Infinite Variety

I was totally amazed by the exhibition of 650 red-and-white quilts running now inside the Park Avenue armory in Manhattan. All of the quilts being exhibited belong to one collector--Joanna S Rose---and they're being shown for only 6 days. The way the quilts were hung in the cavernous space by the curators from the American Folk Art Museum was almost as interesting as the quilts themselves. They did a fantastic job, and the show was breathtaking! I'm including a few of the many photos I took there to give you an idea, but for a better look go to the Museum's website: Folkartmuseum.org.

Unexpected quilt retailer

I was surprised to learn that A.P.C., the popular and funky French clothing maker, is selling a limited number of 7 different quilts on it's website. Here's a look at them:

Visiting quilting stores

One of my favorite things to do when I travel is to visit stores that sell quilting materials. Over the weekend I was in Salt Lake City with an hour to spare, and found 6 or 7 quilt store on my iPad that seemed to be within a 10 or 15-minute drive of the airport. Now that's a lot of quilt stores. I live in New York City, and there's really only one real quilt store in Manhattan.

I picked a store called Quilter's Haven, punched the address into the GPS that came with the car, and headed out. And 10 minutes I was parked outside of the strip mall that contained the sweet 2-level store. Since I didn't have much time I wasn't able to do any serious shopping---I just picked up a few useful-looking fat quarters on sale---but it was a lovely store. Nothing too unusual, but all the basics very nicely displayed. I also loved that the staff was friendly and the store was filled with other quilters buying fabric and talking about their projects. I've seldom met a quilter I didn't like!

Helpful Websites for Sewing Materials

I just received this list from my friend Kirsten, who's found that they are good places to look for new or vintage items not available in chain stores:

Tinseltrading.com

Blumchen.com

Accessoriesofold.com

Bergerbeads.net

Rosemille.net

Niftythriftydrygoods.com

Frenchgeneral.com

Oldeamericaantiques.com

Link to cool quilt video:

http://blog.nfb.ca/2011/02/17/quilt-fever/

I copied this link from the Block Lotto blog. Extremely cool!

Elephant block

I discovered a free pattern for this elephant block on a blog I follow, Friday Block Party (http://fridayblockparty.blogspot.com/). I spent the morning digging fabrics I like out of my stash and turning them into elephants. I've got a lot of batik fabric I can use for the background, also in my stash, from a package of fat quarters I bought a long time ago. I knew they'd come in handy some day! I imagine making about a dozen elephants and putting them together into a quilt I can use as a wall hanging. We'll see how long my enthusiasm holds up. If I know myself, I'll end up with a bunch of elephants stuck in a draw in my sewing room.

Disappearing 4-patch

I made 4 "disappearing 4-patch" blocks for the April Block Lotto. These blocks are so easy to make---the ones that have been made so far look great together. I wonder how it would look to make each block in a different color, while keeping the background color the same? It might be worth a try, just to see what I ended up with. I think I'll make a few more of these for the lotto, if I have time, because it would be a fun block to win.

Small bird quilt

Just wanted to post a photo of this little quilt before I pack it off to be part of an exhibit of small quilts our guild is mounting at the Public Library branch in Canarse. The quilt is 20 inches wide and 22 inches high, and all it needs is for the sleeve to be stitched on to the back and it will be finished.

This is one of those projects that I was very excited about when I was figuring it out and putting it together, but then just dropped and moved on to something else. It's been sitting in my fabric closet for almost a year. But the call for small quilts made me think of it, so I'm going to finish it off and get it out in public. It's always fun to be part of a show, especially since my guild has some amazingly talented members.

When I originally posed this, I thought the show was at the Brooklyn Public Library which is an imposing Art Deco building, completed in 1941 and given landmark status in the 1990s. It's very near my house and it's a terrific place. But I was wrong. Oh well!

I've never been to the library in Canarse but I guess this will be an opportunity for me to check it out. Our small quilt show may travel to some other libraries after that, and I'll post and update if that happens.

Quilt top in progress

This is a photo of a quilt top in progress on my design wall (which is in a room that doubles as a guest room!). I got the pattern from a blog by AmandaJean called CrazyMomQuilts (http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com/). I'm making this quilt for my niece, who's getting married at the end of May, and who loves red, orange and yellow. I chose this pattern partly because of the name: The Future Looks So Bright. Seemed like the perfect pattern for a wedding quilt!

The quilt is a little bit small now, and I want to add borders to make it larger, and give it a different look. Only I can't decide whether to add more of the white background first, to make the squares look like they are "floating" or just start adding borders to the top as it is.

I couldn't find my camera, so I took this photo with my iPhone. I will try to find my real camera before I post any more photos!