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NEWSLETTER

Happy Memorial Day!

What a difference from last year.  It was so nice hosting a cook-out Sunday and enjoying my family mask-less  We are so thankful for all the men and woman who sacrificed their lives for our freedom.  Hopefully, everyone was able to enjoy the weekend and honor those that passed while serving in the United States military.

Our team is growing, Maryfran Fettenger has joined our team!  She will be working every Tuesday and covering for us when we take a day or two off.  Maryfran is a talented quilter and has years of experience.  She worked at Patricia’s and she teaches Our Learn to Quilt series and other classes at the shop.  Welcome Maryfran!!

The Webster library is having an exhibit with vintage quilts and feed sacks and will be hosting a talk on feed sacks.  Information from the library below (if you would like additional information please contact the Webster Library)

Fabric Historian, Kendall DeBoer will introduce you to the colorful world and history of Feed Sack. Though feed sacks may seem like a niche material novelty from decades past, recent years have seen an uptick in d.i.y.-makers once more repurposing these fabrics to create fashion-forward, creative, sustainable works of wearable art.

 Appealing for their soft cotton feel, their often-vibrant colors and unique fade lines, their interesting and sometimes bizarre graphic prints, and of course, their rarity, feed sack fabrics are not only collectors’ items, nor only found in faithful recreations of 1930s garments. In fact, the beginning of 2020 saw a wholly new function for feed sack remnants: fabric masks. Alongside masks, feed sacks, flour sacks, antique napkins and other linens find themselves repurposed in patchwork fabric garments in contemporary, geometric, unisex silhouettes. Other designers repurpose feed sacks that have previously been used in quilts. Creating sumptuous swing jackets, robes, and baby-doll dresses, these makers extend the lives of the meticulously hand-sewn feed-sack quilts that had been discarded.

In crafters’ continued fascination with the mesmerizing and surreal colors and designs found in feed sacks, they demonstrate the lasting aesthetic power of the material. At the same time, these makers create one-of-a-kind garments, oftentimes from salvaged fabric pieces, imbuing their works with care and an ecological consciousness.

 This program will coincide with the Central Library's Thrift Style exhibit that will be on view from May 15-June 20.  This program will be given through Zoom and is for anyone interested in sewing and has an interest in vintage fabric.  The event is Thursday, June 10^th, 6pm – 7pm.  You can register here:
https://calendar.libraryweb.org/event/+7589258

Our June spotlight quilter is Sue Floyd:  Sue is newly "retired" from almost 30 years at Xerox and is really looking forward to spending more time exploring quilting.  She has adapted her life to allow her to quilt more:

• She now listens to audio books and quilts at the same time!
• She travels around the US and the world and includes stops at quilt stores; she also takes photos of designs that can be incorporated into a quilt.
• She tries to dedicate at least an hour each day to her current quilting project, and
• her friendships with fellow quilters has strengthened.

Sue is a self-taught quilter, in 1976 she saw a photo of an Amish Log Cabin Quilt and decided she was going to make it herself.  She borrowed her Mom’s featherweight sewing machine, some scissors, a ruler and tailor’s chalk and went to it!  Then she hand quilted it.  She submitted it as a homework assignment for a Color Theory class in school.  Looking back, she feels she went about it the hard way!  Her favorite reference for making future quilts was The Collector’s Dictionary of Quilt Names and Patterns, that had drawings of over 2400 quilt blocks.

Sue didn’t try again for a while then made a couple of quilts for family member’s beds using the same method of figuring out how to piece it together from seeing a photo of a quilt she liked. When the 1st five (of 7) nieces and nephews were born, she made each a wall hanging either piecing or applique.  Sue still had never used a pattern or taken a class.  Then making a living got in the way for 25 years until she took a class at Café Sewciety Quilts.  Sue feels quilting is great therapy and an outlet for creativity.  She still likes the process of designing a quilt the best and is always looking for classes that will teach her new techniques in quilting (piecing, applique, paper piecing and machine quilting).  She feels like she still has a lot to learn.

Sue always has more ideas than time, which can leave one overwhelmed and with many unfinished quilting projects.  She thinks the happiest quilters she has met, limit the number of quilting projects they are working on to one or 2 at a time, work on projects they really love, and are willing to recognize when it’s time to give a project a new home (when it no longer gives you a sense of pleasure or accomplishment).  She needs to follow their example.  Sue has taught a few of her own designs at the shop and is teaching the Project Bag next month.

Here are some pictures of some of her beautiful work.