Meet Susan Wilcox Ingersoll

We live at opposite ends of the North American continent. She’s from New Brunswick, Canada and she’s an organic soapmaker and entrepreneur.

We’ve emailed a few times, starting with this conversation about the decorative stitch quilting process:

I received Crazy Shortcut Quilts for Christmas and am enjoying the book greatly so far. I am working on my first quilt with this technique. At the first when you start to do the quilting and it tells you on page 93 to bring up the bobbin thread I understand and can do. What I am asking about is what do you do with the two threads afterwards. Do you have to know them together or do you just clip them off.

I love the technique very much and can see become addicted very quickly.

I replied to her that if I am using the decorative stitches, usually that will secure the threads enough that they don’t need to be knotted. Two cotton threads rarely need to be knotted, just clipped but, if I am using a rayon or slick polyester on top AND in the bobbin, I’ll check the line of stitching first (after all the quilting is done to the block) and see if they look like they are going to stay secure. Sometimes if I’ve used a simple stitch then I’ll knot the threads before clipping. I hope that makes sense. I just leave the long tails hanging while doing all the stitching because if you sew over the ends of one line of stitching with another line, that also secures the ends. After all the stitching on the blocks is done, then I go back and clip thread ends. I have a lot of videos on YouTube if you want to check some of them out – especially the one on using a “fat quarter inch seam” when joining/sashing your blocks together.

She also asked about using heavier than cotton fabrics, and we chatted about those options, with each of us deciding that a quilt made out of ANY fabric is better than no quilt at all. We are both frugal experimenters at heart. Then she told me about herself a little more

I live on a small island off of New Brunswick , only 2500 people live here, and no fabric store. So all my trips away to the mainland are usually used up taking family to doctor visits and not much time left to shop for fabric. I have lots of other interests as well as sewing, card making, jewelry making and soap making and stay at home mother, so when I get a hankering to sew I will use what I have on hand and lately that is not much.

We both love writing and quilting! Here are two of Susan’s quilts with her note

I would like to show you my first two quilts using your method. I love it!!!!!!! Thank you.