Daily Blog

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You never know what unusual thing you might find at a County Fair and this tool was no exception. It's not the item itself that is so unusual, it's the name of the tool.

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This is a record-breaking quilt, Mosaic #3, was pieced by Albert Small and quilted by his wife Eva and daughter-in-law, Marian.  It was created during the war years, 1941-1944, when fabric was hard to find.

Albert worked on Mosaic for four years, sewing four hours a day, six days a week.  He told one reporter that it took about 6000 hours. The quilt contains a total of 123,200 hexagons, each 1/4 inch in diameter. There are 15.08 hexagons in each square inch of the quilt. Six of these hexagons are smaller than a dime.

Because he was a large man who worked with explosives by day and a needle by night, he received quite a bit of attention.  He established correspondence with a number of "famous" quilters of the time including Florence Peto and Grace Synder, who asked for a copy of his hexagon template.

To read more about Albert Hall and see some of his earlier quilts, click here.  The quilt is in the collection of the Illinois State Museum.

We've put up a much easier puzzle this week for anyone who hasn't tried a puzzle before. They are great fun, give it a whirl.

Mosaic1 - 35 pieces, non-rotating

For those of you who have been doing this for a while, here you go!

Mosaic2 - 90 pieces, non-rotating

Mosaic3 - 90 pieces, rotating

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You Can Watch a Drive By Quilting!  Watch Live on Facebook!

TQS Member BrinkOfNorway is taking drive-by quilting to a whole new level! You can see her waving a quilt from a most unusual place. Here's what she has to say in the TQS Forum.

QUILTWAVING ALERT

by BrinkOfNorway » Sun Jun 19, 2011 3:10 am

In 10 hours, 9PM Local time I will be waving with a quilt at the dock in SVOLVÆR, NORWAY-
New York time: 3PM 

I'll be the only one at the dock with a quilt  
http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fnrk.no%2Fhurtigruten%2F&h=354c5

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Well, it had to happen, after the Yarn Car, everyone's coming out of the yarnworks to share their knitting and yarn inspirations.  TQS member, atkinssm, is sharing these Yarn Tree Stumps in Sammamish, Washington.  Some knitters made covers for the stumps before Christmas.  They now have covers for spring and plan to cover the stumps two more times before they are moved. atkinssm says, "Letters to the editor in the local paper ranged from "terrific" to "terrible." You be the judge."

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Rob Appell is joining us in the TQS Classroom for a 10-part series on Making a Portrait Quilt. You can follow Rob step by step through his process (in his garage...studio) as he walks you through selecting the right equipment to the final stages of machine quilting.

Episodes will roll out every Saturday and Thursday, beginning, June 18. Enjoy the fun as our own Surfer Dude and self-proclaimed, Sewmando, takes you on a creative journey this summer!

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Beautiful Quilts, fabric, ribbons, hummingbirds and more.

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Although I have converted a lot of my work to my Bernina - yesterday was the BEST because I got to put a quilt up on the frame. It is a silk piece that I can't wait to linger over with tiny stitches. The best tip of all? I paid Dianne Schweickert to machine baste it on her Gammill. Because of the nature of silk she used a small needle and viola - no holes in my precious silk. No doubt this is where you will find me this summer if you were to pop in and say "hi"!

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Congratulations to TQS members, Mary L. and Pam B.!  They are the winners of the $25 Gift Certificates from Superior Threads.

Don't despair, if you didn't win, Superior Threads is still having a special on their New Brytes collection.  For the month of June, they are discounting the thread 40%.   Click here to go to Superior Threads.

In this 4-minute video, Cindy Needham shows how nicely New Brytes (soon to be re-named So Fine #30) enhances your quilt.  New Brytes is a #30/3-ply polyester thread so it is heavier than the average 40 wt. thread.  Ideal for quilting, thread painting, and embroidery.

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Ami was nervous, but she wrote the check, and $60,160, and was awarded to the University of Michigan to continue research conducted by Dr. Mi Hee Lim on "Investigation of Small Molecules as Chemical Tools and Potential Therapeutics for Alzheimer's Disease."

This is the 7th of many grants the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative plans to award for Alzheimer's research and the second grant to the University of Michigan for Dr. Lim's work. Click here to learn more about the grant.

Congratulations to Ami and the University of Michigan for doing so much to help eradicate this horrible disease.

And, thank you, to all of you have participated by making a Prioirity quilt, buying a Priority quilt, purchasing earrings, and any of the other many contributions you have made to the AAQI over the years.

Image: courtesy of University of Michigan: Dr. Alan R. Saltiel (Director, Life Sciences Institute, University of Michigan), Dr. Mi Hee Lim (Principal Investigator), Ami Simms (AAQI Founder & Executive Director), and Dr. Jung-Suk Choi (Postdoctoral Fellow)

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Learn about a great new product, Soft and Stable from www.byannie.com, as Sharon chats with Annie Unrein.