The Journey to Fabulous

Vickie Fry and Shannon Kane have known each other for over 20 years, first meeting through work in public accounting.  Their journey of working closely together began shortly after that, teaching classes at IU as adjunct professors for many years and even today working together at the YMCA creating financial statements and other sets of data.  Quilting has now been added to the list of their many collaborations.

Their first quilt collaboration was in July 2021 when in less than 7 days from idea to presentation they cut, pieced, quilted, and hand bound a quilt for one of their co-workers at the Y. Vickie and Shannon often retreat together, each working on their own quilt of the same pattern, sometimes even the same fabric.  They also enjoy doing Block of the Month quilts together, gathering each month to start the new block and share tips as they each piece the same blocks.

On October 27, 2021 they volunteered to help Lisa Stantz at Unraveled when Rob Appell visited the Tivoli Theater in Spencer, Indiana sharing his story and quilts. The last quilt Rob showed was a quilt designed by Charisma Horton called Fabulous – it was truly Fabulous. It is this quilt Vickie and Shannon made to donate as the 2022-2023 Bloomington Quilters Guild Raffle Quilt!

Fabulous was a Block of the Month collaboration between Charisma Horton, designer, and Rob Appell, of Michael Miller Fabrics, at the time.  Each month kicked off with a video from them, demonstrating that month’s block and showcasing the story of an iconic, inspiring quilter, quilters such as Libby Lehman, Yvonne Porcella, and Jean Wells.  The quilt uses Michael Miller’s Hashdot and Coco fabrics. 

The Fabulous Raffle Quilt is truly a collaboration.  This 96in x 96in quilt was pieced by Shannon monthly, and then handed to Vickie who pieced the 64 blocks together.  Vickie chose the quilt design and Shannon quilted it on the long arm, with the thread color, they chose together.  Shannon machine stitched the binding to the front, Vickie hand stitched all the binding to the back.  They worked on the quilt together monthly since January 2022.

They designed the back together using only the scraps from both of their quilts.  Vickie created the sleeve based on their backing design.  Their friend Elaine Lucas created the label for them. Together they have created a quilt where one side is traditional, and the other side modern, appealing to the masses.

The quilt is a collaboration of friendship and fun.

This quilt is Fabulous.

Photos courtesy of Shannon Kane