Sisterhood of the Traveling Quilt - NE Row Begins!

Nancy from AnotherGhostQuilts has started off the NE Row in beautiful style.

Nancy is shown here with Skippy the corgi who just celebrated his 3rd birthday. (They had brownie pie and Skippy got to taste the frosting.) Lily the long-haired dachshund is the Queen of the roost. Nancy said she would have liked to include her hubby Jim in the photo, but someone had to take the picture!

Nancy and Jim (and crew) live in the Belgrade Lakes region of Maine, just a few miles northwest of the state's capital city, Augusta. While the current population is estimated to be about 4,000 year-round citizens, that number nearly doubles when non-residents arrive to spend the summer months at their cottages.

Belgrade covers about 60 square miles, with a large part of this area composed of lakes, streams and wetlands. Its five lakes and their inlet/outlet streams offer several species of fish for those who enjoy fishing, plenty of water surface for boaters, and excellent opportunities for those people interested in bird watching.

The area was an annual summertime destination for the writers E.B. White and Ernest Thompson. The latter's sojourns at Great Pond (one of the Belgrade lakes) inspired his 1979 play On Golden Pond, which was made into the Academy Award–winning 1981 movie, On Golden Pond.

If you've wondered about the meaning of Nancy's shop name, her motto is "Hauntingly Beautiful Handmade Quilts". Nancy said, "The world moves a little too fast for me. Crafting quilts by hand is my panacea." She loves the smallness and tedium of patchwork and hand quilting, the patience it both teaches and requires, the opportunity to feed her compulsion to work with color and hoard her favorite fabrics, the chance to combine beauty and functionality into something as elemental as a quilt in all its warmth and comfort.

Nancy has been quilting for over 20 years. Each of her quilts is one-of-a-kind. Her care, attention to detail and stop-to-smell-the-roses attitude shows in each of her offerings. Be sure and check them out.

Sisterhood of the Traveling Quilt - Tejas Block 2

Since Austin is only about 90 minutes' drive up the highway from San Antonio, it doesn't surprise me that block #2 of the Tejas row has checked in.

Barbara of MurphysHouse has added her block to the row.

Residents of Austin are known as "Austinites," and include a diverse mix of university professors, students, politicians, lobbyists, musicians, state employees, high-tech workers, blue-collar workers, and white-collar workers. The main campus of the University of Texas is located in Austin. The city is home to enough large sites of major technology corporations to have earned it the nickname "Silicon Hills." Austin's official slogan promotes the city as "The Live Music Capital of the World", a reference to its status as home to many musicians and music venues. In recent years, many Austinites have also adopted the unofficial slogan "Keep Austin Weird"; this refers partly to the eclectic and progressive lifestyle of many Austin residents, but is also the slogan for a campaign to preserve smaller local businesses and resist excessive commercialization.

Something you might not know about Austin: The world’s largest urban bat colony resides on Austin’s Congress Avenue Bridge in the summer. By largest, we’re talkin’ 1.5 million bats. The Mexican Free-tailed bats migrate from Mexico every spring and bat watching is a popular Austin warm weather pass-time. People gather to watch the entire colony fly out at sunset.

Barbara has been sewing over 50 years. In 1976 she and her sister took a fateful class in quilting, and Barbara's been perfecting her craft ever since. While she gains much satisfaction from hand quilting, most of her quilts now are machine quilted.

I know you've been wondering about the namesake of Barbara's shop. Murphy is Barbara's 5 year old Cairn Terrier. The pair of them can often be found participating in Barbara's other passion out on the Jimmy Clay Golf Course in Austin. In fact, Barbara assured me that is where we would have seen the Sisterhood row had she taken it with her. Texas has over 800 golf courses, and Austin is consistently ranked as top golfing destination, so Barbara pretty much lives in a wonderful place to practice her passions!

Sisterhood of the Traveling Quilt - Tejas Row Begins!

One row in our Sisterhood of the Traveling Quilt will come from a single state. With over 25 million residents, it stands to reason that our Quiltsy Team population also reflects many members from the Lone Star State.

The name Texas comes from the Spanish translation (Tejas) of a native Caddo Indian word that means "friends" -- therefore Texas is "the Friendly State."

It was not coincidence that Ann of QuiltingFrenzy begins our row with her beautiful block. She hails from San Antonio, a place that figures prominently in the early history of Texas. It is also where I was born and since Ann and my mother share the same name (first AND last names), it just all adds up to Ann starting out our Texas travelog.

Ann wanted very much to photograph her block in front of that most hallowed symbol of our state, the Alamo. Unfortunately she pulled her back out and was unable to get over for the photo shoot. We'll just have to pretend! :)

This Spring marks the

175th anniversary of Texas independence and many of San Antonio's special events will center around the famous Battle of the Alamo. Click here to learn more about them.

Ann has been sewing for over 30 years and quilting for nearly 20. She likes to let the fabric speak to her to guide toward the finished products. Recently Ann has been making a lot of custom quilts, including photo memory and memory quilts made from clothing.

Ann has pieced quilt tops for quilting icon Eleanor Burns of "Quilt in a Day" fame -- one of which was used in her Victory Quilts trunk show. Ann also tested a new quilt pattern by piecing a quilt top that was quilted by Judy Jackson and featured on page 52 of her "Lover's Knot" book.

Having had the privilege of participating in a holiday show with Ann, I can attest that she is a very accomplished and prolific quilter. Do check out Ann's shop Quilting Frenzy, and stay tuned for the next installment as the Tejas Row travels up I-35 to our lovely capital.

Sisterhood of the Traveling Quilt - SW Row so far...

The gals in the SW Row have been busy working on their blocks!

The first block, made by Dede of PeppersAttic has already been received and added to by Gail of QuiltSewPieceful. Cindy of cindyrquilts has completed her block and mailed it to catch up with the row in Colorado.

Cindy lives in Beit Shemesh, Israel across from Kibbutz Tzora there. She is pictured standing in front of the ancient wall at Tel Tzora with her quilt block. The wall is just a few minutes from her house and is famous for Samson and Delilah. Samson is believed to have been buried in Tel Tzora overlooking the Sorek Valley. There reside two large gravestones of Samson and his father Manoah. Nearby stands Manoah's altar (referenced in Judges 13:19-24). It is located between the cities of Zorah and Eshtaol.

Cindy is known for color coordinating her wardrobe and accessories though she didn't realize (until I'd pointed it out) that she'd coordinated her hat with her block. :) Purple is her favorite color and it tickled her to know she'd subconsciously coordinated. Cindy has been quilting for 16 years and concentrates primarily on landscapes of Israel. She also makes lovely cosmetic bags, purses, housewares like trivets and hotplate covers and beautiful wearable art like vests and hats. Add cindyrquilts to your favorites!

Dede named her shop PeppersAttic in honor of a much-loved cat who kept her company in her attic studio back in Alaska. Sadly, Pepper the cat has crossed the Rainbow Bridge, but his memory lives on in some of the quilts in Dede's home. Dede now lives in warmer Southern California where she continues a life-long love affair with fabric, quilts, vintage linens, textiles, yarn and fiber. She has been making wonderful creations for over 40 years and loves putting heirloom quality into all she makes. Dede does a lot of custom work and her Rag Bags are getting famous -- right now they are featured in 45 treasuries!

Gail of QuiltSewPieceful has been quilting for almost 20 years. (The second block above is Gail's) Gail specializes in beautiful pieced quilts that she finishes on her Gammil Classic long arm quilting machine. She also does machine embroidery on her Bernina 830, has a line of her quilt patterns (check them out!) and teaches quilting at a local quilt shop. In her spare time, Gail is Wonder Woman! j/k

Please check out these shops for some wonderful items!

Sisterhood of the Traveling Quilt Project - Block No. 1!

The National Quilting Association (NQA) began sponsoring National Quilting Day with a resolution passed by members attending the 22nd annual Show in Lincoln, Nebraska in June 1991. The third Saturday in March is officially designated as National Quilting Day, but quilters are flexible and we love a celebration -- especially when fabric is involved. So over the years observance of National Quilting Day has unofficially been expanded to the whole month of March.

Every year the NQA designates a specific National Quilting Day theme. For 2011 the theme is "Build Your Own Log Cabin." The log cabin block is among the oldest in quilting. It symbolizes the warmth and belonging of hearth and home. The NQA encourages quilters this year to make log cabin quilt blocks to make charity quilts for those who may be struggling for warmth and comfort.

Hoping to repeat some of their successful participation of National Quilting Day last year, Team Quiltsy has many fun projects and promotions coming for this year's observation.

The first is a group effort titled "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Quilt" project. Many members are making their particular take on a log cabin block. The participants have been assigned rows and are mailing their blocks to each other to build a beautiful community quilt.

Today we have our very first block - coming from KathyKinsella in British Columbia, Canada!
Kathy lives on the imposing Shuswap Lake (which looks a teensy bit cold right now). She is a fibre artist who designs her own fun art bags and greeting cards. Much of her work is influenced by her beautiful surroundings and you'll often find whimsy in her work. Kathy also designs and makes wonderful liturgical fibre artworks.

In the coming weeks we'll have fun seeing the Quiltsy members and their blocks as we build toward the finished Sisterhood quilt!

Beautiful job, Kathy! Thanks for taking the point and being first!

Wondering What's Up with Cotton Prices?

The following article is shared with permission from American Quilt Retailer, Vol. 17, Issue 97, January 2011 by Jim Salinas, sales associate for Moda Fabrics; edited by Susan Fuquay, publisher American Quilt Retailer

If you are wondering what is behind the recent increase in the retail prices of your quilting cottons [and all cotton goods for that matter], here is a brief explaination to help you understand the situation.

Cotton is a commodity and like all commodities prices are increasing. Most would attribute this primarily to the weakening dollar. As confidence in the dollar erodes, commodities rise in value. The dollar has weakened, of course, as our national debt has skyrocketed. Premium fabric brands are printed in Japan and Korea. The dollar has weakened by approximately 20 percent to these countries' currencies.

We are also wrestling with a worldwide cotton shortage. This shortage is exacerbated by flooding in Pakistan, heavy rains in China and hail damage in west Texas. India has stopped the exportation of cotton altogether, and China has severely restricted its cotton exportation because rising wealth is boosting consumption in their own country. Labor shortages in China have also contributed to the reduction in available cotton. Indeed, the entire globe is competing for a finite amount of product. As is sometimes the case, when commodities spike in price, speculators hold out for better prices, and it appears that is what some greige goods producers may be doing.

Cotton factory in China. Local farmers bring their raw cotton to a large cotton processing factory outside Yuli, Xinjiang, China. The cotton is gathered into the large piles seen here. Eventually the raw cotton will be processed to remove its seeds, and it will then be compacted into bales for shipment to washing and spinning factories.

Historically, when cotton prices would rise dramatically, mills could blend their way to a cheaper product. The quilting culture simply does not support a blended product, not to mention the fact that polyester (a petroleum derivative) prices are also rising.

Truly we are dealing with a "perfect storm" of problems when it comes to fabric costs.

The quilting industry is also dealing with a significant decrease in the number of print mills that can print the smaller minimums [the quilting] industry requires, as well as the 16 to 18 screens so frequently used.

There were once approximately 25 printers that could do this type of work; we are down to 10 now! This puts upward pressure on printing costs. We still have six mills left in America, but they produce carpet, upholstery, etc. They may do some high speed rotary printing, but with large minimums and only four to six screens. They do not do low minimum flat bed press printing using 18 screens.

As if this weren't enough, the industry is also dealing with two other issues. As the cost of greige goods (fabric before it is printed) increased, the duty on these goods also increases. Last but not least, UPS shipping costs [increased] 4.9 percent in January 2011 alone! Wow! The perfect storm indeed!

Stephanie Dell'olio, president, retail division of Marcus Bros., recently exclaimed, "We have experienced shortages in the past, but this particular set of conditions is like no other we have ever experienced in our 100-year history."

One reason these price hikes are creating so much consternation is that we have experienced so little inflation in the fabric industry over the last 20 years. My wife Roxanne took quilting classes when we lived in Phoenix 20 years ago. She paid $6.99 per yard for Hoffman of California prints. The industry was much smaller then, and Hoffman was considered (as it still is today) a premier brand. Today Hoffman prints are $9.99 per yard in many quilt shops. This is only a 44 percent increase in 20 years!

In 1990 a loaf of bread was $0.70. In 2010 a comparable loaf was $2.69. That's a 287% increase. The average cost of a new car in 1990 was $16,900. In 2010 the average price of a new car was $27,000. This is a 65% increase. One pound of ground beef was $0.89 in 1990. In 2010 a pound of ground beef was $3.29. This is a 270% increase.

You can look at just about anything you purchase and if you compare the price of that item in 1990 to the price today you may just find quilting cotton is still a good value worth the joy it brings you!

Jim Salinas has close to 40 years of experience in the fabric industry. He was a store management and then district manager with Hancock Fabrics for 17 years and later vice president of marketing for Cloth World, director of fabric merchandising for Michael's Arts and Crafts and executive vice president of House of Fabrics. He has been a sales associate for Moda Fabrics since 1997.

Copyright 2011 American Quilt Retailer

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