eQuilter Blog

Friendship.

It's
a beautiful thing.

I have met more wonderful people who've become
wonderful friends in the
quilting world, than any other group of people I've encountered.

And
you know what? No matter where I go, I meet quilters
and fabric-lovers, and we are instantly
friends because we share this love of sewing and creating.

I am just
about to fly
across the Atlantic Ocean to meet a bunch of quilter friends, who I don't
know yet! But you know what? I know when I meet them, we'll sit down and start
talking and it will be like we've known each other for ages.

Today I was
giggling as I thought about this, because it reminds me of the Loyal Order of
Water Buffaloes on the Flintstones. Remember
that TV cartoon? Except we are more of a sorority than a fraternity, and we wear
tiaras instead of Viking hats with horns. (yes, we let boys into our sorority
too!) We have our special secret jargon (fat quarters, frog stitch, walking
foot, etc.) and our regular guild meetings.

Unfortunately every guild
has a Pearl
Slaghoople, but we mostly try to ignore her monologues about rules, so we
can get on with our sewing and our friendships. Oh yeah, and our appreciation of
each other's stashes!

Many years ago on my first
visit to Rome, the seeds were planted for a new quilting friendship. This
week our blossoming friendship will bear fruit, when Susan Fiorentino's curated
exhibition opens to the staff and visiting dignitaries at the US Embassy in
Rome. eQuilter is a supporter of this exhibit, and in addition I will be giving
a presentation there on Friday, reviewing all the international quilt
exhibitions that I have photographed in the last year.

Next Sunday I will
give the same presentation at the Moscow
Quilt Festival, and new seeds of friendship will be sown… or is that sewn?
*giggle*

*
This eye-popping quilt was made by Larene Smith of Mission Viejo California, and
was photographed at the Irish Quilt Festival in June 2012.

In one week
I will be giving a power point presentation in Moscow, showing images from all
the quilt festivals that I have photographed around the world in the last year.

My presentation will be at 2 pm on Sunday September 23,

at the
"Na Kashirke" exhibition hall ( http://nakashirke.narod.ru/).

Moscow,
Ak.Millionschikova Street, 35/2 (near the "Kashirskaya" Metro
station).

We just uploaded 3 more videos from
the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham England last month. This includes a
RUSSIAN LANGUAGE version of my interview with Russian quilter Alexandra
Nikulina.

You may have noticed that this week we are also featuring a category
of Russian-themed fabrics!

Over the next 2 weeks I will be traveling
to meet quilters in Rome, Moscow and St Petersburg. We've been stocking
up on Italian and
Russian-themed fabrics so you can find inspiration as you travel along with
me on my blog.

At the
end of this week I am giving 2 presentations on International and American
quilts, at the US Embassy in Rome. This is for a private function so I am sorry
I can't invite you to this event, but I'll tell you all about it Tuesday, with
photos afterward. Very exciting!

When I return from this trip, I will
share photos from the Moscow quilt festival.

This beautiful quilt "This Many Faces,
This Many Cultures" is from the recent Festival
of Quilts in Birmingham. The artist who made this multiple portrait piece is
Rita Dijkstra-Hesselink, who lives in Holland.

I felt that this piece
reflected the growing international
popularity of our
beloved art and craft – Quilting. Around the
world so many people share a love of fabric and sewing, but when they are
exposed to the joys of quilting, they can't help but be captured by the
pleasures of patchwork and fiber arts.

Do you remember the moment you
were captured by the quilting bug? I do! It was 1990…and I had left the
fashion industry and moved back to Colorado to raise my young son. (who is now
22, and graduating from college in December!)

One day I was browsing
through the magazines at a supermarket,
when I came across a group of quilting
magazines. As I picked them up and began leafing through the pages, the hair
on the back of my neck stood up. I knew in that moment, that this was what I'd
been looking for.

As I took classes in local quilt shops to learn about
the terms and
techniques of quilting, my background in garment
design and construction, and my love of fabrics and color,
all came together in a glorious whirlwind of creative
delight. I felt I'd found my place where I belonged, and the wonderful
quilters I met those years were welcoming and generous.

Quilters are all
about giving, and we know that many of the quilts you make are meant to shared
with others. Be sure to stock up during our Labor Day
Sale this week – so you can take advantage of our bolt ends and overstocks
for the upcoming season of
giving.

Today was one of those glorious end-of-summer days that was filled with sunshine, mild temperatures, and lots of happy people in town for the USA Pro Cycling Challenge. The 6th stage was here today, and a Boulder athlete won the day's race at the top of Flagstaff Mountain, so it's a good day to be a cycling fan here in Boulder.
This week we released a video press release about our $1 Million raised for charity. Have a look, and if you like it, please pass it on to your local news organizations! Thank you!
Did you see Sophie's first two videos from the Long Beach Quilt Festival? We have her 3rd and 4th videos up this week – with her favorite animal quilts, and the wildly creative quilted village.
One of the trends I've been following at quilt shows this year, is the creative reinterpretation of classic designs such as William Morris' textiles. As the spare design aesthetic of the Modern Quilt Guild has expanded rapidly, on the other end of the scale I've also seen beautiful ornate designs from Turkish Tiles, Art Deco and Art Nouveau graphic design, and vintage French and Italian architectural details, reinterpreted in a larger scale, with small scale patterns (such as flowers or leaves) used where a solid color might have been used originally. I really enjoyed the Celtic versions, at the Irish Quilt Festival in June, and last week in Birmingham's quiltfest.
Tomorrow I am flying to Ohio to tape another segment on trends for Quilting Arts TV. If you haven't seen my most recent fabric trend clip, check it out on our video page! Sophie also is coming along to film a segment with Pokey Bolton.
Then I am home for a little bit, preparing for a business trip to Italy and Russia! I am still nailing down the details so I'll tell you more before I leave Sept 18, but I am giving a special presentation in Rome on Sept 21, and then Moscow on Sept 23.
Watch for my new videos from the Birmingham England " Festival of Quilts" in the next couple weeks: they will be announced in one of my newsletters. Do you also get my Creative Nudge on Wednesday mornings? If not, be sure to check your eQuilter newsletter settings.
A couple quick book tips: snap up Kaffe Fassett's new bio, and Gail Lawther's "Glimpses of Britain" – both are fabulous!

This weekend I am writing to you from the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham, England. It is the biggest quilt festival in Europe, and quilters come from all over Europe, and indeed from across the globe, to participate in this public show.

eQuilter is a sponsor of the Pictorial Quilt category here, and this year it has over 60 entries from 13 different countries! These include entries from: Australia, Belgium, Hungary, Italy, Israel, Germany, Norway, Netherlands, Romania, Spain and Switzerland.

This year is very international with approximately 700 competition quilts on display.

Next year the theme for the International Competitions for adults will be ?Transported? and for young Quilters it will be ?transport?: the dates for The Festival next year are 8th ? 11th of August.

This year they are presenting a gallery with Pauline Burbidge's work, inspired by The Holy Island of Lindisfarne, representing the series of large quilts she is working on for next year: it will tour the US going to The Quilt Museum in Nebraska.

My flight from Newark was delayed 6 hours, so instead of arriving at 7 am, we landed at 1:30 pm. I managed to walk most of the show at the end of the day, and tomorrow morning Bonnie McCaffery and I will film several galleries and interview several fiber artists.

I find it fascinating to track how the 3-D fiber-sculpture trend is growing exponentially here. I'll be sure to get photos so you can see what I am talking about. I love seeing the unique uses of color and texture, as I compare quilts from other international shows. European quilts express a very different aesthetic, compared to quilts in the Tokyo Quilt Festival, or the Melbourne Australia quilt show.

The big news here is that the show has been bought by another company, so next year it will be managed by a different group of people. I hope next year they will figure out how to put the quilters' names on all the quilts. Right now there is a number on a little card next to each quilt, and you have to look up the name in the show book to find out who is the quiltmaker. Very frustrating.

I only had a couple hours to walk the show today, but I found plenty of creatively unique quilts. I took lots of photos and will be sharing with you in the near future. Tomorrow I'll spend the whole day on the show floor, shooting video interviews and talking to quilt artists about their beautiful work.