Quiltsy Cares-Featuring Treese Pflum

Today Quiltsy Cares is featuring Treese Pflum of Quiltnutz. Treese has donated a completed lap-size quilt (pictured at right) to her guild,  Coachella Valley Quilt Guild, who will then donate the quilt to a charity.
When I asked which charity her donation would go to Treese told me, "The guild donates quilts to different charities in our area.  I never know where the quilts I work on will end up.   Many community members, that do not belong to the guild, often  bring their quilts to us and we pass them on to different charities."

Some of the charities the Coachella Valley Quilt Guild donates to are, Shelter from the Storm, Barbara Sinatra Children's Center,  Riverside County Department of Aging, Care Transitions Intervention Program, just to name a few.

Mrs. Pflum is an active member of  Coachella Valley Quilt Guild where she serves as the block challenge coordinator, creating mini-quilt lessons for guild members. She has been very active in her community serving as president for the Cathedral City High School Band Boosters and  although her last child graduated in 2012 she continues to work with the band boosters.

A sample of Treese's beautiful machine quilting

When I asked Treese what she loved most about quilting, she said, "I love the quilting first.  It’s very satisfying to figure out the best quilting motif to use to enhance the top.  Second, I really enjoy the design process. This starts with pulling fabrics and deciding on a color palette, those fabrics and colors really dictate the design."

A small portion of the Wedding Ring quilt

I asked Treese how she got started quilting.
"My mother gave me a box of unfinished double wedding rings that belonged to her mother.  I knew how to sew, but didn’t have a clue how to make a quilt.  I decided to applique the rings down and then tied the quilt.  That was in 1978 and I was hooked.  I went out and bought a new sewing machine and never looked back  I used that double wedding ring quilt until about five years ago, when I took it apart and re-purposed the pieces in a quilt for my mom."

The beautiful piano quilts

Treese said the most unusual quilts she has made are the piano quilts. She has always loved sewing and quilting, and is constantly working on new projects, when not working for her clients.  Her quilting philosophy is simple:  she believes you are never too old to quilt.  Staying active and continuing to challenge herself keeps her young.  She loves sharing her passion for quilting and wants others to enjoy and use her finished quilts.

Mrs. Pflum has been a Quiltsy Team member since 2011 and is an award-winning professional quilter and fiber artist.  From her studio in Cathedral City, California, she creates original fiber/fabric art, wall hangings, and quilts for clients around the United States.  As a professional quilter, she finishes quilts for other quilters, and teaches beginners how to make these items.  She has been quilting since 1978 and opened her studio in 2012 after working in the newspaper industry for 30 years. She has been using a long arm machine to complete quilt tops for over eleven years and specializes in free motion quilting.

Read more about Coachella Valley Quilt Guild's work with charities on their website or contact them at this address:

Coachella Valley Quilt Guild
P.O. Box 3121
Rancho Mirage, CA 92270

You can find Treese here:
Website
Etsy

Quiltsy Cares' Judy Messenger 3-24-2015

Today's spotlight is on Judy Messenger of FabriArts and the quilt she made will be donated to Quilts of Valor, Canada www.quiltsofvalour.ca/.

She calls the quilt "Canadian Wave"....the red pointed strips are reminiscent of the points of the maple leaf on the Canadian flag, and as she was designing the layout, she thought of a "wave" at a sporting event. This is her way of sending that wave to a wounded service member!

When asked why Quilts of Valor, Judy replied "Quilts are one small way of showing our injured Canadian Armed Forces service members and our veterans their sacrifices are recognized by Canadians. The Quilts of Valor group at a local quilt shop was the first group of fellow quilters that I joined back in 2009 when I started getting serious about quilting. It was great to get together with other talented quilt artists and learn from them, as well as providing a service to our Canadian Forces members! The quilt shop where we met has since closed, but I've recently found another QoV group to get together with!

Quilts of Valor has participated at "Quilts at the Creek" quiltsatthecreek.wordpress.com/ , and the outdoor quilt show at Black Creek Pioneer Village in Toronto since the show's inception in 2012, with a lovely display of quilts hanging in the grove. Canadian Wave will probably hang at Quilts at the Creek this summer before it's given to the local QoV rep.

Judy lives in Toronto, Ontario Canada for most of the year, but is lucky enough to spend much of the summer and autumn months at their cottage on Lake Muskoka, in Ontario's cottage country. Of course she moves her quilting studio with her!

She made my first rag quilt in 2001, and made many rag quilts for family members, and for Project Linus.  She started her first bed quilt in 2002, but didn't finish it until 2007, after she got more confident with her free-motion quilting, although she did continue to make rag quilts and other "quilt-as-you-go" quilts during those years. Judy is an active member of 3 local quilt guilds and helps with the organization of the guild quilt show and Quilts at the Creek.

Known as Judith to fellow Quiltsy members, she opened FabriArts late in 2012 after participating in a local craft show for the first time.  She has been a member of the Quiltsy Team since about November 2013.  She feels it is a great group of fellow quilting enthusiasts, who all support each other!

 Her favorite things to make for her ETSY shop are baby quilts and her fabric postcards. She thinks it is fun to work with bright fabrics for the baby quilts, fabrics that don't go with the decor in either her house or cottage! The fabric postcards are little art projects where she can try new techniques or stitch with some of her extensive fiber collection.

You can find Judy here:

Etsy store: FabriArts
Blog: jmstitching.wordpress.com/
Website: www.fabriarts.com/

Written by Pat Young of PatsPassionQuilteds, Quiltsy Team member since May 2011

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