Yesterday, the Quilt Alliance published it’s Video Annual Report for 2013 (watch below). I love working on this project every year because I get to see not only how much we’ve accomplished and where we’ve been, but especially who we are. This Alliance includes quiltmakers, quilt owners and collectors, quilt historians, quilt shop owners and staff, museum and historical society folk, quilt industry representatives, archivists, teachers, lecturers, oral history buffs (to name a few), and our love of quilts and commitment to quiltmakers brings us together.

Leading off our video annual report is the voice of longtime Alliance member Michelle Flamer, a quiltmaker and an attorney from Philadelphia. In the video, Michelle reads the artist’s statement for her TWENTY contest quilt, titled “Blest Be the Threads that Bind.”

Whether we are old, young, black, white, “plain,” “English,” rich, poor, or quilt traditional or modern, we are all quilters united by that desire to create something wonderful from a lifeless pile of fabric! Blest Be the Threads that Bind celebrates Quilt Alliance’s twenty years of service to the American quilting community, a community that transcends time and endures even now in the 21st Century.

75.MichelleFlamer

75. “Blest Be the Threads that Bind”
Michelle Flamer
Wynnewood, Pennsylvania

Our members and the people we document through Quilters’ S.O.S. – Save Our Stories (Q.S.O.S.) and Go Tell It at the Quilt Show! interviews, and our partners and contributors with whom we work on the Quilt Index project, come from every corner of the quilt community. That diversity is what every nonprofit needs most. It is our mission to document, preserve and share the full spectrum of what has and is happening in the quilt community today, and having members and supporters with unique perspectives in this community and different gifts to share, fuels our mission.

This year, we started the year by documenting quiltmakers at the Modern Quilt Guild’s first “QuiltCon” in Austin, Texas and finished the year at the 39th annual (!) Houston International Quilt Festival, documenting exhibiting quiltmakers and sharing our mission with attendees. Thanks to the leadership of both of these shows for supporting our mission!  Our staff and board members also made presentations and collected interviews at guilds and quilting events all over the United States, including our own Not Fade Away Conference in Herndon, Virginia in July and our Quilters Take Manhattan event in September.

We end our 20th anniversary year feeling energized by this Alliance of passionate members, volunteers, partners and colleagues, and we ask for your help raise the necessary funds to continue our work, to continue to document, preserve and share the history of our community.

Please make a contribution today to add the financial fuel we need to continue and grow. You can make a secure gift online via credit card or Paypal or download our mail-in donation form here.  Every dollar donated through December 31, 2013 will be matched by an anonymous foundation, up to $15,000.

If your are a member of this Alliance, if you have attended one of our events, if you believe in what we are doing, please make a contribution. Any amount makes a difference.

With gratitude and love,

Amy signature_firstname only

Amy E. Milne
Executive Director, Quilt Alliance
amy.milne@quiltalliance.org

How To Trim Flying Geese Without A Specialty Ruler

If you don’t have a Bloc-Loc ruler, you may find trimming these flying geese challenging. But by following these steps, you should be able to get four accurate geese in each color!

First, line up your ruler so the point of the flying geese unit will be trimmed exactly ¼” above the point. Try to line the unit up as straight as possible on the other three sides.

Next, flip the unit over. Line up the edge you just cut on the 2” line of the ruler as shown below, and trim the excess from the top.

Flip the unit right side up again. Line the lower left corner up with the 3 ½” mark on your ruler as shown above. Trim the excess on the right.

Finally, flip the unit over again so the point is pointing towards the 2” line. Align the left edge of the unit with the 3 ½” ruler mark as shown above and trim the excess on the right. Your flying goose unit is now ready to be pieced into your block!

Quilt Documentation Tip

 Andrea’s block story is all about the importance of quilt guilds. Quilting can feel solitary, but guilds bring us together. It’s a topic of conversation that was discussed with two Birthday Block of the Month Designers in a recent Textile Talk where the participants all shared emotional stories about their love for their guilds. 

Did you know that your guild can document your quilts as a group? Consider hosting a quilt documentation day in your guild! Follow these instructions and have members share three minute stories about one meaningful quilt in the Quilt Alliance’s signature Go Tell It documentation program. You could even host a screening so all of your members can see the videos! Get in touch at: qsos@quiltalliance.org

See You in October for Month Seven!

Thank you so much to everyone who has participated in the Quilt Alliance’s Birthday Block of the Month so far! Our designer for next month, the seventh block we’re making together, is Bonnie Hunter herself! 

Be sure to tag @quiltalliance and @3rdstoryworkshop on Instagram with your block photos this month, and use the hashtag #QuiltAllianceBOM. And leave any questions about this month’s block in the comments below!

2 Comments

  1. terrysthoughtsandthreads

    Thanks for all the posts and pictures and history you have shared with us this year, Amy. I love opening my emails from the Quilt Alliance as they always include a new treasure. I’ve forwarded many that I know hold interest to a particular friend or relative, and those forwards are always appreciated. One fellow is going to contact his parents to ask about possible connections to Bessie Moyer, as they share a last name and Pennsylvania roots.

    You provide a great service as well as wonderful information. Thank you for all that you have given us.

    Merry Christmas, Amy, and a Happy New Year ahead!

    Reply
  2. Amy

    Terry, thank you for writing! It makes my day to get your message and to know that our work is useful and inspiring. How neat that someone was prompted to look into their family tree as a result of one of the posts! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you too! Hope you have a peaceful holiday season.–amy

    Reply

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