QuiltingAndPatchwork.com
What would you do if you won a $100,000 Quilting Challenge Magazine contest?  Renowned quilter, Sharon Schamber, of Payson, AZ, has done just that with her quilt, “Scarlet Serenade.”
For the complete story about Sharon and her magnificent quilts, check out Quilting artist is tops in U.S.  by Carol LaValley, in The Payson Roundup.  Quilters who have heard about Sharon (and those who haven’t), will be intrigued by her quilting story.
(c)2008 Mary Emma Allen 

                          Josh Johnson’s post, Button, Button, Who’s Got the Button?, at Junk Creation, got me thinking about button storage over the years.  Josh shows a picture of the jar his wife uses for her buttons. Quilters have long been collectors of buttons, left over from times ago when every button was precious and useful for replacing lost ones on clothing.  However, in more recent years, decorating quilts and fabric art with buttons has reached new heights.
So….where do you store your buttons?
My mom used a jar, as Josh’s wife does.  I have my button jar (formerly a peanut buttr jar) as well as …read more

“Fabrics are a great source of inspiration,” mentions Lyn Briggs at her blog, Moore Patchwork & Quilting.  (Scroll down to the section labeled “Inspiration.”)
This got me thinking of the ways quilters and fabric artists enjoy fabrics and create lovely works of art from them.  Quilters can’t resist buying fabrics.  They collect colorful stashes, and find many ways to use them.
*Fabrics brighten our lives…like a ray of sunshine peeping through clouds.
*They bring back memories…like the feed sack fabrics reminiscent of those my grandmother used in quilts she made for her grandchildren.
*We share them and exchange them with quilting friends.
*Creating wearable art is …read more

          I discovered The Quilt of Life at Christian Crafter and have put it on my “must read” list.  This book, a patchwork of devotional thoughts, was written by by Mary Tatum .  Kristen, host at Christian Crafter, has quoted from this book, and Mary Tatum’s thoughts about quilting reflect the linking of the generations this craft can provide.
A quilt bridges the generation gap by connecting people from the past with people yet to come.  Perhaps that longing to participate in the future gives quilting its strong appeal. 
(Check out Kristen’s blog to learn more about Mary Tatum’s book and the …read more

Do you need something light and fun and cheerful for your day?  It doesn’t have anything to do with quilting or fabric art, except that it might inspire you in designing.  However, sometimes we need something to give us an uplift and inspiration.
When I read Jennifer’s post, 32 Little Green Babies,  at Tree Hugging Family,  a new b5media blog, I thought I simply must share it.  Then I shared, in the comments section, about my family rescuing baby ducklings.  (That might make a duckling inspired wall hanging!)
                                    ENJOY!

Quilter Jane Burch Cochran utilizes multitudes of beads and buttons for her extraordinary and eye-catching works of fabric art.  Combining her training as a painter with love of fabric, along with beads and buttons and other embellishments, she creates spectacular pieces like “Crossing to Freedom” which hangs in the Group Entrance of the Freedom Center in Cincinnati, Ohio. 
“Her process is mind-boggline and free-flowing,” says staff writer Marilyn Bauer at Cincinnati.com.
(There’s also a photo of this fantastic quilt with Ms. Bauer’s article.)
You now may find ideas for using an accumulation of beads and buttoms you may have cached away!

In my recent explorations
 I discovered fascinating wall art with the artist using some of her grandmother’s vintage fabrics at How about orange…..  The framed hangings of vintage fabric flower petals are bold and colorful and created without stitching. 
Graphic designer, Jessica Jones also provides a tutorial for the hangings and book marks, actually relatively simple to create, yet stunning.  Her fabrics also took me back to the years when I sat beside my grandmother and stitched quilts.  (Does that make me vintage?!!)

 As we work with color for our quilting and fabric art projects, we may find ourselves selecting the same or similar color combinations over and over.  Why does this happen?
When I was making quilts to sell, left to my own choices, I usually selected colors I liked, which, when you learn about color schemes, were the “cool” colors, those with pink or blue undertones.  These are the colors that look best on me, so I usually surround myself with them.
                            However, when I made quilts on commission, often my customers chose colors I never would in the “warm” color range, …read more

The upcoming issue of Quilting Arts Magazine mentions working on your quilting and fabric arts projects by doing your designing from the items around you.  If you don’t have the inspiration or inclination to make the actual projects this summer, you can sketch, take photos, gather objects, and receive inspiration that you’ll later use in the creative process.
My daughter Beth does this all the time.  From her collections and photos, she receives inspiration for her art work.  Recently on a vacation to Cape Cod, she took numerous photos that soon will find their way into her fabric art and quilting.
Here is one, …read more

           I hadn’t realized tea towels (sometimes called dish towels) were so popular among collectors, quilters, and fabric artists until I read a mystery novel where the heroine visited a shop run by an acquaintance.  She marveled at the collection of tea towels displayed there…many of them imported from other countries.
I’d always thought of tea/dish towels as something we used in the kitchen for drying dishes and cutlery.  Yes, these often were attractive and might have been souvenir towels from places where a relative or we traveled.  But they generally were serviceable items.
So I became curious to learn more.  …read more