Karren Lutz Elsbernd
In the summer of 1984, I found the San Francisco Quilt Guild in a booth at a needlearts fair at the Cow Palace. And ever since I have had the third Tuesday of every month on my calendar.

Quilters are special people. I have spent eighteen years meeting with these people at five different locations. Good friendships have been made! Some friends are now sadly gone but new friends continually join and take their place. Together we have learned from speakers and their workshops, shared in our show and tells, created friendship blocks for each other and made outreach gifts at so many Quiltathons. We have worked together to show off our work at Quilt Shows, made opportunity quilts, competed together in quilt challenges and even ate and showered together at Quiltaways.

The Guild has given me so many opportunities to share my talents and hone my skills. I have attended many years of board meetings, holding many different jobs including Membership. Then there were all of those Quilt Show and Quiltaway committee meetings. My favorite years were as the NCQC [Northern California Quilt Council] Representative, networking with many other guilds. I also won the honor of designing two quilt show pins: with love and friendship, 1988 and Memories, 1990. Then I designed the logo for Quiltaway 1991. Teaching at two Quiltaways was great. And there have been a few show ribbons along the way.

I have always sewn. Fabric and sewing have always been a part of my life. I learned to sew on my grandmother's Singer treadle machine. I started with clothes for my dolls and then made them for myself. My graduation gift from Junior College was my own Singer machine. I clothed two children on that machine including their 1970's patchwork fashions. By the time that the quilting revival had begun, I had saved up for my own Bernina. Twenty years later it is still sewing my quilts. I have other creative outlets including oil painting but I love fabric. I have designed, woven, printed, painted and sold textiles. My sewing machine remains open every day for that moment of sewing.

My production of quilts has slowed in the last few years as I now have a real job. For several years I volunteered in the library of the American Quilt Study Group while they were located in San Francisco. My other volunteer job in Special Collections/Library of the California Academy of Sciences turned into a job. I get to work with great visual images, photographs, slides, digital images and clip art every day. In my sewing my varied and eclectic tastes still dominate my work. I love the handwork of applique but today I approach my work with a sort of painterly expressionist rotary cutter, cutting without templates. I also have added three-dimensional details as 'flaps', buttons zippers plus irregular edges. I also like taking on creative 'challenges', working within restrictions. I haven't hand quilted in years, so I have many tops waiting for that next step. Today I have a sideline that I call 'I Do Stuff', where I help people finish their quilting projects from doing bindings to putting together friendship or school quilts for non-sewers.

Thank you SFQG for all the good sewing friendships.

website by my son matte elsbernd
   

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California - Land of Promise

This quilt was made for the California Heritage Quilt Project's Road to California contest in which you were to interpret how your family came to California. This is the story in my quilt: My father came to California in 1928 from Kansas. My mother came around 1938 from Idaho. They were lured by the promise of new beginnings. The Golden State was being promoted with scenes of the bountiful land, the sun setting on the blue Pacific, this land of giant oranges and radiant poppies. This quilt postcard also includes a Petaluma chicken, the house where my sister and I grew up and a saw of my father's carpenter trade. On the map are the locations where each of us has lived in California.

° Road to California, CHQP Show - May 1989
[third place winner]
° SFQG Quilt Show - 1990
° SFQG Tea/solo show - May 1993


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February 10th

February 10th is my birthday. As I was growing up, the symbols of the month were very special to me, the hearts of red, pink and magenta, the purple of amethyst and the first violets of spring. Blending across the center are pieced cake-stand blocks. An appliquéd representation of white eyelet laced with black ribbon encloses a corner in memory of my childhood black and white dresses trimmed in lace by my mother. Quilted and appliquéd hearts are tossed across the quilt shouting hooray!

° SFQG Quilt Show - 1990
° Story Quilts at New Pieces - July 1992
° Story Quilts at Houston International Quilt Festival - November 1992
° SFQG Tea/solo show - May 1993
° Story Quilts, Telling Your Tale in Fabric by Mary Mashuta/C&T Publishing - 1992
° Quilter's Newsletter Magazine - October 1992


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Nota Bene

An eclectic collection of words and graphics, black and white, pieced and appliqué techniques are combined for you to 'take notice'. This quilt evolved from three choices: the written word, the use of impromptu placements and eclectic symbols. Geometric shapes were randomly prepared and combined for the pieced background. Over this, in contrast, curved motifs were appliquéd and then another pattern of motifs were added by the quilting lines. The red-violet color was added for the challenge contest.

° Black Through White With Accent challenge at New Pieces - September 1990
° SFQG Quilt Show - 1992
° SFQG Tea/solo show - May 1993


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T.I.D.E.

For me, tidepools are a favorite place of discovery. Here life alternates at once exposed and quietly waiting for the next phase of the tide and then again immersed in the nourishing sea. Beauty abounds with subtle colors and an endless variety of textures and shapes. The format of this quilt, my style of designing and the applique technique along with the tidepool itself are all about the contour and juxtaposition of edges.

° EBHQ Quilt Show - March 1991
° SFQG Quilt Show - June 1992
[Judge's Choice award]
° SFQG Tea/solo show - May 1993