The Writer’s Block–Quilts and More with Author Joanne Guidoccio

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Frozen quilt, Guest author Joanne Guidoccio, pictures of quilts, Quilt show, The Writer's Block--Quilts and More, writing and quilts

Quilt Collage photo by Joanne Guidoccio

 

At the Quilt Show

It was one of those spur-of-the-moment ideas that seemingly came out of nowhere. But thinking back, I do recall hearing about the “Quilts on the Grand Show” for several weeks before the actual event. The advertisements appeared in local papers, and several establishments—including the library branches—proudly displayed the work of these talented artisans.

When I found myself with several free hours on that Saturday afternoon in early June, I headed up to Fergus, a short thirty-minute drive away. Having never quilted, I didn’t anticipate spending too much at the show and planned on visiting other shops in the area.

Pulling up into the parking lot of the Centre Wellington Sportsplex, I had to circle twice before finding an empty spot. When I entered the building, I found the foyer bustling with activity. Later, I learned that some attendees had traveled 300 miles to see this show.

As I walked around the auditorium, I felt dwarfed by the bed-sized quilts, wall hangings and other pieces that made up the 160 items on display. And I was in awe of the extraordinary workmanship displayed by the 140 artisans, one of whom was a ten-year-old junior member!

I stayed for the entire afternoon and circled the room several times, stopping to admire and take pictures of my favorite quilts. I also chatted with several artisans who shared their techniques. As I listened, I discovered many similarities between quilting and writing.

• Like the three-act story, there is a definite three-step process to quilting: beginning (preparing and cutting the fabric), middle (piecing, batting and binding), and end (quilting it all together).
• A quilt is made one piece at a time, just as a story is written one page at a time.
• While many quilts have established patterns (Log Cabin, Wedding Ring, Lone Star), some are combinations of patterns or original designs. The same applies to stories. Some authors prefer to write in one specific genre (romance, mystery, fantasy) while others (myself included) prefer to cross several genres.
• Quilters play with color, texture and composition in the same way that writers play with setting, characters and plot.
• Quilters can be nitpickers, ripping seams apart and starting over. Hmm…
• Creating a quilt is a time-intensive project and artisans get little recognition until they sell or win awards. Sound familiar?

 

About the Author:

In 2008, Joanne took advantage of early retirement and decided to launch a second career that would tap into her creative side and utilize her well-honed organizational skills. Slowly, a writing practice emerged. Her articles and book reviews were published in newspapers, magazines, and online. When she tried her hand at fiction, she made reinvention a recurring theme in her novels and short stories. A member of Crime Writers of Canada, Sisters in Crime, and Romance Writers of America, Joanne writes paranormal romance, cozy mysteries, and inspirational literature from her home base of Guelph, Ontario.

Visit Joanne at her website

 

The Writer’s Block–Quilts and More with Author Catherine Castle

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author Catherine Castle, Easy baby quilt instructions, no-quilt quilting, The Writer's Block--Quilts and More, tied quilt

 

Easy Peasy Baby Quilt

Hi, and welcome to the first post in The Writer’s Block—Quilts and More series. I’m going to start the quilting posts off with a quick and easy way to make a baby quilt. The quilting group I belong to has a yearly service project. A number of years ago, I made this baby quilt for my service project.

photo by Catherine Castle

One of the members had a piece of quilted eyelet fabric she was giving away, so I snatched it up.  Using the pre-quilted fabric, some soft pastel ribbon, and a bit of cute flannel, I decided to make a tied quilt. Don’t you love the sweet handprints on the flannel?

After cutting the material to the proper size for a baby quilt, I secured the two pieces together by stitching the ribbons though both pieces of fabric. To ensure that the ribbon wouldn’t come loose if baby tugged or chewed on it, I stitched the knot of each bow tightly into the fabric.

When the ties were secured, I self-bound the edges of flannel to the eyelet material on the sewing machine. The soft flannel side, which would be against baby, has no ties for little finger or toes to get tangled in. See photo below.

 

I made this sweet little quilt in a single afternoon. An easy peasy quilt for a tiny bundle. With the wide variety of pre-quilted materials and a bit of cozy flannel to match, you could make a quick tied quilt for any size kid in the family.

Only three months and 18 days until Christmas. I’d love to see what you can come up with using this easy method.

 

About the Author:

Catherine Castle has had a love affair with quilts since she was young and watched her mother hand-piece squares of fabric into fascinating designs. While she loves to quilt, she has more UFOs (unfinished object) quilt tops than she has completed projects. Still she keeps buying more material and starting more projects. Someday, she’ll get them all finished. When she’s not stitching UFO quilts or gardening–two of her favorite pastimes, she writes inspirational and sweet romance. You can learn more about her and her award-winning book right here on this website or her Amazon page.

 

 

 

 

 

The Writer’s Block—Quilts and More

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Author Catherine Castle quilting blog, new blog series, quilting blog, stories about quilts, The Writer's Block--Quilts and More introduction, writers who love quilts

A New Blog Series beginning Sept 7

I love quilts. Next to my garden, quilts are my favorite thing to make, see, and photograph.

Just like gardens have been a part of my life for as long as I can remember, so have quilts. I have many memories of my mother hand-stitching patchwork quilts together and then quilting them on her sewing machine. She made me and my sisters quilts to take to church camp, quilts for our beds, and quilts as she gave away as gifts. I even have a stash of her partially sewn quilts that I hope to one day finish. However, if you know me, I also am a procrastinator, so only the good Lord knows when that will happen. Hence my overflowing stash of UFOs (unfinished objects)

Beginning next Monday, I will have a new blog series featuring writers who quilt, love quilts, or write about quilts in any fashion. We will have posts about the quilts the guest writers have made, quilts they’ve seen, their quilt stories, quilt inspirations, quilt bloopers (if they’re willing to share), and of course pictures of quilts.

If you love quilts, I hope you’ll come along with me and my guest authors as we explore all things quilting, in A Writer’s Block—Quilts and More.

 

An Antique Fundraiser Quilt

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antique quilts, White Oak Christian Church

If you’ve read my blog post, you probably know I have a couple of passions. One of them is gardening, the other is quilts. A few months ago an antique quilt appeared on the wall of our foyer church. Someone discovered the quilt among a relative’s things and brought it to the church to share its history. On the quilt are the names of church and community members who paid to have their names embroidered on the fabric as a fundraiser to help the church build a new building in the current location. They paid 10 cents per name.

Years ago I wrote an article for a local community book about the various churches in the area. The mention of this quilt was one of the things I found in the church archives. Imagine my delight when I discovered this quilt on the church foyer wall.

Among the descriptions included in the church history was that of the 1887 Venice News article that spoke of the oyster supper given at the old church location to raise money for the new building. According to the article, the church was so crowded the news correspondent was “carried up the aisle on springs” by some accommodating lady, unawares to the lady and against the reporter’s will. That supper and auction were apparently the social activity of the season.

Five hundred names are on the quilt, and in some cases it looks like entire families donated to have their name stitched on the quilt. The quilt was auctioned off for $25.25. On December 4, 1887, the church dedicated their new building.

Curious about the auction price of the quilt, I did some digging on the internet. From what I could find out, a workman’s wages were $1.25 to 1.50 a day in 1887. Multiple that by five days and four weeks, that comes to $25 – $30. Which means this quilt sold for nearly a month’s pay. Translate that to today’s minimum wage costs of $7.25 an hour, and that quilt sold for $1240!

I like quilts, but I’d have a lot of trouble buying one for that price. But I sure am glad the faithful Christians in 1887 were willing to part with their money to build my church. Because they opened up their pocketbooks, my church is a thriving part of the kingdom of God. And, that is priceless.

 

Do you have an old quilt that has a story behind it?

 

Quilt Art on the Heritage Garden Trail

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pictures of quilts, Quilt Art, The Heritage Quilt Garden Trail

Last year I visited the Heritage Trail Quilt Garden and at each stop artists had painted beautiful quilt patterns on the walls of adjacent buildings. I made the hubby take pictures because there’s nothing I love more pictures of quilts, unless it’s a quilt garden. So, here’s a few of the photos we took of the painted quilts on the Heritage Trail Quilt Garden route.

Wouldn’t this be a bear to piece?

 Can you see the motion created by these colors?

 

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