Arizona tragedy

Just a sad day. One of the victims of the Arizona shootings was Phyllis Schneck. She was a quilter. So sad. Read more about her here:
http://azstarnet.com/news/local/crime/article_8fa84b49-2e3a-5267-9af8-a5809386e583.html

Brandon's Quilt

I can finally post a picture of the quilt my daughter made for her boyfriend for Christmas. She gave it to him Christmas Day so the cat's out of the bag. DD made nine patches out of 5" charm squares and appliqued cats on the bottom. I machine quilted it in strips, put on borders and bound it. It's a little larger than a twin bed size and I practiced many different machine quilting patterns. It came out pretty good. Now on to making my patterns for Ruth's Block Exchange.

Happy New Year and
Till next time....Happy Quilting.

My Month in Pictures

What a month! First we went to the taping of Homecoming for Magic Johnson at Jenison Field House.
















Then a party at the Nightcap!

















Some walking of Boomer in the Woods, first Grand Woods Park





















Then, Rose Lake.





















We finally attended the Tom Izzo Christmas Show where he played his accordion and had the freshman, including Keith Appling, lead the crowd in Jingle Bells.





















On Christmas Eve, my brother and his kids, including Kevin pictured with Boomer, stayed for a few days. We went to a family party where my brother saw relatives he hadn't seen in 30 years.



















Finally, here I am in the Christmas sweater that my daughter Katy found for me in Chicago. I call it "everything but Santa," my daughter calls it "Christmas threw-up." And for you dog lovers, there is a puppy on the back.






















I've finally got a bit of time to sew, and of course, my daughter brought me some ripped jeans!

















I hope everyone had as great a Christmas as we did. Now looking forward to New Year's Day. Go State!

Living the Dream

Went to the Spartan game on Saturday. Not only did we win, but I caught a hot dog from the guy that tosses them in our section (20) during the first quarter. Another dream achieved!

Quilts and Football

detnews.com|Sports|Photogallery|Sports Photo Gallery - MSU 34, Michigan 17 - The Detroit News Online

What a day! I spent the day at the Cuesta Benberry Symposium a the MSU Museum and if you weren't there, you missed a special day. After the symposium I was able to listen to the last part of the MSU, U of M game. After the 34-17 Spartan victory I'm still doing my happy dance.

A big thanks to Pearl for bedazzling me with Sparty. She said if I run the Dino Dash next year, she'll get a picture of me really hanging with Sparty.

Till next time.....Happy Quilting!

Great Quilt Show

If you're looking for a great quilt show and are anywhere near Grand Rapids, Michigan, don't miss Quilts on the Grand. Everytime I've gone it's been well worth the drive. They usually have multiple raffle quilts (all fabulous), and the quilts on display are dazzling.

Till next time....Happy Quilting!

Cool antique quilts

Quilts from the collection of the Atlantic Heritage Center, are on exhibit there until October 10, 2010. The Center is located in Somers Point, New Jersey. If you can't make the exhibit (like me), you'll find a really cool page of their quilts at: http://gallery.me.com/merryquilts#100100.

Enjoy!

Till next time....Happy Quilting!

Fundraising Quilt

Each fall, Habitat for Humanity Lansing partners with the ACF Capital City Professional Chefs and Cooks Association to put on Harvest for Habitat, an evening of gourmet food, fabulous door prizes, and wonderful company. This year’s event will be at the East Lansing Marriott at University Place on Sunday, October 24^th, 2010 beginning at 5:30pm.

I just finished this mini-Churn Dash quilt for the "fabulous door prize" portion of the evening. It is machine pieced and machine quilted and is 22" x 28". Each block is 4 1/2" square. I found the border fabric at the Michigan Quilt Network Show last weekend at the Ethelbird and Eliza Kids booth. All the rest of the fabric was from my stash. My color choice was inspired by Roxie's black/white/bright block exchange choice.

Too funny and too true

This one's dedicated to all my long arm friends.



Till next time....Happy Quilting!

Textile Conservation

Restoring the Palampore


Working at a museum with a large quilt collection, I frequently get questions about quilt care and I give good advice about basic home care. At the museum we store our quilts in archival tissue and breathable nylon. We do minor stabilization and cleaning (with a low suction vacuum where the quilt stays dry). However, when a quilt needs major work, we send our quilts out to someone qualified, as we don't have a conservation lab or a conservator at our museum. Watch this excellent video on a palampore from the Royal Ontario Museum that has been conserved by a team led by Shirley Ellis, Senior Textile Conservator at the ROM. From the video you can see how expensive it is to properly treat an old textile and why it costs so much money to conserve and clean a museum quilt.

Till next time....Happy Quilting!

A Quick History of Colonial Womens' Art

Preview of "Women Only: Folk Art by Female Hands"
- an exhibition at the American Folk Art Museum

Check out this cool video from the curator. It's about womens' art history.



Till next time....Happy Quilting!

Sad news

I just heard that Bonnie Leman has passed away. For those of you who don't recognize the name, she was the founder of Quilter's Newsletter Magazine. For those who do know her, a booklet is being compiled by Xenia Cord. To contribute a message to the family email it to teresad@quilts.com with Bonnie Leman in the message line.

For over 30 years, Quilter's Newsletter has been my bible and favorite quilt magazine.

To learn more about Bonnie you can find a biography of her at the Quilter's Hall of Fame and an interview with her at the Alliance for American Quilts.