How about letting us know, in the comments, what your questions are.  If you only have one question, that’s okay?

For instance, I wonder how many people do traditional quilting and how many have branched off into mixed media.

What is your favorite quilting pattern?

Do you like to make large bed quilts or smaller wall hangings?

Are you into quilted and patchwork clothing rather than quilts?

Let us know what your questions are!

Image: sxc.hu

Post from: Blisstree

What Are Your Quilting Questions?

I’d like to suggest “Craft Hope” – it’s a small organization that makes sewn projects that are then donated to different groups in need.

Their latest project is a joint project with Margaret’s Hope Chest.  For this project, Craft Hope needs volunteers to make simple quilts, which will then be donated to homeless children.  Margaret’s Hope Chest has made over 100 quilts in the past two years, which have been given to children and adults in need.

They’ve set a high goal this year – which is why they need volunteer quilters and seamstresses to help out.  They would like to make a quilt for every child in the Grand Rapids public school system area of Michigan who will be homeless over Christmas.  It looks like that’s going to be about 200 children, so there are a lot of quilts that need to be made!

For more info, you can check out the current project on Craft Hope’s website.

image: Stock.xchg

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Craft Hope – Quilts for Kids In Need

What shows are you participating in?  Do you have any photos on your blog?

(Image: sxc.hu)

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Photos of the Fiber Divas’ Gallery Exhibit

Image: sxc.hu

This year, their quilts and fiber art will spend some time at a library with a large display area.  So, Beth has been getting ready for several weeks.  Their highlight projects center around six challenge quilts, each designed by each member, then each contributing.

I’m sure Beth will post her finished project soon on her Meandering Threads blog.  However, here are some posts that describe a few of the quilts she made for the challenge.

Some New Pieces for the Fiber Divas Challenge

Anita’s Quilt

Carmen’s Challenge Quilt (This is my favorite of all the quilts Beth made for her quilting divas’ challenges.  It’s awesome!)

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Quilts for a Gallery Showing

Image: sxc.hu

They are passed down through the years.  So we try to discover their stories and learn more about the quilters and their place in our lives.

However, what about the quilts we make?  Won’t they be heirlooms for our children and grandchildren?  These could be:

• Quilts and fabric art you give as gifts
• Those that you show and win prizes for
• Fabric art you simply use around your home
• Quilts you make from fabrics with special meanings
• Those that use fabric from our children’s lives.
• Quilts we make from the fabric and memorabilia of a family member’s life – mother, father, aunts and uncles, grandmother and grandfather

Make sure you record the stories of these quilts, why and how you made them, where the fabric came from.  Is there a special occasion associated with them?  Take photos of the quilts to go along with the stories.

This makes me realize I must do this about the quilts of my ancestors and those I’ve made, as well as daughter and granddaughter.

What heirloom quilts have you made?

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Are You Creating an Heirloom Quilt?

Image: sxc.hu

Soon after the disasters associated with 9-11, many quilters turned to their needlework for solace for themselves and to bring comfort to others.  They also have used quilting, fabric art and mixed media to commemorate family members,  friends, and other heroes of that fateful day.

Here are a couple of sites you may want to check out to learn more about some of this art.

9-11 Memorial Quilts

World Trade Center Quilt 

Post from: Blisstree

9-11 Quilts for Commemoration

This is one Beth did for Anita,  based on Ecclesiastes 3:1,  Read more about it at her Meandering Threads blog.  When you see the piece close up, this panel is even more amazing.  Each lady made a quilt using Anita’s theme.  Then Anita will combine the six to make a larger panel.

(Original design and photo by Beth Allen Mastin)

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Themed Quilt from Ecclesiastes

Kara Mastin quilt; image by Kara

Now Kara is going to college and wants to take GG’s quilt with her.  Many of the ties had come out so it needed re-tying.  As she tied, and then her mom joined her, I thought, “The legacy of quilting goes on in our family.”

Beth, when she was Kara’s age, had helped me tie the original quilt for GG.  Now it had come full circle.  A grown-up Beth was working on the quilt with her daughter.

It’s also something I must write about for my Trails End Quilters blog, where I relate my quilting heritage.

(The quilt above was made by Kara for a project in American Studies.  It’s based on Civil War era patterns with Civil War reproduction fabrics.  Kara also is taking this to college.)

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Tying Great Grandmother’s Quilt

Image: sxc.hu

1. Blazing Star
2. Sunbean Block
3. Feather Edged Star
4. Lone Star
5. Eight-pointed Star
6. Virginia Star
7. North Carolina Star
8. French Star
9. Tennessee Star
10. Le Moyne Star
11. Saw Tooth
12. Rising Star
13. Lone Star

Of course, there are many more variations of eight-pointed stars.  What have you made utilizing these designs?  They also can be incorporated into other types of art and crafts.

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Thursday 13 – Eight-Pointed Stars

Image: sxc.hu

• Star of Bethlehem
• Rising Star
• Lone Star (one variation)
• Double Star
• Texas Star

Some of these also are made as eight-pointed stars.  Or, at least there were some with eight points bearing the same name as these six-pointed ones. 

Misty, perhaps if you searched the Internet and quilt books for these names, you would find one that resembled yours, unless the quiltmaker created her own design.

I’d be interested in learning what you find out.

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Six-Pointed Star Quilt Patterns