North Idaho Quilters show features quilt artist Lambrecht

This year’s featured quilter, Barbara Ann Short Lambrecht, is seen here with one of her whimsical caricature quilts. Courtesy photo

This quilt, “Country Courthouse,” made by the guild members, will be up for grabs during the quilt show raffle.

| June 7, 2019 1:00 AM

This quilt, Country Courthouse, made by the guild members, will be up for grabs during the quilt show raffle.

North Idaho Quilters will present their 2019 quilt show “It’s A Quilt World After All” on Friday and Saturday, June 14 and 15, in the Jacklin Building at the Kootenai County Fairgrounds.

There will be about 300 quilts on display; a merchant mall with vendors for shopping; a gorgeous raffle quilt, “Country Courthouse,” made by the guild members; a fat quarter raffle; and a country store sponsored by the guild, which offers new and gently used quilt items, fabric and even UFOs. Quilt show hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. Admission is $7 and covers both days. Proceeds from the quilt show go to support the guild’s service projects, charity quilts which are donated to the community, annual kid’s camp to teach young people to sew and quilt and to bring in guest speakers.

The featured quilter at this year’s NIQ Quilt Show is fourth generation quilter and native Idahoan, Barbara Ann Short Lambrecht. As a child, Barbara was surrounded by quilts made by her grandmother and her five great-aunts. Barbara has been sewing since she was 6 years old, when she made her first doll dress. She made a career working in fabric stores and teaching both high school and junior high home economics and science in the Edmonds, Wash., school district.

In 2010, Barbara started making a series of caricature quilts. The first was inspired by her cabinet maker who outfitted her sewing room. He told her he wanted a picture quilt in lieu of payment. It was a whimsical quilt showing him at work in Barbara’s studio. She named it “The Cabinet Maker.” He loved it! Next came the “Butcher,” her father-in-law, and the “Baker,” her best friend. These quilts allowed her to use her artistic ability to design the quilts, choose the colors, sew them together and quilt them all on her domestic machine. Barbara’s favorite quilts are fun, whimsical, make people laugh and are often inspired by puns.

Barbara was recognized as the featured quilter in 2008 at the WSQ Quilt Show in Spokane, in 2011 in Odessa, Wash., and in 2017 at the Quilters Anonymous Quilt Show in Monroe, Wash. In addition to receiving many ribbons at local quilt shows, including several viewer’s choice, she has also won ribbons at juried quilt shows. Her first award was in 1995 for a Christmas challenge sponsored by The People’s Place Museum in Intercourse, Pa. In 1998, she won Best Traditional Quilt at the APNQ Great Pacific Northwest Quilt Show. She won Viewer’s Choice in a challenge in Colorado in 2005, and in 2013 she received an Honorable Mention in the small pictorial quilt category at the Association of Pacific West Quilt Show. In 2017, she won second place in the Hoffman Challenge clothing category, for a jacket she made.

For the 2019 North Idaho Quilters Quilt Show, Barbara has made several new quilts for our viewing pleasure. Barb said, “It is such an honor to be selected as the featured quilter for my home guild. I hope my infectious enthusiasm rubs off on you and inspires you to challenge yourself to new artistic heights.”

To learn more about the Quilt Show and the Guild, please visit www.northidahoquilters.com.