Maker's Comments:
"I used KT Icicle Kisses fabric and an 'X and O' pattern with a Four-Patch [block]."

Curator's Comments:
Arkansas Crossroads uses Four-Patch blocks and the X’s and O’s block to create a primary design of an on-point scrappy block. The light-colored X block acquiesces to the dominant dark fabrics, creating a background canvas for Sandra’s machine quilting. She chose Christmas Paisley, an overall machine-quilting design in a burgundy thread color, for high contrast on the tan fabric. A narrow, burgundy border with contrasting navy-colored binding provides a frame for the scrappy quilt design.

Maker's Comments:
"I originally designed this quilt using 2.5" strips, but wondered what it would look like using 1.5" strips. The colors of Kansas Troubles fabric are just so comforting, and I'm from Kansas, so the name Mini Kansas Comfort seemed fitting."

Curator's Comments:
Cindy put 1.5” strips to good use with accurately pieced blocks, including one-inch finished squares, one-inch-wide Log Cabin strips, and inch-wide piano keys in the border. She thoughtfully considered the color value placement in her design which uses many, many Kansas Troubles fabrics. This scrappy quilt has an abundance of machine quilting, with the most impressive including perfect circles, feather motifs, and fan sprays. Her Log Cabin strips are accented with decorative machine quilting, while the piano keys hide in-the-ditch stitching.

Maker's Comments:
"When I saw Icicle Kisses fabric line, by Kansas Troubles, I fell in love with it. It inspired me to make a red and green Christmas quilt."

Curator's Comments:
Holly Basket is an original design by Veronica which effectively demonstrates her skill in both piecework and applique. The machine piecing is accurately done, and the hand-applique includes holly leaves, yo-yo berries, diamond stars in each of the four corners, and gently curving stems. Veronica’s basket boasts the Icicle Kisses yardage with holiday greetings, a nice touch. She credits Kim Young with the machine quilting which features varied designs, including two scales of stippling, large feather motifs, holly leaves, and in-the-ditch straight quilting.

Maker's Comments:
"The inspiration for this quilt was the beautiful autumn colors of brown, rust and gold."

Curator's Comments:
Rose framed her center applique medallion with a double band of patchwork blocks in Nine Patch and Ohio Star designs. The focal point, a bouquet of applique flowers, features machine blanket-stitch edging and a saw-tooth border. The petite, on-point, saw-tooth border is echoed by a larger-scale outer saw-tooth border. Autumn Leaves is machine quilted with straight line, curved line, and micro-stippling techniques.

Maker's Comments:
"This quilt is made up of all my Kansas Trouble scraps that were in a box waiting for a special purpose."

Curator's Comments:
Gina’s original design features a variety of techniques, including machine piecing, paper piecing, hand-applique, and long-arm quilting. She found a good balance between the sharp geometric spikes and the gentle curves of the appliqued flowers and vines. Her Kansas Troubles scrap box included a striking combination of bright KT colors, and she coordinated the colors by using a variegated quilting thread. Her attention to design extends into the borders, with the middle scalloped border not only framing the quilt, but contributing to the overall design.

Maker's Comments:
"In the world of quilting, scraps and stars are my first two loves. With this project my thought was to design a pattern using as many different fabrics as I could in a way that featured the stars while giving them an asymmetrical placement."

Curator's Comments:
Penny’s aptly named quilt showcases her ease with producing accurately pieced Eight-Pointed Stars, each with a unique central block. Her masterful placement of light and dark strips creates paths for the eye to follow in her intentional asymmetrical layout. The one-inch-wide strips serve as both the sashing between the blocks and as the quilt borders. Penny did the machine quilting herself and executed detailed machine stippling in the backgrounds of the star blocks, while opting for subtle, quilting-in-the-ditch for the strips. The pieced quilt back sports variations of the Log Cabin pattern.

Maker's Comments:
"My husband was the inspiration for this quilt. He enthusiastically supports my quilting with trips to The Old Country Store!"

Curator's Comments:
Four large Crossing Ohio blocks create a strong diagonal frame of small blocks around a simple, central applique design in Heartland for My Husband. The filler blocks, smaller Ohio Stars and tulip applique motifs, complete the balanced and symmetrical overall design. The traditional applique motif is finished with a machine satin stitch on both the center focal block and the four corner blocks. The tulip applique blocks coordinate nicely with the tulip-covered KT fabric that Katy used for the 3” wide border.

Maker's Comments:
"I have always been interested in The Civil War. My hope was to create a quilt reminiscent of the quilts of those times. The quilt pattern is called Checkered Past , originally made by Hancy Reynolds in 1862."

Curator's Comments:
Gettysburg, a patchwork design, required Allison to pay careful attention to the placement of light and dark fabrics. Her efforts allow both a primary and a secondary design. When focusing on the light fabrics, the Eight-Pointed Stars shine, and when concentrating on the dark fabrics, a checkered, on-point block design becomes visible. Allison maximized a border stripe by carefully centering the floral design and mitering the corners. She applied a simple machine-quilting design to the border and an all-over curved quilting pattern to the patchwork portion of the quilt.

Maker's Comments:
"I have dedicated this quilt to my dear friend, Connie, who loved crazy quilts and many years ago instilled a passion in me for machine-embroidered crazy quilts."

Curator's Comments:
In the Tradition showcases the Crazy Quilt tradition with over 42 crazy quilt blocks and many, many decorative motifs. Kim credits the machine embroidery designs to Linda Atwell of Mollymine.com and incorporates a profuse selection of Linda’s animals, flowers, and other intricate designs. The quilt features over 100 different Kansas Troubles fabrics which actually recede against the multitude of brightly-colored embroidery designs and make it a visually stimulating, “I Spy” kind of quilt.

Maker's Comments:
"Windows traveled many miles with me. It has floated along with me on lakes and rivers in Canada and the United States."

Curator's Comments:
Cinda mastered the art of the Cathedral Window quilt. Her workmanship boasts her fine hand-sewing skill, required for completion of this popular technique. However, her equally noteworthy skill is that of carefully positioning dark and light values in the fabric. In so doing, she successfully creates a repeating Diamond-in-a-Square pattern. Cinda showcases a large variety of Kansas Trouble fabrics in her well-planned, scrappy quilt.