by Amy Milne | Apr 10, 2020 | National Quilting Day
Many National Quilting Day plans were laid aside this year due to the coronavirus pandemic. But quilters still celebrated quilts and community on March 21st virtually: sharing photos, gathering together online, and continuing to rally together (and apart) to support essential workers through the making of masks, gowns, and other supplies. Here are a few ways quilters around the world celebrated National Quilting Day this year. Quilts in the fresh air Our celebration at the National Quilt Museum in Paducah, Kentucky was cancelled in order to follow important social distancing rules. True to form, resourceful quiltmakers and quilt lovers across the world hung quilts outside of their homes to mark the day and to send a comforting and inspirational message to their neighbors. You can see a fantastic slide show of posts showing quilts wrapped around trees, hanging from porch rails and out of windows on the Quilt Alliance Instagram account (@quiltalliance) here. Activated and agile quiltmakers We are a resilient planet of humans and quilters, who are playing an important role right now–using our sewing skills to make masks, headbands, hats and gowns for our healthcare heroes. Others are using their organizing skills to coordinate mask requests, production and distribution. Those with design and fundraising skills are raising funds for materials and shipping costs. This is a group effort on a massive scale and the results are incredible. I started sewing masks on National Quilting Day for a Masks for Heroes group based here in North Carolina that has provided over 10,000 masks since March 21! Happy Birth Day Baby in Hungary! A group in Hungary got a jump on their National Quilting Day project and although this is a bit late, we’re so proud to share their story. Thank you to Hungarian quilter Zsuzsanna (Susan) Sziva for contacting us and sharing her groups’ story. Susan’s group, FoltModern, Hungarian Modern Quilting Group took on the Happy Birth Day Baby project this year. They adapted a pattern, Stepping Stones, designed by Janet White, founder of the project that debuted in 2003 as part of the Ohio Quilts! celebration of the Ohio bicentennial. The concept for Happy Birth Day Baby is simple and sweet: quilters make a quilt for the first baby born on National Quilting Day in their local hospital. Susan writes: A warm welcome from Hungary to all quilters around the world. We hope you will have a wonderful Quilting Day this year too. We are a small group of quilters following modern quilting principles. We are small but passionate so we organize a special day for Hungarian quilters second time this year. Last year was very exciting for us. In January we decided to celebrate Quilting Day in Hungary. We planned a virtual sew-along for the day itself and a Happy Birth Day action for the weekend. We chose a simple traditional block, flying geese as a base of the sew-along. We modernized it, but just a bit. We planned a table runner, but it could be easily converted to any size and format. In the special Facebook group of the day, we had 687 members by the end of the day. Some of them was just chatting, some of them was sewing the modified flying geese block, others just a traditional one or a 3D version. We had some sponsors so we drew small gifts a few times. The whole day was fun. Our team members sewed 15 baby blankets using different patterns. As celebrating the Happy Birth Day we gifted all newborn in 3 different hospitals. This year we asked fellow quilters to volunteer our action with blocks if they do not have time or energy for making a whole quilt. These blocks will be sewed together by our team and friends joining the event we organized for this. It is going to be a huge challenge, we have got around 60 blocks so far. Happy stitching, Zsuzsanna (Susan) Sziva FoltModern, Hungarian Modern Quilting Group Quilts made during the 2020 Quilting Day Sew Along in Hungary…
by Amy Milne | Mar 14, 2020 | Jigsaw puzzles
Your Quilt Jigsaw Puzzle Tip: for best results, solve puzzle on this page on a desktop computer or laptop. If you are solving on a mobile device, click on the puzzle piece icon in the lower righthand corner to solve on the Jigsaw Planet website. Welcome to another quilt jigsaw puzzle from Quilt Alliance! The beautiful quilts in the puzzles have all been entries in past Quilt Alliance quilt contests. Be sure to sign up for our blog notifications, so that you don’t miss any of the upcoming puzzles. We Are the Quilters by Cynthia St. Charles This month’s puzzle spotlights a quilt titled We Are the Quilters made by Cynthia St. Charles of Billings, Montana for the 2011 Quilt Alliance contest and auction, Alliances: People, Patterns, Passion. Machine pieced hand dyed cotton, commercial cotton, machine quilted, hand embroidered pearl cotton, handmade worry dolls. Artist’s Statement While contemplating the theme, “Alliances,” I imagined all the quilters in the world joining hands. I wondered how many times they would encircle the earth if they did. I thought, “what a happier, gentler world it would be if all the world’s quilters could join hand in solidarity”. About Quilt Alliance We rely on the generous support of donors and members like you to sustain our projects. If you support our mission of documenting, preserving, and sharing the stories of quilts and quiltmakers, join us by becoming a member or renewing your membership, making a donation, or learning how your business or corporation can become a supporter of the Quilt Alliance. Welcome to another quilt jigsaw puzzle from Quilt Alliance! The beautiful quilts in the puzzles have all been entries in past Quilt Alliance quilt contests. Be sure to sign up for our blog notifications, so that you don’t miss any of the upcoming puzzles. We rely on the generous support of donors and members like you to sustain our projects. If you support our mission of documenting, preserving, and sharing the stories of quilts and quiltmakers, join us by becoming a member or renewing your membership, making a donation, or learning how your business or corporation can become a supporter of the Quilt…
by Amy Milne | Mar 14, 2020 | Uncategorized
The Quilt Alliance membership includes some of the most interesting people in the quilt world! This series will introduce and document the rich stories and talents of our members. In this episode, meet Vicki Harrell, a quilt restorer and retired Home Economics teacher from Ayden, North Carolina. Vicki is not only a member of the Quilt Alliance, but is also a member of the Greenvile Quilters Guild, the American Quilt Study Group and the Carolina Textile Study Group. I met Vicki through Lynn Lancaster Gorges, a conservator based in New Bern, North Carolina who restores and studies textiles. I was meeting with Lynn about a quilt history matter, and I told her about a friend looking for the services of a quilt restorer. I confessed that after seeing the beautiful well-loved quilt made by my friend’s grandmother, I was tempted to try to repair it myself. Lynn was kindly encouraging, but also recommended fellow conservator Vicki Harrell, also located in Eastern N.C. I contacted Vicki and she was glad to work with my friend to restore his quilt. After the work was completed, my friend emailed me to say he was so pleased with the work Vicki had done, and he attached the restoration report she provided. Vicki’s careful restoration and thorough documentation show a real love of quilts and their makers, and I am eager to share her story with you. I hope you story-loving, quilt-loving folks enjoy my virtual visit with Vicki Harrell in our very first episode of our series, Meet a QA Member! Begin or renew your Quilt Alliance membership today. …
by Amy Milne | Feb 7, 2020 | Quilt Jigsaw Puzzles
Your Quilt Jigsaw Puzzle Tip: for best results, solve puzzle on this page on a desktop computer or laptop. If you are solving on a mobile device, click on the puzzle piece icon in the lower righthand corner to solve on the Jigsaw Planet website. Welcome to another quilt jigsaw puzzle from Quilt Alliance! The beautiful quilts in the puzzles have all been entries in past Quilt Alliance quilt contests. Be sure to sign up for our blog notifications, so that you don’t miss any of the upcoming puzzles. Pathways (We Are Here) by Amy Anderson This month’s puzzle spotlights a quilt titled Pathways (We Are Here) made by Amy Anderson of Asheville, North Carolina for the 2014 Quilt Alliance contest and auction, Inspired By. Materials and techniques include: cotton, machine piecing and quilting Artist’s Statement Vintage quilts are often strikingly modern in appearance. As a modern quilter, I often think about my place in the long history of quilting. All quilters share one path – albeit one with dead ends, side roads, loops and forks, twists and turns. The inspiration for this quilt is a labyrinth, but for me the practice of quilting is truly a puzzle with no beginning or end. About Quilt Alliance We rely on the generous support of donors and members like you to sustain our projects. If you support our mission of documenting, preserving, and sharing the stories of quilts and quiltmakers, join us by becoming a member or renewing your membership, making a donation, or learning how your business or corporation can become a supporter of the Quilt Alliance. Welcome to another quilt jigsaw puzzle from Quilt Alliance! The beautiful quilts in the puzzles have all been entries in past Quilt Alliance quilt contests. Be sure to sign up for our blog notifications, so that you don’t miss any of the upcoming puzzles. We rely on the generous support of donors and members like you to sustain our projects. If you support our mission of documenting, preserving, and sharing the stories of quilts and quiltmakers, join us by becoming a member or renewing your membership, making a donation, or learning how your business or corporation can become a supporter of the Quilt…
by Amy Milne | Jan 18, 2020 | Quilt Jigsaw Puzzles
Your Quilt Jigsaw Puzzle Tip: for best results, solve puzzle on this page on a desktop computer or laptop. If you are solving on a mobile device, click on the puzzle piece icon in the lower righthand corner to solve on the Jigsaw Planet website. Welcome to another quilt jigsaw puzzle from Quilt Alliance! The beautiful quilts in the puzzles have all been entries in past Quilt Alliance quilt contests. Be sure to sign up for our blog notifications, so that you don’t miss any of the upcoming puzzles. Grandma’s House by Peggy Schroder This month’s puzzle spotlights a quilt titled Grandma’s House made by Peggy Schroder of Sweet Home, Oregon for the 2012 Quilt Alliance contest and auction, Home Is Where the Quilt Is. Materials include: commercial and hand-painted fabrics and computer printing on fabric, buttons, embroidery thread and toy car. Techniques – fused, machine applique, french knots (hand embroidery), hand stitching, couching. Toy car is easily removable! Artist’s Statement Many quilters learned to take their first stitches at grandma’s knee while others may have received their very first quilt from grandma. How fortunate for us! Now many of us are grandmas and we continue to pass along this legacy … nothing could be more comforting. Remember, it’s the heart that makes a home … blessed are we. About Quilt Alliance We rely on the generous support of donors and members like you to sustain our projects. If you support our mission of documenting, preserving, and sharing the stories of quilts and quiltmakers, join us by becoming a member or renewing your membership, making a donation, or learning how your business or corporation can become a supporter of the Quilt Alliance. Welcome to another quilt jigsaw puzzle from Quilt Alliance! The beautiful quilts in the puzzles have all been entries in past Quilt Alliance quilt contests. Be sure to sign up for our blog notifications, so that you don’t miss any of the upcoming puzzles. We rely on the generous support of donors and members like you to sustain our projects. If you support our mission of documenting, preserving, and sharing the stories of quilts and quiltmakers, join us by becoming a member or renewing your membership, making a donation, or learning how your business or corporation can become a supporter of the Quilt…
