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Click to play this Smilebox slideshow: N.C. Quilt Symposium

TQS Ruth was lucky to visit the North Carolina Quilt Symposium held May 28 - 31, 2009 at Peace College in Raleigh, NC.  And we are lucky that she took along her camera!  Come along and see some award winning quilts, some faces you will recognize and get a behind the scenes look of this annual event.   You can let the slideshow run automatically, or you can pause the slideshow and step through each picture at your own rate of speed.  Watch in full screen (it is much better this way), and you can control the sound.

 

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If you have ever wanted to branch out and learn about art quilts, Jane Davila's two book set is the perfect way to get you started.  Click on the above photo to watch a trailer, set to music, C&T Publishing created for "Art Quilts at Play". 

Two lucky people will win a complete 2 book set "Art Quilts at Play" and "Art Quilt Workbook".  C&T will ship them worldwide, too.

To enter go to artquilts@thequiltshow.com  and type "artquilts" in the subject line.  The contest ends Monday night at midnight PST and the winners will be announced in our Daily Blog.

Continue your art quilt fun, by purchasing TQS Epsiode #208 "Principally Speaking - A Firm Foundation for Fabulous Designs" featuring Jane Davila.  Click here to purchase, and select #208.

 

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Put on your 'to-do' list this weekend to visit your participating BERNINA USA Dealer for a chance to win the latest star on the quilting scene: The All New BERNINA 820. PLUS a private party for you and 10 of your quilting friends hosted by Alex Anderson herself.  The Grand Prize winner gets both! 

Get ready for the Second Prize.: "  3 WINNERS PER BERNINA STORE will receive an autographed copy of Alex's book "Machine Quilting". (Remember how many books Alex signed...click here to see the answer.)

Click on the photo above or visit Berninausa.com for the complete rules. (Note:  This is a Bernina USA contest. All questions about the contest should be directed to BerninaUSA.)  While you are at their website, be sure to watch the video where Alex will give you some neat tips that make the Bernina 820 let you "Quilt Like a Star".

Contest ends June 15th.  So hurry in to your nearest Bernina USA dealer and look for the contest display.  Good Luck!

 

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On May 3rd, we had a blog about Libby Lehman breaking her ankle. We asked you - the creative TQS community - to tell the story. You did - boy did you! We had 52 fantastic comments - some extremely clever. They were so good we decided to pick one and give away a TQS goodie bag. They are all wonderful - so don't frown, but the happy winner for her clever use of quilt blocks, is Atkinssm:

Libby Lehman, world famous quilter, was injured while at the Chicago Quilt Festival. Never one to shy away from a good quilt challenge, Libby entered the First Annual Quilters Obstacle Course Run. She got off to a good start on the Snail’s Trail and was in second place after climbing Jacob’s Ladder and leaping through Broken Windows. She pulled ahead during the Churn Dash, but encountered a Flock of Geese as she was going over the Rail Fence. Unfortunately, a Wild Goose got in her way as she approached the final Turnstile and went down like Tumbling Blocks and broke her ankle. Although she did not finish the race, she was awarded the Broken Star award for bravery. When asked how she plans to recuperate, she said she is going to finish all her UFO’s while practicing using her left foot on the foot control of her new Bernina.

atkinssm
Atkinssm

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A photo I took from the train of the Urabamba River near Machu Picchu, Peru. It's a beautiful, long, wild, and violent river.

If I HAD to describe myself in only ONE word I would have to use the word 'creative'. There are many other adjectives that would fit the bill (hey, watch out there - grin), but CREATIVE would be the top of my self-proclaimed list.

Many of you have enjoyed the past two Christmas concerts which are presented on The Daily Blog. We'll, I've been promising a new Christmas CD and this week has been my first opportunity to begin the final arrangements to finish the project. The last three days I have been 'in the zone' for sure working on an arrangement that combines Personet Hodie and We Three Kings. You may recall I recently wrote about Kailin Yong, the violinist from Singapore and graduate of the Academy of Music in Vienna. We'll, I decided to do an arrangement with an Eastern flair and include him on the tune. What better song for an "Eastern flair" than We Three Kings - FROM ORIENT ARE...

I love being obsessed with creativity - whether it be quilting or music - or any other creative outlet. If you are like me, sometimes we do what we do just because we like it or because there is a deadline. However, sometimes the muse strikes and obsession reigns. In my retreats I talk about the creative obsession (moments of genuine inspiration) being like a rafter on a rushing river with rapids - there's nothing to do but hold on for the ride (see photo above). So, right now, I'm getting to be creative, and since that is just about my favorite thing, I'm feeling great - and obsessed! What was your last inspired creative obsessive project?

 

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"Aprenda más del quilting" (Story about Alex's June 2009 Visit to Costa Rica)

Manuel Sancho

June 2, 2009

¿Usted sabe lo que es "quilting"? ¿Le suena?

Es una forma de costura donde se crean piezas muy bellas, es más se crean verdaderas obras de arte.

Una empresa nacional divulga este arte, y trajeron a una experta estadounidense a dar un curso.

En "El Costurero" un grupo de mujeres hacen arte; arte llamado quilting. Quizás usted lo ha oído.

El quilting es una técnica de costura donde se unen 2 lienzos de tela con un relleno en el medio.

La capa superior se hace uniendo pedacitos de tela formando un diseño. Y se realizan piezas bellas.

Ellas recibirán clases con una de las más reconocidas profesoras y artistas del quilt, Alex Anderson, quien viene de Estados Unidos, donde el quilting significa una industria de 3 billones de dólares; y más de 9 millones de personas lo trabajan.

Alex visita el país gracias a la empresa "El Costurero" que desde hace más de una década difunde el quilting y da clases.
 

A pesar de que el quilting tiene poco tiempo de conocerse en Costa Rica, muchas personas entusiastas ya lo practican. Este arte es para todos, incluidos los hombres. De hecho, el socio de Alex Anderson es un hombre.
 
No deje pasar esta oportunidad. Llame al 2225-9534 o al 2225-0526 para ser parte del curso.

Si usted siempre le ha gustado coser o hacer manualidades, no le de más vueltas. Póngale la puntada final.

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Drawing by M. C. Escher

I wish I had a penny for every quilter who said, "I can't draw!" The fact of the matter is, we all can draw something. Drawing is like everything else - it takes some time and practice. As a matter of fact, I had students this past week stating the same thing, but they left having created their own original quilts. Imagine their excitement! Your drawing doesn't have to be as fancy or clever as M. C. Escher's, but putting pencil to paper is the first step in getting an idea on paper.

During my retreats when students are trying to tell me what they see in their minds, I usually say, draw what you are seeing. I get a much clearer vision of what they want to attempt when they draw it - no matter how rough it might be. It also helps them solidify their idea and allows them to start thinking about the technique they will need to complete the vision in fabric.

To participate we urge you to create a new drawing for the show and tell. After all, the point is for us to all draw something to promote the day, not to revisit things from the past. Here's some ideas: Do a Rhapsody skeleton; take a nine patch and subdivide it differently than you've seen; overlap geometrical designs and color in the blanks. Get your family involved too!

So, we are urging all TQS members to stop for a moment and draw something. It can be  realistic, abstract, a quilt block, or anything else that sparks your interest. It can be as simple or as complex as you wish - it's not a competition. We just want you to draw! To post your drawing - scan it, or photograph it, and upload it to the Show and Tell link on TQS. The official International Drawing Day is June 6, but you can post your drawing anytime between now and the end of the day on June 6th.

The worldwide "Drawing Day" goal is 1 million pictures.  Our goal at TQS is several hundred pictures.  Can we reach 500?

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Quilts are an excellent medium for telling a story that is nearly too grand for words.  Quilt blocks can act as chapters in a book facilitating the maker's story, and encouraging the viewers to investigate further. 

One such quilt, the Oklahoma History Quilt, was donated to the Oklahoma Historical Society in 1935.  This remarkable quilt, made by Oklahoma City native Camille Nixdorf Phelan, is an embroidered masterpiece depicting 300 years of Oklahoma history.  The quilt is a testament to one quilter's tenacity and love of history.

In the 1920s, Camille had a passion for embroidery and enjoyed copying pictures to cloth using that technique.  "When making quilts became a popular fad, I turned to that pastime," Camille explains.  "I decided that I would make an embroidered record of the persons responsible for Oklahoma's history.  Then the though came-'Why not add the incidents making up that history?'"

In order to complete this quilt, Camille spent two years studying Oklahoma history.  She researched old records, corresponded with historians, and was able to talk with many people who were part of Oklahoma's recent history.  Camille worked on this quilt during the Oklahoma Dustbowl and consequent Great Depression, a time of great sadness and extreme population mobility as families lost their land and were forced to move on.  Camille later said she was influenced to create a patriotic quilt because "in most of the published records of this formative period, the sordid and rough element had been exploited to the exclusion of the cultural and artistic...and I want to express my own appreciation for the 'Land of the Mistletoe.'"  In doing this, Camille included blocks that represented political events, such as Napoleon signing the Louisiana Purchase; historical events like the Oklahoma Land Run of 1889 and the state's first oil well; and famous people, including football legend Jim Thorpe.  And no quilt depicting Oklahoma history would be complete without showing appreciation for Native American contributions to the state's history.  Although the story Camille presents is sometimes romanticized, her work shows a conscious effort to accurately portray the Native American peoples who lived in Oklahoma over the 300-year time period, including the Cherokee, Osage, Kiowa, and Creek.

The entire quilt, which consists of 51 blocks, took four years to make.  Camille spent many hours sizing her drawings to the blocks, creating the outlines of faces, and later adding the expressions.  In her own words, "Every stitch of the embroidering is my own work and I spent all my spare time for four years on actual construction."  The quilting alone used 20 100-yard spools of thread.  Camille proudly presented the Oklahoma History Quilt to the Historical Society at a banquet in Oklahoma City of November 30, 1935.

The Quilt:  A History and Cellebration of an American Art Form by Elise Roberts

Excerpt:  pages 58+ 59 from Chapter 3:  Commemorative Quilting

 

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SEW ON THE NET

"If you have any doubt that quilting can be fun, you need look no further than www.thequiltshow.com..." 

By Alex McDowell

Never before has quilting taken such a fun turn as it has on The Quilt Show!  The website gives access to all sorts of things, such as forums, blog posts from the show's hosts, articles about quilting and gallaries where members have posted photos of their finished work.

Once signed in, members have access to all of the forums and can post, reply and chat within the site.  Membership is free but the option is also given to upgrade membership for a yearly fee.  Membership grants access to the episodes, although there is also a link where you can purchase DVDs, for those who would rahter keep their memberships free.

Any member can submit quilts to the gallery and can also enter competitions and challenges.  The gallery is filled with submissions from members - some are a feast for the eyes while others are...well, beauty in the eye of the beholder, but they're all great in their own right.

Patterns are avilable, either free or to purchase for a small fee in The Quilt Show Shoppe.  There are also plenty of free, educational how-to quilt videos, which have been provided by the sponsors.  It's a great site for content but beware - it's easy to lose yourself on the site and forget about your current project!

(The Quilt Show website is bright and colourful, with lots of useful information.)

(Once signed in, members have access to all the forums and can post and chat.  Membership is free but the option is given to upgrade.)

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This month, designer Sue Garman has you continuing to make Stars for the inner Star border of your "Stars for a New Day" quilt. These blocks will make a beautiful addition to your quilt, so keep up the good work!  To view quilt blocks finished and posted by TQS members, be sure to visit Show and Tell here. You're sure to be inspired to "stay on task" after seeing what others have been creating.

To learn more about the "Stars for a New Day" Block of the Month and designer Sue Garman, click here. Be sure to watch the corresponding instructional video by clicking here. As always, the BOM and video lessons are free to all current TQS Star members.  It's not to late to start on the 2009 BOM, so click here to become a TQS Star Member and join in on the fun!