Daily Blog - TheQuiltShow.com

Congratulations Alex and Ricky!

The 2008 Quilter's Newsletter Reader's Choice Awards were just announced. And the reader's choice for:

MOST INFLUENTIAL PERSON IN THE QUILTING INDUSTRY:

(tie) Karey Bresenhan, Ricky Tims, and Alex Anderson

To read the entire "2008 QN Reader's Choice Awards" covering everything from shopping, books, teachers to fun things, pick up your copy of the February/March 2009 issue.

Congratulations Karey, Ricky and Alex on making such a positive impact on quilter's lives all around the world!

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Quilter's Home - March 2009

"Inside Alex Anderson's Place"

The March 2009 issue of "Quilter's Home" takes a behind the scenes tour of Alex Anderson at her home and shows you inside her studio.

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South America - Galapagos - ISABELLA ISLAND

Today we are touring the northern part of Isabella Island which we are told will be remote, wild and even forbidding. The main feature is a line of volcanoes. Volcan Darwin was named to honor Charles Darwin, the Galapagos’ most famous visitor. The Equator runs through the caldera of Volcan Wolf which is named after the Ecuadorian geologist. Sailing around Volcan Ecuador, we will see that half of the volcano has slipped into the ocean. In the afternoon we will arrive at Fernandina Island and venture off the vessel. Here we will see a wide variety of animals such as marine and land iguanas, tortoises, hawks, sea lions and a great variety of sea birds, such as the flightless cormorants.

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Road 2 CA--43 Our Good Friend Pam Holland

Pam was teaching at Road 2 CA. I didn't realize she was there until I saw this quilt labeled "Faculty".

If you haven't seen her videos, go to "Articles" and click on the Pam Holland Videos button.

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Road 2 CA--42 Mary Taber

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South America - Galapagos - Bartolome Island

Thursday, February 5th - Today we will arrive at the Baltra airport at the GALAPAGOS ISLANDS and board the 100 passenger Galapagos Legend cruise ship. We will sail to the beautiful BARTOLOME ISLAND, and see unique volcanic features: lava flows, cinder cones and lava tubes. We’ll make our way to the shoreline where we will see an unusual sight - the only tropical penguin on Earth. There will be time for us to “take the plunge” and enjoy the Galapagos Marine Reserve as we swim with the penguins and colorful fish.

More about Bartolome Island.

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A Pay it Forward Quilt

Story Submitted by: quiltwonder

In March of 2006, I was diagnosed with stage four ovarian cancer. After getting over the shock, I began a year long series of chemotherapy. My family, neighbors, and friends were the cornerstone of getting back and forth to chemotherapy which started at 8am and finished around 4:00pm. One of the women who volunteered to take me was Nancy Wright and I had never met her. She had recently moved from Missouri to Georgia and her son had been diagnosed with cancer and his friends had rallied around him and she was so grateful that she just wanted to help someone else, a pay it forward kind of act. During our ride and through the day, we discussed many things as we are both retired teachers. She mentioned how she wanted to put her mother's clothes in a quilt. I told her that I would be more than happy to help whenever she was ready. A year later, she called and said she was ready to make the quilt and would I help her. She brought several bags of clothes and my initial reaction was one of quiet surprise. Many of her mother's clothes were made of polyester and some were fragile and well worn. Of course, the colors appeared to have no harmony. I knew how important this memory quilt was so we set about piling the clothes into color groups and to our surprise, we found some colorful relationships. Next, we chose a simple 9 patch since she had never done any quilting. We worked many days happily cutting and teaching her how to chain and make half square triangles etc. When she was telling her adult son about the quilt he told her that she needed to make a quilt for each of her siblings. That was quite a challenge as she has 7 siblings. In the end, after many many hours of sewing blocks (63 per quilt) Nancy very successfully and with such patience, completed all 8 tops. Nancy used an old Singer machine that I lent her. She learned how to use a rotary cutting tool, how to make binding, etc and many days she stretched her comfort level. She varied the pattern on all eight quilt tops. With determination and resolve she completed all eight tops just before Christmas and each top made it to her siblings. The tops are all beautiful and a wonderful memory of their beloved mother. Since, my diagnosis, I have been so amazed at the kindness and generosity of people willing to give of themselves to help others, like Nancy did for me. I met and have a new friend, got through the first year of chemotherapy because of the many people who were there for me. Quilting has been my therapy and many days it helped me through the cancer treatments. The challenge of making a quilt let me escape the worry and the cancer.

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Terri's Quilt

Story Submitted by: ClaraLawrence

I wanted to share a little Terri with you. This is a sad, but sweet story. Terri was my sister-in-law, but that is as far as that in-law title went. She was a sweet, caring and inspiring woman that took everything in stride. She was about 10 years older than me, and her wisdom was so far ahead that it takes me a couple of years to get it. Funny thing is that the last two years have been tough for me and her wisdom keept coming to the surface. About Terri. She had been fighting a rough cough for over a month. The doctor decided to take her in and get x-rays. She was struck with the news that her lungs were covered with cancer. No, she wasn’t a smoker and in good health. Of course I did what we all do now a days. I dove into the internet to learn all I could. Found out that a partial lung transfer from a live donor to another was possible and successful for this situation. The day I was to present this information, they had further results of some other tests. The cancer was also down her back! She went in for aggressive treatment and the cancer went into remission for a little while. She never complained and everything was usually fine. Her strength was amazing to me. The Cancer came back and this time it was attacked her brain. I wanted to do something special. Her husband’s folks, whom we love and adore, couldn’t travel anymore and it broke their heart. They wanted to do something too. I wanted to make a quilt. I wanted her to be surrounded with love. A signature quilt came to mind. Everyone was willing to participate. So, I shipped out bits of yellow fabric and pens everywhere. All the kids and some pets were the ones I’m sure that brought the biggest smile. She loved the kids and the doggies. I took a picture of Terri with her two girls cheek to cheek and found out later it was her daughter’s favorite picture. That picture was the feature of the quilt with bits of yellow all around. I changed the shirts a bit and had her wearing a yellow shirt to help tie in with the signature fabric. The presentation of the quilt was just as important as what was in the quilt. We had extra family down and wanted to take advantage of the opportunity. All the adults gathered around and held the quilt and prayed positive thoughts and dreams into it. Then it was the kid’s turn. Keep in mind they were all boys. They got in a tight grouping with their hands held high and we put the quilt on top of them. They held the quilt high. We asked them to think of how it felt playing with their favorite toys, and then they screamed at the top of their lungs. Yes, we were outside! The point was to send in all the positive energy, and boy was there a lot of energy. Then we presented the energy quilt covered in love to Terri and she wrapped herself in it. She lost her battle this last summer, but was around long enough to see her daughter get married. Even then she had the strength to still celebrate. I will miss her very much. ClaraLawrence

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Road 2 CA--41 Mary Kay Davis

Congratulations Mary Kay!

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Road 2 CA--40 Cindy Rainey

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