Jul 09 10
A Big Thank you and Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Initiative
This is that top as it stands now…I’m sorry to say I have done next to no sewing in over a week, so not much progress beyond getting that border sewn on. If all goes well, I’ll be able to get it into a quilt sandwich next week and then quilt it to my heart’s content-my favorite part of the process! I’ve gotten so many requests for a pattern using those Texture Magic flowers that I’m hoping to get this all done so the patterns will be available in August for the Checker open house. If you are a quilt shop owner who will be at the open house, please stop by to say hello!
This past week was exciting for me because my online quilting friend Sarah Ann Smith wrote a wonderful review of my “Feather Adventures” book! Thank you, Sarah! If you want to read it, go here to find Sarah’s blog, then scroll back to the July 3, 2010 post. You’ll want to bookmark that blog for future reference as Sarah is an incredible free motion machine quilter! If you missed my review of her book earlier this year, you’ll definitely want to buy yourself a copy now. It’s called “Threadwork Unraveled” and it is one incredible book for anyone interested in learning the skills for all kinds of thread work. There are some books that you read through once and they spend most of the rest of their lives on your bookshelf. Not so for Sarah’s book! This is an incredible reference book, one that you’ll go back to again and again, really more like a “thread authority” kind of book-no joke! If you’re not near a local quilt shop to flip through one, here is the link to her book on the AQS site. And don’t be fooled into thinking this book is just about thread for machine quilting-she touches on much more than free motion machine quilting!
Now what is this, you may ask:
It’s a small quilt being readied to ship to the Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Initiative! When I was at Spring Quilt Market, I had the honor of meeting Ami Simms, who is responsible for the Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Initiative. Thanks to her diligence, she has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for Alzheimer’s research, all through people voluntarily making quilts and donating them for auction. Mostly, these are small quilts, like the 9 x 12 in quilt above. These don’t need to be works of art, just small quilts! What I realized was this could be a good way to work out design issues ona tiny scale (so you wouldn’t sacrifice a whole quilt to learn that something really wouldn’t work) AND you could be making a donation to a good cause all at the same time. In my case, I was trying to see if an idea I had for a bird would work:
In my case, I don’t like the way my bird came out, but I’m not viewing this as a waste of my time since I found this out without ruining the large quilt I wanted to use it in. Even more, I can send this baby off to do some good somewhere else! On top of that, I learned a new way to hang small quilts-check out the backside of this thing:
All you have to do is place a small hanging rod between those upper corner triangles and you’re done! You can also put triangles on the bottom if you want a way to make your quilt hang super-straight! If you’re interested in learning more about making a donation to this worthy cause, go here.
You are a genius!!! I just love all the piece you’ve posted!!!!!
Patsy,
That quilt is turning out to be such a sunshiny quilt. Can’t wait to see it quilted.
I definitely agree with your friend Sarah – Feather Adventures is an amazing book. I actually tried hyperquilting for the first time in my latest finished quilt (http://ivoryspring.wordpress.com/2010/07/12/poinsettia-parade-final-sneak-peeks/) It was MOST fun – thanks for sharing your technique and being such an inspiration.
That bird quilt is adorable!
Patsy,
Your quilts are just beautiful. I could just sit and look at them and never quilt my own. That’s not good, tho. Thanks for sharing.
Peg-TX
Innova 18″