It’s hard to believe that we’re already five full months into 2014! Since today happens to be June 1st, our Q.S.O.S. Spotlight this Sunday is on an interviewee named June! June Ross, who has won first place in American Heritage and DAR quilt contests. Too much of a stretch for you? Read on for some excerpts from June’s Q.S.O.S. interview:

On her unusual reason for starting to quilt: “I started quite late in life. I am a retired art teacher, and I remarried 24 years ago to a gentleman who had a hardware background and was not used to the mess that a creative person creates, so I gave up making baskets, and I sold my loom, and I started making quilts which I could fold up and neatly put in a little spot that wouldn’t bother him.”

An amusing anecdote from her quilting life: “I have a pretty extensive basket collection, and included in the basket collection are two workbaskets that were made by the slaves in South Carolina, and I took them to be appraised at one point, and the lady who was appraising the baskets remembered them. She was mounting an exhibit, and so she came to the house to take pictures of them and measure them etcetera and she brought a friend of hers from South Africa who was looking at my quilts while the lady was taking care of the baskets. And when she got through looking at that quilt, ‘Oh,’ she said, ‘if I saw you coming out of Walmart, I never would never have guessed that you could make such lovely things.‘ So, that started me thinking about how–how I should look in order to make people aware of the fact that I make beautiful things. I thought that was amusing.”

On what makes a great quilt: “Well, the visual impact of a quilt. I think is important. Interesting value changes in material that is selected. That is another advance. You used to have red material, green material. Now you have tone on tone. All types of patterns that you have. I particularly enjoy the color, and it’s always fascinating to see what beautiful quilting can do to a relatively ordinary looking product.”

You can read more quilt stories on the Quilters’ S.O.S.- Save Our Stories page on the Quilt Alliance website.

Posted by Emma Parker
Project Manager, Quilters’ S.O.S.- Save Our Stories
qsos@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!

Quilt Documentation Tip

See You in October for Month Seven!

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