Hello, I'm Deanna Springer live at the Great Wisconsin Quilt
Show in Madison, Wisconsin with joined by Bonnie LeBeaux and we
are standing in front of you. Align yourself with the stars
exhibit. Yes, your exhibit is beautiful. Thank you. So let's
talk about the quilt behind us, and we'll bring the mic up so
people can hear you at home. >> Yes. So my name is Bonnie
LeBeaux. I've been quilting for approximately 28 years. I mainly
do star quilts. It's a somewhat of a adopted tradition in my
culture. Lakota this is a queen size that I've done. I love
working with the what we call sunset colors, and I like to do
my quilting freehand. But in just over the past few years,
I've done started to do the custom quilting with the
computerized. >> That's a lot of fun. The
longarm computerized quilting. Yeah, it's just beautiful.
You're piecing is beautiful. Your color gradation is
gorgeous. >> It's spectacular. Tell us.
Let's tell the audience how you started sewing.
>> So when I came home from the Navy, my. I walked into my
grandmother's house one dining room table all the way
across around the living room about, I'm going to say about 12
quilts, maybe all in various stages. And I walked into the
room and I'm like, grandma, what are you doing? Because she was
just in the middle of all these quilts and she said, I'm getting
ready for my for Uncle Dan's giveaway. My uncle had passed a
year earlier, well, almost a year earlier. And in our
tradition, we commemorate their life approximately a year after
they pass away. And that includes what we call a
giveaway. And she was making quilts, making quilts for the
giveaway. >> Yes, so many quilts, not just
one. Right. So you felt you had to help? I did, I did, yes.
>> So exactly. Yeah. Well, I had been sewing for since I was
about eight. My mom is a seamstress. Grandma's a
seamstress, a quilter. >> So you were surrounded
growing up by sewing and quilting?
>> I was had the sewing machine on the kitchen table at all
times, humming day and night. >> Yeah, I grew up the same way.
Yeah. Right. Yeah, I learned you recently opened a shop. Tell us
about your new shop and where it's located.
>> I did, I live in Rapid City, South Dakota, I found a space on
Lacrosse Street, so it it doubles as my work studio. So I
get to do all my sewing and my makerspace now. Right. Yep. And
then in the front, I have this little space. So I thought, hey,
I'm going to sell fabric. >> So it's beautiful. I've seen
it. Your pictures of your new shop on social media.
Congratulations. Thank you. And while you're here at the Great
Wisconsin Quilt Show, you're also teaching. Tell us what you
are. Your lectures are. >> My lecture. Yes, I am going
to. My lecture is called Align Yourself with the Stars. That's
kind of my tagline, yeah. So I'm just going to go over my
quilting history and the history of how the star quilt came to my
people. learning and joining you at your
lecture, Bonnie. Thank you. And you can join too, so you can
learn more about Bonnie and her lecture and her quilts, at Quilt
Show dot com.