Welcome!
Browse through this site and you will find a wide range of information about the Nebraska State Quilt Guild. If you’re not already a member, we hope you will join us! As a member, you will receive our newsletter six times a year, either the paper version, or the online version (your choice). You will also be supporting the community outreach programs of the guild. Two of our most popular programs are the regional Quilt Gatherings we sponsor and the Library Project, where we donate a quilting book to every public library in the state every year.Click here for a membership form.
QuiltNebraska 2012
Quilt Magick
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“Magic of the Rose” Raffle Quilt 2012 was unveiled Saturday night, July 30th at QNE 2011. Quilt Chairman, Marie Clark, and her Committee of Gloria Miller, Joan Waldman and Sandra Kosch used “today’s fabrics” and embellishments to create this year’s raffle quilt. A tattered portion of an antique quilt inspired the “Magic of the Rose” quilt. Quilt Mom Connie Jensen was asked many times for her input and help. Countless hours were spent preparing the appliqué pieces, applying them and constructing this original quilt. Kris Vierra of Kris’s Custom Quilting added the beautiful machine quilting.
“Magic of the Rose” was entered in the International Machine Quilter’s Showcase, 2011 Quilt Show hosted by the International Machine Quilters Association. The quilt received the following honors: Honorable Mention in Class, Piecer’s Award and Viewer’s Choice.
Tickets and note cards were sold at QNE 2011 will be available from Quilt Mom Connie Jensen throughout the year. If you would like to display the quilt and have raffle tickets available for sale, contact Connie Jensen. The drawing for the quilt will be at QNE 2012 in LaVista on July 28, 2012. Connie Jensen can be reached at: 8460 36th Ave., Columbus, NE 68601, 402-563-4123, cbjense@frontiernet.net.
“Magic of the Rose” was entered in the International Machine Quilter’s Showcase, 2011 Quilt Show hosted by the International Machine Quilters Association. The quilt received the following honors: Honorable Mention in Class, Piecer’s Award and Viewer’s Choice.
Tickets and note cards were sold at QNE 2011 will be available from Quilt Mom Connie Jensen throughout the year. If you would like to display the quilt and have raffle tickets available for sale, contact Connie Jensen. The drawing for the quilt will be at QNE 2012 in LaVista on July 28, 2012. Connie Jensen can be reached at: 8460 36th Ave., Columbus, NE 68601, 402-563-4123, cbjense@frontiernet.net.
We Have Design Winners for Two Special Quilt Projects
Homestead National Monument Quilt Design Competition Winner is Jan Stehlik
Congratulations to Jan Stehlik (Dorchester, NE) on her award winning design, “Images of Homesteading” for the Homestead National Monument of America to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Homestead Act of 1862. The quilt top will be constructed during the upcoming winter months in time to be hung behind the original Homestead Act signed by Abraham Lincoln on display from the National Archives in the spring. The quilt will be handquilted by NSQG members and the Homestead Quilting Club in time for display at QuiltNebraska 2012 in July. Following this, the quilt will be returned for permanent display at the Homestead National Monument of America near Beatrice, Nebraska. This contest was sponsored by The Nebraska State Quilt Guild and Homestead National Monument of America. This quilt will honor thousands of homesteaders who made quilts to warm their bodies, to act as curtains, bed coverings, and room dividers in their homes, and to express themselves through quilting.This quilt is quite reminiscent of Stehlik’s book, Sod House Treasures and Other Nebraska Quilt Patterns, written and published in 1984. The quilt size will be 50 by 70 inches and will hang vertically. The words “Homestead Act 1862” will appear in the quilt between a row of Flying Geese at the top of the quilt and central motif of nine blocks. These are from Stehlik’s book: Windmill, Star, Four Winds, Wild Rose, Goldenrod, Cabin House, Cornhusker Star, Moldboard Plow, and Cottonwood. The bottom will feature a lower border of Prairie Trails and Wagon Roads on point. Side borders will feature curves of applique to represent the streams and rivers that define boundaries and passages as well as early walking trails across the state.
This quilted wall hanging for the Homestead National Monument of America is Nebraska State Quilt Guild’s way of honoring all the homesteaders and quilters who established the pioneer part of our country. It is a way for us to recognize our history. Jan notes, “I love the quilt traditions, and I love Nebraska flora, fauna, history, and people. Based on some traditional quilt designs, this quilt embodies all those traditions”.
Jan Stehlik is a retired art instructor teaching many years at Dorchester Public Schools. Her interest in quilting came through her work with Lutheran World Relief quilts of which she is still a part. During the early years of Nebraska State Quilt Guild, Jan served as Education Chair beginning the Quilting in the Classroom Program. She is also a member of Lincoln Quilt Guild, American Quilt Study Group and Blue Valley Quilt Guild at Seward. Stehlik co-chaired the first Quilt History Day held at Dorchester in conjunction with the Nebraska Quilt History Project. Jan has given quilt programs for over 37 years all over Nebraska. She has also been an instructor for QuiltNebraska and other classes. One of her special interests is quilt history. Stehlik’s research on the Omaha World Herald’s Quilts was published in Uncoverings, 1990. She is an active member of the Saline County and Milford Area Historical Societies. Jan’s most recent accomplishment was co-designer and co-piecer of the NSQG Raffle Quilt, “Stars Across Nebraska....and beyond, 2011.”
NSQG is looking forward to the creation of “Images of Homesteading.” Members who are interested in helping with the construction of the quilt top are asked to contact Susan Weber (susanjweber4@yahoo.com). If you are willing to share vintage fabrics or Civil War era reproduction fabrics, either send them to Susan or let her know. The committee has several members already, but can use more. Funding for this quilt will come from Frieda Weber Memorial monies. Frieda was the aunt of Susan Weber’s husband, Marvin. She was a school teacher and had a fondness for quilts. Frieda Weber would be proud of this joint venture between NSQG and the Homestead National Monument of America.
Submitted by Susan Weber, NSQG President 2011
Governor's Mansion Quilt Design Competition Winner is Shelly Burge
Congratulations to Shelly Burge on her award winning design, “Meadowlark Dance,” to be constructed and quilted during 2012. The winning design was chosen by the Governor’s Mansion Residence Committee during their October meeting. Upon completion of the quilt, it will hang in the Governor’s Mansion in Lincoln as a gift from NSQG to and for the people of Nebraska. Shelly will be involved with a group of interested NSQG members in the making of the quilt. She will draft the pattern which is basically eight elongated triangle shaped blocks for the center and four right angle triangles to fill out the corners. Shelly will help with fabric selection as well as quilting designs. Merikay Berg has volunteered to hand quilt this very special quilt which will be given as a gift to our state.Shelly Burge began quilting in 1973, “just to use up fabric scraps”. She started entering quilted items in the Nebraska State Fair in 1977 and has received close to 150 ribbons including four Pride of Nebraska awards. Her quilts have won numerous honors in national quilt contests such as the IQA, NQA and AQS shows, plus her work has been exhibited in Europe, Russia and Japan.
Shelly started teaching quilting in 1983. Her resumé includes teaching at numerous Houston Quilt Festivals, NQA, and AQS shows along with quilt guilds across the country. In 2000 she served on the teaching staff of Quilt Expo Europa in Strasbourg, France. She was presented the first Jewel Pearce Patterson Scholarship sponsored by the International Quilt Association in 1992. Shelly was a nominee for the 2004 Quilting Teacher of the Year Award. She is the author of two quilting books, and she publishes a line of patterns.
Shelly was one of the founders of the Nebraska State Quilt Guild and is a past president of NSQG. She volunteers at the International Quilt Study Center in Lincoln. In 2009 she was named to the Nebraska Quilters’ Hall of Fame. She is currently studying to become a National Quilt Association Certified judge.
Shelly and her husband have two grown children and three adorable grandchildren. They live on an acreage outside of Lincoln.
Shelly notes that she is excited about working on this quilt project and says, “Depicting my fascination for the Great Plains in my quilts is a challenge that I love to work with. I have always been influenced by the wide open spaces, the huge sky and the soft warm colors of the native grasses in Nebraska; these have become reoccurring themes in my work.I learned to sew when I was four years old, but I didn’t start quilting until my early twenties. The first pieces I did were made using traditional quilt block patterns, but I soon found that I enjoyed tweaking those patterns to make the blocks look different, and I wasn’t satisfied making quilts that looked like everyone elses. It wasn’t long before I was doing my own original designs and many of those incorporated themes from Nebraska.”
“Meadowlarks have always been a particular favorite of mine. I have completed three quilts using them as the focal point. Because I work primarily with commercial fabrics in my quilts, one challenge I face is finding just the right printed fabrics to create the small details in the designs. In some of my quilts, I have painted over the fabrics to add emphasis and dimension to the figures. That has led me to painting whole cloth to create my own designs on the fabric, which has led me to doing pieces that are more abstract. I find that even as I have been doing more contemporary work, my pieces are still rooted in tradition.”
NSQG is looking forward to the creation of “Meadowlark Dance”. Members who are interested in helping with the construction of the quilt top are asked to contact Shelly Burge, Sandra Kosch, or Susan Weber.
Submitted by Susan Weber, NSQG President 2011