Quiltsy Cares - Ilse Daehler

Today the Quiltsy Team is featuring Ilse Daehler who chosen charity is the Betty Ann Krahnke Centre. This is a local emergency shelter assisting women and children who are trying to get out of desperate situations due to domestic violence. The crisis centre provides help in safety planning, victim advocacy services, counselling, skill-building and personal empowerment.

Ilse chose this charity as a result of prior volunteer work that she did for the Abused Persons Program, helping women who are in abusive and often violent relationships to file for protective or peace orders against their spouses or partners. Not only are they afraid of retribution by their abusers but they also often feel ashamed and responsible for their situation and are intimidated by the filing process in court.

This year, Ilse donated a scrappy patchwork rag quilt, hoping that it will be a cuddly quilt for someone feeling alone and in need of a hug.

Ilse has been sewing since she was old enough to hold a needle, probably at the age of eight. She learned machine sewing on an old treadle machine that was left by her maternal grandfather who had been a professional tailor. Ilse started a career as a seamstress a few years after her marriage and she was trained in drapery making. She worked for a local store for about sixteen years and later opened her own business. She had always promised herself that she would learn how to quilt when she was retired and about nine or ten years ago, decided it was time! She is largely self-taught and her attention to detail shows well in her quilts.

Three years ago Ilse joined the Etsy Quiltsy Team and she says that now she can't imagine not being part of this truly great team.

Ilse has two Etsy shops: ISewTotes and OrchicFabricDecor. She finds it hard to decide on her favourite thing to make because she loves abric and playing with the designs and colours. The orchid shop got started as a way to show off special designs in some fabrics. Most recently, she has had fun making a bargello wallhanging, Dancing in the Rain and then a messenger bag using the same idea ... but she is always looking for new ideas, designs and processes.

Other links to Ilse's work

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This blog post was written by Kathy Kinsella of kathykinsella.etsy.com