VIDEO: Sandwich Quilt

I discovered this video, part of a series from Expert Village, that discusses using washable spray glue as part of sandwiching a quilt in preparation for machine quilting.

 

Quilt Read: Heart for a Hero by Ed Ditto and Laura D Patrick

The Genea-Quilters went on a field trip during the FGS 2010 conference to a quilt store, Mammaw's Thimble Fabric and Quilt Shop and while there my friend Madaleine Laird picked up a book for me. Heart for a Hero by Ed Ditto and Laura D Patrick combines family history, quilting and life as a mother all into one story that ends with a Korean veteran getting the acknowledgment he deserves.

First let me say that I enjoyed this book very much.  I typically don't read a lot of fiction but this story speaks to the all too often problem of our veterans not getting the credit they deserve.  I don't want to give to much away about the book but this is the story of PJ Hathaway and her life as a mom to two small kids and her talent for quilting. Her life is given a jolt of mystery when a package addressed to her grandmother, who has been dead for years, arrives in the mail.  The book is about PJ, her hubsand Ross and her friends discovering who the sender of the package is and why he was important to her grandmother.  But it is also the story of two veterans and their sacrifices during the Korean war that included stays in POW camps.  There is some family history in the book, but once again I don't want to give away the story too much.

This is a difficult book to read, emotionally.  There are descriptions of POW camp life, while not as graphic as it could be it's still hard to read of the experience of these fictional soldiers, that I'm sure must mirror real soldiers. The main character, PJ is experiencing a hard time in her life prior to the arrival of the package. Her difficulties increase as the story goes on. However, her quilting talent allows her to insure that one soldier is given the credit he deserves.  Her solution is one that might be something other quilters may want to consider for a favorite cause.

This is a book that I didn't want to put down. I would have liked to have read it in 1 day but ended up taking 2 days, since I had to feed my own children ;).

Heart for a Hero is available through Amazon. This book is published by American Quilter's Society (AQS) Publishing. It is also available from AQS.

VIDEO: 1 Jelly Roll and 1 Layer Cake

You'll love this short but very sweet video video from the folks at The Missouri Star Quilt Company, www.missouriquiltco.com. 

They are using one Jelly Roll and one Layer Cake to come up with this darling quilt.

VIDEO: Honey Buns versus Jelly Rolls

You'll love this HONEY BUNS video from the folks at The Missouri Quilt Company.

Even Eleanor Burns has sewing room issues

So you think you've got troubles? One of our favorite  quilting gurus, Eleanor Burns shares views of her sewing room, and what she'd like to do to fix things up! She debuts this awesome make-over.





I just wish I had those folks to help me clean out my sewing room. Can you believe that remote-controlled riser to change her cutting table to a sewing table? Very, very kewl.

Fabric Shack in Waynsville, Ohio

Twice we've left Cincinnati without stopping, but this past week, I couldn't resist taking a side road through the country to visit the FABRIC SHACK in Waynesville, Ohio. My sister-in-law took me the first time, and I fell in love -- who wouldn't with the plethora of design books and bolt after bolt of delicious fabrics?

So we stopped -- and I had a blast. Fortunately Gordon is the patient sort (but then I do go to all his woodworking trade shows, showing equal enthusiasm!) Gordon has been known to scour a fabric shop looking for just the right shade of green to go with some Christmas fabric I'd picked out, but I digress.

As I was waiting in line to have my fabric cut, the employee explained that most of their fabric isn't in the store. Much more is available online. So I could hardly wait to get back to the keyboard once we returned to our home in Alexandria, Virginia, to see what's up at the Fabric Shack website.


Their new blog is called QUILT KARMA and its got some interesting postings, though it's only been around since June. They are probably better quilters than they are bloggers, if the number of entries is any criteria for judging. I really like the "curvy" nature of the squares in the Twilight Quilt below, but it could be that this quilt merely strikes a cord since it boasts my favorite color combination of blues and light greens.

Twilight Quilt from the Quilt Karma blog.

Once you've placed things in your shopping cart, you can use the "design wall" to determine your final choices. It seems the better websites offer this option for determining which mix and match options are most pleasing for your project.

I picked up one of those Gypsy Quilter The Gypsy Cutting Gizmo thinking that it will be a time saver. I do a lot of piecing in long stretches, without cutting the thread between pieces. The weight of the gizmo should suffice, and save me the "drudgery" of picking up my seam ripper after every long stretch. Its a silly thing, but I think it may just do the trick.








Fabric Shack99 South Marvin Lake
Waynesville, Ohio 45068

 info@fabricshack.com

www.FabricShack.com

LostQuilt.com

As genealogists, we have DeadFred.com for reuniting lost photos with family members. LostQuilt.com strives to reunite quilts with their owners.

This problem comes up more than you'd think -- and most instances have to do with items lost by the mail or package service.

Facebook friend and Genea-Quilter Heather Wilkinson Rojo reported that Sue Reich lost 5 of her World War II quilts. The quilts were stolen in transit (Fedex) as they were being returned from a quilt show; the empty box was found in New Jersey. 4 of the quilts are shown in her new book World War II Quilts. 

So spread the word about  LostQuilt.com and do what we can to preserve the rightful heritage of our fellow quilters' work.