by Quilt Alliance | Mar 13, 2015 | Quilt Treasures, Quilter's Take Manhattan
The Quilt Alliance is thrilled to have Craftsy as a Platinum sponsor for Quilters Take Manhattan 2015. Don’t miss this free online video class, 2015 Block of the Month, featuring Jinny Beyer. The Quilt Alliance, along with our partners at Michigan State University,* is proud to have documented Jinny for the Quilt Treasures project. Watch a mini-documentary about Jinny, see a photo gallery, a biography and much more on the Quilt Alliance website here. *Quilt Treasures is a join project of the Quilt Alliance, Michigan State University Museum and MATRIX: Center for Digital Humanities & Social Sciences at MSU. Bring a gorgeous quilt to life one block at a time with my free online video class 2015 Craftsy Block of the Month, created in partnership with RJR Fabrics. Join me, quilter and designer Jinny Beyer, and learn an array of my signature techniques as we sew a stunning, Craftsy-exclusive quilt. Once you enroll, you’ll enjoy a new lesson on the first of every month. Watch it at your own pace, and discover everything you need to know to put together 13 beautiful blocks and finish this captivating quilt! As we sew, you’ll have the option of hand or machine piecing a variety of basket and flower blocks. I encourage everyone to try out hand piecing at least once – it’s one of my favorite techniques, and enables you to create perfectly precise points and sew set-in seams with ease. I’ll also demonstrate how to use templates and specialty rulers, and reveal how to fussy cut border stripe fabric for magical effects inside pieced blocks. Border stripes aren’t just for borders anymore! I selected the fabric for this quilt from several of my best-selling collections, and I know you’ll adore the luminous hues, captivating prints and gorgeous border stripes. To make an exact replica of the quilt I’ll be working on throughout class, purchase the exclusive 2015 Block of the Month Quilt Kit on Craftsy! We’ll begin class with my secrets for using color in quilts, and then dive right into our January block: the May Basket. Learn how to use templates and a few simple tricks to easily cut the necessary pieces, and find out how to join a string of triangles and maintain their precise points – without cutting your thread. In the next lesson, assemble the lovely Basket of Fruit block as you discover how to mark and join black and brightly colored half-square triangles. Then, learn how to sew set-in seams both by hand and by machine for the beautiful Ash Basket block. The Cherry Basket is up next, and we’ll use the golden ratio principle and bias strip curved appliqué to assemble this block. To create the crisp points in our Pine Needle basket block, we’ll dive into a lesson on foundation piecing. Next, learn how to use partial seams to make complex-looking blocks a cinch as we sew the White Oak and Birch Basket blocks. Appliqué has undeniable visual appeal, and I’ll show you how to use Apliquick tools to create polished appliqués faster than ever for our Beech Basket block. Paper piece the Basket Full of Lilies block, then learn how to apply log cabin construction techniques to complete the Dahlia and Daffodil blocks. Before you know it we’ll be sewing our final blocks! Work with five and then eight foundations at a time to create the eye-catching Harlequin and Foxglove blocks, and find out how to frame each for easy paper foundation removal. Put the finishing touches on this exquisite quilt with a few of my favorite methods for sashing and cornerstones. Use perfectly proportioned border prints to harmonize your quilt, and finish with a crisp miter for clean, professional corners. Sign up today for 2015 Craftsy Block of the Month, and join me in sewing a quilt that’s sure to become the prized jewel of your collection! I sewed my first quilt in 1972, and the rest is history! I spend my time designing fabric, writing, teaching and quilting, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’ve authored 12 books, been inducted into The Quilters Hall of Fame, and have had my Ray of Light quilt named one of the “100 Best American Quilts of the 20th Century” by Quilter’s Newsletter Magazine. I love sharing my passion with fellow quilters, and teach classes around the world – and now, right here on Craftsy! Build your skills and a breathtaking quilt, one fun block at a time! Enroll in the free online video class 2015 Craftsy Block of the Month…
by Quilt Alliance | Oct 29, 2013 | International Quilt Festival, Quilt Story Search
If you’re headed to Houston for the International Quilt Festival this week, come see us in the Quilt Alliance booth (in the nonprofit area at the far end of the Exhibit Hall). See our 2013 auction quilts: 36 of the TWENTY contest quilts including the Grand Prize and 1st, 2nd and 3rd place-winning quilts. You can view all of the TWENTY quilts on our website and bid on them on eBay.com beginning November 11. Quilters Play Manhattan, pictured at left, the quilt created by guests at our 2012 Quilters Take Manhattan After Dark Party and Victoria Findlay Wolfe, will also be in our booth. This quilt will be auctioned on eBay during week 4 (Dec. 2-9) of our annual quilt auction. Join or renew your membership: While supplies last at Festival only, Quilters Take Manhattan Goody Totes free with all $50 memberships (or $15 separately). All Quilt Alliance members, including those who sign up or renew at Festival will be eligible for our exciting End-of-Year membership drawings for prizes donated by Quilt Alliance business members like Aurifil, Fairfield, Quilting Treasures, stkr.it and Olfa. Join or renew your membership online anytime on our website. We’re also launching a fun new way to get to know the Quilt Alliance and our partners. Quilt Story Search is a quarterly online quiz created to introduce you to projects like Quilters’ S.O.S. – Save Our Stories and The Quilt Index. And top scorers will be entered to win a prize by a featured sponsor. The Fall Quilt Story Search is sponsored by Click here to play the Fall Quilt Story Search through November 30! We’ll draw from the highest scoring players to win these Aurifil…
by Quilt Alliance | Sep 11, 2013 | Not Fade Away 2013 conference, QSOS
Today on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, I’d like to share video footage of the Quilters’ S.O.S. – Save Our Stories (Q.S.O.S.) interview with pioneering fabric designer, quilter, teacher and entrepreneur Jinny Beyer conducted by eQuilter.com co-owner Luana Rubin at our Not Fade Away conference held July 20, 2013. Q.S.O.S. is the Quilt Alliance’s oral history project about quiltmakers. Volunteers all over the U.S. and abroad have interviewed more than 1,200 quiltmakers for this project since 1999. The collection is presented via written transcripts and photographs on the Quilt Alliance website and is permanently archived at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. On occasion, we videotape Q.S.O.S. interviews to demonstrate how powerful these interviews are how important the project is. Watch these interviews along with other stories of quilts and quiltmakers on our Quilt Alliance Youtube channel. All Q.S.O.S. interviewees are asked to bring with them a “touchstone” object (usually a quilt) that has a special meaning to them. Some people choose to bring their first quilt, some bring their first award-winner, and others choose quilts associated with life events–celebration, comfort, love and loss. Jinny’s touchstone quilt, titled “Windows,” is a large hand-pieced and hand-quilted mosaic quilt made from fabrics she designed, inspired by Italian floor designs and in response to the terrible events of 9/11. On the morning of September 11, 2001, Beyer was packing for a trip to Italy to gather inspiration for a quilt to be shared at her annual quilt seminar when a friend phoned to let her know of the attacks. Her trip was canceled and Beyer learned that a good friend had been lost in the Pentagon crash. Regrouping, she began to design a mosaic quilt that would feature the colors and icons that become so prevalent in media coverage of the events–the ash and dust of the wreckage, and the American flag. Jinny shares the story on her website here. Watch the Q.S.O.S. interview to hear Jinny’s story. [youtube=http://youtu.be/fQ90mdE_9q4] Anyone can download the Q.S.O.S. manual and interview a quiltmaker in their community. Volunteers work independently to add interviews to Q.S.O.S. sub projects, including 43 state projects, 14 organizations (museums, institutions, regional quilt groups), 8 guilds and 9 country projects. Posted by Amy E. Milne Executive Director, Quilt Alliance…
by Quilt Alliance | Jul 6, 2013 | Events, Quilter's Take Manhattan
Isn’t it time you treated yourself to a bite out of the Big Apple? The Quilt Alliance has a fantastic weekend of fun planned for quilt lovers like you in New York City, September 27-29. Join us! The Alliance’s annual fundraiser, Quilters Take Manhattan, has expanded considerably this year based on great feedback from our 2012 guests. Along with our featured speaker, Hollis Chatelain (at left), and Go Tell It at the Quilt Show! interviews with Paula Nadelstern and members of her artist’s group Semper Tedium, this year we’ve added two days of add-on events (Friday and Sunday), available to all those who register for the FIT event on Saturday, Sept. 28. Add-on’s include small-group workshops at The City Quilter shop, outings to the Garment District and “Wicked” on Broadway, and rub-elbow receptions with quilt world stars, established and emerging. Visit the QTM event webpage for complete information about all the events. Also new this year–vendors! Many of our Gold sponsors will have product tables at the FIT event with an array of goodies for sale including fabric, thread, documentation supplies, and quilt kits. Click on the link below to register for Quilters Take Manhattan in New York. Can’t make it to NYC in September? Click on the link below to purchase a Home Ticket! Only $25 for Alliance…
by Quilt Alliance | Apr 3, 2013 | Go Tell It at the Quilt Show!, QuiltCon
Go Tell It at the Quilt Show! Findlay Wolfe, Gering and Knauer Interviews Seven new interviews for the Go Tell It at the Quilt Show! project were conducted at QuiltCon in Austin, Texas, February 21-24. Go Tell It! is a new Quilt Alliance project designed to capture the stories of quilts where quiltmakers and quilt lovers gather. The protocol for Go Tell It! is brief and personal: one person talking about one quilt in front of one video camera for three minutes, recording the most essential and compelling details of the quilt according to the “teller.” We were so proud to document and preserve stories from Victoria Findlay Wolfe, Jacquie Gering and Thomas Knauer at the first-ever QuiltCon. Read the full press release here. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CptX_VWHezc] QuiltCon Best in Show winner Victoria Findlay Wolfe (New York, New York) talks about her quilt Double Edged LOVE. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAl8pnVENwQ]Jacquie Gering (Chicago, Illinois) tells the story of her quilt, Bang You’re Dead. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtTF0FDHyc4]Thomas Knauer (Utica, New York) tells about his quilt, In Defense of Handmade. Let us know what you think about this new project. Leave comments here, on our Youtube channel or Facebook page. Posted by Amy E. Milne Executive Director, Quilt Alliance…
by Quilt Alliance | Mar 5, 2013 | QuiltCon
Thanks to everyone who played the Quilt Alliance Scavenger Hunt at QuiltCon! All those who submitted a completed form at the show received a special quilt label, a measuring tape compliments of our friends at Fairfield, a Q.S.O.S. tote bag and were entered to win one of six copies of Why Quilts Matter: History, Art and Politics. This landmark nine-part documentary series comes in a two-DVD set that includes 9 episodes and 7 bonus features. Why Quilts Matter DVD sets were generously donated by Shelly Zegart, executive producer and host for the series and co-founder of The Kentucky Quilt Project and the Quilt Alliance. And the winners are… Jolie Maxtin of Fort Worth, Texas Rebecca Shields of Houston, Texas Jody Sullivan of Pound Ridge, New York Susan Martin of Mounds View, Minnesota Leona McCann of Merlo Park, California Becky Glasby of Paducah, Kentucky Thanks to everyone who played and visited with us at QuiltCon, and congratulations to the winners! Please share your good news and help spread the word about the Quilt Alliance and Why Quilts Matter. And stay tuned for upcoming Scavenger Hunts that everyone can play…
