- Welcome to Lap Quilting.

Become inspired today to make a quilt from yesterday's patterns.

Our show entitled "Design Details" will focus on quilt classification.

Now, is it a four patch, a medallion, or a nine patch?

We're at the Dairy Barn in Athens, Ohio to view their latest exhibit and to make those discoveries.

Come on in.

[upbeat music] ♪ Could you imagine a more clever object?

♪ ♪ Warms the body, ignites the mind ♪ A child sleeps under mother's creation ♪ Together forever ♪ ♪ The art of the heart and design of the mind ♪ ♪ Puts you to bed one day at a time ♪ ♪ The art of the heart and design of the mind ♪ - [Narrator] Lap Quilting with Georgia Bonesteel is made possible in part by grants from Leisure Arts, publisher and distributor of needlework and craft publications, including an assortment of quilt books and related products.

By VIP Fabrics, a division of Cranston Print Works Company, America's oldest textile printer.

Additional funding by Omnigrid, the original patented black and yellow ruler, and by Bernina, delivering sewing technology and education to sewers worldwide.

- There are many types of quilt shows today.

They have a theme quite often, a flower show, a fabric challenge show, maybe a blue and white quilt show or patterns worth repeating, as in Ohio.

Each of these shows will be full of design and color.

There are thousands of quilt pattern names, but where does one start?

It helps to have guidelines and research books, like these encyclopedias that Barbara Brockman has compiled.

Why, she's put all the peace blocks and the applique in two separate books and they're even computerized now.

But to even look up a pattern, you have to learn the category name.

Is it a nine patch?

Is it a medallion?

Is it a star?

So let's have a study of these by viewing the Ohio Show and relate the category with each quilt.

This will help you plan to adapt a design, add to your repertoire if you're a teacher, and then place a value on your quilt for documentation purposes.

What a great idea for little folk.

We need to start early in design.

Just pieces of cardboard with Velcro on the back and look how you can start playing with patterns and create a whole new idea.

Before when we've come to the Dairy Barn, we've always seen contemporary quilts, but this time there's been a change.

Meet Sky cone, the curator who's gonna tell us about what's happening this time.

- Hello Georgia and welcome to the Dairy Barn, Patterns Worth Repeating.

Patterns Worth Repeating is a quilt show of traditional patterns that is used to kind of offset the contemporary quilt show.

This time we have chosen to focus on living quilters.

- Has it been well received?

- It's been very well received.

While everyone loves the contemporary quilt show, this Patterns Worth Repeating show is very well appreciated by people who like the traditional quilts.

Many of the creators of quilts in this show are members of clubs and groups, and what's neat is the whole focus of quilting while on making quilts is also for social interaction.

The members of the quilt groups get together, trade ideas, perhaps some new techniques they've come up with, and share them with their club members and yet catch up on day-to day life and day-to-day issues that involve all of them.

- We can get together and have social contact and friendly conversation and then look what we get out of it, a quilt.

- Exactly.

- Let's go look at them.

- [Sky] All right.

- And now a sampler quilt from Logan, Ohio.

Sky, tell us the story.

- This quilt is called The Ugly Quilt and the mission of the Quilting Club was to construct a quilt using all the ugly fabrics that the members have brought to quilt meetings.

And as you can see, it really works out very well and this was backed up by one of our patterns worth repeating visitors who is an artist who said that yes, while individually, some of these fabrics really are very unattractive, that they work well together and especially with the blue borders, anything else but the blue border, it would not have been as successful.

- When it comes to the classification, we definitely put this in multi-patch quilt.

Quite often quilts combine basic blocks.

Norma Arnold creates a four patch surrounded by log cabin accents in the courthouse style.

Yes, you see center triangles, but then each half square triangle is repeated four times, hence the four patch.

Nine patch quilts, even a double nine patch, can be identified by counting the equal divisions.

Once the square is found, Jeanette Kineff went one step further and put a nine patch inside a nine patch.

I really like her spider web quilting because it updates this pristine quilt.

Another nine patch with triangles takes on a new character Once the blocks are turned on point.

The random color here lend a unique style.

This pattern has been called cat's paw or wandering lover.

Log-cabin quilts would win any popularity contest, especially here with a medley of feed sacks.

What a lovely patina is created over this surface.

There's a subtle balance of light and dark logs added around the same red square.

Even the backing utilizes more feed sacks.

Jeanette was so pleased to explain details to us about her quilt.

This variation of log-cabin, since one inch strips are also used, is the pineapple quilt.

Diane Wallace completed this quilt where corner angle strips create a totally new design.

Foundation piecing is added to the popularity of this quilt today.

Star quilts come in many variations.

Quite often they are the springboard for another unique pattern.

Why, Ethel Brandt turned a simple 45 degree diamond into an eight pointed fish design.

To complete the design, she added quilted ships and more simplified fish on the border.

The quilts name, Fish and Ships Search and you can find the stars in this Easter Story Quilt by Mildred Harris.

Striped fabric adds interest to this overall concept and then plays funny games with your eyes.

Now meet Pearl Wyatt who combines stars with squares in her quilt.

Sometimes a quilt will not fall into a certain category.

Yes, we see stars here, but we see squares also.

How fortunate to be with the maker of this quilt, Pearl Wyatt from Gloucester, Ohio.

Tell us, Pearl, about the concept behind making this quilt.

- I seen this pattern in a quilt book some time ago and it was Abe Lincoln's mother's quilt.

It was done at that time in five eighths squares.

I decided that I wanted to redraft it into one inch squares so it would be a little easier to put together.

I also wanted to have a nice contrast with the darker shades so that it would enhance the quilt and bring out what I consider to be little logs.

- Oh, very good.

Well, it's quilted so beautifully and I understand you do lap quilting and give us some hints on how that works for you.

- Yes, I do.

I use the whole cloth on the back instead of the little squares and I sandwich everything together and I baste it securely and then I began quilting right in the center and I put my hand behind it and work out all of the wrinkles and all of the tucks.

- [Georgia] An Irish chain quilt is based on five divisions across.

It's a block which results in 25 little squares.

Of course, color placement makes the difference.

Priscilla Williams then named her quilt Rose Trellis because she added applique accents, really to soften all those right angles.

The basket quilt by Vicki Norris has some extra added attractions.

Remember our yo-yos?

Here there are flowers tucked around the handles.

It's these little additions that set one quilt apart from another.

Fan quilts are a definite category.

They involve some applique to secure these wedges to a foundation which leads us to a big part of every quilt show, the applique category.

Catherine Inman from Athens, winner of the very first American Quilter's Society quilt contest now shares some insight into her patriotic applique quilt.

- Well, I wanted to make a quilt that would show the meaning of pride in America, so to speak, and the eagle is a perfect symbol, of course, of our country and I wanted it to show protection of the United States, so I spread his wings from sea to sea.

- [Georgia] So you didn't just go out and buy that eagle and then put it on the quilt?

No, it was actually done with embroidery thread?

- [Catherine] Right.

- [Georgia] One feather at a time?

- [Catherine] One feather at a time.

The large feathers I used two strands of embroidery floss and the remainder of the eagle, I used one.

- [Georgia] Well, I think you gave me a price on exactly how much that cost too.

- Yes.

What was that?

- $38 and like 24 cents or something.

- This old fashioned princess feather quilt by Amy Nace really has a special character.

I like to study the scale in quilts like this and then study the colors, what a contrast, and then study the movement of each of those curves.

I grew up with a little Dutch girl quilt on my bed, which was a most repeated pattern, but look how these figures have been appliqued in an elaborate old fashioned manner.

Look how the crossover tree designs go from one block to the next.

My viewer's choice was this smashing black and white applique rose quilt.

Can you believe it was a group quilt?

It was so intriguing.

I found myself dissecting this quilt to find the repeated block that was forming the background.

Note how one block carries the same shape to the next segment.

Wow, what style, what beauty in this quilt.

Then our taping crew was allowed their viewer's choice and they chose this red, white, and blue floridly quilt, just aglow with beautiful repeat patterns, almost a-la Hawaiian curves.

The border unified the inside design with exquisite quilting.

Now Marilyn King completes our applique viewing.

Tell us the story behind this and how it started from a Christmas card.

- When I got this Christmas card, I decided to make this into a quilt for myself.

We lived on the yellow river in northern Wisconsin and it was real back-woodsy.

From my kitchen window, I would mow little paths in the woods to stroll through and I could see through my kitchen window the lovely virgin pines and the deer with their fawn tripping through the paths.

And I enjoyed this so much I wanted to capture that in a quilt.

- Your technique?

- My technique is a hand appliqued.

Normally I like to turn under my edges, but in this particular application, with all the lovely points and the points on the trunk area of the tree, I decided to use the raw edge method and I did fine embroidery floss in a buttonhole stitch - Medallion quilts start in the center with a motif and then radiate outward with repeat borders.

Yes, we discovered a feathered star with many of these elements.

Shirley Stutz is the maker.

A one patch design with rewarding results is this outstanding tumbling block quilt.

It's by Maxine Groves.

A 60 degree diamond takes on many visual ideas.

Do you see stars?

Do you see boxes?

Multi-patch blocks are happening more and more as today's quilters really expand and become more innovative.

The carpenter square block is the focal point for a wall hanging framed in sunny yellow by Judith McMullen.

But then look what happens when Becky Cole combines her castle block with another block.

Sometimes the same block has a different name.

She has added more triangles to create an eight pointed star in the overall viewing.

She certainly did not hold back in color.

Before you know it, she's got an eight pointed star.

We didn't see every category at the quilt show.

Remember there's the realistic block or the picture block when you see houses and animals and trains, that sort of thing that we design into blocks.

There is the diagonal four patch, which reminds us of the moon over the mountain.

Then there's the bar quilt.

I've always liked this particular pattern and I have a good example for you today.

It's a cheddar cheese, yellow and pink, very typical of the Amish and Mennonite type quilts.

So simple but yet so stunning.

We could put the Bargello quilt in that same category.

This is a quilt done by Jen Grundy vertical strips.

Now I want to thank the Display Away company for providing the racks or the hangers that we've been using for all of our quilts in the show.

Even my big quilt, these come in three models and they're like a piece of furniture.

They're most attractive.

They even come in a lit museum model.

It's called a harmless securing system where you don't have to use Velcro or any lattice strips.

And what happens is the quilt header or the top simply slips in this well and then these weights are gripped behind it and they pull down and keep the quilt in place.

If you don't wanna destroy any of the design at the top, you could simply baste on a little header to the top of your quilt.

We'd like to feature Marge Eddie's quilts now.

She actually started all of her quilting with the bargello technique and then she's gone to curves.

What looks like Hawaiian in this quilt above our mantle is really done in squares and I think it's most amazing how she's done this.

Notice the repeat, one corner four times.

Next to it, another square.

So it's not one big cutout piece of fabric.

You do get to work in sections, but we can't really put this even in a category, can we?

So much beauty.

And the option here is to do it either by hand or by the machine.

And here she's done some machine applique.

What a great Christmas quilt.

Our letter today is from Donna Nelson from Washington.

"Dear Georgia and company, I have been hanging in there "with you since your first TV series and your first book "and have finally hit a snag.

"I'm sure your more current measure cut sew methods "are more modern and efficient and time-saving, "but basically I'm a pattern person.

"The problem?

I cannot for the life of me "figure out the border on the attic window pictured on "page 61 of your first book."

Well, I have good news, Donna.

Every once in a while when books are reprinted, we have a chance to update some of those problems and I was able to put the how to method of the border on the attic windows in there and I'll share that with everyone right now.

It's very much like the Seminole system, but rather than starting with straight of the grain fabric, I started with bias cuts, cut them three and a half wide.

And I quite often use a spray sizing on this type of a cut so it stabilizes it.

Make your quarter inch seam allowance and then lining up on your mat with a straight of the grain.

I would cut that apart every three inches, not three and a half, but every three.

Then you would realign those cuts, alternating dark, light, dark, light and drop down the seam to one and a half inches.

In other words, I would use this as a gauge and come down every inch and a half, pin, and then sow that.

When you're all sewn, then you'd come and introduce your ruler again and make your cuts and remove your triangles.

And what you have is a tautness on the outside that straight of the grain and you have an interesting border at the same time.

Now, Donna mentioned that she likes to use templates and many of us still do.

They like that process of drawing around the template.

And we use plastic today we use grid grip and cereal boxes, whatever you're more comfortable with.

But the trend is with the speed cutting.

When I saw attic windows and got my old quilt out, it reminded me of how much I like that pattern, why I even have an attic windows in the sampler quilt.

It's a double attic windows with more than one diagonal.

But I also had a wonderful collection of my feed sack material.

Eats your heart out, ladies.

I have all these six inch squares and I thought, well, I'll put it into attic windows.

Well, I thought six inch square won't work because these that we trade are six inches, so I'll have to go down to five inches and not lose too much.

Now when you're doing attic windows, keep in mind that you are working with a mirror image so that if you cut out two of these quadrilaterals with the same diagonal, you're gonna run into this problem.

So we have to think about doing MIs, or mirror images.

I know that if I've got a square here and it's two and a half with my 0.5, I'm going to need three inch squares for this corner set.

Then I'll go to my ruler and cut this apart three inches, so I have very little waste, and putting the two right sides together, I then have found a secret that maybe you already know, but it just dawned on me.

If I take advantage of the fact that I know that from the right angle to the diagonal is 7/8, 0.875, and if I come from that right angle and give myself five and seven eighths, and then with the two right sides together, I introduce that 45 degree diagonal right on the straight of the grain here and I've got my 45 degrees and cut that, that cut includes my sea allowance on the diagonal too.

So then I'm all ready to sew and I have very little waste.

I mean I'd find a place for that some other place.

I'm then going to come and sew this and this together for my square.

As I'm sewing, I like to ponder and think about how I'm gonna put this together.

If you notice I have four design options once I get all my squares done.

I do know that I come up to a certain point, that quarter inch, I stop and back stitch because what is this?

An inside right angle.

I come and open up and then I know that this is coming over on this side and I'd probably line up my right angle, but I'd turn it over and sew on this side because see, I can stop right there where I've back stitched and I know exactly to come here down to that right angle.

And then what do I have?

Just a mitered corner.

But I am gonna stop and back stitch because that locks it in place.

Come like this and then I'm ready to put my diagonals out and I'm not gonna sew over that raw edge.

I'm gonna line up my points and start right where I back stitched and I'd have my block complete.

So I just have a lot of stitching to do and then I'll decide which way to put my quilt together.

[sewing machine whirring] Now meet Antonia Wolf, who is a quilt designer from Germany.

- I took a very curvy way to become a quilt maker in patchwork because I became a photographer first and it was just not enough.

I wanted to do something myself and not just photograph little children.

Then I went to a design school, did industrial design.

It was still not enough, so I went to a fashion school, University of Arts and did fashion design and through fashion design and my husband who's American, I came into patch working quilting.

- [Georgia] Do you work within the realms of a quilt group?

Do you have a guild or a club?

- In Berlin, we have a guild.

I mean Berlin and Germany is a huge town and we are a group of about 150 quilters.

That German quilters see it a little different than Americans.

It's not as easy for Germans.

It's always a piece of art.

And for me it's something in between.

I want to use it as a blanket.

I want to use it as a wall hanging to decorate a room and it's still a quilt.

- [Georgia] So you sleep under quilts?

- [Antonia] Yes, I do, but not under these.

- [Georgia] Ah, not under miniatures.

Well that's understandable.

Well, let's talk technique for a few minutes.

You're a machine piecer?

- Yes, I think I don't have a horse at home in the stable.

I use a car, so I'm a machine quilter and I really love the way the industry changes things over the years.

All of a sudden you can use metallic thread because it won't tear anymore.

I use an invisible applique method for applique and I do everything by machine I can.

- [Georgia] It allows us to do more, doesn't it?

- Yes, it's a lot faster.

- Well, of the process, what is your favorite part?

Is it the design part or is it the actual construction or maybe the finishing?

- It's depending on my mood.

If I have a slow day, I like to sit down and just quilt, hand quilt.

If I've been outside or if I've seen a big exhibit somewhere in Berlin, you know, there are these huge exhibits and I like art exhibits.

I go home and I start designing.

Or if I play with my daughter, I like to go over to my room and start designing because it always gives me great ideas, but I wouldn't know which I prefer.

It's just depending on the mood.

[upbeat music] ♪ Could you imagine a more clever object?

♪ ♪ Warms the body, ignites the mind ♪ ♪ A child sleeps under mother's creation ♪ ♪ Together forever ♪ ♪ The art of the heart and design of the mind ♪ ♪ Puts you to bed one day at a time ♪ ♪ The art of the heart and of the mind ♪ - [Narrator] Lap quilting with Georgia Bonesteel is made possible in part by grants from Leisure Arts, publisher and distributor of needlework and craft publications, including an assortment of quilt books and related products.

By VIP fabrics, a division of Cranston Print Works Company, America's oldest textile printer.

Additional funding by Omnigrid, the original patented black and yellow ruler, and by Bernina, delivering sewing technology and education to sewers worldwide.