THREE NEW QUILTS

Here is our booth from the Nashville Show. We thought you would enjoy seeing a glimpse of John's three new quilts which have been in the Museum of the American Quilter's Society all summer. Better pictures will show up on the website in the Gallery soon.

The quilt in the far left corner is called "5 Point Star" and is a variation of John's Feathered Sun design, pieced with the fabric he designed for Benartex a few years ago. The quilt in the middle is called "Super Nova" and is a variation of the Wheel of Mystery. Templates for a version of this pattern will be available in a few months. The quilt on the right is called "Secret Storm" and is pieced from sateen. The block is a 20" Storm at Sea with the cutting orientation changed within each block so the weave catches the light differently as you move by the quilt.

All three quilts were quilted on the Multi-Frame and pieced and quilted during the period from January 2007 to mid-April 2007. Which one is your favorite?

Special Delivery - One Horse

We are back from the AQS show in Nashville. "Crazy Horse", the life size lavishly embellished quarter horse finished up his southern visit at the Nashville show. (He had first visited the AQS Show in Paducah in April 2007 and then spent the summer at the Museum of the American Quilter in Paducah).

He was reboxed and John and Brooke hauled him cross country back to his home at the Miles City Community College Library and still made it home for supper.

The horse project has given us a lot of pleasure and gets lots of comments and compliments. It was a great fundraiser for our local railroad Depot restoration and we learned a lot about Native American and Montana history from the undertaking. But, so glad he is back at home safe and sound. Yipee!

Beartooth Views

John's first column for Quilters' Newsletter is just out, maybe in your mailbox, or maybe on the newstand. He calls it Beartooth Views. Non-quilters and quilters, too, wonder how John got involved in the quilting world; it is an interesting enough story and he does have his own way of looking at quilting.

Here is the Bear's Tooth, a rock formation that the whole Beartooth Mountain Range (and John's column) is named for. Eons ago, a really thorough glacier must have carved everything away but this one sharp tooth. This picture was taken in late July, and you can see how the haze from forest fires affects our view some days. We won't talk about the forest fires - our state is really suffering from them right now.

New Piece of Quilt History

I just finished a book by Sheila Allan "Diary of a Girl in Changi". Seventeen year old Australian Sheila, her step mother and father were captured by the Japanese when Singapore surrendered early in World War II. Sheila determined from the start that she would keep a diary and hide it so it wouldn't be confiscated.

Also from the start, the older women, mostly British, and the Red Cross were determined to keep spirits up and alleviate as much boredom as possible. There were plays and concerts and even a "circus" with elaborate costumes. An enduring part of these projects is a series of three quilts, the Changi Quilts, stitched by the women on recycled rice bags. The quilts were given to the Red Cross for the wounded Australian, British and Japanese soldiers. Changi Quilts

I won't spoil the book for you just in case you want to read it. I knew nothing about the Japanese imprisoning civilians during WWII and, especially, I knew nothing of these quilts. Here are prime examples of how much emotion goes into the making of a quilt!

Oh, and we had clear skies for the meteor showers: wow, wow, wow!

For the Silent Auction

John, Kate and I are all making little quilts for the 2007 Silent Auction to benefit the International Quilt Association. John is also a Board Member and has been working with the makers of the annual Raffle Quilt.

Well, these quilts are not so grand as the Raffle Quilt, but may raise a little money for IQA, which puts on the annual Quilt Show at Quilt Festival in Houston, Texas. A lot of work for all those volunteers. John's Wheel of Mystery quilt has 3" blocks. My Attic Windows has 2 1/2" blocks. Kate is working at home on a Storm at Sea.

Tomorrow is our son's 30th birthday. Time flys and he is a great son. He reminded me today about the meteor shower this weekend; how is that for knowing your Mom!

Festival of Nations

We spent a nice summer weekend in Red Lodge; last weekend was the 57th Annual Festival of Nations in this little old mining town. Primarily a tourist town now, Red Lodge had miners from all over the world working at coal mines in the early part of the 20th century. Every light pole in town is decorated with five or six flags, it is quite a sight! Red Lodge Main Street

We enjoyed the Nordic Dancers, the Celtic Dancers, the Scandinavian food, Red Lodge Ale, the Zydeco band and all the little kids who wanted to dance, dance, dance! There was a quilt show in the Art Depot, right next door and we always enjoy a quilt show!

Brooke got some sewing done; I'll put up pictures of our little quilts for this fall's IQA Raffle tomorrow. I have to go get batteries for the digital camera today.