Story Quilts Always Make Me Smile-How Wonderful to Put Who You Are Into a Quilt!

The quilt above was done by my friend Laura, sister to Charlotte who lives in Florida. Laura has done a number of great quilts with lovely sentiments just like her sister. This quilt was about her Grandson and how much he loved her daughter who has since passed away. Lovely sentiment and Lher daughter is not gone, she will be remembered through this quilt.

the quilt above is from the lady below who wrote me this lovely letter.
I took a class from you at Empty Spools back in March of 2007. I started this quilt in that class and finally finished it this last fall and wanted to share it with you. I am so happy with the way it turned out, in fact I just entered it in my guild's show (Mid Valley Quilt Guild) and it won a First Place Blue Ribbon (Traditional Mixed Wall Quilt) and two special recognition awards (Whimsical/Fantastical and Patchwork Humor).
I have two quick Mary Lou stories to share with you as well.
1) I had no interest in quilting until I saw you on Simply Quilts in about 2001. You were talking about your Angel quilts and something just clicked in me and said "I could do that!". I have been an avid quilter since. And I can not express to you all the joy, creativity, friends and passion it has brought into my life!
2) A few years after that I was at the Sisters Quilt Show and took a picture of the cutest chicken quilt. I loved that quilt, and decided to make it, but I searched all over for the pattern, but finally decided to just make it without a pattern using my picture as a guide. It is one of my favorite quilts even now. About a year ago a good friend gave me your book 'Whimsies & Whynots' and I was amazed to see that very quilt in your book! You inspired me even when I didn't know it was you. Thank you!!!
Anyway I just wanted to share all this with you, and let you know you have an avid fan in Oregon!
With much love and appreciation,
Joanne Swinehart ..............quilt below
Salem Oregon

The quilt seen here is a 50 year anniversary quilt done by Marilyn Wall from South Caroline. She is an amazing artist and did such a nice job on showing the love between she and her husband Kermit. A lovely keepsake.

I was going through my files and finding different story quilt photos that people mailed me. I thought that since I enjoy them so much you would also. I am not sure who some of the girls who designed these are now but they are fun to study just the same. If you haven't ever thought about doing a story quilt, please think about it. In 80 years what will people know about you, who you loved and what is important to you? So many things to say with so many things happening in our world. Pass on people you love, pass along sayings that touch your heart and can touch others also, pass along your favorite pets, collections, your home, your garden, your hobbies, memories of the past and hopes for a bright future. The wedding todsy would have been a fun subject for quilter's from Britain. HOW lovely it was! I enjoyed every minute of it and I taped five hours of coverage. I adore what the British do with hats. How about a hat quilt? Wonderful wouldn't it be? Please think about telling the world about YOU. I thought I would share the postcard from the Laconner Quilt Museum that is showing my latesy quilts there. Loved the postcard they did-so colorful and fun.

The quilt below was done by Jill Monley for her relative for a wedding gift. They liked to ride motorcycles...wouldn't this be a lovely gift for someone getting married and the story will go on and their children or family will have this quilt as a lasting memory of these two people when they got married. great job!



One last thing is it is lovely to see how many of these story quilts are receiving ribbons at quilt shows. People are starting to understand the sentiment behind the stories. Hope you think about the stories you would like to tell the world now and as a legacy. Such fun.

The Golden Rule...........

I have been thinking alot lately about the Golden Rule. Now I wonder if they even teach that anymore. I bet kids today have NO idea what the Golden Rule is and I think most adults honestly have forgotten it.
There seems in my opinion to be so much of "Me, me, me" lately that many people are pushy and rude for No reason.
Might I make a simple suggestion to set US apart? Next time there is a line and someone makes a bee line to try to get ahead of you even though they shouldn't, step back, smile and let them. Next time someone signals that they want over in the traffic even though they went way ahead of the line in the lane that clearly told them miles back their lane would not be there, let them in front of you and next time someone needs help, holding something, getting a cart or just something simple that might take a few minutes out of your day, please help them.
This proves that YOU know the Golden Rule and are willing to put them ahead of yourself. They may think they won but really, YOU are the winner because you were kind enough to think of others instead of always thinking of yourself. If more people thought this way, the world would indeed be a better place and years ago when I was a little girl this was what I learned in Grade school and Sunday school. Remember how your Mother and everyone els's Mother said "now is that the golden rule?" I wish we had all remembered what we learned. I am at fault as much as the next person but I think that we quilters can show the world what a nice group of people can do. Just my two cents for the day. :0) Bless your day and your deeds.

Come to Mary Lou's June (third annual) Retreat in Post Falls Idaho for Inspiration, JOY, New Friends and Great Homeade Food by Laurie

I just got this photo of a quilt made in my Asilomar workshop. Laurie the girl who made this for her adorable Granddaughter will be our cook at the retreat in June. This is a great example of how taking Flower Power/hoochy things and putting them together with fun lettering can produce a one of a kind treasure quilt that can say anything you want and be a lasting memory/story. Isn't this adorable? Think about what you would like to say in a little story quilt about you or someone you love. I am so tickled Laurie will be there with her many talents.

Quilt below and above was done by Mary Linfesty out of fun pieced hoochy style blocks. Mari came to last years Post Falls retreat and did some truly amazing things.

Found another great photo of food served for lunch to share


This book is full of information on being creative and we will use alot of the ideas here also.


This year at the Mary Lou retreat (June 13th-17th) you will get this fun cat pattern. You may choose to make blocks of all kinds ala' Hoochy Mama style as a quilt, as a border and for those interested in story quilts, we will be discussing how to's for you to begin a prize winning quilt, at least to you. Many story quilts done in Mary Lou's classes have take first place awards. Hooray! We will be discussing lettering and saying anything you want to on a quilt or doing a title, a holiday name or the name of someone you love OR say something great for your wall or as a gift for someone you love. Shapes, creativity, friendship, composition, color and fabric styles will all be discussed as we have fun in a great place. Sewing time will be number one as we work on our projects and learn just how inventive and creative we can be! So far, I have a nice number signed up but am keeping it open for a few more people to come and enjoy all that we have going in our third fun, inspirational and inventive quilt retreat. The cost of $565. which includes everything except your hotel cost. For those interested, Mary Lou suggests coming in one day earlier and she will take you to the Buggy Barn, the Davenport hotel for lunch and a quilt shop or two and we will
end with dinner somewhere in Post Falls or Spokane Valley. In any case it will be alot of fun and a good chance to make new friends.

How about creating a lovely Queen Bee? Now that is original. :0)



Molly, Mary Lou and Sandi enjoy friendship at the retreat. The retreat is in Post Falls Idaho right between Spokane and Couer d'Alene Idaho. You fly into Spokane. The girls signed up so far sound like they will stay at the Templins Red Lion. There are many hotels close to the facility. The Red Lion is only one mile from where we work and many of the girls walk though there is a large parking lot if you want to drive...which I would probably do. :0)


This is Laurie Latta at the shop and she had cooked all day and she was almost too tired to shop.

Stacks waiting to be cut. Now I have a new secret to make your fabrics look even better. I am working on some new things (don't I always?) and want to share it with the retreat gals.

One evening for those interested, Mary Lou will take you to a local quilt shop and discuss light givers and fabrics that work to pull eyes into your quilt and things that don't. Let's discuss your stash and what you can do to make it work better for YOU. This was a hit and the shop is wonderful. They open the shop only for us.


Mary Lou will be demo'ing new techniques in her style of lettering. You will also get a good look at some of the new quilts in Mary Lou and Mel's book due out July 11th. New patterns will be passed out that no one has seen yet-great fun and a jump on doing great work that is fun, Out of the Box and you get the pattern for it.




The really handy thing about our retreat is that the cooking is right there in the kitchen alcove of the classroom so we can eat and work at the same time-This is very handy for those of you who want to produce alot in the four days we are working. Good light, plenty of room for irons and cutting. A great space with a great history. It was once a church they turned into an Art Center thanks to jacklin Seed company.

This cake stand is our class mascott and she holds great treats and gets happy remarks

Let's talk birds and how many you can create quickly and styles...

Creating makes you hungry (in my opinion and Laurie Latta from Lopez Island is again going to cook for us this year. Laurie has many specialties and has great plans for more delicious food and including her desserts such as cream puffs and cheesecake with huckleberry sauce. She serves great salads and fruits and other surprises as well as a table of snacks each day. Her gourp (homemade snack mix) is a class favorite. I am also hoping to get my daughter in law to make her Mother's poppy seed lemon/lime cake for the group-it is exceptional. The photo below is of one of Laurie's meals last year.
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Hot Cross Buns on Good Friday with Salada tea and someone you love

http://www.joyofbaking.com/breakfast/HotCrossBuns.html
Today is Maundy Thursday the saddest day of the year for Christians who worship.
Tomorrow is Good friday. Good Fridy is a lovely memory day for me as my Canadian Grandma who was wonderful would always make hot cross buns to serve with sharp cheddar cheese and tea. She was always very careful to make the cross and not an X. Everytime I see a hot cross bun, I think of her. I only like them when they have currants and candied fruit in them. Then they remind me of her.
I have her recipe but it is so abbrevaiated, I don't think I would do it justice here so instead I found a recipe that is similar and looks the same. I am going to visit my 85 year old Aunt tomorrow who is having troubles to take her some hot cross buns (Grandma was her sister in law) and some chocolate biscotti. A little sugar and a memory of Grandma on Good Friday is sure to make her smile.

Bunny Sisters attend Hoity Toity Houses workshop with Mary Lou in beautiful Ft. Lauderdale Florida-Great FUN!

this girl wore an authentic Seminole jacket she purchased at a thrift store- lucky girl!



Charlotte and Laura (sisters) are building their homes next door even though they live in Florida and Texas. :0)







Red made an exciting and fun border on this-and now for the story to be sewn!

Isn't this quilt darling? So free and so happy and she is going to add rick rack and buttons and other fun things. I am in love with the choices here!



What a difference a roof makes!


Auditioning a large scale bright fabric sample. I often tell the class to start working on larger scaled prints...so many people are afraid of them and they give your quilts so much! The colors in the quilt were wonderful. This lady was from Denver and Florida.

Such a pretty smile! This is the beginning's of a fantastic castle quilt!

Iris Biaseti's quilt called the Old Lady Who Lived In the Shoe....I can relate. Won;t this be fun once she gets her people in there? Great class-they all took off and created great stuff!