Iowa Star Quilts

11/07/2022

This makes me happy! I heard from Cathi, from LaCrosse, WI. Her guild used my Gandiegow Matchmaker's pattern to make their raffle quilt. The quilt is beautiful AND they made money! Here's what Cathi had to say:

Hello,
Would you believe we have finally had our quilt show here in La Crosse on Oct. 21 and 22. We made the raffle quilt the summer of 2021. I am sending you an email thank you because of the great picture I got of me with the quilt! We sold over 2,000 tickets! Since I did most of the “putting together” I got really attached to it! The batiks were all donated by the members and we purchased the grunge background! We made kits for the various blocks and had members sew them together. Then I got busy and put it together. I also had to design the outside border because of an issue we had with over cutting the grunge. It was a great pattern and I am so glad to have been in charge of making it. Thank you so much for the pattern!"

09/26/2022

We're offering free shipping on any patterns through Friday, 30 September! You can see them at www.IowaStarQuilts.com

Iowa Star Quilts - OnLine quilt fabrics and scrap quilt designs

09/13/2022

I finally got the body of this one put together. I'm still not sure what I want to do with the border. Hmmm.

09/01/2022

Tammy Hemmer -- if you're out there in Quiltland somewhere would you please contact me?

08/29/2022

Starting today thru Sept. 3rd if you purchase any quilt patterns we'll cover the shipping costs!
www.IowaStarQuilts.com

08/08/2022

I'm feeling a little crazy right now. (Honestly, that's nothing new!) My brain is working faster than my sewing machine. I've got 4 (count them! 4!) new quilt designs that I'm working on! Plus, I've got a new mystery quilt coming together in my head! Good grief!

08/01/2022

I actually sent out a newsletter from my website today. I know! I'm shocked too! I honestly don't like being on the computer and I've put off working on my website and doing a newsletter for far too long. It's pitiful. (I would so much rather be in my sewing room!
The newsletter was to let people know that we have two (relatively) new patterns -- Celebration! and Sticks & Stones. Plus, we added a bunch of new background fabrics to the website. You can find it all at www.IowaStarQuilts.com.

05/09/2022

My Paducah Report. Let me preface things by saying that we had a wonderful show and a great time and we are very grateful to everyone that visited our booth, bought from us or just simply stopped in to say hello!
We've vended at Paducah for almost 20 years and it's always been my favorite show. I've missed it the past two years and was delighted that they decided to hold it this year. Things were different - not bad just different.
We got to stay with and spend time with a dear friend, see vendor friends that we've missed and THE DOGWOODS WERE BEAUTIFUL!
The show quilts and special exhibits were, as usual wonderful and plentiful -- nothing new there. However, rather than having a number of different venues for displaying quilts/vendors there were only two -- the Convention Center (both the main floor and upstairs) and the Pavilion (where we were relocated).
We'd had our booth in the Pavilion several years ago so that wasn't a problem for us and thankfully our regular customers (and new customers too!) were able to find us. We got to visit with our regular customers (which is always a treat!) and we met a lot of new folks who were able to take the time to chat. Without fail -- everyone who stopped by our booth was happy and grateful that the show was back and they were having a terrific time -- and so were we!
The only complaints that we heard were that the show was smaller (fewer venues), they thought attendance was somewhat down, that there weren't as many vendors as usual and that there were a number of non-quilt-related vendors. When we spoke with people about those complaints they all seemed to understand that after two years of not having a show that it's going to take a while to build everything back up.
I still love Paducah and it's still my favorite show! It's going to take a little time, energy and ingenuity to built the show back up to it's former "glory" -- but I think this year was a good start and I have every faith that the AQS is capable of making it happen!

04/30/2022

The show is over, we're all packed up and waiting for our turn to load. All the beautiful things are gone and it's just an empty "bubble" again.

04/30/2022

Oh boy!!! Look!!!! A gorgeous quilt made from my Zigzag 9 pattern is featured in the AQS 2023 calendar!! Betty Jacobson, if you're out there please contact me so I can thank you!

04/30/2022

It's the last day of the show. Look who our neighbors are!

04/29/2022

Good morning! I didn't even get a chance to post anything yesterday because we got busy -- which is great! This morning I took a couple of pics of the halls around us. The people have just started coming in.