Please join me in welcoming guest blogger Margery Newman as she shares with us the new Milwaukee Art Museum and quilts from the "American Quilts: Selections from the Winterthur Collection" exhibit. Thanks Margery for sharing this fabulous exhbit with us.

I had the great pleasure of leaving my home in what some people this summer are calling the Baked Apple (NYC) for a day, and heading out to Milwaukee where I visited the Milwaukee Art Museum and the exhibition "American Quilts: Selections from the Winterthur Collection". The show is on until September 6.

I was excited to see selections from one of the finest collections of early American quilts when my car pulled up to the Museum and I beheld the jaw-dropping futuristic architecture.

And inside, the museum was just as stunning! That’s Lake Michigan you see out the window.

In the Museum lobby, the signage for the exhibition shows a detail of an appliqué counterpane quilt by an unknown maker from around 1800-1825. It’s influenced by Indian palampores (a type of hand-painted and mordant-dyed bed cover made for export) and features birds and a butterfly cut from fabrics printed by John Hewson, a Philadelphia calico printer who learned his trade in London.

Here’s the quilt in its full vibrant glory depicting a tree in flower with curling branches and heart-shaped leaves. It’s so unique and feels to me like the tree of life. (Photo credit: Maker unknown, Appliqué counterpane, 1800–25. Cotton, 100 x 92 in. Courtesy, Winterthur, Museum purchase with funds provided by Mr. Samuel Pettit in memory of his wife, Sally Pettit)

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Please join me in welcoming guest blogger Sandy Hasenauer as she shares her quilting journey with us. Thanks Sandy for being a guest here at the Quilting Gallery.

"Hey, I’m Sandy, and I’m a quilter."

That’s how I start each episode of my podcast. It might sound like it’s just a flip way of introducing myself, but the reality is that it’s quite a statement for me—it took me awhile to feel comfortable calling myself a "quilter." For many years, I would just say, "I play around with quilting," or "I’ve done some quilting." But I hesitated to actually label myself a "quilter." There was something about that title that I didn’t think I had earned yet.

My mother taught me how to quilt. She had sewn clothes forever—I still have vivid memories of a spiffy red and blue plaid bell-bottom pantsuit she made me in third grade that I absolutely adored. Soon after that, though, I realized it wasn’t cool to wear homemade clothes and, as I was the youngest and probably the last of her children to come to that profound understanding, she turned from clothes-making to quilting. Most of my memories of Mom from that point forward involve sewing machines, lap hoops, and finding needles in couches the hard way. It took me years after I lived at home to get out of the habit of quickly running my hand over the seat of a couch or armchair before I sat down.

Mom quilting - circa late 1970s, I think

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Please join me in welcoming guest blogger Angela Magnan as she shares her quilting journey with us. Plus, check below for a "HOT" give-away from Angela. Angela doesn’t have a blog yet, but you can email her. Thanks Angela for being a guest here at the Quilting Gallery.

Greetings from Maryland,

Thank you so much for allowing me to guest blog. My name is Angela Magnan, I’m 31, and I’ve been quilting for about ten years. I started the hobby shortly after my mother did. She began quilting after being inspired by her mother-in-law, my grandmother, who everyone knew as Memere. My mother and Memere had long-shared a passion for buying and selling antiques, setting up at the same antique shows, and going to auctions together. When Memere starting making a Joann Block of the Month quilt, my mother was inspired by the fact that she wouldn’t have to cut any pieces. It was only a matter of time before my mother would overcome her fear of cutting and catch the quilting bug for good. And then she gave the bug to me!

Each of the three of us developed our own style. Memere was a pattern quilter and always quilted by hand. My mother also usually follows a pattern, prefers piecing and rarely does appliqué, and sometimes quilts by hand and sometimes by machine. She occasionally steps outside of her comfort zone and chooses fabrics or patterns that are a bit funkier than her normally conservative self.

I have my own style. I studied biochemistry as an undergraduate and was drawn to the mathematical and logistical side of quilting. More recently, I completed a Master’s degree in nonfiction writing, so naturally I am drawn to story quilts. A few years ago, I modified a pattern to design a quilt based on my trip to Rocky Mountain National Park (for which I’m still deciding on fabrics), and currently I am designing a quilt based on my ten day writing conference in Bar Harbor, Maine (for which I have the fabrics, but am undecided on the layout).

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Please join me in welcoming guest blogger Jan Donley as she walks us through her method for machine appliqué. Thanks Jan for being a guest here at the Quilting Gallery.

I love appliqué quilts but I do not enjoy doing needle turn appliqué so I set out to learn how to appliqué by preparing the appliqué shapes before putting them onto my background fabric. I found using freezer paper and a glue stick a simple and fast way to accomplish my goal. I have used this method for both machine and hand appliqué with equally acceptable results, but this little explanation will be for machine appliqué.

Supplies needed to do this type of appliqué: Freezer paper, pencil, water soluble glue stick, paper scissors, fabric scissors, background fabric, fabric for the appliqué pieces, thread to match the appliqué, neutral thread for the bobbin and other basic sewing supplies.

Sewing machine requirements: Your sewing machine must have a zig zag stitch, and the stitch should have various widths. An open toe appliqué foot is also very helpful. Different models of machines have different capabilities, this explanation gives general guidelines, and you might need to consult your machine dealer or local quilt shop for more information.

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Thank you for this opportunity to post about our Charity Quilt site "Sharing Quilts". Giving a quilt to someone "just because" or in a time-of-need is so amazing. So, we feel this "Sharing Quilts" is perfect for the quilting community to come together and do just that! Share a quilt! We also know you share from your heart! Sharing a quilt means you have giving your time, talents, and money to create something for someone that will last for years. This act is very selfless and appreciated for years! Thank you, in advance, for Sharing Quilts with others; family, friends, or people you may not know. ~ Jackie Davis

Describe your organization or group.

"Sharing Quilts" will be running campaigns for charity quilts when they are needed as well as post other quilter’s campaigns to get the word out to collect charity quilts. Sharing Quilts with anyone, anywhere for any reason. Join us!

Did any one person or event inspire the creation of the charity quilt group/organization?

This has been on my heart since I started quilting with a group of women in 2006 for baby dedication quilts for a church plant in Guatemala. The locals who receive them are so appreciative for this ‘new’ item that was also made with love. Then, Tropical Storm Agatha hit Guatemala May 29, 2010, and I had more reasons to finally do this, and not wait.

Geographic location of your organization or group.

For our personally hosted campaigns, quilts will be collected from world-wide to my home base in Florida, USA. I am currently a missionary in Guatemala. Quilts will be delivered personally, preferably, unless otherwise noted.

If applicable, how many charity quilts have been donated?

"Sharing Quilts with Agatha Victims in Guatemala" is our first hosted and advertised campaign. We would appreciate as many quilts as possible. We do not have numbers right now.

Are there any special yearly events, such as a quilt-a-thon?

We might host annual events in the future, but for now there will be campaigns based on need.

How can one volunteer, donate, or get involved?

Send an email to sharingquilts@yahoo.com – Get the information in a reply – Make the quilt or quilt top – Send the quilt or quilt top – Smile and know that someone is very blessed with you sharing your love through a quilt.

More Specifically, our first campaign details are on this page/post, hurry deadline July 1, 2010:

Web site address?

http://sharingquilts.blogspot.com/

Other contact information

sharingquilts@yahoo.com
904-685-1635 phone

Bless you all in advance for helping.

Here is her message. For more information, e-mail her at meg@megcox.com.

My first book, “The Heart of a Family: Searching America for New Traditions That Fulfill Us,” was published in 1998 by Random House. It sold 15,000 copies in hardcover, is out of print, and never had a paperback edition. I’m planning to rectify that now, using a service called Back in Print available to members of the Authors Guild. As the author, I get to choose the cover art I want to use.

I’ve decided that a quilt with a heart or hearts on it, or a close-up of quilting in that shape, would be a perfect cover for the paperback edition of The Heart of a Family. I can only pay a modest amount and two free copies of the book, but my rights would only be for this book and the promotion of this book. All other rights would remain with the maker of the quilt, who might enjoy having her quilt used as cover art.

As a quilter (and author of The Quilter’s Catalog), I could make something myself, and it may come to that. But my quilts are pretty humble and I thought it would save time if I could find something already made: I’m not asking people to create something from scratch now, for my book.

Feel free to look up the hardcover of The Heart of a Family on Amazon.com: the cover illustration on the hardcover was by Danielle Mailer (daughter of Norman). I always loved that because it evoked emotion but was not sentimental. My book is a well-researched, nuanced look at contemporary family rituals.