Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Japanese Maple Quilt by William Steck

As those of you who read the blog from time to time know, I love sharing quilts by friends and students. Here's one by a former student and friend! This is "Japanese Maple Quilt," 43.5 x 36.5 inches, by William Steck. Years ago as a fairly new quilter, Bill took my class which was an introduction to Ruth McDowell's techniques and has gone on to take several workshops with Ruth. He does great work. This is just a lovely, lovely quilt and very timely for this time of year! Thanks to Bill for letting me share it on my blog.

Ruth was in town to teach classes at the Quilt Patch (www.quiltpatchva.com) and to give a lecture, which I attended. It was great to see Ruth and see some of her newest works up close and personal. I bought her latest book, Design Workshop, too. She told me that her book "Pieced Flowers," long out of print, is being reprinted! This is a fabulous book, and a great one to add to your collection. Check her website www.ruthbmcdowell.com for details on both of these books.
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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Betsy,
My sister just got engaged, and I am looking for the perfect gift for the wedding/engagment. My sister and her fiance love japanese maple leaves, and I would love to make them a quilt! If there is anyway you could help me out with any information on how to go about making this quilt, or any tips you may have I would greatly appreciate it. I am an expirenced sewer, but have only made a couple quilts in my time..which were pretty basic...so any help at all would be much appreciated. Thank you so much!

Betsy True said...

The best advice I can give you is to go to your local quilt shop or look online for a pattern with maple leaves. There are a lot of them out there. That would be a good starting point.

A quilt is a great gift. You need to think about how big you want to make it and how long it will take. Bed size? Wall hanging?

You've already made some quilts but if you're unsure about your quilting, you may want to think about pieceing/appliqueing the top and then having someone else quilt it. A local quilt guild or quilt shop would be good sources for finding a quilter.

Betsy