That night I realized just how large the Nebraska State Quilt Guild really was. I don’t know the total number in attendance, but it had to be between 400 and 600. A guild! A guild with that many people! Wow!

Dinner was nice. I asked who the keynote speaker was that night. Someone said “Cathy Miller… she’s singing tonight… and tomorrow she’s teaching a Reverse Appliqué class.”

Oooh… multi-talented, I thought to myself. Then I thought… oh no… singing. My dad is a professional opera singer/voice teacher. I remember sitting under the grand piano in his office with my coloring book (staying really quiet) when I was little, listening to all the bad singers become good ones. My poker face when it comes to music is non-existent. I hoped that tonight’s concert would be amazing so I could be amazed.

Cathy Miller did not disappoint. She was AWESOME.

Cathy is a Canadian singer/songwriter. She used to be a professional folksinger… but now she’s a ‘quilting folksinger’. Cathy and her husband John travel all over the place singing quilting-related songs for events, guild meetings and shows. She’s known as “The Singing Quilter”. Cathy has released four CDs about quilting.

Some of her songs really tugged on my emotions, others brought me close to tears for other reasons… because I was laughing so hard. (She’s hilarious.)

So the song line up that night included:

3 Songs from her “One Stitch At A Time” CD:
100 Ways to Hide Your Stash (loved it)
One Stitch at a Time
Scrap Bag Polka

2 Songs from her “A Quilter’s Embrace” CD:
Quilter’s Husband’s Lament
A Quilt for Gran

3 Songs from her “A Quilter’s World” CD:
12 Step Plan for Quilters
You Can Quilt That Out (hilarious – quotes from customers of professional longarmers)
Star and Plume***

1 Song from her “In the Heart of a Quilt” CD:
Shop Hopping (hilarious – part of the chorus is “I spent $2000 for the chance to buy a $200 machine.”)

But it was soooo cool when she got to the Star and Plume song! It was a song made up totally of block names and guess where she got them?! Barbara Brackman’s Encyclopedia & BlockBase.

It’s a song about Sunbonnet Sue, who finds true love after some dicey moments with an intruder,
using 46 quilt block names to tell the story. Cathy stood in front of the quilt while singing and it was like “follow the bouncing ball” as we looked at the blocks and she sung.

She made the quilt with 9″ blocks and told me after the show, “Oh yeah! BlockBase! That’s the only way I was able to get the Drunkard’s Path block at 9 inches.”

Cathy was sweet enough to pose in front of the Star and Plume quilt for me. Please visit her website and check out her quilt gallery, CDs and booking/schedule.

She is definitely a multi-talented lady. Part of the show was also a show & tell of her work. She had a hexagon quilt with teeny tiny hexagons that formed a maze, a portrait quilt, color study quilts, and more.