Gracie is contributing a quilt to the quilt show. She is making a red, yellow, black, and white fractured log cabin quilt, in the style of Gwen and Freddy.
This is going to be an amazing quilt show!Wednesday, August 13, 2025
Wednesday, August 6, 2025
So Much Going On!
Marsha here. Yes, yes, we are gearing up for our quilt show in September. However, P & C went on another camping trip. They invited Willa and I to come along. We went hiking on the Payette National Forest in the western area of Idaho.
Here is Willa hiking along Hornet Creek.
Here we are taking a break. It was beautiful up there!More quilting posts to come. Bye for now.Saturday, August 2, 2025
Kuna Days Parade, Today!
Jane here! We had so much fun at the Kuna Days Parade today. It started out breezy and overcast which made it less hot in the waiting for the parade to get started. About half-way through, Gracie fell over. Marsha managed to help her up, so she could wave some more to the crowd. We were all a bit wind-blown by the time it was over. It was a great crowd this year.
The parade theme is "Under Western Skies", so we all wore our bandanas. We put Kirsten's down-on-the-farm quilt on this side of our float. That is Gracie in the middle.L-R: Kirsten, Edna, and me (Jane) The amazing thing is how noisy it was this year, as we were followed by 15 motorcycle riders with very loud engines.Tuesday, July 8, 2025
Jane's Second Tribute to Gwen Marston Quilt
Kirsten here. Jane has completed another tribute quilt in honor of Gwen Marston. One of the many quilting things Gwen did, was collecting old/antique blocks then making quilts with them or in the style of them. Jane has a pile of these hand-pieced nine-patch blocks. She has no idea how old they are or who actually did them. She got them from Vesta, but she is not sure Vesta did them or if she collected them from someone else. That is just the thing; we get blocks from people who have passed away, or we get them at quilt shows or yard sales.
Here is Jane's latest completed quilt. She is really good at piecing, the blocks, on-point. She just got the binding on it on Sunday. We had a little back-yard BBQ, so she was able to show it off to the gang.
Saturday, June 28, 2025
Edna Completes Her Tribute Quilt!
I have been working hard on my liberated nine-patch quilt with the amazing reds and aquas.
I had to not look at it for a week, though, so I could stand back and view it with fresh eyes. After working intensely on a project, it is good to put it out of sight for a while so you can appreciate it more. I call it aging. [to see the details closer up, click on the photo]
Friday, June 20, 2025
Kirsten Goes RVing with Friends
I went with C & P for a week at Lake Walcott State Park in Idaho. It was really nice and relaxing. We did some hiking around Minidoka Dam and I picked some currants. Did you know they have native pelicans in Idaho? You can see many of them at Lake Walcott, which is a bird sanctuary.
We enjoyed watching the pelicans floating down the river, below the dam. They would float down, then fly back upstream and float down again. They like sitting on rocks in the river, with the cormorants.I didn't have a bucket, so they all got to go into my mouth! Yummy!
We, also, visited the very small town of Minidoka, which was founded in 1904.
Saturday, May 31, 2025
Another GweFre Tribute Quilt Has Been Completed!
Marsha got hers done and brought it over to show Jane and I. Kirsten here. I am excited about the progress we are all making. Edna and Jane report that their quilt tops are done and just need to be quilted!
Marsha outdid herself on this one! She used square-in-a-square, liberated log cabins, liberated stars and liberated nine-patch, with liberated b&w borders. This is me, showing off my new shoulder bag, that Mary's friend, AJ, made for me. It also has a matching clutch purse and a smaller bag inside. Mary has amazing crafty friends. Also, the fabric is from JoAnn, which closed all their stores this year, so this is a historic shoulder bag that I will always cherish.Saturday, May 10, 2025
Everyone is Being Creative!
I think we decided on this "Gwen and Freddy Challenge" a little close to our upcoming show in September. But if we each make at least one, we will have something inspirational to display in memory of these great quilters and teachers. Kirsten and Edna have made Gwen and Freddy quilts before, so we have those for the show. We are hoping to have ten. Jane is working on her second one.
Edna e-mailed me a photo of what she has got going on her design wall. Edna said she is making a bunch of liberated nine-patch blocks and on-point squares in squares. I am really liking those bright nine-patch blocks!
Of course, Marsha hangs out with me. Here is what she has on her design wall. She is making lots of liberated stars, liberated log cabins, and square-in-a-square blocks for her quilt. It is going to be interesting to see all the different quilts! We are certainly off to a great start.
Thursday, May 1, 2025
Jane's Tribute to Gwen Marston
Astrid here, again. It seems Jane has been working uncollaboratively on this solid-colors quilt. She finished it last night and brought it over today, to show me. Jane loves the many quilts designed by Gwen Marston. Gwen Marston was born in 1936 and passed away in 2019. She has had a huge impact on thousands of quilters, worldwide. I feel that her biggest contribution to quilting was her gift of inspiring other quilters to break away from patterns and design their own quilts, while developing their own styles, which grew out of the traditional.
This is Jane's first quilt using all solid-colored fabrics. It looks magnificent! She said she was playing around just sewing different colored pieces together and then cutting them and reassembling them. When she put them on her white design-wall she had a little space between them and decided she liked the white breaking up her blocks, so that is how she improvised her own quilt design.
Friday, April 18, 2025
Astrid's "GweFre" Quilt is Fabulous!
I had so much fun designing this quilt and making the "parts". I have some parts left over, that will likely go into another tribute quilt. Jane is thinking of doing a vertical row quilt and include some of the parts. I think Jane and I will do some collaborative quilting!
Marsha took this photo of my quilt and I. It is considered a medallion quilt, which is one of the types Gwen Marsten wrote an entire book about and hosted classes on. The color scheme is all Freddy.Monday, March 31, 2025
Gwen and Freddy Challenge!
Astrid here. Our little group of quilters have decided to do a Gwen Marston and Freddy Moran challenge, as a 2025 tribute to two of our favorite quilter rock stars. I have jumped right in! I am feeling pretty good about what I have put together so far.
I am presently making a bunch of black and white half-square triangles for another border within this quilt. I also, have more decisions to make about what kind of flowers I am making stick out of my Gwenny basket. I am so excited! Edna is going to make one, too. She made a Gwen Marsten style medallion quilt a couple years ago, so I call her a trailblazer.
Monday, February 24, 2025
Florals, Plaids, Stripes, Polka Dots, Hedge Hogs, Rabbits, and Ducks Oh My!
Many years ago, we were told that you do not mix florals, plaids, stripes, and polka dots, which does not even include hedge hogs, rabbits, or ducks. I must state that fashion, home decor, and quilting sure was boring back then. Those days are over baby!
Feel free to use this pallet of colors, anytime. I, Kirsten, finished my vertical strip quilt with amazing colors, especially the yellows and purples (and all the rest!). It has all the things in it, that I was told could not go into the same project. My message is to all my quilting friends out there, to do what makes you happy and don't listen to the fuddy-duddys. Happy quilting!
Sunday, January 26, 2025
Jane's January Tutorial - 2025
Happy January! I am going to show you how to make a Hachi quilt, a Japanese improvisational quilt. Improvising just means making decisions as you go. Try making a Hachi quilt. It is okay to head in a direction you are not familiar with and make discoveries for yourself.
There is no pattern, but that is okay! The Hachi quilting process is simple and allows you to make choices about size, color, fabric patterns, and placement to create an overall unique and lovely quilt.
There are some rules to guide you, so there is no way to get lost. Patricia Belyea, author of "East-Meets-West Quilts", lists five rules:
- make each block square, preferably 8" X 8"
- make blocks with two fabrics in a relationship: 1/2 & 3/4, 3/4 & 1/4, 1/2 & 1/2
- as you layout your block, to make the design, alternate the blocks horizontally and vertically
- add an unexpected visitor (1 or 2 blocks) to add even more interest to your creation
- break any rule you want