Ankeny Area Quilters' Guild
2004 Mary Conkel Award
Joyce Romick
I started my sewing way back when I was a small girl. My mother taught me how to sew. I guess as close as I can remember I think it had to do with 4-H, however, I can remember watching my Grandmother, Jean Reynolds, do what we now a days call piecing a top. She would then send it out to have it quilted by another person. You would get one when you were born and one when you got married.
As a teenager I did a lot sewing at school and even made my very first prom dress, out of satin and chiffon, while in the 10th grade. When I got married I continued to sew a lot. I made my children's clothes and my husbands shirts. It was about this time that the sergers started to be use in the homes, of course we had one and boy did we mass produce T-shirts, sweatshirts, and I learned to put the finishing touches on all of my garments.
I now came to the time of my life where I thought about doing my first quilt and I know a lot of you other quilters can relate to this statement. "It still, to this day, is not finished." I was making it out of a book called "Lap Quilting by Georgia Bonesteel". Her method in this book was to complete a small section and use a small 18-24" lap frame to complete a block. You then sewed them all together and hand sewed the back together. I guess that was the one that overwhelmed me but did not discourage me. I went on to finish two small children quilts for my nephews. The first quilt was to break a rule, you don't use gingham checks. It then went that year to the Iowa State Fair and I won my first 3rd place ribbon. I was happy.
You know how you forget things until you see it in a picture. Well I always tend to not associate that the very first quilt was really for my daughter and it was a machine appliqu?d train. It also had a lot of gingham checks in it.
As my children now needed my attention I couldn't focus too much on quilting until I got to know my mother's first cousin, Mary Conkle, who by the way is my Grandmother's niece. What a gem in the ruff she was. She loved to quilt and do craft projects. To my knowledge she may have been one of the very first ladies in the Ankeny area to have a long-arm quilting machine in her basement. She would have ladies and family members over (usually on Thursday evenings) and they would work on projects all night. That got me hooked. Between seeing what she could do and watching my Grandmother, it was a natural progression into the quilting I do today.
All quilters have there favorite part of the process and parts of the process they have to struggle at. I don't know if there is a part that I like the best, but the part I least like is the making of the quilt sandwich. You know when you have to put all of the pins in or baste it together. Over the year of trial and error you find out how important this is and what method works the best for you, i.e. basting gun, spray adhesive, pins, basting needle and thread or just winging it. If I have to pick a favorite part I guess it would have to be when you are hand quilting and you finally get to the point of transformation when it all of a sudden (to your amazement) it becomes a feeling of one instead of a bulky bunch of fabric. For people who don't hand quilt, this may be an experience you have not had yet. I hope you some day try it. It really is an amazing feeling. It is also about this time when you realize that the end is in sight. You can some what feel it when you machine quilt but it's not the same.
At some point I got very brave, for me and decided to check out the local quilt guild. Mary made it easy for me because I knew her, but that was a big step for me. I know that people who know me won't believe that statement but it's true. (I am a twin and I've almost always had somebody with me to do things. Surprise, she doesn't quilt.) I think I joined the guild in 1993 and have been an active member ever since. I don't like to be in charge but love to be involved. One of my take charge and lets get it done times is when it comes time to hang the quilts for the show. (I give a few of you ladies heart attacks the way I walk across the ladders). I'm usually pretty tired by the end of that day and it is a lot of work, but to be with all of the other quilters and chat and work that day is very much rewarded the next day to see it all pulled together. Like Mary, I am a good behind the scene person.
Over the years I have had the pleasure to surprise some people in my life with quilts that they may or may not have seen me working on them. One was a neighbor friend. He was at our house a lot and helped my husband do things around our house and just hangs out with my family. As I sat in the living room quilting this beautiful blue and white quilt called " The Carpenters Cabin" he liked to tease me and say " you need to let me know when I need to start construction and antique bed for that to go on" and he would laugh. I would reply, "You can start it any time" knowing it was his all along. Boy, you should have seen the look on his face the day he found out it really was his. He wouldn't believe me. Everyone around knew but him. About 2 years ago I finished one that I step back and look at it to this day and say "wow, I can't believe I made that". It was for one of our best friends for their 25th wedding anniversary. That was a tough one to keep under raps. It was patterned after October Sky's By "Cathy Wierzbicki".
I changed a few things about it to customize it to incorporate the date and names into the design. It worked well. It was also one of my more challenging quilts to make, both in choosing colors and construction. It had a lot of components.
I guess in closing, I would like to let everyone in the guild how much I enjoy this time. For those who don't know this about me I am a Cosmetologist and have been for over 30 years. For the last 24 of them I have worked out of a small shop in my home. Now that both of my children are grown and out of the house I have a lot of time I spend quilting, piecing, and looking forward to the next meeting. There are some things that I haven't done yet but I hope there will still be time for that.
October Sky
