CQG 2025 Membership/Renewal forms will be accepted at our next meeting on 10/9.

This month's guild member spotlight is Tracy LaCombe.  She and her husband had just moved to Keene from Bellows Falls Vermont to downsize and prepare for retirement when she joined the guild in 2018. Since meeting Tracy through the guild I've noticed she loves to challenge herself with using very small pieces of fabric for her quilts. She shares some of these beautiful quilts below. Enjoy getting to know Tracy better through this interview. 

Answer: "I usually use a pattern as a base but go with my own color combinations and palette. I'm not very good with measurements so I like to have that part figured out for me. I have been known to take parts of various quilt patterns and combine them into one quilt. For example, the butterfly quilt was a paper pieced pattern. I added the nine-patches to use up the rest of the fabric and to make it my own. I made it as a baby quilt for my first granddaughter. I have never made up my own pattern but I have used pieces of patterns and other sources to make the quilt I have envisioned. For example, I once used a cross stitch pattern as a base for a quilt. Each stitch in the pattern was a one-inch square of fabric in the quilt. My husband called it my Insanity Quilt. I loved the result but will probably never do another one like it. I get a lot of ideas from other quilters, either through the guild or online. I frequent a few Facebook groups and YouTube channels for ideas and tips. When VQF was open, I took several classes to learn new techniques. I am always looking for good scrap quilt patterns to help me get through my stash and for my leader/ender projects.” 

Answer: "I was not close to my family. Due to some trauma, I do not have many memories of my childhood. I remember that I had to take Home Economics in Junior High and found it to be more of a review type class rather than a learning experience. I'm sure I had lessons but I don't remember them. I was a voracious reader so maybe I picked up the how-toos from books. I consider myself to be mostly self-taught for many things including, quilting. Shortly after college, a friend was getting married and I wanted to give her a quilt as a gift. I went to an antique type store and found a lovely quilt but it was way out of my price range. Since I knew the basics of how to sew, I figured I could make one myself. I bought an Eleanor Burns quilt in a day book and some fabric. Several weeks later I had finished my first quilt. And as the saying goes, I've never looked back and have made many quilts since then.”I was not close to my family. Due to some trauma, I do not have many memories of my childhood. I remember that I had to take Home Economics in Junior High and found it to be more of a review type class rather than a learning experience. I'm sure I had lessons but I don't remember them. I was a voracious reader so maybe I picked up the how-toos from books. I consider myself to be mostly self-taught for many things including, quilting. Shortly after college, a friend was getting married and I wanted to give her a quilt as a gift. I went to an antique type store and found a lovely quilt but it was way out of my price range. Since I knew the basics of how to sew, I figured I could make one myself. I bought an Eleanor Burns quilt in a day book and some fabric. Several weeks later I had finished my first quilt. And as the saying goes, I've never looked back and have made many quilts since then.”

Answer: “Other than the math, I'm not sure. I enjoy all the steps that go into quilting. I'm not a very big fan of hand sewing so I probably will never do a needle turned applique or any hand quilting.” 

Answer: "I have made many types of quilts, even applique. I make blocks using traditional methods. I also love the precision that you can achieve with paper piecing. Most of the time, I am a ”eh, close enough” quilter. I don't worry much about losing points or that my seams do not always line up. One of my favorite methods of making quilts is to have a leader/ender project going as I'm working on a main project. Often, I say I have two quilts going at the same time.” 

Answer:  “I have a dear friend who did a couple of tours during the Vietnam war. One day I read online about Quilts of Valor and immediately thought of my friend. I made him a quilt with his wife's input regarding the pattern. She provided me a picture of his unit's insignia which I used as the center medallion. I presented it to him once it was finished. Although I did not go through the official Quilts of Valor process, I am glad I was able to acknowledge my friend's service in such a meaningful manner. I know many of the personnel who returned from that war in particular did not receive the welcome home that they should have.”