The pictures are different sizes in this blog post because the program regulates how pictures are added. Sorry about that. You can see a larger image by clicking on it but you have to do it one at a time in this format. Be sure to check out the other blog post that has quite a few of the other entries. So many nice quilts.
Large Quilts
Kathy Myers
Nearly eight years ago I started on my “Dear Jane” journey. My son and his girlfriend live in Vermont and we love visiting them in October. On one of these visits, I learned that the Dear Jane quilt is on display at the Bennington Museum for a short period each Fall. We decided to visit the museum and see the quilt. I purchased the Dear Jane book from the museum, but as a relatively new quilter, was dismayed that it really didn’t have patterns for the blocks, and put it aside for a couple of years. It was after joining several like-minded quilters in a bee that met monthly that I began working earnestly to complete this challenging quilt.
No two patterns are alike in the finished quilt, and in mine, no two fabrics are repeated. The quilt mainly consists of paper piecing and appliqué (my favorite!) I worked on it for some time each month until I decided to set a goal to finish it. I took a week each month and made ten blocks. It even traveled to Florida and Louisiana.
Finding the right quilter was another challenge. I found Tia Curtis, from Leavenworth, Kansas. She had already done several Dear Jane quilts. We corresponded for a time and she sent me pictures. I am thrilled with the results. I feel privileged to be able to create the Dear Jane quilt, and honored that it won a blue ribbon at our 2022 Quilt Show. When I started quilting in 2005, I never dreamed it would become a passion for me!
Here is what I put on the label:
DEAR JANE DESIGNED BY JANE A. STICKLE – 80 ¼” x 80 ¼”
STARTED NOVEMBER 12, 2014, COMPLETED JUNE 17, 2022
DEAR JANE IS COMPRISED OF 169 – 4” BLOCKS, 52 – PIECED, APPLIQUED, OR PAPER PIECED TRIANGLES FOR THE BORDER, 4 CORNER TRIANGLES FOR A TOTAL OF 225 PATTERNS. THERE ARE ALSO 56 PRINT TRIANGLES (THESE ARE EVERY OTHER ONE WITH THE OTHER TRIANGLES.). THE QUILT HAS A TOTAL OF APPROXIMATELY 5663 PIECES, EACH BLOCK AND TRIANGLE HAS A DIFFERENT FABRIC. IT HAS BEEN A CHALLENGE AND A PRIVILEGE TO MAKE THIS QUILT. MY SON-IN-LAW, MIKE, CALLS IT MY
MAGNUM OPUS.
Carole McLean
It’s called “Freedom” and I made it the summer of 2021. My passion is making Patriotic quilts for First Responders and Veterans. What inspired me to make this flag quilt was the huge flag flying over 8th Street just west of Hwy 31 in Holland by the Chevrolet dealership. Sometimes when the wind is just right it will stretch over the entire 8th street and is quite breathtaking
I designed it: Carole Mc Lean and the quilter was: Jodi York-Caraballo from Chicago
Bobbie Vruggink
Almond County Beauty
I bought this pattern as a wall hanging at Quilt Con in Austin, TX just before the Covid Lockdown. It probably never would have been made if I wasn’t forced to be home. I figured out how to make the blocks work for a large queen-sized quilt. I loved working on this quilt. The colors just make me happy. Now to make some pillow covers to go with the quilt. It won a best machine quilting award at West Michigan Quilt Show for Darla Parks. She did a fantastic job quilting it. The pattern is by Rana Heredia.
Medium Quilts
Bobbie Vruggink
Colour My World
This quilt was a block of the month from The Quilt Show with Alex Anderson and Ricky Timms for 2021. I fell in love with the quilt and decided to give it a go, even though I have never finished a block of the month quilt. I did a great job keeping up until I broke my wrist and had to wait until it healed and then had carpel tunnel surgery. I had to really work to get it done. The little houses top, bottom, left and right are houses I lived in and my daughter’s and son’s homes. I quilted this one. The pattern is by Wendy Williams.
Leslie Johnson
Drunken Wanderings
Leslie Johnson
2nd Place, Medium Category
LQG 2022
I love scrap quilts, vintage quilts, and traditional patterns. The Drunkard’s Path Block is a very
traditional block that has many, many layout possibilities. I’ve always loved the way such a
simple block can look so different based on its layout and fabric choices.
I have only made a few curved piece blocks, so I wanted to use a larger square to get used to
sewing the curve before I moved to a smaller piece and a more difficult seam. With the larger
block I liked the bolder, brighter colors.
I started this quilt just before a retreat in May of 2021, took it to the retreat where I got a lot done
on it. The piecing wasn’t the hard part though. It was the quilting I picked. Not really hard, just
very time consuming.
During the Ottawa County Library Quilt Hop I checked out a book on machine quilting using
something called “Inche Tape”. The book was “One Line at a Time” by Charlotte Warr
Anderson. Simple straight line quilting, but lots of design combinations. I used a different
design in each white ring of the Drunkard’s Path quilt. It may have taken months to quilt, but the
time was well worth it when I see the results.
Marianne Stuparits
Summer Blooms
When Covid-19 hit- it was a difficult time for us all. I was working in the health care industry with seniors, and I would come home with extreme sadness. My daughter Amy had a great idea to cheer me up, and bought a Jen Kingswell pattern that was bright and bold-something that was not necessarily me! The pattern incorporated two things that I love, my flowers in the garden and seeing beautiful butterflies in the summer.
The entirety of the hand applique was done with invisible thread which I found quite difficult to use and took me some extra time to thread the needle most nights, but it turned out great! I loved coming home after a hard day, and seeing the bright & cheery fabrics I got to work with. Working full time and sewing at night, I spent what seems like an exhaustive year putting it together. Marge Morrison did the intricate and detailed quilting to really bring out each section of the quilt.
Laura Marcus-Nolan
My Mother had been a quilter and it always looked like something I would like to do. She brought me her old Singer sewing machine and taught me some basics. I had seen a “Project of Doom” quilt online and thought how much my daughter would love it. Abbey is a fan of all things Harry Potter and this quilt represented all of that. I followed along with a group on Facebook and saw all of the different combinations of squares people added to their bookshelf. I began gathering fabrics, I asked my Mom for her scraps and sought out different fabrics that went with the theme and away I went. I watched several instructional videos on paper piecing and it definitely took awhile to get it right, but once I got the hang of it, I was hooked. This was my first quilt, it was not perfect by any means but it brought me alot of joy knowing how much Abbey would love it! It took me about 6 months to make. What I love about paper piecing and these blocks was the immediate gratification when a square was completed!
Marilyn Cook
My Garden Rows
Hand appliqued, embroidered, and quilted.
All items on the wall hanging have been seen in my garden. Patterns are from many sources.
Small quilts
Barbara Post
Folktails Quilt
So, maybe I was born grasping a tapestry needle. I was hooked on embroidery from the get go. As a pre-teen girl, my favorite way to spend a Saturday was to hop the bus and head downtown to Steketee’s basement. Once there I could search through the bins of embroidery samplers, cross stitched aprons, napkins, pillow cases, and yes, even bedspreads, to my hearts content. I made many and even completed two cross stitched queen bedspreads before graduating from High School.
That explains my fascination and love for Sue Spargo and her creative use of wool and embellishment threads. The Folktails quilt with the African animals grabbed my attention. I had the book and plenty of felted woolens that I had gathered and even dyed over the years, so all I had to do was order the thread embellishment kits. The threads used for the myriad of stitches from basic chain to trellis to bouillon to Turkey work and beyond are the icing on the cake, so to speak.
All the wool applique pieces are cut using a freezer paper template and light box. Then the pieces are appliqued down to the background squares with matching wool thread. After the pieces are sewn to a block, then the magical embellishment stitching takes place. There is NO fusing material in this quilt and no trapunto. I completed each block before starting the next one. Some of the applique spans several blocks so thought had to go into the final assembly. I avoided working with more than two blocks sewn together because it’s too bulky to work the stitching around the appliques. I worked on this quilt every day, seven days a week for an average of five hours a day, three weeks a month. So doing the math this quilt has close to 1200 hours of work in it, and I reveled in every second of it.
Nancy Einfeld
Title: Hadlock Bridge, Acadia National Park
For: Sharon Gould my sister-in-law at her request
2nd Place ribbon small quilts, 2022 Lighthouse Quilt Guild Show
In making art quilts, it is important for me to have a pattern the size I want it to be. I used the picture by Joe Braun, traced over parts of it and then made a transparency which I used on my overhead projector to make the pattern to size. First, I made the bridge, second the trees and background. The foreground was next and the water was last. I used fabrics from my stash, online stores and local fabric shops.
Steam a seam 2 light was used to place the applique pieces. The applique pieces were secured with a zig-zag stitch and free motion quilted.
Nancy Einfeld
Title: Like a Tree Planted
Made and designed by Nancy Einfeld using a coloring page by Andrea Sargent for inspiration and perspective
3rd Place ribbon small quilts.
Seeing a coloring page in a book of a tree of life. I liked the perspective of the tree within a circle and then being part of the universe. As the quilt was being made, I was inspired to add the birds and fish along with the fruit. I started to see symbolic meaning in what was being created. The tree gets its nourishment from the life-giving water. The birds find refuge in the tree, a place to raise their young. An owl is wise and can see things in the dark that others cannot. Some birds are coming and going, not always knowing where they are going, but being led by their instinct. To me the fish represent the life and activity that is going on, of which we are not aware. The circle and universe remind me of eternity and of God’s presence. The tree has its purpose where it is, but is also part of something greater than itself. I thank some of the light house quilt guild member for suggestions in adding to the quilt, especially Barb Post and Bobbie Vruggink.
Barbara Wexall
When my husband died in 2016, I saved all of his shirts. After several years, I came up with a plan for them. I had taken a pineapple quilt class from Karen Katje and love the quilt pattern. I incorporated some batiks in the quilt to give it some life (can you imagine a 70-something year old man wearing a batik fabric shirt?). I made an identical quilt for my daughter and two “Lightning Bolt” quilts for my sons. On each quilt I added a quilt label which read, “This quilt is made from shirts I used to wear. When you hold it, you will know I am there.”
Elizabeth Clark
Pandemic Regatta – 40”x52” – Designer: Hunter Lee (Block); Elizabeth Clark (Quilt)
When the Lighthouse Quilt Guild canceled its meetings and annual quilt show due to the Covid pandemic, the Board decided to support an activity for all its members. I asked Hunter Lee (my grandson, a graphic designer) to design a paper-pieced sailboat quilt block. The pattern was mailed to all members, along with background and mast fabric. Members were invited to make blocks and to submit them for a drawing in September 2020. I made this quilt as a commemoration of Hunter’s first quilt block design and gave it to him for his November birthday. Charlene Koppenol machine-quilted the quilt.
Susan Harper
Mr. Sebastian
Quilted by Darla Parks
Designed by Kelly Kindt of Pressing Matters Quilt Shop
I saw this quilt and pattern several times when I was at Kelly’s Quilt Shop in Holland. I was so drawn to it, but knew it would be a lot of time-consuming work! Almost 500 – 3.5″ squares, sewn together in a pattern, then cut with the twister tool and sewn back together! Jigsaw puzzle anyone? But I must admit it was so much fun to do. Plus, I had Kelly helping me select the fabric! WIN WIN!!! I originally had a piece of red felt to use as his scarf, but I found a Pendleton scarf in the closet that had belonged to my dear husband, Tom, who passed away in 2011. It had seen better days, but I trimmed it to fit and now Mr. Sebastian has become, for me and my family, priceless!
Art quilts
Joan Thomas
Art Quilt Poppies
Made by: Joan Thomas
Quilted by: Joan Thomas
Designed by: Joan Thomas using Iceland Poppies by Barbara Persing, Flower Show Quilts by Lynn Ann Majidimehr and leaves and buds from poppy plants in Joan Thomas’s garden.
Made: June 9, 2020 – July 28, 2020
Poppies are one of my favorite flowers. Back in 1993 I planted three poppy plants however, they never bloomed.
When the pandemic hit in 2020 I started looking at quilting patterns online. I found ‘Iceland Poppies’ by Barbara Persing. I fell in love with the poppies but felt it was a bit sparse. I continued to look for other patterns. I found some poppies in the book by Lynn Ann Majidimehr ‘Flower Show Quilts’ but they were to small.
Not being able to find what I wanted I decided to combine the two. I used the layout of the Iceland Poppies and enlarged a few poppies from the book.
Julie Westmaas
SPLASH!
SPLASH was originally designed and constructed for the purpose of a backdrop for the reception table at our daughter Laura’s wedding. The wedding was held in Florida at St. Pete Beach.
I found a copyright free photo on Pixabay and loosely interpreted it to make the pattern.
The bulk of the fabric came from a mermaid tail that I made for my daughter a couple years before. I had a big bag of scraps of tulle, glitter tulle and sequined organza of every shade of blue and blue green already cut in wavy strips perfect to form waves. The applique, couching and quilting were all done on my home size machine.
The bottom portion of the quilt has appliqued shells and starfish that I fussy cut from old curtains. I also added couched yarn to simulate sea foam, and used a glue gun to attach actual shells and glass.
I am grateful to receive second place award for my art quilt SPLASH.
Betty Boyink-Roberts
THE LAKESHORE
“My daughter asked me to make a quilt to be used for therapy sessions to visually guide patients toward meeting obstacles. A beach scene gives many opportunities for guiding one through challenges, how to cope and move beyond. Note tear in sail, whitecaps visible in rough water, canoe paddle floating down the river, kite stuck up in tree, turbulent sky predicts storms on the horizon, etc.”
This is one similar to one made for Hope Network Euro Rehab in Grand Rapids as another daughter wanted copy.
Challenge Quilts
Beth Maschewske
Blue Blue Heron
My husband and I love to watch the great blue Herons when we are fly fishing. Sometimes the sun sets before we leave the river and everything looks to be all in greys or blues. I had this picture in mind for several years and when the challenge came for something in only blues and white I knew right away that it was time to attempt the heron.
I enjoy thread painting and used a combination of Ann Loveless’ technique combined with the thread painting. I think the two techniques go well together. It only took a few months to make, which is a short time compared to most of my quilts.
The Challenge Quilts were part of our quilt show blue and white theme. So many different techniques, it was a fun challenge.
Youth Group
Jemma Norkoli
Bee
I took the Laura Heine class with my grandma, Jill Highhill. The teacher, Valina James, had pre-selected the pattern and fabrics, but we still had a lot of creative freedom. I, for instance, decided I didn’t want a pink heart on the back of my bee like the original pattern, so I fussy cut some honeycomb shapes and yellow/orange flowers and arranged those on the back of my bee instead. I also put my bee a little off center and at an angle to make it a little more interesting. I embellished the background with more fussy cut honeycomb and flowers. Once I was happy with my design I fused it all together, sandwiched it, free motion quilted it, and bound it. I’m so happy with how it turned out, and I’m glad I got to enter it in the quilt show!
Please encourage young quilters to enter their quilts next year.
Quilting
Darla Parks
This was such a pleasant surprise! Thank you to Susan Lynn Harper Bobbie Vruggink and Barb Wexall all for letting me quilt their quilts. Thank you to Lighthouse Quilt Guild for honoring the longarmers as well! Congratulations to all!
