My friend Joan and I traveled to Port Gamble last night to see a lecture by celebrated quilting icon Gwen Marston. It was hosted by local quilt shop Quilted Strait in the Port Gamble Vista Pavilion – the view of the sound was nothing short of spectacular!
Gwen’s vibrant personality radiated joy as she talked about her creative process. A treat to hear her talk in person about liberated quilt making. She’s also very funny!
At the beginning she mentioned that all of the quilts she’d brought were hand quilted by her except for one tied quilt. I wasn’t sure I heard that correctly! This was the tied quilt and yes, ALL the other quilts were hand quilted. I don’t think I could accomplish that much quilting in my lifetime. Truly amazing. Her hand quilting frame is always set up in her home and she always has a quilt loaded to be worked on.
The story I enjoyed most was about teaching a class where she went around the room and in a very nonchalant way gathered scraps of solids that people were throwing into the trash. She then went back to her room and began sewing them together. She thought that starting with odd shaped scraps is a good exercise for experimenting with improvisational piecing. It takes many of the decisions out of the process and allows you to work intuitively with what you have. A simple and powerful idea to loosen up and get started.
A liberated rail fence. Gwen is a walking encyclopedia of quilt history. Many of her designs begin with a traditional block as a starting point.
She’s inspired by antique quilts and pointed out elements of traditional techniques as she went through her show and tell. Very enlightening and inspiring to see the connections.
The picturesque scenery in Port Gamble is breathtaking. A magical evening for sure.
Happy 3-Day Weekend Sewing! xoxo Kathy
Kathy Mack
Carrie + Diana
yummeeeee!
Lucky you!! I’ve always liked Gwen Marston and her liberated approach to quilting.
What a fabulous opportunity! I still can’t unclench my hand from my ruler so really need to find a class to help me overcome this.
We Love Color was at my door last night and it is a wonderfully inspirational book! Wouldn’t it be so nice if you offered kits of your quilt? Yes, it surely would!
Working on it right now Sue!
Thank you!!!
Fun for you!
I love her liberated quilt ideas, which I find a bit hard for me to do, but I’m working on it.
Sounds like an amazing experience and what a talented and inspiring artist! Her quilts are wonderful. Happy long weekend to everyone at Pink Chalk!!!
Thank you Melanie, you have a great weekend too!
Thanks for sharing….that was simply delightful !
So refreshing to know that there are quilters still
hand quilting ! Hooray ! Beautiful work….
Enjoyed your post & pictures. Must have been wonderful! I love pulling out her books and just creating – so liberating and makes piecing stress-free for me! I love to just let the fabric & whatever I’m feeling dictate the block! I have her Liberated Medallion book being delivered tomorrow!! I prefer to hand quilt too, but it means I don’t finish a quilt very often!!
I’ve been lucky enough to take a couple of classes with Gwen over the years. I’d so love to do it again! She is so inspiring.
I had never heard of her, thanks for the post. Her work does remind me of Gee’s Bend Quilts, a group from Alabama that I was introduced to when I moved to the South. Talk about liberating.
I love Gwen’s work. In fact I’m a Gwen freak. Lucky you to be able to attend one of her talks. Sadly I don’t think I’ll ever be able to.
What an amazing opportunity! I love the quilts and the anecdotes you shared plus it looks like the room was really full of natural light which is always a bonus.
Beautiful and inspiring!
A happy long weekend for you too!!
Wish I had been there. I’m a sponge soaking up every inch of knowledge I can get.
Love Gwen’s quilts…thanks so much for sharing Kathy!! Lucky you!
I’m really very lucky to be taking a class with Gwen Marston next October in Sisters. Really looking forward to it a lot, hope to learn, learn, learn!
Oh what fun Kathy! Thanks for sharing.
I would have loved to hear her speak. Thanks for sharing some highlights.
Her book is one of my all time favorites – thanks so much for sharing this!
Kathy – Thank you for the wonderful description and photos of Gwen’s lecture. She is my absolute favorite professional quilter and I literally buy every book she ever writes, because she is THE BOMB when it comes to quilting.
We’re on a trip to Iowa and stopped in Paducah at the National Quilt Museum, and saw Gwen has a another new book out – Liberated Medallion Quilts! Of course I snapped it up, and I’ve been delighted to look through it as we travel.
I’ll definitely be making a Liberated Medallion soon.
The final quilt in my post is from that book. I really enjoyed her reflections on how that book came about. A true inspiration!
Gwen’s story reminds me of how I learned to quilt. As my aunt and mom would quilt or knit, I would sit with the basket of scraps they collected for me and piece doll cradle quilts. They taught my sister and me how to piece basic blocks and assemble my quilt when done (using an old something-or-other for batting).
I didn’t realize people actually bought fabric just for a quilt until I started quilting for my kids’ school auctions. And I’m still not sure how to machine quilt! Books make it sound pretty complicated – especially the binding. I’m glad I know it can be simple if I don’t overthink the process.
(My aunt’s grandmother was from Iowa, and I’m old — but not that old! I also have my great-grandmother’s sampler quilt from when she was a girl; she embroidered 1896 in the center square with her initials. I’m embarrassed to tell you where it is right now…let’s just say, we use it.)
I LOVE that you use that quilt Robyn. That’s why we make them and you’ve allowed yourself to enjoy
that gift – wonderful!
Thank you for sharing the pictures and comments about Gwen’s lecture. Wish I had been there… Her quilts are very inspiring!
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