This post doesn’t have a single picture in it. Nothing beautifully staged to satisfy the need for eye candy, no pithy social commentary, no delightful vignette, nothing to offer immediate gratification so that you maybe will stay a while to read the story I am about to tell. That’s how it should be, really, for this, […]
Modern Quilts, Traditional Shows: My Interview with Scott Murkin, Part 2
This is Part 2 of my interview with Scott Murkin. In Part 1, Scott talked about his own background as a quilter and Certified Judge by the National Quilting Association, and the judging process for shows. The rest of his interview is below, and touches on modern quilts in traditional shows: Now that the categories have […]
Modern Quilts, Traditional Shows: My Interview with Scott Murkin part 1
Over the last few years, modern quilts have been seen in categories at MQX, AQS, Road to California, and have a dedicated show, QuiltCon. With its second show kicking off in a week, and an announcement that it will become a yearly event at different locations, it seemed to me as though modern quilts were finding their place. […]
Vision Board 2015: Giving Myself Permission
Carrie told me in a comment on my Vision Board post that over the course of the year, my board would reveal more of itself, and possibly change meaning as I moved though. I thought I’d keep track of those changes and go ahead and share them, since I had already shared my board. One of the […]
Why Quilts Matter will be at QuiltCon!
The more I learn about my craft, the more it becomes obvious to me that knowing quilt history is crucial. In addition to the story the maker has when they put it together the first time, I also believe every quilt has a life and story of their own once they are “released into the wild”. […]
What is (and isn’t) Modern Quilting, to ME
Quilts are done for the book, first draft of the manuscript has been turned in, and the revision process is just getting kicked off. I have a few more minutes in the day, though, to think about other things, and this topic has been on my mind a lot, since people are still talking about […]
Memories of the World Cup, 2001
In 2001, I spent the summer studying ceramics at the American Academy in Rome (specifically, I was studying Terra Sigillata from a site located on the Palatine Hill). On occasion, the group of fellow analysts would take weekend trips to places, to see the ancient sites and collect information for future lectures and classes we […]
Today’s ancient art work of note
Since my last post, I’ve been thinking about the ancient works that always come to mind as my favorites. One of the things that archaeology can help us with where many ancient texts cannot is to shed light on parts of the population that are not visible in the written record; in particular, this is […]
A love of textiles, that’s what I gots! And some random thoughts.
I was thinking today about some of the most amazing show quilts I have seen lately: how dense, how beautiful, how awe inspiring, and how perfectly… flat. I know flatness is a key component for judging, and shows a finesse, a degree of technical skill that makes it look 2D, like a painting, rather than […]
Quilting and Family–Great Gramma’s Quilts (episode 1) and a free pattern
I got into quilting about 12 years ago, now, after a week-long visit with my grandparents in California, hearing Grampa Leins (my dad’s dad) talk about his love of beautiful fabric and men’s clothing from the 40s (and hearing about the family quilt made of men’s wool suits that we still have–that sucker weighs 90 […]
