Crafty1's Corner: The Quilt Show Newsletter

April 7, 2009

http://www.thequiltshow.com

Volume 3, No. 14

April BOM: Border Stars and Sawtooth Stars
This month--and for the next five months--you'll be making four different border stars, along with eight more sawtooth stars for the Block of the Month quilt. You won't be adding these border stars to your quilt center until you have completed them all. Take care with your stitching; accuracy now makes the work much easier later on!

To learn more about the Stars for a New Day Block of the Month quilt and designer Sue Garman, click here. Watch the corresponding instructional video by clicking here.

Nebraska Winds of Summer by Ginny Landkamer

View American Folklife Center Quilts Online

The latest quilts to be posted online at the Quilt Index come from two important collections archived at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. Made in the late 20th century, these 300-plus quilts represent a broad range of techniques and tell a powerful story about the diversity and artistry of quiltmaking in America.

The Center, which documents a wide variety of folklife traditions, including traditional music, crafts, and food, boasts more than 4,000 collections. The just-posted quilts come from two collections. The Blue Ridge Parkway Folklife Project Collection from 1978 covers quilts made by six Appalachian quiltmakers from North Carolina and Virginia. This collection includes 229 photographs and 181 interviews with the six quiltmakers, delving into detail about their daily lives.

The two stunning quilts shown here are from the second collection, consisting of 180 winning quilts from the All-American Quilt Contest (1992-1996), sponsored by Land's End and Good Housekeeping. Shown above is "Nebraska Winds of Summer" by Ginny Landkamer and shown below is "Desert Storm" by Eileen Clarke. The feathered star was made after Clarke's son was deployed to Iraq for the Gulf War. She says the more worried she got, the smaller her stitches, and adds, "I would have gone mad had I not had my quilting to keep me straight." You can read about the Center's quilt collections and view all the quilts online here.

The nonprofit Quilt Index is run in partnership by the Alliance for American Quilts, Michigan State University Museum, and MATRIX: Center for Humane Arts, Letters and Social Sciences Online at MSU. For more information, click here. It's especially fitting that the Folklife Center quilts are displayed permanently on the Index; the Center shares close ties to the Quilt Index and the Alliance. All the interviews for another Alliance project, Quilters' S.O.S. (Save Our Stories), are archived at the Folklife Center.

Desert Storm by Eileen Clarke

The Use of Needlecrafts in Occupational Therapy
by Stephanie Bergmann, OTR

The practice of occupational therapy began around the Age of Enlightenment (18th century) with the treatment of mentally ill patients. Designating an individual to engage patients in purposeful activities enabled these patients once again to become useful members of society. From the Revolutionary War to the present wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, occupational therapists have been rehabilitating wounded individuals toward becoming independent in their everday lives through motivational, patient-specific activities, such as woodworking, working with machinery, and needlecrafts.

Needlecrafts not only have been used to engage a patient in performing difficult tasks, but also to determine a patient's ability to function in everyday life. Claudie Allen, who has worked extensively with the mentally ill, developed a test using three sewing stitches on a square of leather: the running stitch, the whipstitch, and the cordovan stitch. This "sewing" test helps determine a patient's ability to adapt to changes, perform simple tasks independently, problem solve, and self correct. While perhaps not obvious to most, these tasks directly relate to a person's daily life. For example, if a patient is not able to maintain the flow of a running stitch or remember the sequence of the stitching steps, then he/she will probably not be successful in making a simple meal or dressing for inclement weather without assistance. Read more on our Articles page here.

Tip of the Week: Don't Forget the Color Key
Are you lacking in color confidence? Are you planning to use a multicolored print as the focus fabric for your next project? Save yourself stress in the fabric store by using this hint from TQS member Yvonne Jenkins (Yjenn). Snip the color key (row of colorful dots shown above) from the selvage edge of your focus fabric. It's easier than carrying a swatch (or swatches), and fits easily in a wallet or purse. The colors are "pure," so finding matching or contrasting fabrics is a snap.

It's Cool to be a Wallflower
It's not often that we would suggest you become a wallflower, but when you have Elsie Campbell's Wall Flower pattern and ruler to assist, your quilt will definitely get noticed. Elsie has removed the guesswork from this complex-looking design. To find this and other outstanding crowd-pleasing patterns, visit the Shoppe here.

This newsletter is generated and sent to all registered members of The Quilt Show, and only to registered members of The Quilt Show. This and all previous newsletters are accessible on the Newsletter link at www.thequiltshow.com.

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