Please join me in welcoming a Guest Blogger to the Quilting Gallery. Find out how you can be a Guest Blogger.
Thanks Michele for allowing me to share my love of quilts especially antique quilts and quilt history. If this sounds like a dry topic — think again.
Did you know that at one time it was illegal to export the red dye insect and fabric printing methods and illegal to import Indian chintz fabrics?
Who knew that Germany had to turn over secret fabric dyeing recipes as part of the resolution of World War I.
The history of fabric, dyes and quilting is full of life and death intrigue and what better way to learn than by looking at beautiful quilts?
I’ve been quilting for about 11 years and have had a needle in my hand most of my life. As soon as I started quilting it began to take over my life but when I was introduced to quilt history and appraising I became totally obsessed. In 2005 I was fortunate to attend the American Quilter’s Society (AQS) Appraiser training taught by Bobbie Aug and Gerald Roy and I haven’t looked back since.
I became an AQS certified quilt appraiser in 2008, one of the first two in Utah (quite an honor as there are only about 90 in the entire United States). What a dream job – people pay me to look at their quilts and share information with them. It is especially gratifying to help people learn more about their family through antique quilts.
I’m willing to travel anywhere and everywhere to appraise quilts and share my antique and vintage quilts. I’m an avid quilt collector and present trunk shows/classes on quilt history and fabric dating; it helps justify my collecting addiction. My trunk show, Textile Time Travels, takes you through over 200 hundreds years of history with more than 30 quilts. To learn more about my antique quilts, see my blog.
In addition, I make quilts in many styles by both hand and machine. I also reproduce antique quilts from my own collection. I feel a bond with earlier quilters by remaking their quilts. I also teach quilting and have patterns available for several of my quilts and classes.
Challenges are a particular stimulus and I’ve had quilts in several traveling exhibits such as the Hoffman Challenge. I’m a competitive quilter and love to enter both local and national shows. A recent highlight was having a quilt shown in Quilter’s Newsletter Magazine. I enjoy working in small scale and one of my favorite subjects is the world famous landscape around my home of Moab, Utah.
You can see more on my art quilt blog.
I’m very lucky to come from a family of quilters. My maternal great grandmother made quilts out of necessity but she did so with style and creative flair. That is her purple Rocky Road to Kansas quilt shown above being held by AQS appraisers Aug and Roy. My mother and sister are both award winning quilters in their own right and very supportive as is my father who often lends us a critical eye when we are designing quilts. My sister’s award winning Hoffman Challenge quilt is on my art quilt blog.
Pattern Give Away
I will select two lucky readers who leave a comment here to receive one of my quilt patterns. Please leave a comment here by March 31, 2009.
Sandra Starley
http://utahquiltappraiser.blogspot.com/
http://starleyquilts.blogspot.com/
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