Daily Blog

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The nonprofit Alliance for American Quilts is holding several very cool fundraisers in New York City in August, and we've got TWO tickets to give away for the premiere event in the AAQ's Quilters Take Manhattan program.

Saturday, August 6 will be a fun-filled afternoon, featuring Marianne Fons, known for her magazine and TV show; Marianne's zany daughter, Mary Fons, from the show Quilty; and Jay McCarroll, first-season winner of the popular TV show, Project Runway, who now designs fabric for FreeSpirit Fabric. Jay will be interviewed on-stage at F.I.T. (the Fashion Institute for Technology) in New York's fabled Garment District by the always-outrageous Mark Lipinski, who truly puts the "fun" in fundraiser.This interview will become part of AAQ's oral history project, Quilters' S.O.S. - Save Our Stories," which is archived at the Folklife Center of the Library of Congress.

Tickets for this event sell for $45 each, which includes refreshments, goody bags, awesome door prizes, and a silent auction. 

The Quilt Show, however, has TWO Free Tickets to see "Marianne & Jay on the Runway," and you can enter to win one by sending an email here. (One entry per person, please!) The contest ends Wednesday, July 20, and the two winners will be announced in Weekend Fun on Friday, July 22.

You can visit the AAQ website anytime to buy tickets for the afternoon event; there also are tickets available for an evening cocktail party at the biggest quilt retailer in Manhattan, The City Quilter, just a short walk from F.I.T. Go to www.AllianceforAmericanQuilts.org for more details, including nearby discounted hotels, and to order tickets online.

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In Lesson 3 of Alex Anderson - Hand Quilting, Alex discusses using polyester batting.  Click here to see Alex's classroom.

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Sharon talks to Luana Rubin of eQuilter.com about her large online store, the Irish Quilt Festival, and donating to charity.

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Gammill is having a blow out sale including the Statler Stitcher.  Savings are as high as $4000. 

Alex found out that Capt'n John didn't know what a Statler Stitcher was.  So she took him to the Gammill booth to find out.

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It's almost the middle of July. When do you start getting gifts together for the holidays? Is it too early to start working on holiday projects? Is it too late? 

When do you start to Ho, Ho, Ho, and Sew, Sew, Sew for the holidays?

(Fabric is Surfin' Santa from Alexander Henry.)

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There are moments in life that are undeniably unique, inspirational, and memorable. Most of you are aware that I have been involved in a reunion choir comprised of students from my high school acapella choir between the years of 1961 and 1993. Those were the years (32 of them) that Donald B. Cowan directed the choral program at S. H. Rider High School in Wichita Falls, TX. 

Through Facebook, a reunion began, and the seeds for singing together with our beloved director were planted. The vision became a reality. The Donald B. Cowan Legacy Choir performed in Wichita Falls, TX on June 25th and again this past Saturday evening, July 9th, at Bass Performance Hall in Ft. Worth, TX. Singers from across the country assembled once a month to rehearse and the final performance left us all exhilerated and inspired. I can only wish every person reading this has had, or will have, a red-letter day such as this in their own lives. 

The commitment I made to serve Legacy Choir as president and tenor section leader has taken away from time I use for other ongoing responsibilities, but for me, this event was an opportunity to pay back a debt. I was given so much by my musical mentors during my formative years and this was my chance to show my appreciation. 

I composed Prayer of St. Francis, an eight part piece that was premiered at both concerts. It was one of the greatest honors in my life to have such an amazing choir sing my composition - but even more of a blessed moment to know that those singing were my peers.

The review out today had this to say: "glorious in their delivery" - "resplendent" - "stunning" - "reverent and powerful"

Please take a moment to read the entire review in the Times Record News.

Once the CDs are available, I'll let you know. Expect Septemberish.

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Molly Upton's ideas were inspired by the fine arts, painting, architecture, dance, music, and literature, and she found a method for creating her ideas through fabric. Torrid Dwelling, created in 1975, was far ahead of its time. In fact, at the time of her death at the age of 24, her work was being represented in a Madison Avenue art gallery. Torrid Dwelling uses a wide range of fabrics and innovative strip-piecing techniques. Molly commented that she drew inspiration from "wandering through ruins, active streets and deserts; from past civilizations, and (from piano) keyboards."  This quilt is 98" x 92" and is in a private collection.

Torrid1 - 36 pieces non-rotating

Torrid2 - 100 pieces non-rotating

Torrid3 - 100 pieces rotating

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In Step 7 of Making a Portrait Quilt with Rob Appell, Rob shows you how to attach the top and bottom inner and outer borders to the quilt in a single step.

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A special exhibit was held at the Denver National Quilt Festival put on by Mancuso Show Management.  It was Sky-lines and is a collection of 21 quilts from 19 artists from the fiber arts groups, Textile Artists of Greater Yellowstone (TAGY), based in Wyoming's Big Horn Basin, and Women of Artistic Vision (WAV), based in Billings, Montana. It was also recently shown at the National Quilting Association show in Ohio.

Each artist was given a piece of batik 'sky' fabric.  The fabric was required to be in the piece and they had to stay within a certain size perimeter, other than that, the sky was the limit.

When these quilts are exhibited together they form 35 feet of continuous skyline.

To see upcoming shows from Mancuso Show Management, just click on the box to the left of the Daily Blog.