It's Time for Episode 601...with Jinny Beyer!

Join Alex, Ricky, and the TQS crew as legendary quilter, author, and fabric designer Jinny Beyer invites us back into her home in Northern Virginia, where she shares her finely-honed techniques--and lots of tips-- for successful hand piecing. 

Jinny believes that it can be faster and more accurate to piece by hand, and in this episode she shows us how. 

Speaking of showing us how--click here for her Pepper Jam Recipe.

While we're "in the neighborhood," we open the TQS  Treasure Chest at Jinny's shop, Jinny Beyer Studio, for some great gift ideas. You won't want to miss this fun and info-loaded on-site show!  Click here to watch the show...and be sure to see more of Jinny's home and "patchwork garden" in Episode 313 here.

      
   Star Crazy                                                                                       Hugs and Kisses

Join the BOM Community!

Be sure to join us as we take a learning trip with TQS favorite, Sue Garman, and the TWO new BOM quilts for 2010. Sue designed Hugs and Kisses especially for our applique lovers, while Star Crazy is perfect for those who love to piece (...or perhaps this is the year you'd like to try something different, and select the project with the new-to-you technique!). The choice is up to you. Whichever way you go, you'll end the year with a wonderful new quilt top.

As an added bonus, whichever quilt you choose, you'll be joining a fun group of quilters (the BOM Squad) who will keep you encouraged and inspired throughout the entire process. Be sure to visit the BOM section in the Forum to keep up on the latest hints, ideas, and answers to many BOM questions. And, as you build on your quilt from month to month, share your work-in-progress and admire the work of others through our on-site Show and Tell. It's just like Show and Tell in a "regular" quilting guild! You can visit the BOM Show and Tell by clicking here. 

To download the introduction packet and pattern for Star Crazy, click here. 

To download the introduction packet and pattern for Hugs and Kisses, click here.

"Congrats" to Our AccuQuilt Winner
Congratulations go out to TQS member vgy123 on winning the AccuQuilt Go! Fabric Cutter in our recent contest. Keep an eye out for our various TQS contests and drawings throughout the year...and don't forget to enter. You never know if you might be the lucky winner!

Take the FarmVille Challenge
Many TQS members are also on Facebook and playing FarmVille, living "The Quilt Life" by planting their crops and positioning their bales of hay in their quest for the fun FarmVille quilt pattern. To make the experience even more enjoyable, The Quilt Life, Ricky and Alex's new magazine, is hosting a TQL FarmVille Farm Quilt Challenge. If you are playing FarmVille, this is your chance to participate. It's easy to enter, fun to play, and costs nothing to submit a farm quilt for consideration. Hurry, the deadline is January 15, 2010. All the details and a .pdf submission information page, explaining how to capture your farm quilt and submit it for the challenge, is located HERE. TIME TO GET GROWING!

Quilt Shows to Visit
Every year, the quilting world hosts a wide range of great exhibitions and festivals, and 2010 will be no exception. Whether your love is needlework history, fine traditional handwork, or amazing art quilts, you'll find something to suit your taste among the following exhibits coming this spring.

Fiber and Beyond
Works of collage fusion by Jean Wells and Alma De La Melena Cox
January 4 - March 1, 2010 Latimer Quilt & Textile Center
Tillamook, OR

Fiberistic Journeys
Art quilt works by Ann Fahl, Annette M. Hendricks, Denise Havlan, Rachel Wetzler, Beth P. Gilbert, Kathleen Schroeder, and Robbi Joy Eklow
January 24 - March 21, 2010
Anderson Art Center
Kenosha, WI

Mournful Maidens:  Love and Loss in American Embroidery
Embroidered works that focus on love and loss made by American schoolgirls of the 18th and early 19th century

Now through February 21, 2010 Baltimore Museum of Art
Baltimore, MD

Stay at Home and Use Me Well~Flax and Fleece:  Fiber to Fabric
View a collection of tools and the processes used in textile production for the American home and farm during the late 18th and 19th centuries

Now through Fall 2010
National Museum of the American Coverlet
Bedford, PA

Main-Quiltfestival
February 19 - 21, 2010
Aschaffenburg, Germany

"The Celtic Fringe:  Wholecloths of Wales and Scotland" and "Namad:  A Persian Journey in Felt'
Two exhibits show the contrast in decorative traditions between the UK and Iran featuring quilts native to Wales and Scotland as well as richly embroidered Turkoman designs from Persia
Now through March 20, 2010
Quilt Museum and Gallery
York, England

Aiguille en Fete Show
For lovers of all things regarding needlework; be sure to visit the costumes from the Opera of Paris and the Comedie Francaise 
February 11 - 14, 2010
Porte de Pantin, Paris

Tokyo International Great Quilt Festival 
Nine days of fabric, thread, quilts, and more in the Tokyo dome
January 15 - 23, 2010
Koraku, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo

Enjoy Twelve Months of Inspiration
Isn't it amazing how walking through a gallery of quilts can generate so many creative ideas? Enjoy a personal, year-long gallery "tour" when you purchase one of the two incredible quilt calendars available in our TQS Shoppe...and then be sure to hang the calendar in a favorite spot for your own daily visual feast. Order a calendar today by visiting the Shoppe here.