BITS & PIECES
Dedicated to Terry Lichtenfelt
Memory Cloth Circle
October 1 -31
Blue Bar Quilts
6333 University Ave
Middleton, WI
Saturday, October 16, 2021
Donna Sereda-DeNovo (center embroidery by Terry Lichtenfelt) -- Welcome to Terryville
Welcome to Terryville
Donna Sereda-DeNovo (center embroidery by Terry Lichtenfelt)
Materials: Cotton fabric, plastic buttons, metallic threads, cotton embroidery floss and perle cotton, woven ribbon trims (synthetic fibers), wood hanger, nylon tulle, woven cotton belt
The central embroidered square in this piece, along with most of the woven ribbon trims and all the buttons, were items that Terry gave away at the last Memory Cloth Circle meeting she was able to attend.
Typical Terry. Generous, creative, colorful, happy, determined, fearless. I felt close to her during the making of it.
This piece is dedicated to the memory and spirit of my friend, who was something wonderful.
Nancy E. Schmitt -- Watchful Eyes
Watchful Eyes
Nancy E. Schmitt
Materials: African wax prints, satin, glass beads
My friend Terry was partial to bright colors and collected African wax prints. She made a bed-sized quilt for her son with a simple, large half-square triangle pattern to highlight these special fabrics.
Half of the square was made in the same dark blue fabric as the background allowing these bold and colorful print triangles to dance across her quilt. The two print rectangles in my piece are scraps from that quilt.
They remind me of the watchful eyes of exotic birds. Sometimes, it’s all about a beautiful print.
Suzy Roth -- Cherish the Snippets
Cherish the Snippets
Suzy Roth
Materials: vintage linen doily, cotton fabric, vintage trim, wood beads, carved mother of pearl buttons
Terry made this turquoise flower focal point. I have treasured it since she gave it to me and wanted to honor our friendship by using it in this piece.
Terry taught me how to make English paper pieced hexagon flowers. So far, I have sewn 50 of my own to be used in a future quilt. I will always associate hexagon flowers with Terry.
Terry Lichtenfeld (top,) Karin Hanson (finishing) -- Last Quilt for the Healing House
Last Quilt for the Healing House
Terry Lichtenfeld (top,) Karin Hanson (finishing)
Materials- cotton fabric, flannel, thread, LOVE!
Terry began contributing her quilts to Madison's Healing House as soon as she heard about the project. (The Healing House is a respite center near Camp Randall Stadium for unhoused kids recovering from surgery and expectant moms needing bedrest and shelter post delivery.)
Terry's eye for color certainly cheered the lives of many and inspired her "sister-artists" to do the same for the Healing House.
The quilt will be taken to the Healing House after the exhibit for a child to be blessed by Terry's generosity.
Karin Hanson -- Terry's "Scraps on Scraps" Remembered via Siddi Style
Terry's "Scraps on Scraps" Remembered via Siddi Style
Karin Hanson
Materials-cotton fabric, batting, Perle Cotton #8
One day, recently, I realized that all my placemats were dirty. I didn't FEEL like doing the laundry, so I spent the day stitching this placement just for me! It has bits of Terry's flower fabric on the front and a large flower of her fabric on the back.
Karin Hanson -- The Coffee Earrings/Bits of "Momism" and Pieces of Her Jewelry
The Coffee Earrings/Bits of "Momism"
and Pieces of Her Jewelry
Karin Hanson
Materials-cotton fabric, fusible web, batting, Perl cotton #8, Mom's earrings
In 1968, when I was a senior in college, I sang in the concert choir. We toured the Midwest during Easter vacation. While on tour, I bought my mother this pair of earrings. I was back home for Mother's Day and gave her my present at breakfast.
True to her not-so-dainty style, she opened up the box directly over her coffee cup and the earrings plopped in!
Mom had her own language for things, so thereafter, when she spoke about them, the earrings were never "the earrings my daughter gave me" or "my flower earrings." She always called them her "coffee earrings!"
You will see bits of Terry's flowers on the gift box, because she truly was a gift to all of us.
Deborah Kades -- Channeling Joy
Channeling Joy
Deborah Kades
Cotton fabric and thread, button, glass beads, rick rack
I joined the Memory Cloth Circle just a smidge too late: I missed meeting Terry. Listening to the other group members’ memories, I realized that I had missed the chance to know an amazing quilter and person. I was able to obtain the print used in this quilt, a print that came from Terry’s stash and I used it to channel the joy I felt from her friends.
Terry Lichtenfelt and Marsha Alderman -- It’s so Terry!
It’s so Terry!
Terry Lichtenfelt and Marsha Alderman
I was dissatisfied with the binding technique I originally used on this piece and “temporarily” pinned the nearly finished piece to the curtain next to my work space. It has hung there happily ever after. I see her and hear her voice every time I look at it. Terry often spoke of her fabrics speaking to her and how she like to pet them and see if they played well together. To my eye, they play together very nicely!
This one is not finished yet but I hope to get it done by it the end of the month.
Peggy Thornton -- something wonderful, I hope
something wonderful, I hope
Peggy Thornton
Our paths through life are unique, no two exactly the same. Important people come onto our paths. We learn from them, grow with them, and share with them. When an individual contributes greatly to our learning, growth and joy, it is sad when their time of departure arrives. Terry Lichtenfelt was a person who shared much. Her sense of adventure and generosity assured her the love and appreciation of those close to her. She was on my life path for the last few years and I am truly enriched for her presence.
Terry had great expertise as an award-winning machine quilt artist. When the Memory Cloth Circle met weekly in person, Terry made hand-stitched small fabric collages and yo-yos which she generously gave away to all of us. I took bits and pieces from Terry to make this small inspirational quilt. The central fabric with the “wonky” nuthatch going down the tree is a piece of fabric Terry gave me the last time I saw her. It is typical of the whimsical animal prints that were so often a part of her work. I also incorporated a couple of Terry’s yo-yos and some of the buttons I got from her.
Terry’s quote, “something wonderful, I hope” was something she said years before cancer threatened her life about what happens when you die. I think it says more about her attitude toward all of living. Terry never backed away from trying new things or going new places, and she encouraged others to go, too. She said “yes” to life, experiencing all she could. It is how she lived. I have no doubt that living that way allowed her to experience many "something wonderfuls” throughout her journey.
Terry has passed beyond the veil to her next great adventure, on to “something wonderful, I hope”. The green and orange stitching on this work signifies the veil between this world and the next.
Laurie Talbot Hall -- Terry's Pincushion
Terry's Pincushion
Laurie Talbot Hall
Materials: Scraps on scraps, Terry's pincushion, found object
Terry always greeted me with a twinkle in her eye and a wry comment on life's ironies.
She gave me this pincushion to have for my very own.
Nancy E. Schmitt -- Garden of Yo-yos
Garden of Yo-yos
Nancy E. Schmitt
Materials: Yo-yos, vintage linen, metallic, rayon and cotton threads, various sizes of glass beads, crystals, sueded cloth
Terry loved to experiment with all things fabric and thread. She was famous in our Memory Cloth Circle for her invisibly hand-stitched and appliqued “Scraps on scraps” and Yo-yos. She would turn little bits and pieces of fabric into works of art with almost no scrap left unused, then give them away to anyone who admired them. She gave me this block that she’d already added some beautiful embroidery stitches to. I added her yo-yos, layering, then embellishing them with beads, threads and crystals. Additional stitching and beading was done to enhance this garden of yo-yos.
Thank you, dear Terry, for your beautiful work, your friendship and your ever present generosity.
Terry Lichtenfelt -- My Head Keeps Spinning Around - A COVID Quilt 2020
My Head Keeps Spinning Around - A COVID Quilt 2020
Terry Lichtenfelt
Marge Engelman -- Sashiko and Snaps
Sashiko and Snaps
Marge Engelman
Recently I have been learning about Boro and Sashiko stitching. After following several printed patterns, I created this piece with scraps from my stash and then added the snaps.
Marge Engelman -- Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
Marge Engelman
Marge Engelman
Materials: Cotton and Acrylic Fabrics
For the last few years, I have been stitching fabric collages
(sometimes called Whimsies) of nursery rhymes.
Long ago I wrote an article “YOU TOO CAN BE A GRANDMA MOSES.
AT 94. I may be trying to do just that.
Beatriz Botero -- Passage Through Bogotá
Passage Through Bogotá
Beatriz Botero
Materials: cloth, beads
My herculean task in Bogotá was to dismantle my parents' house. The house had been uninhabited for a year, and it was necessary to vacate everything and then sell it.
In the beginning, you can see the colors of the illusion of seeing my siblings attend to that unhealed scar.
The perfect home is now an upside-down house in the middle of any street of a big raining city. In Colombia, they like long names, so the house of Luis Jorge Botero Ramos and MarÃa Cristina Norma Botero Giraldo, the house that we knew during our childhood will never be again.
I saw the hunger in the city of Bogotá, which reminded me of Dorothea Lange's photo showing a mother with her children during the Great Depression.
In Bogotá, there is hunger in the beggar, but also in the woman who waits for the bus, in the man who walks on the sidewalk.
We, the three siblings, had to navigate these new waters. Collecting the seeds and flowers that remain from those lives.
That sitting woman who disappears behind the fog becomes another woman who can weave the past with the present, to better understand a path to the future.
Leslee Nelson -- Not Always So
Not Always So
Leslee Nelson
Materials: Pink borders pieced by Terry; blue yo-yos from the Share Table;
pale yo-yos made by Nora Werner, Craig’s Grandmother
I was reading The Places That Scare You by Pema Chodron.
She quotes Shunryu Suzuki, “not always so.”
“When we stand at the crossroads not knowing which way to go . . . To stay in the middle prepares us to meet the unknown without fear; it prepares us to face both our life and our death.” - Pema Chodron
Ann Engelman -- Terry’s YoYo Buffet
Terry’s YoYo Buffet
Ann Engelman
Materials. Vintage hankie, cotton pieces and embroidery floss
The Memory Cloth Circle is filled with generous sisters. We stitch and share every week. Sometimes the sharing includes materials, bits and pieces, scraps, no longer needed and sewing items. Sometimes rick rack!
One particular week Terri brought in a big bag of yo-yos, all different shapes and sizes. I got to the bag first and about swooned! But too much for one person, I took it over to another table and dumped them out. I began to sort through the circles and was followed by curious stitchers and, pretty soon, the table was surrounded by happy, delighted sisters ooo-ing and ahh-ing. Smiles and laughter and “Look at this one!” filled our gathering.
As I stepped back to let someone else have my seat I just looked at the scene!
The memory of dear ones happily enjoying carefully stitched fabric circles and delighting in the eye candy will forever be one of my treasured meditations. It was a buffet of riches, Terry’s yo-yo buffet.
Ann Engelman - I do have sisters!
I do have sisters!
Ann Engelman
Materials Bits and piecesLamenting at several points upon hearing about special relationships sisters have, I thought, I wish I had a sister. At one of our Memory Cloth Circle gatherings I had an “Ah ha moment.” I did have sisters! A whole lovely gathering of them!
I began a hanky and over the course of a year I gathered bits and pieces from my sister’s scraps and kept adding them to the hanky. After a year the memories of projects stitched around the table were represented.
“I do have sisters!”
Suzy Roth - Terry’s Flower Patch
Terry’s Flower Patch
Suzy Roth
Materials: Vintage napkin and coaster, cotton fabric, tatting, lace, buttons, sequins
This piece uses dimensional fabric flowers made by Terry. I challenged myself to think creatively like Terry by making bright color choices. The vibrant colors make me happy.
Terry Lichtenfelt and Marsha Alderman - Homage to Terry
Homage to Terry
Terry Lichtenfelt and Marsha Alderman
Terry’s vintage necktie and yo-yo’s; novelty yarn, beads and embroidery floss.
I made this piece after spending time with Terry and admiring her use of color and texture. I was totally inspired by her and really felt like I was capturing her spirit in making it. In retrospect it feels like I got it wrong because Terry was all about the color blue. Then I hear her saying, “Who cares what anyone else thinks. Do what makes YOU happy.” It gives me great joy to look at it and remember why I made it.
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