Daily Blog - TheQuiltShow.com

Bernina Special Financing

If your New Year's resolution is a new Bernina, now is the time!

Winners! Winners! Winners! Part 2 - Simplicity Deluxe Sidewinders

Our friends at Simplicity are giving away 3 Deluxe Sidewinders to 3 TQS Members and here they are: Jane C., Suzanne D., and Nancy F. Congratulations to our winners and thanks to Simplicity for their generosity.

sidewinder

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Longarm Quilting with Linda V. Taylor

In this class you'll learn how to do tessellating hearts in the border. You'll also learn to use the Workstation Heart Template to quilt hearts into the center of the quilt. Click here to join the class.

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Global Tour Part 4: It's All in the (Minute) Details

Kumiko Frydl with Mission Impeccable

Every so often, as I walked through the rows of outstanding quilts at this year's International Quilt Festival in Houston, I had the feeling that a certain quilt was calling out to me for closer inspection. Such was the case with Mission Impeccable by Kumiko Frydl (shown above).

This astounding miniature (16 3/4" x 16 3/4"!) quilt required 10 - 12 hours of work a day over a four-month period, but it was not the first time Kumiko created this design. In fact, this diminutive beauty is the third quilt in a series, each one tinier than the last. No doubt, Kumiko is a quilter who loves to challenge herself!

Click to read more about Kumiko and the incredible details that go into making a quilt on this small a scale.

by Lilo Bowman

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A Great Block Book For USA

Okay, this is really cool!

Check out this book of applique blocks for every State in the USA by Debra Gabel.

When you click over you even get a look inside the book.

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Winners, Winners, Winners! C&T Calendar

calendar Our wonderful sponsor, C&T Publishing is giving away Quilts 2011 Calendar, a 12 month full-color calendar and pattern booklet to 10 LUCKY TQS MEMBERS and here they are:

Susan B., Denise D., Carolyn C., Jennifer P., Pksye, Darla K., Carolyn C., Frankie P., Claudia L., and Sue L.

Thanks to C&T and WOO HOO! to our lucky winners.

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TQS 2010 Legend: Hint #1

Photo by Gregory Case Photography

This clever quilter has been Silver Star winner at the Houston Quilt Festival as well as an inductee to the Quilters Hall of Fame. Can you guess who she is?

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Amazing News from the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative

TQS just got a message from Ami Simms and the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative and...

One of the research grants the AAQI funded has yielded positive results!

Here's what Ami has to say:

"I'm stunned, delighted, and I burst into tears every time I think about it. My hands are still shaking. I'm not smart enough to know if this is a Big Deal in the scientific community or not, but at least 9,000 web sites are carrying the story. As with all research we're not "there" yet, but this is incredibly encouraging. And us quilters made it happen!

Basically, the University of Michigan, with our $30K funding, was able to create small molecules that can break up the clumps of amyloid plaque in the brain. (Many believe the amyloid plaques are responsible for cell death and the horrific memory loss. Smaller pieces may be more easy to remove. They think they can get these little suckers (molecules) past the blood brain barrier (a very big deal) and remove the broken up bits through chelation therapy. (That's the next step) It all has to do with copper and zinc ions, and I truly barely know what I'm talking about, so please don't quote me."

To get your update please go to http://www.AAQIUpdate.wordpress.com.

Ami would be more than happy if you'd like to share this wonderful news with your local TV stations, you can share this link http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/12/101209130959.htm. And don't forget to read all the way to the bottom for who funded the study. QUILTERS! That's a little different.. and you can tell them all about raising money for this odd-ball nonprofit. Show them quilts, pictures of quilts, be part of the story. Just mention the AAQI five or six thousand times.

P.S. and thanks to quilters, Ami also wanted you to know that they are closing in on $500,000 in donations.

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About that piano...

Photo by Peggy Arnold Hoobler

It was the piano that started the whole video idea once I had finished recording my arrangement of Jingle Bells. Our neighbors have a wonderful property up at 10,000 ft elevation near the town of La Veta, Colorado. Years ago their family hauled an old upright piano up to their mountain cabin. Someone eventually put it outside where years of snow, rain, and cold eventually took their toll.

IF YOU MISSED THE VIDEO _ CLICK HERE TO WATCH IT!

There are deserted gold mines with deep shafts on their property too! A few years ago the family realized the open mine shafts were dangerous so they started filling them in with trees etc. The piano was also dumped on top of the pile. In the video, I'm literally standing above the shaft of an abandoned gold mine! When the idea for a new video for the song came to mind I thought, "How cool could this be - to shoot a video with a decrepit piano while standing over a gold mine?" That was the seed for my insanity.

The mountain cabin is cozy and bedecked with standard mountain-type items such as antlers and a bear rug. The whole place was the perfect setting to bring my new zany arrangement of Jingle Bells to life. Thankfully there was a bit of snow up there to help complete the scene.

Factoid #1 - It was about 15º F with a wind chill of 0º F. Brrr. Yes, that's me in my boxer shorts!

Factoid #2 – It took about 2.5 hours to shoot. - Yes we were freezing - and even though it was sunny, you’ll notice a few snowflakes coming down. No, they were not fake special effects.

Factoid #3 - The video was shot by Justin Shults with the help of our neighbor Jim Hoobler. Jim's wife, Peggy, took still photos and managed all the outfits and props.

Factoid #4 – The video was completely produced (shot and edited) in less than 12 hours. It was edited by yours truly.

So - that's my story and I'm sticking to it. If you like it, please take time to help spread a bit of holiday cheer. Here is a link you can copy and email to friends and family. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sH__cheWMU

SEE THE BEHIND THE SCENES PHOTOS HERE!

A complete list of all my holiday videos can be found here.

Oh - and one more thing - every kid needs to see this. Here's a comment from YouTube:

"He's weird! I like this song!"

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Baltimore Beauties Update

Sometimes it happens and a wonderful quilt was unintentionally left out of our original Baltimore Album Review II: Baltimore's Daughters -- Friends Stitch Past to Future slideshow. Thank you to Marie-Ann Coadic who sent us two lovely photos of her Baltimore Beauty quilt. She spent more than 2000 hours to complete this amazing quilt.

This free slideshow customized with Smilebox

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