BORN AGAIN QUILTS’ VINTAGE QUILT FEATURED IN “COUNTRY LIVING” – Around The Frame

Yes, it’s true. Of the 30,397 vintage quilts on Etsy, Country Living Magazine chose five to highlight in an article in their November issue, one is from Born Again Quilts. If you are unfamiliar with the Etsy website (www. Etsy.com), it is an online marketplace where people sell handmade and/or vintage items and the supplies to make them. For over three and a half years I have sold textiles to people in the U.S., Canada, France, Finland, Japan, England, Italy, Australia and New Zealand.

It all starts back in November of 2012 when after checking out the Christkindel Markt (Christ Child Market) at Park Edelweiss near the former Elmhurst High School I spy an estate sale sign. Can’t pass up that opportunity so my friend Herb and I find the sale and are amazed to discover we both know the couple in the process of downsizing to a condo. Vincent and Helen Muntzinger attended Emmaus Lutheran Church back in the early 1960 where their son Tim and I attended Kindergarten and first grade. My family moved and I never saw him again. Herb went to Elmhurst and knew the family from his high school years. Their son Mark of Mark’s Body Shop keeps his cars looking good!

Helen had a booth at the former Karen’s Antique Mall and was selling off her excess inventory. I end up purchasing 7-8 quilts and tops: One of them a rolling star featuring blocks with nautical themes: Sea dragons, anchors, rope tied into knots etc. finds its new home at the recently opened studio and awaits that someone special to take it home and love it.

Fast forward to this past August. One evening I check my Etsy activity and read an unusual email: Hi,
 I need this quilt over-nighted for a Country Living Magazine photo shoot. Our UPS account is blah blah and the billing zip is 10019. Please email me the ship from address to my work email: blah blah@hearst.com so I can create the label. Please let me know if there is anything else I can do to ensure this is possible. OK… this lady Alison, she wants my quilt, she wants to photograph it, but is she borrowing or purchasing it. She needs it over-nighted… It’s 7 P.M. I don’t know what time she emailed me… Am I suppose to get it out yet tonight? I doubt if UPS is even open. So I email her back letting her know I’d love to help her out but I have a couple of questions on how this all works.

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So the next day instead of waiting for Alison to call me, I go online to Hearst Publications and find the phone number to Country Living Magazine. I call it and find myself speaking to a pleasant woman from Good Housekeeping. Apparently Country Living operation recently moved to Alabama and the website needed an update. I call the numbers and leave messages for Alison on both her work and cell phones. It isn’t too long before she calls me back. She tells me how much her editor loves the quilt and wants to purchase it. The photo shoot isn’t until Monday afternoon so it ships out Friday and arrives Monday morning.

The CL staff are excited about the five quilts as they brainstorm how exactly they are going to use each one. When the photo shoot is over, Alison writes me they decided to use mine in a fun, unexpected way for the November issue. I circle my calendar for the middle of October to go look for it. I didn’t have to wait that long. On October 3, CL subscriber Kathy of “A String or Two” Etsy shop writes and congratulates me for being listed as a quilt resource in the magazine. Apparently there many subscribers for within days the traffic on my Etsy site quadruples! To check it all out, the BAQ quilt is on page 40 of the November issue.

I cannot thank Alison enough for hanging in there as I pulled out all stops to ensure the quilt arrived on time. It was a thrilling experience and I’m delighted the Country Living Magazine readers can now share the joy of this rolling star quilt.

Lois Levihn is the owner of Born Again Quilts restoration studio and quilt gallery located at 4005 South Wayne Ave. You can contact her at 260-515-9446 or bornagainquilts@frontier.com.

Studio hours are 5:30-7 p.m. T-W-TH and Saturdays 9-2 p.m.