Photo by Gregory Case Photography

Try an Improvisational Landscape with Kate Cox
Join us for Episode 605 as textile artist Kate Cox shares how to combine raw-edge applique and free-motion quilting techniques to create an impressionistic quilt based on a favorite photograph. Also not to be missed: Ricky's resist-dye method using school glue, Procion dyes, and soda ash. It's a show packed with great "out-of-the-box" ideas! To watch the show, click here

    
   A Man's Quilt by Anna McNett                                               Young Indian Quilt

1000s of Wyoming Quilts Added to the Quilt Index

The fast-growing online archive of quilts known as the Quilt Index has just added nearly 3,000 quilts from the Wyoming Quilt Project. This state documentation effort, which began in 1994, has collected stories and images for a wide array of quilts related to the state and made between 1808 and the late 20th century. (Wyoming's state centennial occurred in 1990, and the project coordinators wanted to include quilts made for that occasion.)

The range of quilts uncovered through this project includes many fine examples of crazy quilts from the 19th century, as well as Depression-era quilts that reflect their makers' difficult circumstances. Nannie Long, the maker of one Hexagon Star quilt in 1934, bragged that the whole thing cost her 65 cents to complete. She dyed old tobacco sacks for fabric and made batting from her own hand-picked cotton.

To continue the theme of thriftiness: the striking quilt shown above (left) dates from the late 19th century and is referred to as A Man's Quilt. It was made from the worn- out suits of male family members by Anna McNett Ebaugh, and given to her son to keep him warm at college.

This vivid applique quilt shown above (right), adapted from a commercial pattern in 1949, is called Young Indian Quilt, and is currently owned by the International Quilt Study Center in Lincoln, NE.

By their nature, state documentation projects capture the look and backstories of thousands of quilts that often go right back into the attics, closets, and basements from which they emerged. The Quilt Index, a collaboration of the Alliance for American Quilts, Michigan State University Museum and MATRIX: Center for Humane Arts, Letters and Social Sciences Online at MSU, allows these quilts a permanent place where they can be studied and admired as a group. The Wyoming quilts make an already-outstanding virtual collection even more exciting: the total number of viewable Index quilts now tops 50,000. Go check them out--including the new Wyoming collection--here...and don't forget the new tech tools on the Index, such as the zoom feature that allows you to look closely at any area of the quilt front.
 

It's Time for the Latest: March BOM Patterns
It's time to begin working on your block/s for the month of March. If you're working on Hugs and Kisses, this month you'll be making a set of crossed stems with buds. If you're working on Star Crazy, you'll be making two new Star blocks and an Irish Chain. 

No matter which BOM quilt you choose, you're sure to pick up lots of great info and tips from Sue Garman's great instruction. To download the pattern for the March Star Crazy BOM, click here.  Click here for the March Hugs and Kisses BOM pattern.
                                                                       March:  Star Crazy                                                                  

March:  Hugs and Kisses

Mary Ann Jordan, photo courtesy of IQSC

Magnifying Everyday Life with Fabric, Color, and Pattern
This is the first article in a series entitled “Perspectives on Quilts and Quiltmaking” which comes to us from the International Quilt Study Center & Museum. It takes “the long view” of quilts and quiltmaking expression. Exploring quiltmaking through time and geography connects quiltmakers of the past with today’s creative artists. Each upcoming segment will include quilts old and new, investigating how the work of the past inspires quilters of the future.

“If you know whence you came, there are absolutely no limitations to where you can go.”  
            ---James Arthur Baldwin

Bee seeks blossom; bee makes honey. Just so, we discover what nourishes us and fuels our own “production.” The collections of the International Quilt Study Center called to artist Mary Anne Jordan. The work of known and unknown makers from diverse geographies and times fueled her creativity. The result? Freshly conceived studio quilts using fabric, color, and pattern inspired by a previous generation.

Mary Anne Jordan, a professor in the Department of Design at the University of Kansas, was the recipient of the 2005-2006 International Quilt Study Center (IQSC) Visiting Scholar Fellowship. Her work as a contemporary studio quilter shows nationally and internationally in Japan, Poland, South America, and Canada, and draws accolades and awards from such prestigious organizations as Quilt National and Fiber Arts International.

During her study at the IQSC, Mary Anne spent countless hours examinining more than 100 quilts to expand her knowledge of American quilts and techniques. She was particularly drawn to and intrigued by the overlap in the genres of Amish and African American quilts which, in her words, have “uncanny similarities yet are really quite different as well.” In response to her study, Jordan created a series of bold new designs on fabric. The resulting exhibition, "Snail Trails, Broken Dishes, and a Streak of Lightning," included new work from Jordan along with selections of the IQSC quilts examined during her research.

Read more on the Articles page here.

Quilt Your Way to Success
Website for Quilters by Dan Purcell is an informative how-to guide to website success for professional longarm quilters, quilt stores, pattern designers, and manufacturers in the quilting industry. This fun and fact-filled book will help you become more informed when it comes to marketing yourself and your quilt business. Look for this and other helpful quilt-related books in the Shoppe here.