After the blizzard

Thank you to those of you who sent well wishes and stopped in to meet Liz Lois at her book signing. Hellen Sampson gets credit for the beautiful pictures included in this blog entry. Thanks Hellen!

Stop in the shop soon as Hellen will be bringing in a finished sampler using Fig Tree's fall fabric line. Also, remember that we will be closing the shop for our holiday break from Sat, December 23 - Jan 1st. We will be back open on Tuesday the 2nd.

You have a chance to meet the open handwork girls this coming Monday from 6pm-8pm. We will be doing a white elephant exchange of kitchen kitsch.

Dovely Quilts Thanksgiving hours

There will be no rest for this tired girl. The shop will be open Friday and Saturday and I sent out an email to you all with these cute pictures to entice you to come shop at the store, but they were all hacked off of other people's websites. So my husband won't let me post them on my blog. And frankly my copyright fanaticism would probably baulk at it if I wasn't so sleepy. After the space would have been is a copy of the text. Hope to see you soon.




With fabric and holiday gifts on such great sale Friday & Saturday, feel free to let out your corset a little! Hope to see you at the shop. Hours on Friday: 10am - 5:30, Sat: 10am - 4pm. And remember, if something hasn't sold in the first two years of business, it is at least 40% off so that I don't have to inventory it again. :-)

Slinger rounds out the season

Under the threats of snow another season of quilt shows comes to an end in Slinger. I want to thank everyone who stopped by to say hello and a big howdy do to all the HAND QUILTERS! It was my great privelege to walk into a quilt show and actually see people quilting by hand! Praise to the guild for including hand quilting demonstration and participation opportunities. This is of course the last quilt show that Dovely will be vending in 2006. We still have openings on our "trunk show" calendar. For those of you who have yet to have Dovely come to your guild, church, school, or other community settings with a selection of our goods, contact us soon. There is no cost to have us come, no expectation to buy, it's like a Tupperware party without the pyramid scheme.

For those of you who didn't get to see the show, here are some pictures.

The Dovely booth




Award winning hand quilting from J. Zillmer of Mercer




One hand quilted selections from L. Lukach of Milwaukee


And my personal favorite block of the show from D. Fabian of West Bend



There were also hand quilted pieces from Germantown and Hartford.
Truly a representation of Southeastern Wisconsin quilters.

We will now be preparing for our quiltscapes trunk show, inventory reduction sale, book signing, P&B fabric challenge and of course year-end inventory. Stop into the busy shop--we always have time for you!

The business of cotton

As part of my job I research a lot. I'm sure it comes out of my history background and I can't stop reading things, watching things or trying to find out more information about questions I have. An example is, this wonderful image and collection of photos of early cotton mills housed at Georgia Tech! Recently I had started tracking a number of professional cotton industry articles about the coming increase in cotton prices. As most of you know, the majority of cotton consumed in the United States is not made in the United States.

The most recent article addressing this interesting
economic phenomenon reemphasizes the current trend of fabric that is sold in the United States is rarely made in the United States, especially in the sense that the majority of base fabrics (know in the industry as "griege goods") are produced overseas. This combined with information in the last few months is no doubt going to affect the cost of fabric being sold in all quilt stores. All I can tell you is I'll do my best to hold the prices I have.

On a positive note, I've found two other pieces of interest that give another side to this issue. The first was passed along to me by my aunt-in-law who sent an updated article from the Smithsonian Magazine about the next tour of Gees Bend's quilts. The article reemphasizes that you can use what you have and still manage to create items of value and beauty--something that quilters are often either known for or are hesitant to do.

The other good bit of information I ran across today was on the History Channel. They were running a great piece about the development and use of cotton in modern America. The episode highlighted a few of the manufacturers left in the United States who are still starting from cotton and ending with a finished, sellable good. It was a refreshing reminder that there are some companies still operating on a work-local, think-global concept.

Just so you don't think I sit around reading and watching TV all day, Mondays are technically my community service day/day off from the shop/day with my kids. But I couldn't help but think of you. :-)

And they all came tumbling down

Thank you for everyone who stopped by and visited at the Oak Creek show! I had a great two days and met a lot of new folks. If you missed the show you missed a great guild on display. Wandering Foot's quilt show had a wide variety of quilters from the very beginning to the very advanced, and everyone of them was nicer than the next. Congratulations to the winners!

I had a good time previewing some of the upcoming new fabrics from P&B and Moda. As always, Funky Monkey sold well and I'm almost out a the shop, so if you have yet to pick up your Sock Money fabric, you need to stop in or email to buy some soon. Xanadu sold well and everyone agrees that the new collection from P&B is simply "charming".

My next show display will be at the Slinger Show Nov 4. It may be your last chance to pick up the full collector's set of charm pack/CD tins for Spencer Museum, A Day in the Country, and Faded Memories, so be sure to hit Slinger early if you are looking to collect them.

The quilt show ended with a big bang for when the guild started to disassemble the display: an entire row got misaligned and collapsed to the floor! Luckily no one was injured and all quilts were spared. Proof yet again, if you wait until the end of a show to see a quilt, you might just miss it.

On a closing note, this show was a particularly difficult one to prepare for. As most of you know, my family background ties me a bit more closely to the American Amish culture than some people. With the recent events in the Lancaster area of Pennsylvania, my thoughts seemed a bit scattered this week. I did find some relief in knowing that the community was able and willing to receive help from others which is always a difficult decision to make.

If you are interested in helping any of the families affected by the tragic events, please consider giving through the Mennonite Central Committee which has direct contact with local relief efforts. You can do that here in Milwaukee by giving at the shop, or around the country by directed donation to any MCC site or by looking for informational updates at mcc.org.

Quilt Pink Day

Thank you to all of the participants at Quilt Pink day on Saturday. Three quilts will be sent to the online Komen Foundation auction in early spring. We had a total of 175 blocks completed since January that will be used in the quilts. Additionally a matching quilt has been donated to Gilda's Club. Special thanks to the worker bees: Ann, Tink, Sigrida, and Nannette. Reward for the furthest travel to the shop goes to Annette (South Bend, IN) with a runner-up to Carol (Madison). Please join all of the worker bees for the next open handwork night, this coming Monday, October 9 from 6pm-8pm. We will be discussing what to do with the remaining quilt squares.

Salvage your silk

What do you do with all those silk ties? Can you crazy quilt? Can you repair quilts? Sure! Here's how to get to the silks.

1. Remove label from back and open seam

2. Check label for material content

3. Remove liner

4. Remove solid lining

5. You'll salvage no more than 8" total wide and 60" long from the average tie

6. Keep a scrap with the label for your records.

7. Repair your silks and update your quilt history!

Remember that most silk ties are lined with non-silk materials so salvage carefully. Also, be aware that you are changing the history of your quilt and you need to keep track of this. A final note of warning: most ties are cut on a bias which may make them hard to use in some patch repairs and/or quilt making. Just have fun!

Quilt Pink

The final push is on! The Pink will come down. For those of you who have visited the shop, you may have heard me grumbling about the excessive pink in my store at the moment. As most of you know since January, we have been diligently assembling blocks for this year's Komen Foundation/Quilt Pink online auction to raise fund for breast cancer research. This has required that I spend nine months staring at a wall of pink as it spreads throughout the entire store. In just a few more days it will all go away and be replaced by finished quilts!

If you want to participate in assembling quilts, or want to donate a block in a yet-to-be assembled quilt, you still have time. Patterns are available, and the final push to finish the quilts is coming.

Open handwork this month which is always the 2nd Monday from 6-8pm will be devoted to beginning the quilt top making process. Additionally, the shop will be closed September 27, 28, & 29 in order to prepare for the large all-day Quilt Pink quilting bee extravaganza. That day, door prizes, snacks, and your final opportunities to come with a friend to make a block in the shop will occur. In addition, all things pink in the entire store will be on sale! That's right: anything pink for sale in the store, must go!!! Not to worry, I will have pink fabric in the store after Quilt Pink, but perhaps not 35 bolts of it.

Plan ahead, mark your calendar, and bring a date anytime from 10am - 4pm on Saturday, September 30th.

Economic Bindings

As part of my community outreach I have been working with 2 local churches who make quilts for word relief agencies. You've probably heard stories of hundreds of quilts being sent to hurricane-ravaged areas in the U.S., tsunami victims and other people in need. Most people involved with world relief agencies including Lutheran World Services and Mennonite Central Committee join together to use "leftover" or ugly duckling fabrics and turned them into beautiful quilts with what seems to be a magical pace.

I visit and work with two such groups on a monthly basis. One of the tricks of the trade is to not waste extra fabric to make fancy bindings, mitred corners, or complex designs. Today I'll cover how you bind a quilt by simply rolling over the backing fabric to the front. The concept is simple: keep your backing fabric a minimum of two inches wider than the top, all the way around the circumference. Roll over or fold-under the raw edge and sew down this clean edge to the top of the quilt. The problem usually comes when how to treat the corners. Here are two options:

1. The Kingo Lutheran square corner:

This allows you to fold a corner and end with a squared-off 90 degree intersection without having to trim away extra fabric. When sewing on the machine to finish, you can then simply trace a square in each corner or finish however else you like. Remember, when tacking down the border, it is often helpful to do a zigzag on your machine to help compensate in case your quilt is not perfectly square. Here are the pictured steps. If you'd like to see these ladies in action, they meet Tuesday afternoons from 1-ish to 4-ish every week.

step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4

2. The Fox Point Luthern faux mitred corner:

This technique appears to be a traditional mitred corner and you may trim off extra fabric or leave it be depending on your personal preference. The steps are a little more complicated, but the principle starts the same, so here we go:

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4

Step 5

If you want to help out this group and have a little less time on your hands during the day, they meet once a month for an all-day quilt-in, the 3rd Tuesday of every month.



If you have a group that is interested in starting to make quilts for Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) or another world relief organization or local nonprofit and would like me to come give a start-up demonstration in tips and techniques in obtaining fabric, good design, and easy-to-learn techniques, I am more than willing to join you. Just contact me for an appointment. If you have finished quilts that you would like distributed locally or internationally, they can also be brought to the store for delivery to MCC. You can also donate your ugly duckling fabric to be made into quilts at the shop.

Store Scuttlebutt

I've had many people ask questions about the shop, things from the newsletter, and what it is I do all day. So I've decided the best way to handle some of these inquiries is to succumb to technology yet again and start this dialog. For the record, I'm currently dictating to Ben, the self-proclaimed computer junky because I hate computers so much I refuse to sit in front of one for one moment more than I need to. As a result, the first blog will not include any insight on him.

Topic 1: Why are there so many quilt shops closing in Milwaukee?
I personally believe that it is not that there are so many quilt shops closing that is prompting this questions, but rather the change in the shops available in the area. With the closing of a number of shops that catered to more traditional fabrics and garment making, and the opening of shops trying to supply new fabric forms, it suddenly became hard in Milwaukee to buy some of the quilting basics. That is the answer to topic #2.

Topic 2: Why did you open your shop?
Dovely Quilts opened as most of you know for 3 reasons. 3: I hate driving on the Interstate to go across town to buy one quarter yard of decent fabric. 2: My children were going to drive me crazy at home. 1: My sincere desire to make quilting accessible to as many people as possible, and my person strive to use my abilities & knowledge to identify, save, repair, and create quilts that will redefine quilting as an art in this current culture that seems to be forgetting some things just take time.

Topic 3: Do you talk this much all the time?
I often appear to be one of two people in the store: the overly outgoing social butterfly, or the solemn, studious person I was trained to be. When you come and visit the shop, please be aware that there really is only one person staffing the counter unless my husband is also present, then there's 1 & 1/2 (I had to get one comment in, and he's trained quite well). If I appear to wearing my somber hat, get me started, and I'll talk your ear off. If I've shown you twelve pictures of my children, please feel free to tell me to stop. I won't be offended either way.

I hope you've enjoyed a bit of an introduction to why this blog is here. And please feel free to still visit me in the shop. If you don't, I'll stop blogging. :-)

Check the newest edition of the Blankets & Cloth for detailed information about product offerings, classes, and photos of cool, new stuff.