Janice Collins Bailey, My Life in Quilting

Janice Collins Bailey, 1960

My mother had two quilts her grandmother made for her and her brother when they were children. She kept them carefully stored and we very seldom got to see them because they were precious to her. I learned as a child that quilts are precious. My mother knit articles of clothing for us, so I learned that was practical. When I was 12, a neighbor taught me to knit, so I didn’t take up quilting until I was tired of knitting in 1963, my last semester of college.

I walked to the needlework shop in Colorado Springs and bought a printed cross-stitch quilt top and two boxes of brown embroidery thread, one light and one darker. I got the large inner portion done before graduation. Because I got married, moved to Collingswood NJ and was knitting items for the baby that was on the way, the quilt was forgotten. After United States Submarine Haddo was ready for sea trials, I went to Wichita for most of a year because my husband John Bailey wasn’t going to be on land during that time.

After we moved to Charleston, S.C. and our daughter was older, my husband still wasn’t home much. The quilt top came out again. I had used all of my brown thread, so I made my way to the needlework shop only to learn that D.M.C. had discontinued my colors. I bought two boxes of light and darker green embroidery thread and returned home to take out all the cross stitch I had done in brown on the sides so I could do the sides in the greens. After finishing the embroidery, I bought muslin for the backing and cotton batting for the filling. I laid all three layers out on the rug and hand basted them together. I began hand quilting the decorative stitching that holds the layers together on one side and was turning the corner to the third side when we moved to Manhattan, KS.

 Both my husband and I were in school, me teaching and studying for a M.A. in Child Development and him in Wichita every other semester on work study. One Saturday morning I was at the laundromat working on my quilt when a kind lady came over and told me that you start quilting from the center of a quilt so there wouldn’t be wrinkles in the middle at the end. I finished folding laundry and went home to take out all the quilting on the third side I had done so I could at least work my quilting stitches diagonally across the quilt to avoid wrinkles.

I put the quilt away and went back to knitting sweaters until the last summer in Manhattan. I was still teaching at KSU in case my husband didn’t get a job right away. He did, so we moved to Lynchburg VA, where I finished my summer of teaching and finished the quilt by stitching every night after our daughter was in bed until the national anthem was playing and jets were flying across the TV screen. The top and backing were just hand-sewn together because I didn’t know that I should bind the edges. Many years later when I was a member of the Emporia KS quilt guild, I was given a prize for the saddest story of finishing a quilt.

I tried to make a pillow quilt (left) in Lynchburg VA, but I wasn’t very pleased with it so I gave it to someone that was. I turned to crocheting a picture of an old sailing ship and had it framed for my husband. His work kept him in South Carolina except for one weekend a month. He  asked to be moved to a new site where our family could be together. We moved to Russellville AR where he spent most of his time at the site of Arkansas Nuclear One. After two years my husband got a job at K.G.&E.

We moved back to Wichita, where I began teaching preschool for U.S.D. 259, and the family took lessons in doing stained glass.

After the first year in Wichita, my husband flew to Westinghouse outside Washington DC every Monday through Friday. When the nuclear plant was designed, my husband worked in Wichita. After a few months my husband came home and said K.G.& E. wanted  him to move to the site of Wolf Creek to lead the A-Team and he wanted to go. My response was that I was happy with what I was doing in Wichita so he could just go up there and come home on weekends. Saturday he played golf with K.G.& E. friends and Sundays until after supper he spent with family. After two years of this living arrangement, I moved to Emporia.

During our stay there I started a knitting group for the county extension, earned a M. A. in School Counseling, and took a class at the Osage County Quilt Factory. It was in a church and owned by a lady who had a M.A. in Art from K.U.  I made my second quilt under her tutelage. It wasn’t a double-bed size like the first one. I gave it to my grandson.  It was machine-pieced and hand-quilted. 

During the summer of 1996 when my grandson was visiting for a week, he drew a picture of a face on a piece of paper. I had him draw five faces on muslin which I then made into a quilt he could take to preschool.  It was totally machine made.

In 1997 I made a quilt for the 175th Anniversary of the Santa Fe Trail. It was shown at the Kaw Museum at Council Grove (at left).

About this time I made two wall quilts for our home.  

In 1998 I used Ali’s quilt design for my granddaughter’s quilt. It was hand and machine-pieced and quilted by hand with Winnie the Pooh characters used for hand quilting design (at right).

This Sunbonnet Sue design is traced from my  great-grandmother’s quilt made for her granddaughter (my mother) and was used for a quilt for my granddaughter. The fabrics were from the toddler clothes made for my daughter by her mother and grandmother.

1999 I made a scrap quilt as an exercise in value from the Picket Fence pattern. Sewn by machine and quilted by Sharon Hoskins.

2000 “Plaza Trees” Christmas quilt made to try hand appliqué and frame- free quilting. 

Two small quilts made for children at family reunion. First pattern “Broken Dishes” and the second a nine patch pattern.                                                                                                                  

My daughter wanted a “Bear Paw” quilt. She picked pattern and fabric. Double bed size

In 2005  I moved back to Wichita after husband died in 2004. In 2014 my granddaughter  wanted a quilt made with Washington U. colors. “Chariot Wheel” pattern. Machine pieced and quilted. (no picture)

In 2015, I used wool fabrics of family garments in a quilt that was machine-pieced and tied with my mother’s embroidery thread.

“Palette of Colors” was just an experiment with scraps. Machine-pieced and quilted. Given to daughter.

2017 –  Family reunion quilt made every other year for our family reunion. Each family made a block. It was sewn together by the winner. The sashing was chosen ahead of time so families could consider that when making blocks. 

“Little Baskets” was machine-pieced. The basket handles were  hand-appliquéd while sitting with my father in the nursing home. Given to a granddaughter because she liked the colors.

2018 –  “Airplane Quilt” pattern chosen because my grandson is a professional pilot. Made for first great grandchild.

“Birds in the Air” was made of batiks and other  bright fabrics.  Machine pieced and quilted. (left)

“Claire’s Fabric Gems” was made from fabric sent by niece from France. Machine-sewn and quilted. Sent to Claire for her birthday. I liked it so much that I made another for myself.  right)

“Mom’s Dress” was appliquéd onto a scrap backing. Machine-pieced and quilted. Dress hand-quilted. Kept this dress because it was just “too much.” Finally put it in a quilt.

2019 – Bedspread made of family’s wool clothes. Queen- sized. I use it on my bed in winter.            Machine-pieced and quilted.

2020 – T-Shirt Quilt made of daughter’s t-shirts for daughter. All machine made.

Scattered through this calendar I have made several quilts for friends and family. I made a T-Shirt quilt for my Dad because he didn’t want to give them up when moving into the nursing home. It came in handy because people who came to visit knew what he was interested in, and the quilt made it easy for them to talk with him. (I’ve already made my nursing home quilt.)

Since the beginning of 2020 I have been the Chairperson of the Charity Committee of the Prairie Quilt Guild. The committee makes quilt kits for members to take home to sew. The Guild has averaged 50 quilts a month to donate to our local charities. We also sent quilts to the Kentucky tornado victims as well as 44 quilts to Poland for the Ukrainians.  The fabric we use is donated by our members or former members.

The first sentimental quilts I made I don’t think I mentioned. When my mother passed away, she had five Lanz flannel nightgowns. I took them apart and made a “Grandma’s Hug” for each of her three granddaughters. Some I have had to make replacements for over the years, they have gotten so much use. 

How I Quilt

I mostly make quilts that will be used so my methods vary. Because I am a sentimental quilter, the fabrics I want to use determine the pattern and size of my quilt. I have used various kinds of batting from 100% cotton to 100% polyester. I love to hand quilt, but for expediency, I usually have to do it all by machine. I hope to get back to my hand work before I can’t do it any more.

I’ve only made a part of most quilts for the charity committee. Our process is to make a kit that has all the parts of the quilt in it, all cut and ready to sew. The people who like to piece do that and bring the kit back for the people who like to quilt. Then people who like to put the binding on do that and return them. I sew on the Prairie Quilt Guild label and measure it before it is donated. When we make it easy for people to do the part they like, we get many made.