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Putting the pieces together

Bader shares work at Thread Benders Quilt Show

By Deb Gau 4 min read

MARSHALL -- Cindy Bader said she's always been crafty. But she never thought of making a quilt until she was inspired by a design she saw.

"My very first job out of college was working at a bank, and they made this quilt for someone that retired," Bader said. "That was the first time I made a quilt following a pattern, because I saw one and thought, that's really pretty. That's kind of how I got into it."

Bader, a Marshall resident, shared her work from over 30 years of quilting, as part of a trunk show at the Thread Benders Quilt Show on Saturday.

The Thread Benders Quilt Guild's quilt show was held over the weekend. Dozens of quilts and other handmade items were on display at the Marshall Adult Community Center. There was a good turnout at this year's show, said Thread Benders co-president Lila Schmidt. By Saturday afternoon, she said, "We were up to 105 people."

Bader's trunk show gave attendees a chance to look at her work, going back to the very first quilt she ever made. As volunteers held up the quilt to the audience, Bader estimated she made the quilt about 32 years ago.

"From a distance, it looks good," Bader said. "But I like to show it because, if you look up close, it's off by about half an inch in some spots. I think it's worthwhile to keep and to show, because it shows you how far you've come."

Bader said she cut out the pieces for her first quilt using cardboard templates. Many of the quilt pieces also have Bible verses and other sayings written on them, that Bader traced onto the fabric using a light box.

Today, Bader works with a technique she calls "mosaic applique." She creates an image, made up of colored shapes with a little space in between them. Then, using Hotfix adhesive and fabric, she turns the shapes into appliques that can be fused to a background.

"I call it mosaic applique because, as you'll see, there's a little gap between the pieces, and it kind of reminds me of mosaic tile," she said. "I like the style because it's a little unique, and kind of has a little bit of a modern feel to it."

Bader said once she gets an idea for a quilt design, she sketches out a small version.

"For my big patterns, I'll go and take that small design, and I project it up on the wall in the actual size I want it," she said. She uses the projection to trace the mosaic shapes on paper, and then decides on design colors, and how to fit pattern pieces on sheets of paper to be cut out.

"It's kind of like a puzzle. I'm moving it around, trying to get as many as I can on one page," she said.

Bader's quilts showed how she learned to make and use appliques over time. Her first mosaic applique quilt, featuring a seahorse, "looks normal," she said. "But my design, he's supposed to be facing the other way. And from this I learned that when you do applique projects, you need to reverse the pattern because with the way it's ironed on there, it flips the pattern."

Bader showed quilts and wall hangings with patterns she created, featuring sea creatures, safari animals, flowers and more.

In 2023, Bader started her own business, making mosaic applique patterns and teaching classes.

"My business is Patterns on the Prairie, and I named it that because this whole area here originally was all prairie land," Bader said.

While Bader had a longarm quilting business she started 18 years ago, now she focuses on patterns, she said.

"And I also teach beginning and intermediate quilting classes," she said.

"It's been really fun," Bader said of her pattern business. "I feel like the word is getting out." She says she's been going to events like quilt shows and teaching classes around the U.S.

Bader said being part of the Thread Benders Guild has also helped her learn more about quilting.

"I've been in this guild for 25 years, since we came to town here. Learning from these other ladies, that's been amazing," she said.

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