Sue Nickels visits the Guild

Last week was full of fun quilting things - primarily Sue Nickels.  I had taken a workshop she led last year and was impressed with her teaching techniques.  I also learned lots about stitched raw edge applique and have successfully used her technique several times.  We were fortunate to get her as a lecturer for our Wednesday morning guild meetings and for a Thursday workshop.

First - Show and Tell...

Dottie showing two Christmas stockings she made for a soon-to-be inlaw & spouse (grandson's wedding, if I remember right)

Susan moved - but this is a quilt for her new granddaughter!   Since their family runs high to boys, this girl baby was somewhat of a surprise.  Look for lots of pink things from Susan in the future.  There's not much pink fabric in town these days.

Looks like Lillian - the quilt is for her daughter, a school nurse.  What a fun welcome sign this is!

Anne models this bonnet, which can also be used as an apron with just a quick unbuttoning .

 Then it was on to Sue's presentation on the history of Machine Quilting.  She and her sister, Pat Holly, collect antique quilts with machine applique or machine quilting.  She had slides of several of their finds and they were elegant examples of early machine quilting.  A few of the things I found interesting (Sue had lots of other information to share about the history and development of machine quilting - get her to come to YOUR guild - you'll be fascinated) ...

• Quilted petticoats circa 1870 are relatively easy to find.  Sue opined that this might be because they were small enough for beginners to quilt using the sewing machines of the times.
• Free motion quilting on applique makes its debut circa 1900.
• Sue theorized that as sewing machines became more affordable in the early 1900's,  machine quilting fell out of favor and hand quilting became desired way to have quilts finished.
• Harriet Hargrave's book Heirloom Machine Quilting was responsible for bringing machine quilting to the forefront again as she explained how to successfully machine quilt.
• Machine quilting is more readily accepted today (it took several years for this to happen) as there is a better understanding of the skill level required to successfully machine quilt.  If you've tried to machine quilt, you'll understand that it does take substantial skill to quilt beautifully - just as it takes substantial skill to hand quilt beautifully.

Sue then shared several of her quilts and talked about the evolution in her quilt designs and the collaboration she has with Pat on designing and making quilts.  An interesting process.  I helped hold the quilts so don't have pictures (sob) but you can see them on her website - www.sue-nickels.com. 

Here are Sue's quilts (including the small quilt on top of Pat's) available for closer inspection at the conclusion of the guild meeting.  What vibrant colors they are - something I didn't really notice until looking at this picture.

 Thursday was our workshop with Sue explaining the Stitched Raw Edge Applique technique.  Her book explaining this is excellent and I've referred to it many times.  It also has lots of other good tips relating to threads, needles and general sewing techniques.

Quilters are busy working on some aspect of the stitched raw edge technique.  This was the first time I've had the room set up with tables angled this way - worked well.  I'll have to remember it for next year.

Sue (in white blouse at right) explaining how to take one quarter of the pattern and manipulate it to create a full size pattern for the block.

Don't they all look happy?  This was taken at the end of a fun day with lots of learning squeezed in.  What a great group! 

Now we'll look for more projects with stitched raw edge applique as one of the techniques.

Cheers!

Margaret