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Monday, April 27, 2009

What to do with a doily? Quilt it of course!


I was recently invited to speak/teach for the quilt guild in Sunriver, Oregon. The person in charge of me, Sue Schimke, shared a picture of a doily that she crocheted and then quilted. It was beautiful and I asked her to share her story too. It touched my heart and know it will touch yours as well. Thank you for sharing Sue and see you in July!
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I have always loved crocheting and I have made a few doilies in the past, it always reminds me of my dear Grandmother. I grew up under her quilting frame and her hand work always fascinated me. When I tried hand work I found that I was a spaz with two needles, but a wiz with one.
This year two of my dear quilting friends lost their husbands, one suddenly and one very painfully. When my sweet cousin’s husband who was my age died quickly of a malignant brain tumor it all seemed just too much. I came across a wonderful book called Extra-Special Doilies by Mary Werst. I found that sitting and counting helped calm me down and helped me to ease the pain. I didn’t think that I was that good at crocheting but this was such an excellent book and every doily was so beautiful that I made every one in the book, some 2 or 3 times. My Aunt who still does tatting and makes lace showed me how to block and starch my doilies correctly. They are each so beautiful that I couldn’t imagine them under anything and I was trying to think of some way to incorporate them with my quilting. Maybe I could use them as centers in spacer blocks. Then we had Suzi Hokonson come to our guild and do a program on textile art followed by a workshop on framing your textile art. When she showed a doily that she had framed I knew right then and there that that was what I wanted to do with some of my doilies. I hope to frame a few more of them and I am really pleased with the first two. I really do look at them as artwork, and I like being able to look closely at them, or at a distance on the wall.
Sue Schimke

2 comments:

Mrs. Goodneedle said...

That is a stunning piece of artwork! Thanks for sharing this very special, inspirational, story.

Unknown said...

This is beautiful Sue!! Thank you Cindy for sharing her work. Another project to add to my growing list of what to do with doilies.