About Me

Something about my lifelong love of needlework

Cathy teaching a class at Paducah quilt show

My name is Cathy Grafton, a midwestern quilter who has been making quilts for almost 35 years. My Mother and Grandmother taught me to do embroidery when I was six. At that time crewel work in wool was popular and even then I remember loving all the colors of wool and choosing my favorites. In Junior High I bought my first hardcover book -- It was a book I still treasure The Creative Stitches of Embroidery by Jacqueline Enthoven.

While I was a Knox College, I began to design my own needlework pieces. These became a way to take a break from studies and often were given to friends as gifts. The summer after college I started wanting to make quilts, which I had always loved. My boss at work gave me two boxes of his Mother's quilt blocks, unfinished tops and 1930's fabrics. I found the one book on the market about quilting and started in. By 1976 the quilt craze was starting and I found myself in demand as a teacher. I taught basic quiltmaking and my first lecture was about miniature quilts which I had started making.

In 1992 I was designing one of my prairie quilts that required a considerable amount of embroidery and I heard about silk ribbon. A friend loaned me some and I began using it. It took over my life for awhile. AQS talked to me about writing a book on silk ribbon geared especially for quilters and I had a lot of fun doing research and writing that book. It came out in 1995 -- "Nature, Design & Silk Ribbons" you can read about it elsewhere on my site.

Over the years I have melded silk ribbon and thread and applique into my own style for my quilts. I love combining the two together to create intricate designs and to play with the colors.

I began teaching quilt classes in 1976 when the bi-centennial came along. Suddently everyone wanted to learn to quilt. My first classes were on basic quiltmaking and miniature quilts. Today I teach hand applique, design classes, and silk ribbon embroidery.

Sunset at Mont St. Michel in France

One of the places I love best is the tiny island of Mont St Michel on the Normandy coast. I have traveled there to visit six times now, and usually stay on the island for 3 days when I go. This year I walked up the "grand rue" early in the morning to attend the first service of the day along with three other visitors. We were guided into the crypt of "Our Lady of the 40 candles" to celebrate the dawning of a new day with the brothers and sisters of the abbaye.

Though Mt St. Michel can attract hordes of tourists, I find that staying there gives plenty of time to visit without the crowds-- as most of them leave late in the afternoon. So in my favorite garden I can sit, stitch, watch the sea gulls soar and wait for the tides to surround the island.

Publication:

PROFESSIONAL QUILTER - 9/84 & 11/85

QUILT DIGEST III by Kiracofe & Kyle - 1985

AMERICA'S PICTORIAL QUILTS Caron Mosey/85

QUILTS & QUILTERS of ILLINOIS Rita Barber/86

QUILT MAGAZINE - Spring 1987

QUILTER'S NEWSLETTER "Meeting Place" 3/87

PATCHWORK PATTER, NQA - 2/88

GREENE CROSS CO/Portland, OR

My quilt "Flowerstar" featured on notecards 1988

LET'S MAKE WAVES by Porter & Fonz - 1989

EVERYTRICK IN THE BOOK by Ami Simms - 1990

ILLINOIS MAGAZINE - Prairie Quilts - May 1991

QUILTWORLD "Visions of a Vanishing Land" - 9/92

AMERICAN QUILTER, AQS

Winter 1991

Silk Ribbon Embroidery - Fall 1995

"NATURE, DESIGN & SILK RIBBONS" - AQS 1997

my book about silk ribbon embroidery

AMERICAN PATCHWORK & QUILTING

Feast of the Hunter's Moon 10/88

Sunflower Pincushion - 4/99

Miniature Crazy Quilts - 2/00

Baltimore Album Legacy, Elly Sienkiewecz

1998 book & catalog of the Baltimore Revival show & contest

Ceilteach Circles has a border inspired by the Bayeux Tapestry -- my "Bayeux birds" seem to have their own personalities. Bits of embroidery on the borders of the tapestry have always intrigued me and I found lots of ways to work them into this quilt.

Ceilteach Circles -- a judge's choice winner in 1998 with lots of applique & silk ribbon embroidery

I've had several one woman shows of my prairie quilts --Galesburg Art Center & Geneva, IL Courthouse Quilt show, as well as being a featured guest artist at various midwestern

quilt shows.

Cathy "Catriona" Grafton

Reenactors are people who never tired of playing dress-up!