Rainy Fridays are marvelous days for working on a project, cruising the internet, and sitting back and enjoying nature. I had knee surgery this week, so I've been pretty confined to inside. Today I woke up to what I hope is the beginning of spring rains.
So I took some time this morning to check out what some of my favorite quilt artists are up to these days. Hollis Chatelain has been working on her figurative quilts again. Her intrepretations of the desert people of Africa is masterful. It has been one of my goals for many years to have the opportunity to attend one of her workshops. She is truly the master of threadwork.
Caryl Bryer Fallert has just posted her new Feather Study #30. I try to make a point of visiting Caryl's web site on a regular basis. Since she opened her studio in Paducah, Kentucky, her work seems to just get better and better. Of course, Caryl has been such an icon among quilters for years now, I guess we have just come to expect brilliant use of color and movement in every quilt she creates. I'm looking forward to visiting her studio next month while at the Paducah AQS Quilt Show and Contest.
While I was gazing at these remarkable quilts, I was hoping it would give me inspiration to get up and start coming through my stash -- no such luck. Instead, I'm heading off to prop my leg up, wrap up in my favorite quilt and read The Winding Ways Quilt, Jennifer Chiaverini's new book. Have read read it yet?
Make sure to celebrate by taking a little time for yourself and your hobby. Steal some time for yourself this Saturday, March 15, and celebrate quilting in style!
Does anyone else have an old, quirky sewing machine? I inherited
mine from my mother a few years ago. It’s a Frister and Rossmann Cub 3,
which I think she must have bought in the 1960s. It’s creamy and curvy
like a block of retro butter! I love it because it’s simple but a
little prone to moments of oddness. This suits me perfectly.
It has only about 6 different fancy stitches, but this is purely
academic as it is currently refusing to do any of them. Unless you
count the occasional bouts of zigzag, which it has been known to throw
in without warning. I’m wise to this now and I’ve found if I set the
dial to halfway between straight and button hole, it’ll give me
straight stitches. I’m sure that’s not in the manual (but since I
haven’t got one, I can’t tell).
Despite its grand age and
eccentricity, my sewing maching does everything a basic quilter needs,
including lowering its feed dogs. This means that I am about to embark
on some self-taught machine quilting. This will be a new adventure for
us both, but as long as we can cope with each other’s occasional
emotional outbursts I think we’ll get along fine. Anyone got any tips?
We're going to be starting a new feature here on the Quilting blog. Every Thursday we'll be bringing you a new link that SOMEHOW relates to quilting. We might point you toward a talented quilt artist, a book we're loving, handy tips and tricks, or anything else we think our quilting friends might enjoy. I'm going to kick things off with a link to one of my favorite stash enhancement specialists:
Back when I was lucky enough to attend the AQS show in Paducah every year, a trip to Hancock's was one of the highlights. Rows and rows of gorgeous fabrics, plus a free-for-all with deep discounts in the back room. Be still my acquisitive little heart! And don't think that this website is only good for spending money--remember, inspiration (in the form of browsing and daydreaming) is free!
I'm Jay--yet another moderator to this Blog. I'm based out of Cincinnati these days, but have lived all over the country and traveled extensively in Asia and Australia/New Zealand, as well as Europe, the Middle East and South America. These days, I work as an editorial director for the KP Craft line with F+W Publications. I have the enviable job of working with crafters from all over the world.
My special love is quilting, though. And for those of you who may not know, the US celebrates quilting each year with the National Quilt Day. This year it is March 15. This is the 22nd annual celebration. It all started with the National Quilting Association. Check out what they have going this year.
For me, National Quilting Day is an excuse to really getting down to working on a project. I turn off the cell phone, hide out in my studio and quilt. This year, I'll really be hunkered down. After blowing out my knee at a trade show, I now have the perfect excuse to quilt -- "I can't walk, so I quilt."
While we celebrate here in the US, quilting is really international. I was just reading the latest issue of Down Under Quilts (my favorite magazine from Australia). There is a really interesting article on improvisation --piecing together disparate elements to creating something completely unexpected. I highly recommend it. Then New Zealand Quilter has a great article on wearable art -- very New Zealand style, that is pretty cool. What amazes me about both these magazines, and the quilters represented in them, is color and pattern. While quilting techniques are the same, the process of coming to color choice and design becomes very cultural. I guess that is just as true for us Americans, it's just that we don't see our choices as being a reflection of our culture, but it is.
I expect to be seeing photos from the Osaka International Quilt Week any time now. The show was in Tokyo the last week in February. This is a huge show with thousands upon thousands of visitors. I'm sure the best quilts will reflect the latest Japanese fabrics and styles.
One of the very best places to see contemporary international quilts is American Quilter's Society's Quilt Show in Paducah, KY--to be held April 23-26. I just spoke to Bonnie Browning, the executive show director, and she says this year is going to be better than ever with quilts from the UK, France, Japan, Korea, 11 countries and 43 US states, making the semi-finals list. Also they are going to have the "Cotton Poem" Japanese Exhibition at this show this year -- all quilts will be made with Awa-shijira (a textured woven cotton kimono fabric). This show is a MUST for me.
I'd love to hear about your experiences with quilting on the international scene.
