- [Georgia] Raffle quilts, sometimes called opportunity quilts, go full circle to generate money and goodwill in the community.

See how Middletown, Ohio reaches out on an international scale with the Ukrainian doll quilt.

♪ 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 a time ♪ ♪ The art of heart and design of the mind ♪ [calm music] - [Announcer] Lap quilting with Georgia Bonesteel is made possible in part by grants from Omnigrid, the original patented black and yellow ruler, by Leisure Arts, publisher and distributor of needle work and craft publications, including an assortment of quilt books and related products.

Additional funding by Fairfield Processing, maker of Polyfil brand products for the home, sewing, quilt and craft industries, and by Bernina, delivering sewing technology and education to sewers worldwide.

- Middletown, Ohio has a unique program of sharing with a different country each year.

We start today with an explanation of the goals of Middfest with Virginia Ritan.

Virginia, it's so nice to be in Middletown.

And tell us about the purpose of Middfest and as executive director, what is your role here?

- Well, the purpose of Middfest is to focus on different parts of the world each year and by bringing people from that country and working to know all we can about it, present it, present their story to the community.

- [Georgia] I liked it when I read it.

You encourage their differences and the likenesses that go on, which is very good.

And so you are the one that scouts out in the countries and brings people back culturally and artistically?

- Yes, yes.

We work always with the embassies and other organizations that are in this area, but then wherever possible, whenever possible we travel to the country and get a feel for the people and often bring back things that we would never have found any other way.

- [Georgia] What a full day we had.

We attended the luncheon program where entertainment centered around music from the play "The Quilters."

- Happy birthday to Jamie.

Happy birthday on the eve of your majority.

- [Georgia] As we glanced around the room, we saw the decorations were complete with what else?

Glorious quilts, Marge Colon explained.

- These quilts were all made by a young married couple who are artists.

Their names are Oleg and Irina Kirilenko and they're from Kharkov in Ukraine.

They were introduced to quilting in 1990 by a Cincinnatian Debbie Hall who visited their community and showed Irina along with some other ladies what American quilts are like.

And Debbie brought with her, American fabrics from the Ohio Valley Quilters Guild and also a poster showing a quilt that the Ohio Valley Quilters Guild made depicting Cincinnati's bicentennial.

So that inspired Irina to take the fabric home, show her husband and undertake making a quilt showing the city where they live in Ukraine.

The technique is interesting in that the figures were basted together, the whole quilt was sandwiched and then they did the quilting and applique stitches are one and the same.

They're machine and applique stitched.

- [Georgia] Exposed in, but very nicely done.

- [Marge] Very, very well done.

- With a doll quilt as a background, a storyteller, Elvira Faye brought old timey quilt stories to the stage.

That was before the main event, drawing the winning ticket.

Okay, I won't look, I promise that, I promise, but we'll leave a little suspense here.

I wanna kind of feel the right one.

I wanna make sure here that, oh gosh, I think I got it.

Well before our eyes, the quilt had a new owner, but we got to see it as I taught a workshop that afternoon.

How many times have you played with these intriguing wooden dolls that dutifully stack into each other for a complete set?

Now you can recreate these adorable dolls and cloth to decorate your bedroom.

A collection of nesting dolls stacked neatly on four shelves to highlight all of your favorite rich paisley fabric.

You might not have won the full size quilt, but you can always make one row that becomes a shelf.

The nesting dolls are made from wood that's called lime wood in this country sometimes called bass wood.

It takes a long time to grow.

A romantic legend says that it grows for 300 years, stands still for 300 years and takes another 300 years to die.

I hope they keep making those nesting dolls.

The wall hang is based on a foundation, the background fabric, that is cut 15 and a half inches deep and 44 and a half inches wide.

Notice that attached to that is a four inch bottom shelf that the dolls sit on.

They come down when they're appliqued rather than going to the scene.

On each side there are dark shadows with mitered corners and then at the top there's what we call a topper.

And I've put a little ledge on that, a little black hangover that comes down.

Let me show you how that is made.

Start with bias that's cut one inch wide, fold in half.

When that is pressed, then I put the raw edge right against the topper.

Take a quarter inch seam and that allows the fold to be revealed, when you turn that under, then I would stitch in the ditch, see that channel right along here, and secure it to the topper.

Notice that in this particular wall hanging, I've done, well, I've increased the family.

I've added two middle size figures on either side of the large one.

Now the big dilemma as always is the color selection.

You wanna make sure that when you choose the fabrics that they don't all run into each other so that there is a contrast from each one.

And I would add a geometric, a platter, a stripe.

In Middletown, we spend a lot of time selecting our fabrics.

We wanna think Russian paisley, we wanna think about our gilded fabric today.

Some of the gold and silvers and I've got a nice selection here, some of them.

This one really looks, I think Russian.

And the thing you wanna keep in mind is when you select the large and then the medium and the small, you don't want the colors to run together.

And I think it's nice to put a geometric in there.

It kind of settles the print.

Something that would be either a stripe or a little check or a plaid and then your tiny calicos to go with it.

I think if you selected something like this, all of these, they're all just gonna kind of run in together.

I think I'd wanna have something that has more of a contrast.

I think I'd wanna go, oh, even something like this and like this and like this gets kind of yummy, 'cause then I can see them.

Then I see more of a distinction between them.

The dolls are connected with a gentle curved seam where they fit snugly into each other.

In Ohio, I taught the ladies three different ways to do applique.

The first way would be to simply take your pattern and press it on the backside of your fabric.

Notice that you're gonna be able to line up the lines of your pattern with your fabric so you're keeping the grain line in place.

Each instance, once that's pressed on there, it's gonna stabilize your bias edges and on your flat surface and with your see-through ruler, I go ahead.

Even your rotary cutter and your see-through ruler adds your quarter inch all the way around, these applique patterns are given with the exact turn under edge.

So you know you're gonna add your excess for your seam allowance.

Here, here and here.

You'll notice that there's a little mark up here at the top where these sew together and that allows you to pin your pieces here and at the top.

And that's a gentle enough curve that I find that it's very easy to stitch that on the sewing machine.

I do snip where you've got this concave curve, I snip that a little bit.

Those of you that do hand applique and hand piecing, you might wanna just piece that together.

But these two are made to fit together.

And the third one is the same way.

So this is the first way and that is to just iron this on the backside, using this as a pattern to cut your seam allowance out, mark where these are gonna go together and then simply cut out, leaving your quarter inch seam allowance, got that one.

The second way is to take your template and press it on the right side of your fabric.

And I'm still using this outside edge as a guide to cut your quarter inch seam allowance.

I'm still marking up here where they're gonna piece together and I pull that off in order to piece the three dials together.

I then go back and press this on the front side of the fabric, again.

A lot of people enjoy keeping the paper on and then simply turning the fabric back as far as it'll go.

In other words, the nice thing about this is that you don't have to pull your paper or cut your foundation behind later on.

Once that's applique you just peel it off and you know you can always zap it again with your iron so that that cut edge is a guide to turn under the fabric.

You can visually see it go back, but you do have to press it on again after you have the set sewn together.

Do you understand how that would work?

Okay, for our last method, I would go ahead and press your freezer paper on the front of your fabric, using it as a guide to cut out.

Then pulling that off, bring it around to the backside of your fabric so the poly coated side is exposed.

That means that your seam allowance can be pressed on that poly coated side and I like that very well to do on each of the three pieces.

However, where the two dolls connect, I would simply leave that a straight seam so that you can applique that on top of the raw edge.

Once the raw edges are turned under in this particular style, notice that it will fall right on top of the raw edge of the next doll.

Then this one will turn under and go on top of the next one.

Of course, you could always turn to machine applique.

The finishing touch are the faces themselves.

Notice how when you cut out that opening, you can then start thinking about a reverse applique technique and that is nothing more than taking that face.

You can even double it if you're gonna use embroidery thread.

And I'm gonna put my thimble on here and once you have sewn and flip the black fabric to become the hair, then you'll simply be doing a little stem stitch here to outline it with your embroidery thread.

You could always use fabric paint.

I like to then cut an opening to press on here and then with your stencil paint, come and put those rosy cheeks on.

This wall hanging is a duplicate.

I cut out two when I made this since I knew it was going to be a raffle quilt for the American Rhododendron Society.

Yes, they let me draw the winning ticket this time too.

This international society is a nonprofit organization.

Its purpose is to encourage interest in and to offer information about rhododendrons and azaleas.

Trace the seasonal transformation of the rhododendron as it changes from winter to fall.

The mountains of the blue ridge set the stage behind the strip picture piecing.

In North Carolina, we can detect the temperature by the state of the rhododendron leaves.

In below freezing weather, the leaves curl up and they hang straight down.

Now this quilt has a little ways to go.

Please excuse the basting threads.

I plan to take this to the sewing machine with more of that metallic thread, but my system here was the strip piecing and a little hint for you is to use that fusible knit interfacing to iron right on the back of the silk fabric.

Then I did strip piecing with the grid grip and numbered each of the templates, pressed it right on the back of that fabric and before I knew it, it was all done, except for the quilting.

Let's talk circles.

Maybe you feel like you're going around in circles trying to fit patchwork into your busy life.

I like the circles that I've picked up here on one of the islands made from the mulberry tree.

All sorts of designs that lead us in an entirely new angle.

Here, the patchwork world is put in a 14 inch block.

It's nice to know that it is a four patch so that I can concentrate on just one square and that square would be seven inches.

What I have done is to simply cut out a seven inch square with my yardstick beam compass and the point at one corner, I can then come and make that nice arc all the way.

So the template falls right off the edge of the paper.

That means that I can divide the spheres up by further using the flexor curve once, twice, and then turning it just a gentle curve, the kind that's gonna be easy to sew in the sewing machine By cutting one of these out, I realize that this particular, well, each of these are going to be repeated four more times, but this time I would put the two right sides up and then the other two fabrics with the wrong side up.

That way I can cut out four at one time.

Another favorite circle quilt of mine is done by Barbara Pretty Rambeau, is called Circle of Friends.

The style and soft color concept of this quilt spoke to me while it hung at the Asheville Quilt Show in North Carolina.

It has so many unique characteristics in a circular theme, from the individual quilting lines to the unique play of over and under designs.

The Circle of Friends title refers to the coordinated fabric that blends so well with each other, and I see the orange peel design here too.

Now for Dutch treat tiptoe through the tulips with wooden shoes to discover many Holland memorabilia, all stitched in blue and white fabric.

Inspired by a trip to Delft, searching out special shades of blue in fabric shops.

From Vlissingen to Amsterdam, plus my own fabric stash at home brought this circular sampler to life.

Four circles set in a 36 inch square focus on different aspects of Holland.

I'd like to share with you how I did the designing of that.

Knowing that we were going to have 36 inch squares meant that I could deal with an 18 inch square or the quarter section of that, so I simply cut that 18 inch square out, used my yardstick beam compass, and this time actually put it on a yardstick.

I was able to then from one corner all the way down to this corner, just draw that arc again.

Notice how my pencil will come right down to that nothingness as it almost fades out.

Going back to our globe that I just showed you, knowing that the quarter section would fit right here, and then this would be the middle of that circle or the center of that square.

I could then decide on the size borders I wanted.

First one and then another, and then I have this odd shape here.

This becomes the quarter section for that whole block.

One little tip I'd like to share with you is when you cut the background fabric out, the one that's going to square it up, remember that even though the paper disappears up here, you want to extend that fabric down to the 18 inches plus the quarter inch for a seam allowance on each end.

The next block that I'd like to feature is called yakety yak, and of course that was done out of respect for MC Escher when we were in Holland.

It is based the little block on a six inch square.

I did a one diagonal that is in equal parts, in other words, two inches down here, two up here, four and four, and then just created the nose and the mouth to get a black and white contrast.

The little tip I have for cutting it out here is that when you will take this template, don't put the two wrong or right sides together.

This light shape and the dark are cut with both of the good side of the fabric up so that you can cut two at one time.

Notice how I finished this little wall hanging, was a combination of my hand quilting and the machine quilting and of course, to complete the border I used the alphabet in my machine and simply quilted yakety yak repeatedly.

Now for the windmills, they're in all sizes to decorate the sky across Holland.

Working with three sizes, 12, six and three inches, I dropped these twirling blades into the circle motif.

Another familiar motif was of rectangular shutters with a dark and light diagonal broken up by a center circle.

I spotted this on homes, churches, and even castles, so it became a natural to set this within a circle.

The cup and saucer printed fabric finds a home in that circular barter surrounding the motif.

This quilt is filled with genuine hospitality from my newfound Dutch friends and the love of quilt making that we all share.

All right, hang on to your tams.

We're gonna give you a little mini review of some of the shows that we have shared throughout this series.

We started the series with angles, 45 and 60.

This quilt was made with the equilateral triangle, one template done in many, many fabrics, mostly our leftover plaid scraps.

At the edges, we just cut off those triangles in order to put two borders on.

Not sure what to do with these, maybe another series for this.

It was machine quilted on my big quilting machine.

Then we went to show number two where we studied easy ways to do the spool and the bow tie, one that has a dimensional square in the center.

This quilt, the antique bow tie, was shared with us by Irene Hoag.

If this quilt could talk, what would it say?

- [Narrator] I was created and completed in Wisconsin in the late 1800s by farm wife Ingleborg Ness, the consummate farm wife, she raised nine children, so there were many beds to cover.

Having lost her home and barn to fire, Ingleborg was terrified by electrical storms and during the fury would hide in her bed.

Her granddaughter, Irene Hoag, hid with me in the storage boxes and munched on molasses cookies and apples.

Come fall, the mice found their way into the house.

They feasted on the leftover crumbs and also nipped at my edges.

- After our visit with Mary Barton, I just had to try making the block that she spied her mother kneeling on in the garden.

It's a pinwheel block and this time no templates because I relied on the calculator.

I hope all of you are turning to this little tool that we use every day to balance our checkbook.

This time, 10 inches, half of 10 is five, and I know that I'm going to simply add 0.875.

That's the seven eights so that I know I will cut a five and seven eights little square, two of them and cut on the diagonal to give myself the four white triangles.

Then I go to this area and half would be two and a half, 2.5 plus, and this time it's the 0.875 again to give me the three and seven eights, which will be the two contrasting fabrics I'll cut out in order to give myself these squares, once I do that quick piecing and I'll use that same dimension to cut out the rest of the triangles and before you know it, your block would be done.

We then had a chance to go to Scotland and plaids and tartans everywhere.

The check and double check quilt takes on a whole new flare when you put it into a Greek shepherd's coat.

This time I edge the wool pockets and the sleeve and the hood with a big buttonhole stitch.

And then we did the tie show.

Wasn't it fun seeing all the different ways to work with men's neck ties?

I think they look pretty good right on the wall.

The chair is all woven, let me check it out and see.

Yep, it works, I finished the jacket, put the knit tubing both at the neckline and around the arms and around the bottom, and I think I'll get some fun wear out of this.

Then we went out west.

I hope you enjoyed our two shows out in Bozeman, Montana, the Nine Quarter Circle Ranch.

I'm getting ready to go back there.

I hope you can join me sometime.

We worked with all that fabric that has the printed Western scenery on it and completed the whole ensemble for the bedroom here with a view on the trail, pillow sham, ultra swayed, cut in quarter inch strips to become the fringe for the behind and also all around the outside.

Still quilting.

And now to say goodbye for our 800 series of lap quilting.

Thank you for being out there.

I hope you have gotten to see all the 13 shows.

If not, wait for the reruns.

Let your local program director know of your interest in our quilt show.

This is always a melancholy time for me.

With two years of preparation, it's over too soon.

The series could not have been done without a great production crew, my ever present producer, Bill Hanna and Kathy Sullivan in the control room.

While she counted seven wonderfuls in a five minute period one day, I just can't help but being enthusiastic about our quilts.

I hope that you have enjoyed our Easy Does It quilt series.

Savor the simplified process, delight in your color selection of all your fabric, get involved in the process which you can control with tangible results, a warm, wonderful quilt.

Goodbye for now.

[calm music] ♪ Warms the body, ignites the mind ♪ ♪ 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 ♪ [calm music] - [Announcer] Lap Quilting with Georgia Bonesteel is made possible in part by grants from Omnigrid, the original patented black and yellow ruler, by Leisure Arts, publisher and distributor of needle work and craft publications, including an assortment of quilt books and related products.

Additional funding by Fairfield Processing, maker of Polyfil brand products for the home, sewing, quilt and craft industries, and by Bernina, delivering sewing technology and education to sewers worldwide.