Gail Garber Designs
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Gail's Quilting Blog

Quilts by Gail

Quilting in San Diego

What a great time I had in San Diego! The El Camino Quilter’s Guild is a very fun bunch of ladies. Show and Tell at their guild meeting was incredible!

These are matching Lady Bug quilts by Joy Ameel and Eloise Housman for two as yet unborn twins!

This quilt by Laura Venegas was stitched with love in memory of her dear departed husband. An excellent tribute to a long-lasting love!

Happy Valentine’s Day to everyone!!

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Quilting in Iowa

I had a grand time in Des Moines last week!  Two lectures for the Des Moines Area Quilt Guild followed by two days of classes!  There was hardly any snow on the ground and the restaurants were fabulous!

Show and tell was inspiring. Jennifer Bernard, Iowa, created this quilt after taking my class several years ago.

Janeen Pearson and Tamara Watts-McPhail created this quilt. The center was done from my Cartwheel Constellation pattern that appeared in the American Quilter magazine about a year ago. They created their own borders! Wonderful!

While at the Des Moines class, JoAnn Belling received her new issue of American Quilter Magazine — which included the article she wrote. And, here’s JoAnn’s quilt that was featured in the magazine!

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The 2012 Hawks Aloft Raffle Quilt!

2012 Hawks Aloft Raffle Quilt

We did it again: stitched the quilt top in one weekend at the cabin. Presenting the 2012 Hawks Aloft Raffle Quilt! Thanks to all who participated! Thanks to Steve Elkins for taking the photograph!

Shown in the photo are:  myself,  Anita Marsh McSorley, Sami Sanborn, Steve Elkins, Michele Hymel, Mike Hymel, Ruth Burstrom, Debbie Prescott Caffrey, Chellye Porter, Lizzie Roberts, Rhianna Roberts, Amelia Porter, Mary Chappelle and Ed Chappelle at Jemez Mountains, NM.

More photos from our weekend quilt retreat are posted on my Facebook page.

I have raffle tickets, they are $1 each or 6 for $5.  We will be selling them at various birding and quilting events or you can contact me about buying tickets.

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Thimbleweeds Fashion Show

Some of you may remember the days, oh so long ago, when I used to publish garment patterns. That ended back in the mid-1990s when I decided to focus on writing books and designing art quilts. For all pattern-makers, sample garments are essential. Over the years, the garments added up, resulting in an overly bulging closet, full of garments I no longer needed. So, I donated them to my friends at Thimbleweeds Quilters in Rio Rancho, my hometown.

Reds Duster Coat

Reds Duster Coat

My friend, Donna Barnitz, organized a fashion show for their January 2012 meeting and I stopped by to help with the commentary! Here are images of just a few of the garments, Red’s Duster Coat, Dreamweaver Jacket, Circle Skirt, and Scrap Wrap.

Dreamweaver Jacket

Dreamweaver Jacket

Following the fashion show, they initiated a silent auction in which members could bid on individual garments. The goal is to raise funds for the local 4-H group, for their sewing extravaganza.

Barbara Geary models at Thimbleweeds

Barbara Geary models at Thimbleweeds

The funds will be used to purchase Gingher scissors for each ‘winner’ that participates in the spring show! A very worthy cause!

Scrap Wrap

Scrap Wrap

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New Zealand Memories

I love the week between Christmas and New Year’s! It’s about the only time of year when I have the luxury of doing exactly what I want to do. And this is what I wanted to do — today! The quilt block in the tote bag was made by Charis Webb who gave it to me in 1999. Nothing like procrastination. I prefer to think I was waiting for the perfect project! Thank you Charis! The tote was the gift bag for my Christmas present for my friend, Sami Sanborn, who went on our trip to New Zealand in November 2011.
Sami's Tote

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Priority Alzheimer’s

AAQI Little Quilts 2011

AAQI Little Quilts Made By My Group - 2011

I’ve been involved with the Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Initiative since it was founded by Ami Simms, whose Mom was afflicted by this terrible disease. Their main fundraiser is the sale of Priority Alzheimer’s Little Quilts — quilts that fit into a priority mailing envelope. Their goal was to bring 1500 little quilts to International Quilt Festival in Houston, and THEY DID IT! All sales go directly to fund research for Alzheimer’s Disease, which also afflicts my mom, who now lives in an Alzheimer’s facility.


Watch the video above to see some of the quilts that will be for sale this year in Houston.

Tiny Trees

Tiny Trees by Gail Garber

This is one of the quilts that I donated to the 2011 Priority Alzheimer’s Project. This “Tiny Trees” will be for sale in their booth on Row T of the main exhibit hall at International Quilt Festival, Houston.

Here’s a link to another of the projects undertaken by AAQI, “Alzheimer’s: From Heartbreak to Hope” Each of the purple rectangles bears the name of a loved one who was afflicted by the disease. My Mom’s name, Sylvia, is among them. The strips were taken around the country and people lined up in droves to add the name of their loved one. Each of the strips was quilted and bound to make this amazing exhibit.

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A Bear of a Year

Bear Cub

Emaciated black bear cub at The Wildlife Center, Espanola, NM

I don’t know if you knew that I also post bird and nature blogs at New Mexico Birds. I usually post a couple of articles each month, mostly about birds. But, my most recent installment is about Black Bears and the high number that are being found starving and injured during this record drought year. Wildlife and nature are a major part of my life, and I’d like to begin including links to those posts here too.

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Days For Girls


My small quilt group, Designing Women, has undertaken several charity projects, but Days for Girls was quite different than any of our previous endeavors. This worthy group collects and distributes women’s sanitary supplies to women in Third World countries, primarily Africa. Did you know that in these areas, girls must miss school and women must miss work due to their monthly menstrual cycle? It made all of us realize just how lucky we are to take these supplies for granted.


Days for Girls supplies four different patterns for pad holders, in different sizes, to meet varying needs. This is the simplest to stitch the diamond shape. The organization also insets all the snaps that are used to hold them in place, so we didn’t have to worry about that.


The Cutting and Organizing Crew: (l to r) Lisa Stewart, Pat Drennan, Mary Chappelle (who brought the idea to our group), Twila Bastian (our hostess for the day) and Debbie Caffrey.


Cathy Combs concentrated on making flannel pads that would fit into the pad holders.


So did Cynthia Figueroa-McInteer!


Five newbies joined our group for the “sew-in”, including two teens. All of them are part of Hawks Aloft, the avian conservation group that I also head. From l-r: Amelia Porter, Lizzie Roberts, Rhianna Roberts, Chellye Porter and Lindsey Porter.


Here Lizzie shows off the cutest pad holder ever!


Amelia’s pad holder is doubly cute!


Anita McSorley took on the task of top-stitching the pad holders.


Ta Da! And here is our finished pile of pad holders, 105 in all. All made from scrap fabrics from our stashes. We also made a pad to fit into each pad holder.


It was a great project, particularly meaningful for young American girls who learned more about the lack of basic sanitary supplies in some countries. Days for Girls supplies a goody bag that contains two pad holders, 10 pads, and also soaps and other hygiene supplies. Check out their website and think about have a sew-in with your group. You will be glad you did!

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