Here’s the formula for cutting the squares.  Take the size of the strip that you would cut for a regular nine-patch block and multiply times 3–it’s that simple.  In our example, we would have cut strips 3-1/2″, so 3-1/2″ x 3 is 10-1/2″, the size of our square.

Here’s a chart to make it a little easier.  Block sizes given are for finished blocks.

For 3″ blocks, start with a 4-1/2″ square

For 4-1/2″ blocks, start with a 6″ square

For 6″ blocks, start with a 7-1/2″ square

For 9″ blocks, start with a 10-1/2″ square

For 12″ blocks, start with a 13-1/2″ square

Have fun and be sure to join the Facebook group and post pictures of your blocks!

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