Portrett av en quilter fra Schleswig-Holstein

Brigitte Köhrsen har quiltet siden quiltingen begynte å bli populær, da tysk quilteforbund ble stiftet. Det vil si noen år før NQF ble etablert. Bente snakket med Brigitte en varm sommerdag i Kiel.

Bente: Some time ago I happened to find Familie Köhrsen. I saw the faces and the names. Two sons, mother and father, in black and white. And soon your interests are shown. I clicked the third photo and came to see a sewing machine, in color. I liked your welcoming page and spent some minutes looking at it. Then I visited Brigitte's Website with the quilt that pictures the state I was to visit in July 2007, the Schleswig-Holstein weapon. Could you please explain what it means?

Quiltepostens lesere oppfordres til å kikke bildene på Brigittes nettsted og ha dem oppe i et eget vindu samtidig.

Brigitte: Yes, the coat of arms of Schleswig-Holstein shows two lions and a leaf, Nesselblatt. This is the meaning of the flag: The flag of Schleswig-Holstein is in her assembly of the colours a combination of the colours of the Duchy of Schleswig (blue-yellow) and the Duchy of Holstein (white-red). The coat of arms shows the heraldic symbols for Schleswig (two blue lions on yellow ground) and Holstein (white lozenge-triangle on red ground). 

The blue-white-red flag of the country came into being at the beginning of the 19th century as anti-Danish – patriotic flag, and it is probably from student origin. Because Prussia had never officially recognized it, it didn't become official until the creation of the Country of Schleswig-Holstein in the year 1945.

Bente: And the Schleswig-Holstein quilt is a gift you got. I saw the flag several places on our trip. Well, we moved on, not to Kalifornien but to the island Sylt. The photo shows you sitting in a chair similar like those we saw at Westerland beach at Sylt. I had only seen this island in northern Germany from a distance, and this summer my husband and I went to visit there by car-train. I brought no applique or quilting with me, but so did you. Do you sew mainly by hand? Does it take a lot of time?

Brigitte: I love quilting by hand because it’s more relaxing for me. And I think the quilts becomes more soft. And I like to sew small things by hand as a work-on-the-go. This method is a good thing when we meet with other girls, we can chatter while sewing. Sometimes I prefer hand applique because the stitches are invisible. On cushions, table runners or other useable projects I prefer machine applique, it’s finished faster and is more durable.

Bente: At your website, you have a Menü. The great Kalifornien picures - I am amazed by all the quilts and quilters. Please tell me something from the last Kalifornien trip. Who arranged it? How did it all happen? Not only this, but I did see the two bashful words More photos. I have to add this element of surprise. How great! I couldn't wait to have it loaded. 

Brigitte: The Kalifornien meeting is a meeting between members of an international mailing group, EngelBee. Kalifornien is a tiny village at the Baltic Sea near Kiel, and not California in USA. I invited the group members and organized the meeting with quilters from different countries such as USA, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Netherland, Austria, Italy and from the South of Germany. We've always had a nice time from Thursday or Friday till Sunday in the Naturfreundehaus. We enjoyed the days with full board and very nice meals and rooms. Beside some classes, members from our group played quilt related games with homemade gifts, changed small quilts in a dice game and organized a fleamarket with quilted things. The highlight was always the Show and Tell as you can see. The meeting in Den Haag was organized by the Dutch members while the Quilt-Expo in 2004 was there. Next year the Kalifornien meeting tradition will be interrupted because the danish members will organize a meeting in Denmark.

Bente: It sounds interesting. Well, I hope the meetings will continue later then. I have more photos, great photos like 2. Tag - Sonnabend, 19.3.2005 - Part 3. And of course the rest of the Kalifornien trips you've made. Then comes My Quilts and WIP. It's unbelieveable. Stitch in Time! You show the process here and make it understandable. Also one may click the photo of the Singer sewing machine to see it in a larger scale! How wonderful! You have the Sheep pictures and quilt, before we get to the name Jane A. Stickle which is no less than a masterpiece. Please tell me about this quilt. For people unfamiliar to the quilt, why do you write The one and only real Jane A. Stickle Replica Quilt? And why is it called Dear Jane? I also found a song text with the same name!

Brigitte:  The 250 patterns from the 1863 Jane A. Stickle Quilt are drawn by the students of Brenda Manges Papadakis in her book Dear Jane. She has copyrighted the name Dear Jane and that’s the reason why quilters are not allowed to name their quilts Dear Jane quilt, but call them Baby Jane or Jane A. Stickle quilt. This book include the photos and the drawing of the blocks (4,5" x 4,5"), but no instructions. For me it was a great help and motivation beeing a member of a mailing group. Via Internet we changed tips about sewing and the list mom kept a success ladder for each quilter for inspiration: You become a Jane when you have finished 1 block, Silver Jane when you have finished 25 blocks, Golden Jane when you have finished 50 blocks, Jubileers when you have finished 75 blocks, Platinum when you have finished 130 blocks, Wonder workers when you have finished 169 blocks, Miracle workers when you have finished all 169 blocks, and all of the triangles DJ Goddess when you have finished the whole quilt. It took me 3 years finishing my quilt. It includes 5602 pieces. The blocks are sewn in different ways, machine piecing or Foundation piecing, English paper piecing and hand applique. I learned a lot by trying out the different methodes. In the time of sewing this quilt I celebrated my 50th birthday, and for that day my DH and my 2 sons and friends had made a song for me. Because of my passion they made the words for the song about this quilt. I like this song very much and so did a lot of Dear Jane lovers to whom I sent a CD. It was a pleasure for me and my family to get such nice feedbacks, some sent a piece of fabric in return.

Bente: The quilt is wonderful. And so is the song! Then there are Sterne, Bärentanzen, Früchten, Kleine quilts, Quillow, Millennium, Other Swaps, Xmas and 1930 Sampler. I like the photo of the swap quilt, and the Millennium. By the turn of the century you made a quilt containing 2000 pieces. What's the size of each piece? And the block containing 25 small squared pieces? Do you have 2000 different fabrics in the quilt? Is this picture taken in your house? If to believe your husband you couldn't afford table and chairs then, but per haps have you later.

Brigitte: You mentioned the 1930 sampler. This quilt is still a WIP (work in progress), but I hope I will come back to these blocks some day. The two Millennium quilts I have made was a wonderful challenge. I was asked by a quilter if I would participate in a swap, sending 25 squares from different fabrics beside a signature square (siggy) and a discription of your person to 80 quilters around the world. This was the beginning of my love to the Internet and my daytime lasted until midnight writing to all the quilters. Reading the bios of the different persons was so interesting. The best thing was receiving the soft envelopes. Even my mailman was surprised by all the soft mails from the different countries. I didn’t stop by 80 and traded with over 200 quilters. Since this time many friendships began and are still lasting. Other swaps with blogs followed and nice quilts are the results.

Sewing and handquilting the millennium quilts with 2000 pieces in each quilt took me 2 years. They are very tall. For putting together the sandwich I used a very big theatre room in my DH’s school. The photo on my website shows the first Millennium quilt on a little cottage at the beach we rent for summer holidays, both have nearly the same size. It’s still a joy looking at all the signatures with beautiful pictures on it, reading the names and countries. Other signature quilts followed. Some months ago I took part in a current signature swap with blogger-friends. I received beautiful blocks with the name and the blog-address. Finishing this project is still on my to-do-list.

Bente: I started to buy Brigitte when I was 16 years old, and I've been buying the magazine ever since. You have a copy of it! I think it is a good magazine even today, but more impressive though is the Capri-Sonne production. How sly! How fun! What a great material! I like the recycling idea.... 

Brigitte: It’s nice to hear that you are a Brigitte-reader for such a long time. That’s what I am too. Sewing the Capri-Sonnen-Tasche was funny, although at last I couldn’t drink the juice any more. I bought them and asked friends and collegues to drink it. 

Bente: Yes, I can imagine that. But now you never catch a cold! So what about Seestern-Quilter?

Brigitte: Our quilting group Seestern-Quilter has 10 members. Beside our meeting on one Saturday in a month we are planning Sewing-Weekends in Kalifornien, trips to quilt shows and to the Schnipp-Schnapp, a fair taking place once a year in Lübeck. This year from 19th to 21th of October. It’s a fair for all kinds of textile handcrafts and, a show and tell and quilt show.

Bente: Under Quiltgruppe Kiel you have 6 sections, Flic Flac, Filzen, Schachteln, Herbst, Winter and Schnipp Schnapp. Do you have any comments to any of these photos?

Brigitte: The first photo shows a very big star quilt in the background. This is a quilt made by members of the German mailing list Quiltsterne. The second photo was very interesting for photographers because the lady in front on the left side was the Ministerpräsidentin (Prime Minister) des Landes Schleswig-Holstein, Heide Simonis“. She is a quilter too and made some stitches on a Benefiz-Quilt for Unicef. The third photo shows me on the left side in front continuing sewing the star of Heide Simonis.

Bente: It is very nice! I have to go back to have a look again. We could go on and on here but have to come to an end, so I suggest that scandinavian quilters turn to Brigitte's Website to look for themselves. Thank you so much, Brigitte. I wish you, Heike and Schleswig-Holstein friends happy quilting days. Wir treffen uns! 

© Quilteposten 2008