Quilt Alliance - Twenty Contest- Voting open for 2 days

Voting for the 2013 Quilt Alliance Contest is now open (formerly the Alliance for American Quilts).  But only until Midnight Eastern, Saturday June 29th.  My entry is quilt #88, It's All About the Dots.  It is machine paper pieced from my own patterns and machine quilted/embroidered in crazy quilt fashion.  Yet another in my series of Word Play/Literally Challenging Quilts.  I hope you will consider voting for me.

You must be a member to vote but you may be able to still join in time (on line).  The Alliance is an excellent organization that does much to preserve the history of American Quilts.  You can join the Alliance via credit card or paypal, it is only $25.00 (tax deductible) and it a good cause.

It was fun to make even though the 2 inch blocks were a bit challenging

It was fun finding the perfect novelty fabrics to fit in the teeny blocks, like the dog above and the cat below.

                                                              And here is the full quilt

                                                   "It's All About the Dots"  20" x 20"

Love Birds and Lady Bugs - Bloggers Festival

LOVE BIRDS AND LADY BUGS -- DOTTED WITH JOY

2013    18" x 30"

I love quilts and wordplay and my favorite way to tackle a quilt challenge is by spelling out the challenge title or subject in paper pieced letters.  For this quilt, I started with JOY (literally and figuratively) and love birds soon flew into the picture.  One flying thing led to another (ladybugs).  Brainstorming, I realized that JOY and LOVE would work together seamlessly like in a crossword puzzle.  And of course, hearts naturally followed LOVE. 

I drafted my own foundation patterns and had a delightful time picking out the ideal fabrics from my black/white and pink fabric stash (especially dots and novelty prints).  One can’t help but smile when looking at polka dots so they are the perfect fabric to spell out JOY.

With the due date approaching, I was trying to figure out the quilting when I got a serendipitous call to do an antique quilt trunkshow at the national machine quilting company:  Handi Quilter.  I agreed to share my quilts, if they could take care of the quilting.  HQ Educator Vicki Hoth found the perfect cheerful swirly star pattern and helped me finish my journey of joy.  The quilt was made for the "Dare to Dance Challenge - An Artist's Interpretation of Joy and it was chosen and will be published in the Dare to Dance BOOK!!!  Thanks to challenge director, Mary Kerr.

****To vote for my quilt, click on its photo in the Art Quilt category****

Thanks again to Amy Ellis for her Blogger's Quilt Festival

Have Quilts, Will Travel

Here's my recent great find.  A folky, funky and fun four block eagle wreath with tulips quilt from Pennsylvania.  Circa 1865.

 

And here's a close-up.  Don't they just make you smile!  Wouldn't you love to see it in the cloth and study it up close -- see below for information on my lectures and classes.  This quilt and lots of other wonders could soon becoming to a quilt guild, show or shop near YOU!

 

And to make things even more fun, there is a twin to my quilt in the International Quilt Study Center Museum in Nebraska.

I love to share my antique quilts and reproductions through quilt trunkshows/lectures/bed-turnings and classes.  I also have quilts available for exhibits. And in addition to my reproduction quilts, I also teach other quilt classes.

  I have added lots of informational pages on my professional presentations  -- see the tab/page names at the top of the blog (under the blog title and before this post). 
There you'll find photos and descriptions for the following:
 antique quilt lectures/trunkshows
antique quilt classes
other quilt classes

    You'll also find information about
AQS Certified -Quilt appraisals
my calendar and
my professional qualifications

I would love to come to your quilt guild meeting or quilt show or your shop.