Featured Artist: Quilts by Elsie

This week we had the pleasure of catching up with Elise Vredenburg, from Quilts by Elsie. Elsie is probably best known for her pictorial pieced quilts, which are often combined with elements of traditional patchwork designs. She prefers piecing to applique, so she has developed a method of designing in which all elements of the design are converted to straight lines. This makes for somewhat of an angular look, which is characteristic of her pictorial quilts. The subject matter ranges from architectural, to people, to the animal world.

Elise lives in Tustin, Michigan and is the proud parent of three children, eight grand children, and 3 great grand children. Laughing, Elise admits that she doesn't live with anything she has to feed or clean up after, except for the occasional grand child that might stop over for a visit!

Elsie started quilting while she was still in high school.  Her dad's mother lived with them, and she was a quilter. One day announced, "You and I are going to make a quilt".  Elsie doesn't remember being overly enthusiastic, though she did sew, but her mom thought that Grandma needed to be needed.  Little did she know where that would lead!

One of the things our readers like to know about is whether or not our Featured Artist has ever experienced a major crafting disaster. Elsie had! A quilt that was being transported for judging in a plastic lined suitcase during humid weather unfortunately had some red dye transfer onto  all the white areas. The good news is that the dye did all come out after repeated washings with Synthrapol. 

Throughout the years Quilts by Elsie has been recognized with numerous awards in several large quilt shows, including American Quilters' Society, The National Quilt Association, The International Quilt Association, and Quilters Heritage Celebration. 

As always, we ask our Featured Artist what the favorite item in their shop is currently is. Very easily, Elsie picked this quilted wall hanging called, "Not Quite Amish, Not Quite Wholecloth." This elegant quilted wall hanging, features Trapunto quilting.  The piecing is based on an Amish Center Diamond design, and the hand dyed fabrics are closely related in color, making it look almost like a wholecloth quilt. It measures 42" x 42".

It would be a shame if we let Elsie go without asking her which items currently listed on The CraftStar have caught her eye. She picked these bright yellow coasters from Queen of De Tile, purple soap from Amathia Soapworks, and this wall quilt from Patchwork Mountain.

You can find Quilts by Elsie on the following forms of social media. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Quilts-by- Elsie/172671029426896?ref=hl and Twitter: https://twitter.com/QuiltsbyElsie. Stop by, give her a follow, and tell her you found her over at The CraftStar Blog!