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Beginning March 25 and running through May 19, Stanford University will be hosting an exhibit of Yvonne Porcella's quilts as part of their Stanford Art Spaces program which features changing art exhibits.

If you missed Yvonne's Bold Strokes exhibit at the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles, this is your opportunity to see the full spectrum of Yvonne's work starting in the 1980s and moving on to today.

For more information regarding the exhibit, click here.

To learn more about Yvonne, watch Episode 713: Yvonne Porcella - Legend 2010

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Accuquilt is doing it again!

It's time for the 2nd Annual Accuquilt Barn Quilt Design and Contest.

Barn quilts have a rich history, adding color and design to buildings across the world for over 200 years. AccuQuilt is proud to be a part of the quilting community and excited for you to take part in their 2nd Annual Barn Quilt Contest.

1st prize is a $1,000 AccuQuilt Shopping Spree and a trip to AccuQuilt!  2nd prize is a $250 AccuQuilt Gift Certificate and 3rd prize is a $100 AccuQuilt Gift Certificate. 

The Contest ends on April 10, 2011 and the winners will be announced at the AQS Quilt Show & Contest in Paducah, April 27-30.

For more information and contest rules, click here.

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Recently at the 2011 Biennial Quilt Expo of Thimble & Thread Quilt Guild of Greater St. Louis there were three fabulous TQS BOM quilts.  They were all examples of the Stars for a New Day pattern from 2009.

The quilts are "Kaffe-inated" by Mary Ellen Adams (adamsme), "My Orion" by Jeannette Larson (marbles), and "Stars for a New Day" by me (NancyinSTL).  All three of these quilts were longarm quilted by the same quilter, Sandi Wagner (Oh2Quilt) of SewFine Machine Quilting LLC.

Each quilt, while similar in pattern, is unique from the coloration of the fabric, to the settings, to the stunning machine quilting by Sandi.  Imagine being able to quilt the same quilt, three different ways.  Are you ready to finish up your TQS BOM?  Soak up the all the designs and see what you can do!

A huge Thank You to Nancy Hamilton for the photographs.

This free slideshow created with Smilebox

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The folks at Mancuso Show Management were kind enough to send over photos from one of your their latest shows, the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival XXII - Quilt Competition "Show & Tell"  For those of you who didn't get to attend the show, here's your chance to get a glimpse of what went on and what you missed. You'll see quilts from some friends of TQS like Pat Holly and Annette Hendricks. Maybe next year, we'll be seeing you there.

If you'd like to see more winning entries, click here. Thank You to Mancuso Show Management!

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You know about rotary cutters, glass head pins, and acrylic rulers, but what do you know about porcupine quills and X-ray machines?

The Quilt Show asked their Facebook friends, "What tool or product - something from a totally different hobby - have you found works great for quilting?

Here are some of the highlights in no particular order. If you have used some of these tools or know where to get them - submit a comment and share what you've learned, e.g. where do you get an x-ray pencil or porcupine quill?  Keep reading until the end, you'll love those tips.

• Carpenters T-Square
• Bamboo skewers work great for pushing fabric under the needle of the sewing machine
• Paint for doing eyes and noses
• Peep hole-gives great perspective of your quilt before you sew your blocks together - should probably use it before you install it in the door.
• Transfer-Eze
• Needlepoint laying tool as a stiletto
• Photographer's vest - keeps frequently used tools handy, particularly in class
• A knitting needle for pushing out points
• Chop stick to poke out corners
• Pizza boxes to keep projects together - clean ones
• Cricut machines for cutting fabric
• Bamboo spoon with a round handle for turning bias tubes
• Two doorstops to tilt your sewing machine forward
• Acrylic drafting triangles - especially the big right triangle makes "truing up" cross fabric cuts a breeze
• Sandpaper-when I have to trace on fabric, I put the fabric on the sandpaper (rough side up) and it helps to keep the fabric from moving around while I pencil in a quilting line, or draw a shape
• Needle nose pliers to pull the needle when hand quilting
• Computer
• X-ray marking pencil works great on all colors of fabric and washes off easily
• I use Glad Press & Seal to place my applique pieces in the correct position on my applique projects. I trace the pattern on the Press & Seal and then stick the fabric on the "sticky" side and lay it over the background. I then carefully peel the Press and Seal off taking care to hold my applique piece in place. Then I pin and sew the applique in place. It will last for as long as I need to finish a project
• Blue painter's tape to keep track of which end should be up. It's also great for putting a block on a bare wall when I don't have my design wall handy. ;) A light box from my painting days to design transfers.
• you'll laugh...but I use hand weights as an extra aid to help me keep fabric from shifting when cutting. (The ten pounders are awesome for this) I use those whenever Hubby sneaks in and steals back his sandpaper.
• Pool noodles for rolling quilts
• Always looking for things outside of the box to use for notions. Fat fuzzy pony tail bands work great for securing bobbin thread for storage. Found a eyebrow groomer that makes a great seam ripper at the local Walmart.
• My husband made me a light box table which is an ideal height for me (36") for my Stained Glass work. The grid is 24" x 36". When I want to draw/trace quilt patterns. I empty the grid (in case there are any shards of glass) and flip it over to its solid back.
• I use medical scalpels in place of a seam ripper
• Circle templates from the office supply
• Chopsticks to help hold seams while pressing and turning fabric inside out
• hemostats to hold fabric...kinda like using tweezers...works great when sewing curves together...and if you are making dolls or critters i use acrylic paint for eyes...and blush or rouge to brush on for cheeks. I love camping and so what I originally bought for our camper never made it to the camper...was a picnic caddy that holds your utensils and napkins...works AWESOME to hold all my gadgets...cutters, marking pens, scissors, hemostats...etc
• Metal hairclips to help hold binding when sewing down by hand
• Adding machine paper tape works great for folding into the right sizes for quilting evenly especially on a border
• I used press and seal to hold rows of squares together-in little piles once, when I didn't have any zip lock bags! Kind of like the picture on the box when they use it for hamburger patties
• I have a friend that is a surgical nurse and she saves all the throw away tools they use in the operating room and then sterilizes them for me.....hydrostats, tweezers, scissors, etc. Knitting needles for turning and poking out corners. I use a Pampered Chef rotating tool caddy on my sewing table for holding all my scissors, rotary cutters, seam rippers and other tools
• Pastry roller
• Creative Memories circle and heart cutters for applique pieces
• Scrapbooking glue works great to hold down bindings
• I buy rolls of newsprint at the recycle center and use it to mask areas when I spray with 505, to make large patterns, to protect my ironing surface if I think a fabric might bleed, to entertain grandchildren
• magnetic parts dish, keeps my pins all heads up and holds a lot of pins, plus archival safe glue stick
• X-ray viewer makes a great tracing light box
• I use my Cuttlebug and dies for cutting applique shapes
• I also use the metal hairclips...but I roll the edge of my small projects like runners, etc and i clip them to hold the edge together when I'm quilting the project on my regular sewing machine to keep it out of the way.
• I always ask for an extra set of chop sticks to punch out corners and today I found a new use for them. I had a quilt on my HQ table and used them as spacers from the edge of my table and groovy board in order to position the designs. I could have moved the quilt but I was tired of walking around the table. No seriously, I only needed that width
• I like the plastic containers used for scrapbooking paper. They are 14" x 14" and fit a 12.5" square ruler and my Olfa rotating mat on top of my squares, keeps them pressed
• A small paint brush to apply starch (or spray adhesive) to the edges of my appliques before turning them back. Months (years?) ago when Alex had that other show she mentioned using a skirt hanger for holding and storing the cutting mat.
• Parchment paper works great between your iron and your ironing board when fusing. 
• I use my mother's wooden wall paper roller to press my seams when I am paper piecing.           
• Acrylic paints mixed with texile medium allows me to paint on my fabrics before I thread-paint. Watercolor pencils             
• Templates from scrapbooking, I can draw shapes onto my quilt with disappearing ink and then follow the design with the long arm, like a heart and then feathers around it. I also use them for applique shapes.  
• My husband's electric mustache trimmer (he gave it to me when I told what I wanted it for) to un-sew long seams. Runs fast, never nicks the fabric. I use my pressure foot on the machine to hold one side of the seam, and hold the other side in my left hand. then I run the trimmer along the inside of the seam, and voila!
• An African porcupine quill for turning points and for poking holes!
• Wine - makes that mistake completely invisible.

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The 3rd Saturday of March is National Quilting Day (March 19, 2011).  It began as a resolution passed by members attending the National Quilting Association 22nd Annual Show in Lincoln, NE, in June of 1991.  It's been so much fun, that the observance of National Quilting Day has unofficially been expanded to include the whole month of March.

The National Quilting Association (NQA) has chosen to celebrate the 20th anniversary of National Quilting Day with a free project.  It is a log cabin variation designed by Barbara Harrell that you can use or share with your group to celebrate the day.

According to the NQA, and here at TQS (where it is now International Quilt Day), there are many ways you can celebrate.

• Make it a service day.  Make quilts for Project Linus or Quilts with Valor.
• Organize a quilt exhibit at your local library which includes the history of quilting.
• Learn how to give quilts to your local VA or military facility.
• Contact your church to see if someone is in need of a little bit of quilting love.
• Teach someone how to quilt - work with the 4-H, your local school, or your grandchildren.
• Visit your favorite quilt shop.
• Take a quilt class.
• Contact a senior citizens home and give a presentation on the history of quilting, or have a show-and-tell of your quilts.
• Give a quilt to the first baby born at your local hospital on International Quilting Day.
• Watch ALL the TQS Legends shows for free here at TQS March 18-21.

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Verna Mosquera has designed many beautiful quilts for her company, The Vintage Spool. She manages to find ways to balance her time with her family, while creating lovely appliqué designs. These quilts have a romantic, timeless quality and you can lose yourself in the details. To learn more about Verna, watch Show 806: Having it All with Hand Appliqué

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There is a fascinating exhibit at the Legion of Honor in San Francisco.  Pulp Fashion was created by Belgian artist, Isabelle de Borchgrave.  Isabelle is a painter by trade, but has taken rag paper and turned it into trompe l'oeil masterpieces of elaborate dresses inspired by European paintings and costumes in museum collections throughout the world.

There are many examples of clothing throughout history, from the Medici finery of the Renaissance to gowns worn by Elizabeth I and Marie-Antoinette.  Modern day is also represented with paper reproductions of works by Poiret, Dior, and Chanel.  Special focus is given to the creations of Mariano Fortuny, a major source of inspiration to de Borchgrave.

The exhibit runs through June 5, 2011.  If you visit the Legion of Honor website, you'll be treated to an Exhibition Preview.  These works give a whole new meaning to the words "paper piecing."

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Here is a quick walking tour of Las Vegas Blvd and some of the architecture, sights and sounds.  Capt'n John covered 10 miles in about 5 hours and still didn't finish the street.

Join us, wear good shoes and watch a street artist work in metal.

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When you are in this town, be sure to look up and look down to see all the details.

Here's the town.  Take a march down the boulevard.