Daily Blog

  0

fShare

Tweet

Have you ever been inspired by wildlife to create a quilt? Here is an exciting chance encounter with a troop of wild mountain gorillas near Bwindi National Park, Uganda where one of the men in the camp unintentionally becomes a member of the gorilla family.

This family of gorillas looks amazingly like Nancy Brown's quilt, Gorilla, Gorilla. Nancy is an award-winning quilter who creates wonderful designs with animals, and even some with people. Check and see if you've seen Show 701: Animal Magnetism to learn how they are created and how she was inspired.

  0

fShare

Tweet

Susan Shie is sharing some of her quilts, her studio, and a little bit of her neighborhood in this colorful slideshow.  You'll see Susan's process as she uses her journal, sketches, airbrush, airpen, and sewing machine to create her masterpieces.

Although legally blind, Susan is well-known for creating highly personal works based on her drawings and writings, and which-in addition to her own thoughts and experiences-document world events, so that each quilt becomes a visual time capsule. To learn more about Susan watch Episode 1013: Journaling Through (And On) Quilts.

  0

fShare

Tweet

Last summer, the nonprofit Alliance for American Quilts hit New York City with Quilters Take Manhattan!, a series of three exciting benefit events. This summer, the organization "takes the show" to North Carolina and Nebraska. While the events vary in both program and venue, they're sure to offer lots of fun and excitement.

The Raleigh package includes a one-day admission to the Original Sewing & Quilt Expo as well as the evening panel discussion with quilt world notables John Adams, Tula Pink, Beth Hayes and others. Plus a first look at a new Alliance project called Go Tell It At The Quilt Show.  Find out more here.

The Omaha event includes a chance to peak inside the brand new headquarters of AccuQuilt, the company that makes the amazing fabric-cutters so beloved by Ricky and Alex. The Alliance is honoring Linda Pumphrey, global sales manager for AccuQuilt, who is leaving the Alliance board after many years. The program will include a look at Linda's impressive personal quilt collection, and remarks by Merikay Waldvogel, an historian who was inducted into the Quilters Hall of Fame.  Find out more here.

  0

fShare

Tweet

A new exhibit just opened at the National Quilt Museum in Paducah, KY.  It is The Exquisite Stitch: 200 Years of Hand Quilting curated by Bettina Havig, Gerald Roy, and Judy Schwender. The exhibit honors the fine workmanship of both yesterday and today. The exhibit runs from June 15 to September 11.  If hand work is your thing, this is the exhibit for you!

  0

fShare

Tweet

Laundry is a fact of life – and so are laundromats (or distant laundry rooms) for most college students. This Olfa-designed bag may help ease the chore for your favorite collegian. (If nothing else, it will remind them that you're thinking of them on laundry day!)

  0

fShare

Tweet

We all understand that quilts can keep us warm and comfort us during times of sickness and stress, but did you know that quilts can also play an important role in times of conflict? Beginning June 30, and continuing through November 25, the American Textile History Museum in Lowell, MA, will present Homefront & Battlefield: Quilts & Context in the Civil War. This moving exhibit showcases quilts, clothing, and other textiles and artifacts to connect deeply moving and insightful personal stories (private memory) about the Civil War, its causes, and its aftermath, with the broader national context (public history).

"Textiles were integral to the Civil War—physically, economically, ideologically, and emotionally—and linked soldiers and civilians. The exhibition and book build on recent scholarship in social and economic history to tell of the events that led to the war, the stories of men and women affected by the Civil War, and the opportunities and challenges that followed it." 

  0

fShare

Tweet

Here are the lucky winners of the textiles, they are quite an international group!

• Pamela from the UK
• Judy and Jeannie from the USA
• Sonia from Brasil
• Norma from Denmark

Tambani empowers women to take charge of their lives.  As they say on their site "Tambani is a quilting and embroidering initiative to set a group of disadvantaged rural African women on a path of self-actualization and economic empowerment. The embroidered folk tales, which are sold as applique blocks and used by quilters, knitters and crafters all over the world, is a practical way of preserving the Venda oral tradition."

See more at www.tambani.co.za.

You can view the textiles as you listen to Alex as she reads an age-old Venda folk tale, "The Rejected Wife."  Make the textile full screen by clicking the arrow icon in the bottom right of the player.

  0

fShare

Tweet

Join professional long-arm quilter Barb Persing in her classroom this week as she takes a look at "allover" quilting and shows you how it might be just the answer for your latest (or next!) quilt project.

  0

fShare

Tweet

Back in America, Captain John wandered down to the riverfront in Paducah, Kentucky while the AQS Paducah Show was in full swing.  These "Wall to Wall" murals are painted along the flood wall which protects the city of Paducah from flooding.  The walls depict the rich history of the town.

  0

fShare

Tweet

Photo by Gregory Case Photography

We close out the 1000 series with artist and teacher Susan Shie ("Shie as in pie"). Although legally blind, Susan is well-known for creating highly personal works based on her drawings and writings, and which - in addition to her own thoughts and experiences - document world events, so that each quilt becomes a visual time capsule.

Susan guides Alex and Ricky in a hands-on lesson, using examples of her quilts to further demonstrate how her iconic pieces evolve, and then offers terrific suggestions and tips for writing on a quilt surface.

As an added bonus, Ricky shows his method for making an updated version of the traditional Rail Fence pattern.