"The Beat Goes On" by Ricky Tims 

If you aren't already familiar with the nonprofit Alliance for American Quilts, then you'll want to go immediately to visit their inspiring website, www.centerforthequilt.org.  As fans of this dynamic organization whose mission is to preserve and share the stories of quilts and their makers, we've asked the AAQ to contribute a monthly segment to this blog.

These monthly segments will showcase various projects of the Alliance, explain how to navigate the Alliance's fast-growing virtual quilt collection, and announce newsworthy events such as contests and the posting of new interview, quilt records and documentary profiles.  First, let's look at two of the best known Alliance projects, the Quilt Index, featuring historic quilts from many private and public collections, and Quilters' S.O.S-Save Our Stories, an oral history project with today's quilters.

Quilters who drool over vintage quilts love to stop by the AAQ website, www.centerforthequilt.org to visit the Quilt Index, a vast online quilt collection jointly run by the Alliance and Michigan State University.  So far, there are about 18,000 quilts on display, many from state documentation projects.  You can search by historical period, quilt pattern, maker's name or browse an entire collection. Look for the number to quilts online to explode soon, swelling to more than 50,000 documented quilts, including entire collections from the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum and the Museum of the American Quilter's Society, among others. 

For the sake of temptation and inspiration, here is a stunning 1850 Baltimore Album quilt from the D.A.R. Museum collection, posted last year.  In contrast to the vintage quilts at the Index, the Quilters' S.O.S.-Save Our Stories project allows you to look at a vast range of quiltmakers working today, including many famous teachers, art quilters and prize winners.  For each interview, the quiltmaker brings a "touchstone" quilt to talk about, explaining his or her personal quilt history.  More than 650 quiltmakers have been interviewed so far for the Q.S.O.S.  Above is the photo that accompanies the interview with Ricky Tims' conducted at the Houston International Quilt Festival in 2000.

Read more about The Alliance for American Quilts on the blog next month:  if you want to stay up to date about Alliance news meanwhile, you can sign up for a free e-mail newsletter on the homepage, www.centerforthequilt.org