National Quilting Day

Mar 122012
 

National Quilting Day

History

NQA began sponsoring National Quilting Day with a resolution passed by members attending the 22nd Annual Show in Lincoln, Nebraska, in June 1991. The third Saturday in March is officially designated as National Quilting Day, but quilters are flexible and we love a celebration — especially when fabric is involved! So over the years, observance of National Quilting Day has unofficially been expanded to the whole month of March.

For the 22st anniversary of National Quilting Day, we have chosen this pattern, an Ohio star with a simple Mariner’s Compass center designed by Martha Ethridge, to share with your group or guild to use to celebrate National Quilting Day, March 17, 2012. Our colors blend with those of Rebecca Barker’s poster used for the 43rd Annual NQA Quilt Show. You should be creative with color combinations used to build your own Pointing the Way quilt. Then share your quilt and tell us about it. Mariner’s Compasses were used to guide sailors and it is possibly one of the earliest named quilt designs in America. So make your compass star and share it with others. Even the annual show in June is featuring Mariner’s Compass quilts this year.

Ways to share your quilt and love of quilts include, but are not limited to, the following ideas.

Work on a quilting project with others

  • Make it a service day and work on a quilt for your favorite cause — national projects such as ABC Quilts, Project Linus, or one of the great ones for the troops. If you don’t have a favorite service project, start one! Check with police and fire departments, children’s services, nursing or rehabilitation facilities or local hospitals to see if they have a need for quilts.
  • Organize an exhibit for your local library or historical society. Exhibit quilts, tools, books, etc.
  • Find a local shelter for battered/abused women with children — a log cabin ‘home’ for those without a real home.
  • Check with VA Hospitals — lap quilts for invalids.
  • Organize a quilt history day or a quilt documentation project.
  • If a military facility is nearby, contact the social services there to see where to give quilts or how to send to soldiers or their families.
  • Contact local churches to see if someone in congregation needs a little home love.
  • Check with local hospital about giving to first baby born on National Quilt Day, 2011.
  • Nursing homes for those who don’t have much, or are newly without their own home may be a good place to donate quilts.
  • Work on a quilt with a school, 4-H, or scout group, or spend the day passing along your love of quilting to your children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, or neighbors.
  • Contact a local senior citizens group or facility and organize a show and tell of their quilts and yours. Or sponsor a sewing day to make lap quilts for seniors. Turn it into an oral history project to gather quilters’ stories from your community. You will be amazed at what you learn.
  • Organize a stitch-in, banquet, workshop, lecture, retreat, bus trip or even a shop hop.
  • Celebrate on your own — visit your favorite quilt shops, pass your love of quilting on to a child or friend, or spend a few hours sewing or reading your favorite quilt book.

Make a quilt and share it with someone else. After you and/or your guild do this, please send us information and pictures of how you shared. We want to show others what you have done.

 

Pick up your free pattern at Wild Child.

 Blog, From Rose's Desk No Responses »

Making Batik in the West Indies

Mar 102012
 

The batik process at Caribella Batik, St. Kitts (West Indies)


100% Sea Island Cotton, a high quality, high density, but soft cotton, is
prepared for the resist dying method by painting wax on the fabric that
will not be dyed.

After waxing, the fabric is dyed.  If more colors are used, the fabric is
again waxed and dyed another color.  Each color is another process of
waxing and dying.  Some projects take up to nine days to complete.

Below shows one scene with twelve steps to completion.
After the waxing and dying is complete, the fabric
is boiled for 45 minutes to remove the wax.  It is
hung out to dry.  A beautiful sight to see.

Fabric like this cost $20 a yard.  18″ panels with
many colors were priced at $10.
Because the entire fiber is
dyed, the color is intense
on both sides of the fabric.

The batik panels are
beautiful tacked to an open
frame and hung in a
window allowing the light to
shine through them.

 From Rose's Desk No Responses »

Quilting History Part 4

Mar 082012
 

During the nineteenth century, quilt making flourished in America. Quilt makers everywhere seemed to compete with each other by creating geometric patterns, one more dazzling than another. Probably of equal importance in advancing the quilting tradition was the opportunity it afforded to socialize. Many times women would form a quilting bee, to both accomplish the making of a quilt but also to interact with other women. In many isolated areas, the quilting bee was the only source of social contact that many women had with each other.

 

Eventually while other homemade crafts (such as woodworking, tin-smithing, candle or soap making) were becoming obsolete by factory substitutes and industrialization, quilts continued to be made throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In fact, industrialization, particularly after the middle of the nineteenth century, provided the housewife with more time and a variety of new devices to use on quilting.

Materials were now bought specifically for the purpose of making a quilt. The housewife was no longer dependent solely upon the accumulation of scraps of different colors and sizes in her scrap bag to create a specific pattern or design. The sewing machine, was a new tool that influenced the habits and techniques of the quilt maker during the nineteenth century. There was a sharp decline in the making of quilts by the end of the nineteenth century, probably due to the development of retail stores such as Sears, Roebuck. But the decline in quilt making was only temporary and during the twentieth century there have been periodic revivals of interest in the art.

 

The 1970s brought a great renewal of interest in quilts. They have been recently appreciated as an important American antique craft, as well as for their strong contemporary visual qualities. In the United States, quilts are now purchased to hang on walls in the same fashion as tapestries and paintings, instead of just for everyday use such as a bed covering.

Quilts in America. Orlofsky, Patsy and Myron. McGraw-Hill Book Company. 1974.

 From Rose's Desk No Responses »

Creative Ways to Learn and Share; Strathmore® Artist Trading Cards for Kids

Mar 082012
 

Creative Ways to Learn and Share; Strathmore® Artist Trading Cards for Kids

Strathmore has added Artist Trading Cards designed for beginning artists to its Kids® Series line. Along with Art Journal Kits, these ATCs are another example of Strathmore’s commitment to develop innovative products that help grow the market and create in-store news and excitement for retailers.

Market research shows that “artists are clamoring for high-quality, creative products for all kinds of artwork”, and that “kids’ art supplies” are a “growth category” for retailers.*

Strathmore Artist Trading Cards allow kids to create their own miniature works of art, then swap and collect with other young ATC enthusiasts. These official ATCs are created with high quality-eco-friendly Strathmore papers. Higher count value packs provide plenty of ATCs for classroom projects, special occasions or everyday use. Easy step-by-step instructions for two fun projects are included inside each package.

Strathmore Artist Papers™ partnered with Art Projects for Kids to select artwork and develop project sheets for these Artist Trading Cards.

Art Projects for Kids Website features classroom-tested art projects for K-5 and beyond and lots of inspiring artwork.

Art Journal Kits offer kids a place to explore their creativity, learn fun drawing and collage techniques and use artist quality materials. These unique, environmentally friendly kits were selected for the Sustainability: Design for a Better World Display at this year’s New York International Gift Fair.

Learn how Strathmore Artist Trading Cards for Kids and Art Journal Kits can increase the productivity of your kids’ or educational program.

Contact your MacPherson’s sales representative for details today.

*NAMTA Artists and Art Materials 2009 Study

 From Rose's Desk No Responses »

New Sanded Pastel touch boards

Mar 082012
 

Mi-Teintes Touch Boards
Canson

These heavy-weight, sanded pastel boards feature micro abrasive surfaces created by a sanded primer. They are ideal for dry pastels and can also be used with oil pastels and can also be used with oil pastels, pencils, charcoal and wet media. The thinly sanded surface allows colors to pop and highlights work that requires precision and fine detail. Boards measure 20″ x 30″.

 From Rose's Desk No Responses »
 Older Entries