The Purple Turnip

Maggie Bonanomi is one of my favorite quilt book authors - and one of my steadiest. Over the past five years, we've worked together on six books - more than a book a year.

Part of our process is an early meeting. Maggie shows me her projects - most in some incomplete stage - and we talk about the book theme.

Her creativity is so exciting. A book a year takes a lot of that and her well does not run dry. She likes to take walks alone and draw inspiration from nature.

She said I could give you a peek at the project shown here.  Having been to Quilt Con, I was struck by how modern this project felt. It was inspired by Amish quilts. The hand dyed wools (and a little velvet) was cut out by hand and stitched by hand.

Maggie also said I could share some exciting news. She will soon open her new studio / workshop / retail space in downtown Lexington, Missouri. A soft opening is planned for April 19. It's an exciting move for her and for the town of Lexington, which has recently been designated an arts community in collaboration with the University of Missouri at Columbia. Look for more details about her new venture soon - we'll shoot photos there for her next book ...

Epidemic Benefits Thrifty Shoppers

You have read the news stories bemoaning the obesity epidemic that plagues our growing population. One benefit of it became clear during my latest trip to my favorite thrift shop - LARGER men's shirts.

 

I thought you would also admire this beauty. It's a Pierre Cardin, size 4x. The back of the shirt measures 27" long x 33.5" wide.

And what about this!! A muu-muu like 5x,  with an even bigger back - 28.5" long x 34.5" wide. Now that is some thrifty yardage. And yes, both were half-price and are 100% cotton.

A Trip into the Forbidden Room

Kitty Holey by Iris Werner

My friend Iris Werner passed away a few weeks ago. She was 85, the mother of one of my best high school friends, Lisa. Their house was the gathering place for our group of friends. It was fun - full of people and creativity. Iris painted and sewed. She made a gazillion quilts and I wrote about her quilting in my 2005 book, Quilters' Stories.

Iris had a room in the house that I never got to peek into - her sewing room. It held a massive amount of fabric, I imagined. She would warn me away from it, declaring, "It will make your eggs bad." Iris was known for making outrageous comments like that. At her funeral, she actually had a priest talking about her Kitty Holey series (like the painting at right).

This week, Lisa let me see the room.. Both our eggs are gone now, we figured it was safe. Here it is:

 

I imagined it as a mountain of fabric. Now there is plenty of clutter and wildness (lots of odd, stray fabrics) but nothing close to the volume of fabric I imagined. Maybe Iris thought it was a little messy, hardly anything I am afraid of. It is a light-filled room, surrounded with windows. The sewing machine sits at the far right of the photo. 

Thanks, Lisa, for letting me see the forbidden room as Iris left it. Her granddaughter Kristin will go through it now and pick fabrics she wants, how wonderful is that. I also got a picture of a pincushion on the wall beside Iris' bed, isn't it lovely. She was actually piecing a quilt for her first great-grandchild, James. All gingham blocks. We need to finish that quilt for her ...

 

No Rules for Me, please

A peek at the back of Coded Paragraph
by Joel Ignacio of Vallejo, California

In the wake of the first Quilt Con, we're all trying to figure out modern. What is modern? Who is modern? Will modern last?

In the scramble to define, the need for order surfaces. And that is understandable. We need order. Otherwise, life would be like driving in most third-world countries. We don't want that!

Quilting is my time, it is my hobby, my very pleasurable retreat from the cares of the world. The wonders of textiles have long entranced me, and always will.

The prospect of someone / anyone trying to impose rules on that has always made me run the other way. I will never forget going to a quilt guild meeting in Indianapolis decades ago. A very scary stern-eyed woman stood up and said not just anyone could work on their opportunity quilt - just the best stitchers. She would pull out stitches if they were not right, she warned.

I never went back. It took me years and considerable coaxing to get me to finally join a quilt guild. Our local guild is a pleasure to attend (otherwise, I wouldn't be there).

So! In our quest to define modern, let's not resort to becoming those scary old women who threaten to pull out the stitches. Let's have fun and revel in the wonders of what is available for us to stitch together today. Let's sew, let's make quilts! To use, to cherish. AND - be totally delighted that there is passion for quilting with a new audience.

Stop judging, start enjoying.

Quilt Con Day 3

Since I've gone to a number of quilt conferences over the years, I was very curious what this inaugural Quilt Con would be like. Here are a few of my impressions:

A large group gathered for a demo about fabric design by  Heather Ross

The crowds are definitely here. I've bumped into many familiar faces from the Kansas City area. Crowds on Friday were easily twice the size of the Thursday crowds. Today - Saturday - it's sunny and warm in Austin, I expect it will be even more crowded in the exhibit/vendor hall. There is great enthusiasm, marveling at the spectacular work - as there so often is at regular quilt shows.

There is a large exhibit of modern quilts from all over the world. Along with the modern quilts shown below, one aisle is flanked on both sides with quilts by Denyse Schmidt (tonight's keynote speaker). We've all admired them online - to see them in person is spectacular! (Keep watching, those pics will be posted soon ...)

The rock stars of the modern world are here - lecturing, demoing techniques, signing books - just like regular quilt shows. The lectures have been interesting and well attended, helping us all gain insights about what modern is. And the success of modern is obvious by the number of vendors in attendance. The men in suits are here, a signal there is a healthy financial side to all this. That said, many of the businesses present are run by women, another healthy sign.

The crowd demographics fascinate me. There are fewer gray heads here than there are at most quilting events ( although statistics show modern quilters are spread pretty evenly from age 21-60+). You can see occasional wild colored hair (but we are in Austin). Many of us are celebrating this new turn for the quilting world, and the enthusiasm for our passion that signals a healthy future.

So! I'm off to the show today. My daughter Betsy will be a quilt angel/white glove rover in the hall this afternoon (Kate was there with me Thursday). More pics and stories to come ...

Gotta post one more quilt - there are SO MANY I am fired up about.

Another quilt from the Kiracofe collection. Historical Modern!

Quilt Con Day 2

Wow! Finding this quilt nearly made me jump for joy! There are many, many wonderful quilts in the Quilt Show at Quilt Con. But this one drew the strongest reaction from me. It is a wool quilt by Sherri Lynn Wood of Oakland, California. Wood calls it an improvisational riff off the Log Cabin pattern. It is made entirely of vintage Pendleton wool shirts, skirts, suits and pants - a repurposed wonder. The backing below is 100% linen, as is the binding. The quilting is a very simple pattern, done with the big stitch.

A nice touch to the quilt show is a section of "Modern Historical Quilts" from the collection of Rod Kiracofe. It's featured in Kiracofe's book .Quilts, now available as an ebook on blurb.com. This one looks familiar to us, doesn't it? A sign with the exhibit notes the similarities between the modern quilt movement of today as well as the modern and contemporary art movements. Kiracofe's quilts were made by largely anonymous quiltmakers.

QuiltCon Day 1!

I'm at QuiltCon in Austin, Texas. The level of enthusiasm is HIGH. People are excited about the quilts, excited about the lectures, and excited to be part of the inaugural QuiltCon.

There are so many wonderful quilts on display, it is hard to pick only a few to show. I love this one because of the pattern and the wild diversity of fabrics included.

Here's a detail shot. This quilt was made by Lotje Meijknecht of the Dutch Modern Quilt Guild.













How about this Ron Swanson quilt by Monica Solorio-Snow of the Portland Modern Guild. It won first place in the piecing division! There are several quilts here based on pixilated images.

There are also vendors galore and fun photo booths. My friend Sammie bought so much she had to take it back to the hotel room (in the first 2 hours the show was open). If you're in the Austin area, don't miss it - the show runs through Sunday. You can buy a day pass for $10 to view the quilts and visit the vendors.