- Kaye Wood

February 15, 2009

A few years ago I had the pleasure of attending a seminar with Kaye Wood in Holland, Michigan. Her years of experience as the host of Kaye’s Quilting Friends on PBS shone through as she walked us through how to use her templates and ideas to create our own quilts using her techniques. I bought the templates and the books, but I’m ashamed to say I never used them! Without Kaye’s presence and guidance I wasn’t sure I could do it. And with my schedule I couldn’t always catch Kaye’s PBS show.

Well now I (and every other slacker like me) have no excuse! Kaye is bringing her wealth of knowledge directly into our homes on the Internet via Kaye Wood TV.

Kaye said that PBS is gradually dropping quilting and sewing shows from their line up or putting the show in a block with generic “crafts” shows making them harder to find. And there are so many choices on TV now that the viewership on PBS was going down. With the advent of her new online shows people can watch 24-7 and they don’t have to wait for the PBS schedule or miss it because of timing issues.

Kaye said it hurt financially for awhile because sales of her products went down when she left PBS, but they are coming back up and Kaye thinks they will surpass her past sales. Kaye has 40 seasons – more than 500 tapes of her past shows – available. These have been put on KayeWoodTV.com free of charge and Kaye is now producing some new shows specifically for the net.

Now that she is not restricted by the time-frame and format of a TV show Kaye can produce videos of any length – 3 minutes, 5 minutes, whatever – and present a single technique in each video. She also offers free tip sheets to go along with the techniques and encourages viewers to download and share the tip sheets with their friends. Some of her shorter videos are also on YouTube.

Kaye said that her website is starting to pay off. Many quilters – even older quilters who might not have been online in the past – are joining the mailing list and checking out the podcasts and videos.

In conjunction with the new videos Kaye is publishing a lot more individual patterns rather than books. Each video has a pattern and these are printed in-house as needed. All patterns are also available as e-patterns and e-books so viewers can watch a video and download the patterns instantly. No more waiting for it to be shipped! DVDs are also available.

Kaye’s shows are all free on her website and she plans to keep it that way with the help of her sponsor Lazy Girl. Kaye said she is ALWAYS looking for new sponsors, such as sewing machine and fabric companies. Anyone want to help her out? Contact her!

One of Kaye’s new ventures are her teacher certification classes. These are taught in conjunction with a one-day seminar and trunk show. People choose their particular area of study – any technique of Kaye’s that they want to pursue – then spend a full day learning and sewing. When they’re done, they have a finished class sample and are licensed to teach Kaye’s technique.

She’s coming to Grand Rapids, Michigan in May or June and is looking for a place for 200 people for the all-day seminar and a place to teach 10-12 people in the certification class. Anyone have any ideas where she could hold these events? If so, contact Kathleen@kayewood.com.

Kaye has some upcoming seminars and trunk shows in Cincinnati, OH (April 19) and in Stanley, WI (May 2) at Sew & Sew Quilts and Fabric Shop, at The Timbers. These seminars usually consist of two hours in the morning and one and a half hours in the afternoon with a lunch break in between.

Latest books and patterns

Kaye’s latest book is Everyone Can Quilt. It has been a best-seller. It’s a teaching manual and includes lots of Kaye’s stories from her seminars. She is working on a few new patterns too.

Another new pattern is called Two by Two. It’s a Noah’s Ark baby quilt featuring cute pairs of embroidered animals fussy cut using Kaye’s View-and-do-Square. Her View-and-Do templates are tools that you can use to fussy cut various shapes. The square was out of stock, but it’s now back by popular demand.

Kaye is currently working on a Heartbeat quilt for the American Heart Association. It will be auctioned off in Puyallup, WA to raise money for the AHA.

Kaye is also coming out with a new technique for making puff or biscuit quilts. Kaye told me that she made one about 30 years ago and suddenly they are cropping up everywhere and everyone is using the same old technique. Kaye’s technique will eliminate the tedious hand work! (She said this might be ready by April! I’m all for eliminating handwork!)

Kaye mentioned that she loves quilting cruises. She’s done 25 so far and is in the process of setting up a new one. She is still trying to find a good location. Brazil / Rio de Janeiro and down the Amazon River is a possibility. Kaye is really hoping this works out. She said she’s tired of Alaska and Europe! So if you’d like to go to Rio, let her know!

Kaye’s Love Connection Quilts

Kaye designed her 6 Hour Quilt specifically for groups that needed a quick charity or baby quilt and founded the LoveQuilt(tm) Connection in 1993. This group aims to provide quilts for children and babies in need wherever they are.

The LoveQuilt Connection is an event taken to National Quilt and Sewing events to promote community charity work through quilting. At the event, a coordinator works with volunteers to make the 6 Hour Quilt by Kaye Wood. At the end of the event a charity which has been chosen in advance sends a representative to receive the quilts. The organization then promises to give these quilts to individuals in need.

The LQC mission is to encourage people to make 6 Hour Quilts and ultimately to have as many people as possible learn the technique, so they in turn can, “pay it forward”, by teaching it to others. Over 2500 quilts have been made since Love Quilt Connection first introduced this program in 1993. Many quilters have introduced the 6 Hour Quilt to their own communities.

Recently, Kaye chose Mary Kaeser to be the national coordinator for LoveQuilt Connection.

Kaye says, “I have chosen Mary because of her success in using the 6 Hour Quilt technique in her own community, by creating the non-profit organization Community Quilt Connection, Inc.. As well as promoting and organizing events in her own community, Mary has successfully introduced the 6 Hour Quilt into the curriculum of several local schools and has taught it to several youth groups, such as the Girl Scouts, for community service projects. Mary, with my guidance, will present LoveQuilt events nationally and in local communities in an effort to expand it even more, and to be able to offer more help to those in need.”

Our goal now is to compile a list of people and groups using the 6 Hour Quilt technique for their charities. In the future we hope to have official chapters formed, which would hold annual events, so quilts will continually be going to the people who need them. Mary will be available to share her expertise on how to introduce this event to your community and schools. Please e-mail Mary and let her know of your 6 Hour Quilt projects/events/groups, if you wish to receive e-mails for info pertaining to the LoveQuilt Connection, or if you’d like to list your group as a possible chapter enter GROUP, INFO or CHAPTER, in the subject line accordingly. Here is that link: cquiltcinc05@aol.com

Mary E. Kaeser

Founder/Co-Director,

Community Quilt Connection, Inc.

Phone: 513-238-2305

Location: Cincinnati Mills Mall

2nd Floor A-237 Entry 2

Mail: 321 Thomas Lane

Harrison, Ohio 45030

Here are some other suggestions to include in your e-mails to Mary, to help her better understand how and what you and your group are doing.

1. Group or individual name
2. E-mail for contact person
3. Website URL
4. How did you learn about the 6 Hour Quilt?
5. When did you start making 6 Hour Quilts?
6. Approximate number of people involved.
7. Approximate number of quilts previously donated.
8. To what charities have you presented these quilts?