Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2009

Tri-City quilting enthusiasts get lesson from expert

By Dalina Castellanos, Herald staff writer

KENNEWICK -- A rhythmic whir resonated from a room full of tables overflowing with vivid fabric strips.

Behind 21 sewing machines sat members of the Tri-City Quilters Guild, all working with patterns many had never tried before. Patterns and techniques that were challenging their brains and their skills.

"It helps to be dyslexic when you're working on these," Kristi Ruth Ellis of Richland said with a laugh.

She was referring to the paper piecing technique developed by quilter Judy Niemeyer, who taught two Tri-City workshops this past weekend at the Benton PUD auditorium in Kennewick.

"Everything is flipped. What is on your right will be on your left," Niemeyer told the group of women with confused looks on their faces. "Just let it go and follow the instructions."

Niemeyer's technique is unusual because it ventures away from the traditional pieced quilting to what she calls foundation paper piecing -- starting with strips of fabric and sewing the pattern without cutting until the piece is finished.

"This is the opposite," said June Morgan, who flew in from Bristol Bay, Alaska, to attend. "You really have to trust this pattern because you're working on it upside down."

Morgan's workstation was full of burnt orange and canary yellow fabric, perfect for the Autumn Splendor pattern she was working on.

"We came out here and it's gorgeous," Morgan said of the Tri-Cities' autumn colors. "This (color scheme) is perfect."

On the other end of the room, Darlette Bingham of Kennewick pieced together her table runner on an antique Singer Featherweight sewing machine.

"It's not fancy, but it does a good straight stitch," she said.

She admitted the black machine with gold detailing from the early '30s was "incongruous" with her bright purple and orange contemporary pattern, but she said it was all about creating something greater.

Niemeyer began quilting 33 years ago and started traveling in 2000 to share her craft.

"My job is to make (other quilters) as passionate as I am," she said.

Her technique and teachings are in such demand that her appearances are scheduled about two years in advance, and she holds three to six quilting retreats a year at her cabin on the shores of Flathead Lake in Montana.

Designs are produced and made into patterns in about a two-month span before the public can buy them and turn them into their own creation.

"I teach so they can re-create (the designs)," Niemeyer said. The quilter's contribution to making it their own is their choice of fabric, making each one unique.

"What another person does with color is inspiring," Morgan said.

The women had plenty of pattern choices -- Niemeyer has 62 available on her website -- but the workshops focused on five.

"She has a lot of patterns I find dynamic," said Barbara Minton, workshop coordinator for the guild.

Niemeyer's creations have sold for up to $5,000 a quilt.

"If we did it right, we could sell them for about the same," joked Jane Kassuba of Kennewick.

Kassuba, who has been quilting for 43 years, has never sold a quilt, instead opting to give them away as gifts.

"They're my labors of love," she said.

"Last night it took me four hours to go to sleep," she said. "I was still quilting in my mind."

* Dalina Castellanos: 509-582-1542; dcastellanos@tricityherald.com