I am writing to you this weekend from Mexico City, at the Patchwork Expo organized by Quilters de Mexico. Many thanks to my quilty-sister Pam Holland for introducing me to this wonderful group of enthusiastic quilters!
As you know, I travel around the world as an ambassador for Quilting, taking photos of quilt exhibits, and then sharing them in my power point presentation “International Quilt Trends” with the quilters at my next destination. (and sharing the quilts online too – on my photo page!)
One of the things I do when traveling abroad, is encourage quilters in other countries to develop a quilting genre that expresses their own culture, and uses their own traditional needle arts and local textile arts. The Japanese are very far along this path, having progressed from American-inspired patchwork in the 70’s, to current Japanese quilting which dazzles us at the annual Tokyo Quilt Festival. The Japanese quilts we see at the Houston Quilt Festival for instance, are instantly recognizable. (See my video on this topic!)
Other quilters in other countries are earlier in the process, and sometimes in their first few shows, the quilts shown are clearly inspired by American quilting trends. When a new quilting movement begins to take off and is incorporating their local images, legends, traditions and artwork… it is SO exciting because literally a new artform is being birthed!
This is my 2nd time to the small but growing Mexico Patchwork Expo, and I can see that their own genre of Mexican quilting is blossoming rapidly. I am taking photos and will share them soon…on my photo page.
Today I was honored to speak on the topic of Quilters and Charity, talking about all the ways that quilters help others, and how our partnerships with our charity recipients are helping children and those in need, in Mexico and elsewhere.
Mission of Love is very active in Mexico, having built schools for disabled children, a cerebral palsy clinic and a hospice, plus donating cancer treatments to a children’s hospital, airlifting medical supplies, building supplies, ambulances and firetrucks to many communities. Kathy Price is SuperWoman as far as I am concerned… and we are honored to partner with her by supporting her with money raised through our business.
We are extremely picky about our list of charities, and one of the things we look for is organizations who squeeze the most amount of good out of each donated dollar. If you are looking for a great organization for your private donations, Mission of Love has my Giant Gold Star of enthusiastic approval!
THANKS again for your support of our family-owned business, so we can continue to sponsor quilt festivals in the US and around the world, and also to support the 7 worthy organizations that receive monthly checks for their amazing work…over $1.3 million raised for Charity in the last 17 years.
We can squeeze one or two more people into the Cuba tour if you call them on Monday, but otherwise our group is set for Havana!
My Polar Bear Tour is now open for registration and filling fast, so if you are interested, call our NatHab rep Aly and sign up for a payment plan!
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