I have some beautiful new quilts in the studio to share with you all. For the next few weeks I get to drool over the beautiful quilts from Mary Bauer. Mary is a local quilting queen and every quilt she makes blows me away! Mary began sewing when she was ten years old and after a career hiatus started sewing in earnest when she retired in 1999. She spent those first few years filling the closets of her four grand-daughters but when she learned to quilt in 2003 all other sewing projects took a back seat. The quilts in the photo above are two of her "grand-daughter quilts." She collaborated with each grand-daughter to design and piece a quilt they could snuggle under when they came to visit. After only three years of quilting, Mary won her first Best of Show ribbon at the 2006 Kentucky State Fair. You read that right, she won her first purple ribbon after quilting for three years! Since then she has won many more ribbons at shows around the country and began teaching piecing and quilting techniques. The quilt on the right in the photo above is called Contemporary Sampler #1 and it's one of her quilts to win ribbons in shows around the country, including 1st place at AQS Grand Rapids and 3rd place in Houston. Mary has so many beautiful quilts on display and I'd love for you to come visit us and see them for yourself! Quilted Joy is located at 10302 Bluegrass Parkway, Louisville, KY 40299. We're open 10am-5pm Tuesday - Friday and 10am-4pm on Saturday.