.png){kind=small}
About Liberty Homestead
Welcome to the virtual home of Liberty Homestead. Quilters who have visited my booth at national quilt shows or here at our new shop, Liberty Homestead Mercantile, often remark “I just want to live here!” This is exactly the feeling I’m going for in all my quilts, and I’m happy to bring my Quilt Patterns, designs and fabrics to you at your house.
In my series of quilt books, patterns, and kits I’ve concentrated on what I call “down home quilting”. These are back to basics, traditional quilts with a little bit of “pretty” thrown in, and feature our own line of Hand Dyed, SUEDED Cottons. While I am a big fan of fine hand quilting, many of my quilts are finished with a running utility stitch that was very prominent in the good old country “made to be used” quilts. My style of quilting reminisces about a simpler time and place, and hopefully brings those “old timey” feelings into our very modern world.
Mailbox Quilts
Maria Tamaoka of Pinwheels and I have joined forces for this exciting new venture. Mailbox Quilts is a new & unique approach to quilt design. Take two independent designers - each with her own particular style, each with her own exclusive fabric line, each designing her own choice of quilt blocks - and combine all that into one cohesive little quilt. Sound like a challenge? Well, it is! And it’s one that we’ve embraced and are bringing to you in a 5 week format with you making the choice. Visit www.mailboxquilts.com for more details. Click Here to see our Mailbox Quilts Collection!
About Liberty Homestead
I started Liberty Homestead in 1979 and have been designing quilts and publishing quilt books ever since. Mainly I work with traditional quilt patterns and folk art themes, using a variety of solids, prints, and plaid fabrics including cottons, flannels, and wool. I prefer working with smaller quilts like wall quilts, banners and throws, but every now and then I’ll throw in a pattern for a bed-size project. To add additional interest, I like to combine traditional quilt piecing with unusual additions like wool applique and hand embroidery.
Hand Dyed, Sueded Cotton
One of the main ingredients in a successful quilt, and the best way to bring that “down home” feeling into your work is through the fabric. Liberty Homestead’s Hand Dyed, Sueded Cotton is a perfect fit for both. Almost all of the quilts shown in the Patterns and Libery Homestead Quilt Books use this fabric for the backgrounds and all the solid colors.
The dye process known as "Sueded Cotton" is certainly not a secret or an exclusive technique, and is available from several different companies. While I have used this fabric in my designs for many years, it was about 20 years ago that I started experimenting on my own - testing out the many different techniques my research had turned up. Using the same 100% cotton fabric as the starting point, I finally perfected the look I liked the best. And because we dye the fabric here ourselves, I can create and control my own colors. You’ll love the softness and the subtle shading of our deep, rich colors. Our Hand Dyed Sueded Cottons bring a depth and texture to your quilt that will flatter your work and help you create the heirloom look we all love.
The Hand Dyed, Sueded Cotton is sold in two yard bundles and in multi-color fat quarter packs. In addition we've dyed beautiful gradation collections and packaged these in fat eighths (8 yummy shades), fat quarters (8 shades) or half yard bundles (4 shades). While no one can honestly claim to make the only hand dyed quilting fabric that truly looks like suede, or that this is an exclusive dyeing process, the end result for you as a quilter is a beautiful quilt. Which, of course, is always our goal here at Liberty Homestead!
Liberty Homestead's Hand Dyed, Sueded Cotton - "It's To Dye For"!
Taking the Show on the Road
Many of you may be familiar with Liberty Homestead Books and Patterns from seeing our booth at the many quilt shows all across the country. Check out our current show schedule to see where we’ll be exhibiting next. I’ve enjoyed meeting and talking with quilters from coast to coast. I love hearing about all your projects and watching how you put my fabrics together with endless color combinations. I also love it when you bring pictures of quilts you’ve made from one of my books, and I keep these in our album we take to shows. I’m now starting a new page on the web site where I can post those pictures of your finished quilts for everyone to see! So check out our show schedule, and keep those cards and letters coming!
Liberty Homestead Mercantile
When we’re not on the road, our newest venture is the Liberty Homestead Mercantile. After living in Liberty, Missouri for 25 years, we’ve moved to the southeast edge of Kansas City, near a small town called Kingsville. We’re out in the country with lots of room around us, and have put together the Liberty Homestead Mercantile. This is our new home base, and we’re having a lot of fun with it. The Mercantile is a combination quilt and antique store. The antique store is packed with treasures from Victorian to Vintage, specializing in antique sewing accessories and the original Singer Featherweight Sewing Machines. The quilt store is the new home for all the Liberty Homestead quilt books, patterns and kits. And of course, we feature our complete line of Hand Dyed, Sueded Cotton. You can choose more fabric from our shelves filled with bolts of fabric from Moda, Maywood Studios, Honey & Me, and others, including lots and lots of beautiful flannels. You’ll find hand dyed wool in warm, country colors an d a selection of basic quilter’s tools. We are open by chance or by request. If you’re in the neighborhood, give us a call at 816-597-9402. Our motto is “If we’re home, we’re open!”
The Banner of the Month is a new collection just beginning here at Liberty Homestead. This is a series of charming quilt banners with seasonal themes – one for each month of the year. They’re all about the same size – pick out a spot on your wall to hang these cute little quilts and change them out each month to reflect what’s happening outside your window!
The pieces and parts for my Banner of the Month Club are all finally together and I’m happy to introduce my new “Folk Art Album” Block of the Month. For my Folk Art Album quilt I chose 9 of the most recognizable, traditional Baltimore Album blocks and gave them a “Folk Art flavor”. And I’ve taken the liberty of adding a top panel of my own design. By Folk Art flavor I mean clean, simple lines, “chunkier” designs, and all solid colors using Liberty Homestead’s hand dyed, sueded cottons. I’ve used the traditional red, yellow, & green color scheme (with a couple extra!), but in shades that lend a more contemporary feel. I’ve chosen to include 100% Bamboo batting in the kits. This is a wonderfully soft, anti-bacterial batting made from renewable resources. I’ve added touches of hand dyed & Kurumi covered buttons for a little touch of whimsy. The applique is all fusible and the quilting is by machine – 2 things you will never see in the traditional Baltimore Album quilts!