In the Fredericksburg Visitors Center hangs a quilt commemorating the city’s 175th anniversary. The quilt was made by Beverly Allen — she and her husband, Steve, own One Quilt Place. Her quilt includes all the things that make the city special, from the Christmas pyramid to the grapes and peaches to Enchanted Rock. The border is a fabric Allen designed called “Hill Country Wildflowers,” and it was produced with Jason Yenter by In The Beginning Fabrics and features nine Texas wildflowers. Fabric manufacturers didn’t carry anything like it.
“They hear Texas, and they think cowboys and boots. We give them wildflowers,” Allen said. “We worked with the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.”
Allen is an example of the innovation happening among Hill Country quilters.
“Quilting is such an art now. We’ve moved beyond the Nine Patch your grandma made,” she said.
Quilters come by the busload to her shop, located on an 1883 homestead where Jeep Collins used to manufacture jewelry. The campus has three main buildings: the shop, which is 6,000 square feet; The Studio, for added classroom space; and The Cottage, for overnight guests, especially those who think the perfect weekend involves surveying 8,000 bolts of fabric, along with notions, sample quilts, sewing machines, and fabric from all the major lines, including Lori Holt and Kaffe Fassett.
All of the employees at One Quilt Place are quilters.
“They’ll hold your hand and walk you through,” Allen said.
Since Fredericksburg is a small town, the bulk of the shop’s business comes from tourists. They come for a quilt bag-making class, for the quilt block of the month, for a creative experience — the color wall, the children’s area, the Christmas area, the patriotic area, the wilderness area, even fabrics that celebrate Future Farmers of America.
“It’s a quilter’s destination,” Allen said. “There’s a giant tour bus of 55 people coming from San Antonio. They have people on it from Germany, Japan. They fly in, and they’re coming to our shop first, on their way to Houston and the International Quilt Festival.”
One Quilt Place grew out of the Vereins Quilt Guild, which was organized for Fredericksburg’s 150th anniversary.
“It was started by a group of gals that wanted to have a quilt for the celebration,” Allen said.
Now they host guilds, bees, and clubs that meet onsite. Visitors can buy a pattern by local designer Diane Kammlah of Cross Mountain Stitchery, or a handmade pincushion and thread catcher. They can work with Jessica Weirich, who runs the long-arm machines. Weirich designed “Garden Pathways” from a German crochet pattern. When the shop was featured as a Top Shop in Better Homes & Gardens’ “Quilt Sampler” magazine, Weirich’s quilt was on the cover.
One Quilt Place is a Handi Quilter signature store, carrying the brand’s full line of long-arm machines. They are also a rep for Brother and carry its full line as well. In addition, they have Accuquilt’s dies and cutters. And they are authorized to carry supplies for the old Featherweights. Steve Allen can even service machines. Many of his innovative quilts are displayed in “Steve’s cabin,” with its own TV, coffeemaker, and rocking chairs for the menfolk.
The local quilting community has made and donated quilts to a variety of charities, including the Willow City VFD, the Harper VFD, and The Grace Center, Gillespie County’s domestic violence shelter.
“When they opened their doors they had 168 quilts from us, from crib-size up to twin,” she said. “All the moms there get a twin-size quilt that comes with a pillowcase. They get to keep it.”
Allen says Fredericksburg’s quilting community has something for everyone — from beginners to seasoned quilters, from quilts with batiks to ones with thread play.
“Quilters are among the most supportive, generous, lovely people,” Allen said. “If someone asks, ‘Can I do this?’ They say, ‘Yeah! You can do this!’ That’s what quilters do.”
One Fredericksburg woman who embraces the modern side of quilting is Carrie Wikander. She moved away for college, but when she returned, her mother wanted to quilt with her. Wikander made one quilt, then attended the International Quilt Festival. Within a year or two she was designing her own patterns.
“I was absolutely smitten,” she said.
Wikander spent her career as a teacher and poured herself into the classroom, while quilting on the side. Since retiring, quilting has taken over the creative part of her brain.
“I didn’t know I was artistic,” Wikander said. “I call myself an experimental quilter because I don’t have much formal training. I get an idea, then figure out how to construct it. My ideas have always been far ahead of my expertise. Sometimes I’ll realize there was a much easier way to do something. I thrive on challenge.”
Most of her quilts are art quilts, designed to be hung on a wall. When she does make a throw quilt or a bed quilt, it’s generally smaller than queen-sized. She teaches quilting classes focused on modern techniques for intermediate to expert quilters.
“My approach is different from those who learn the traditional way of quilting,” she said. “I’d say it’s not your grandmother’s quilting, but we have a quilt from my grandmother that is a pixelated flower, a flower made from squares. We talk about what a modern quilt is, but check out some of these made 50 or 100 years ago. They are definitely modern.”
Wikander has had quilts featured in “Make Modern” and “Simply Moderne” magazines, and she has three pieces coming out in “Simply Moderne” next year.
Her website is called The Zen Quilter because she desires to only positive energy into her work. She is constantly surprised by what a person can do with fabric and a little ingenuity.
“There is always innovation going on in quilting. You think you’ve reached the limit, and then, Boom!” Wikander said. “Kind of anything goes in the quilting world. The sky is the limit.”