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M a y 1 1 , 2 0 1 1 • Vo l . 4 • N o . 1 9 • w w w.T h e W e e k l y S u n . c o m
Local Quilting Book By KAREN BOSSICK
C
(Clockwise from top): Dinosaur, Day Star, Ring Around the Rosies. Lilypads. COURTESY PHOTOS
Booksigning Today with Janet Houts and Jean Ann Wright
12 p.m. at the Sun Valley Fabric Granary in Hailey
Bug Zoo: 4 Days Left
hances are, the pioneer women who settled Idaho would have envied Janet Houts. Three dozen times a year, boxes of the latest fabric are delivered to her home in Bellevue by major fabric manufacturers. And Houts gets the pleasure of figuring out how to turn those pieces of fabric into quilts that thousands of quilt makers around the world will copy. Now, after designing hundreds of innovative quilts for all the leading quilting magazines, Houts and her sister Jean Ann Wright—also a renowned quilt maker—have published a book that features 24 creative quilts using one unique quilt setting. The two will sign the books, “Circle of Nine,” at a book signing at noon today at Sun Valley Fabric Granary in Hailey. “It’s a very unique concept. You can use the nine-block principle in many different ways. And the quilts are very beautiful,” said Rebecca Mitchell, owner of Sun Valley Fabric Granary. “These quilts have a totally different look than other quilts—they’re quite a beautiful style,” added Cat Downs, a sales clerk at Fabric Granary. Houts grew up coloring placemats for favorite customers at her father’s restaurant. Her mother taught her to sew her own clothes but never to quilt. “Mom always said, ‘If you can afford to buy a nice new blanket from the Sears catalog, why would you make a quilt?’ ” Houts recalled. Sister Jean Ann, who lives in Marietta, Ga., was the first to try quilting—when she was expecting her first baby. Houts, meanwhile, forged a career as a graphic artist for Apple Computer. But when Jean Ann began editing “Quilt” magazine in the late ’90s, she began calling on Houts whenever she needed a pattern constructed on deadline. Houts began quilting to better understand the patterns she was drawing and quickly became hooked. “I like the challenge. And, for me, it’s meditative—it calms me down because I tend to be an over-energetic person,” she said. “My sister does more traditional-style floral patterns. My designs tend to be more abstract.” Houts designed the Circle of Nines with nine blocks starting in the center. She christened them with such names as “Autumn Fairies,” “Country Blossoms” and “Cross Patch.” “We’d never seen the Circle of Nines before,” she said. “That doesn’t mean it never existed. But we’ve never
“Every time I meet someone and they find out I make quilts, they immediately tell me a quilt story about the one their grandmother made.
Janet Houts quilts in a large studio barn that she shares with her ar tist husband Steven in Bellevue.
Photo: KAREN BOSSICK /SUN
found a quilt with them.” For the book Houts made six quilts. She generated the others by computer using fabrics the various textile companies had sent her. “People who don’t feel comfortable creating something from nothing feel comfortable following one of these patterns. And that makes me feel good,” she said. Houts said quilts strike an emotional chord with many people. “Every time I meet someone and they find out I make quilts, they immediately tell me a quilt story about the one their grandmother made. You can hear their love for the relative who made that quilt for them as they tell the story.” Houts said quilting—a billion-dollar industry—continues to grow although, surprisingly, the recession slowed its growth. “My six-year-old grandson—Logan Pilaro—made his first quilt when he was five,” she said. “It’s different now than then, though. You can see the maker’s hand in antique quilts whereas we, with all the tools we have, can make perfect stitches. You can see how the creators of antique quilts ran out of the fabric they were using in the middle of a block and how they grabbed something else to complete the quilt with. We have designer fabrics and, as a result, our quilts tend to be more artistic.” tws
invites you to
an evening with
JOHN PATRICK SHANLEY
award-winning writer of DOUBT & MOONSTRUCK
Four-year-old Kiara Quispe sports a butterfly face painting. “She likes butterflies and lady bugs, but she’s not so sure about the other bugs,” said her father, Luis. PHOTO: KAREN BOSSICK/SUN
Saturday, May 21, 2011 8:00pm