Rainbow Quilts

Greetings, It is with sadness that I let you know that Verna R. (Pinch) Niemann, the daughter of William Bray Pinch passed away on January 29, 2008, she was 81years old. Her daughter-in-law Amy is working to bring back the much loved designs from the Rainbow Quilt Block Company of Cleveland, Ohio.

On a happier note, Pam, a fellow member of QHL (Quilt History List), sent me images of a summer spread and pillow cases her mother-in-law made, that I thought you might enjoy them. The summer spread has Sunbonnet motifs and the pillow cases have some Teddy Bears and Kewpies on them.

Pam pointed her MIL Alwynne, of Lake Placid Florida, to the blog, to which she wrote: "Louise tells of the Broome County quilting club, I perked up. I was born in Binghamton, NY which I think is in Broome County. She also mentions Johnson City. My great aunt lived there & I'd visit her. I was encouraged to bring my trumpet for Aunt Belle played the piano & we'd ride the bus to evening church so I could play. "

Pam is in Illinois, Alwynne is in Florida, and I am in New York - and the internet brought us together. It truly is a small world.

Of the Coast of New Sealand

A bit of departure of my normal postings, but I have had several requests to post some of the works I make. As you know I do quilt a bit of hand embroidery. I also like other hand work: crazy quilts and beading. Here is an example of a tote bag I made in 2006. It was a challenge from the Art Q mini-group I belong to. It is a small group of quilters that meet at each other’s homes every month. We like to try new and innovative techniques and create art quilt projects for our enjoyment.

Every year we try and have a challenge. In 2006, we decided to do a color scheme challenge. We finally chose Salmon, Olive and Teal as our color choice. We put types of ‘ingredients’ on slips of paper and passed around a hat and picked one out.

The following are the guidelines used we for the challenge:

1. Each participant will be assigned an ‘ingredient’ to provide. You will have ‘ingredients’ from everyone, including yourself, plus the original focus fabric. Ingredients: Cotton Fabrics, Glitzy Fabrics, Fibers/Yarns, Beads/Embellishments.

2. Our color scheme will be SALMON–TEAL–OLIVE. You may add other colors to your final creation; however, you piece should contain all three challenge colors.

3. You can create ANYTHING you want (wearable art, accessories, wall hanging, a doll, etc.)

4. You must use some of EVERY ingredient (but not all of every ingredient).


After recieving the 'ingredients' - they screamed sea creatures to me. Every evening for about four months I stitched the fishes while my sons did their homework. I applied the seaweed using fusible applique and machine stiched into place. After that, the fibers were hand-couched to the jeans background. [Yes, the bag is made from an old pair of jeans.] The 3-D creatures were finally sewn into place, along with the fish beads and shells.

It is always a conversation piece when I go to quilt shows or shop hops. I hope you enjoy it too.