All I want for Christmas is.....

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EVERYONE

FROM QUILTSMITH

WE ARE LOOKING FORWARD TO A VERY QUILTY 2012.

I thought I would share with you my photos from Houston of the Antique Quilt Vendors stores and some of the quilts they had for sale.

This was something close to heaven for me, although it was a little pricey.  Unlike the rest of the US economy, the antique quilt market is holding strong, prices are going up.

So sit back and feast your eyes on this.  My Christmas present to you.

Yes where do you begin?

The top just peeking out with the red, navy and shirtings came home with me.

These were all in one store Cindy's Antique Quilts. Just overwhelming.  I did try to buy sensibly, so I set myself the goal of buying great examples of quilting.  Something that is lacking in my current collection.  So the pink and white Baby Bunting quilt below is now part of my collection.

Thank you Cindy.  www.cindysantiquequilts.com

This is me with Mary Koval, another fantastic quilt dealer.  The red and green Crown of Thorns variation, (behind us) is also coming home with me, it certainly met the quilting requirement.

Mary's address is www.marykovalantiquequilts.com

I had fun.

This is yet another vendor stand that had the most beautiful quilts. 

The best one was a signed and dated 1846 Baltimore.  Liz and Janet had to have their photos taken in front of this masterpiece.  It belongs in a Museum.  It was for sale at US$48.000.  Unfortunately the budget didn't run to that, so I took photos to share with you.  I don't know what cupboard, attic or box this quilt has been living in, but the colours were so bright and glowing, it was truly an amazing quilt. 

If you are doing our Friends of Baltimore Block of the Month, these photos should give some ideas on how too personalise your quilt but still be absolutely true to the Baltimore tradition.

These are some closeups of a few of the quilts on the stand, the red and white was under consideration for purchase, as it was quilted within an inch of its life, but I had more than spent the budget.



This is the quilt that had me transfixed.  I have never seen a Broderie Perse quilt like it.  Needless to say there were far to many 0000s in the price.

To see some other chintz and broderie perse quilts take a peek at the Charleston Museum's current exhibition.  I would love to see it. www.charlestonmuseum.org/exhibits-botanical-quilts

These are just random quilts I snapped walking around.

There was the most beautiful Carpenter's Square quilt in the exhibition itself. The size of the pieces were all tiny.  All in Indigo and white, except for the outside border that was black and white.  It was stunning and the quilting legend.  How did they do it???

We look forward to seeing you in 2012.

Melinda



BRING ON SUMMER SALE

Even though I'm not a hot weather girl, the weather in Sydney is being ridiculous. It can heat up a bit!

We are on sale in the shop from today until Thursday 22nd December. 20% off all fabrics, 30cm min (50cm for Value Fabrics) and all pre-cut fat quarters.

We are on sale on-line until midnight Wednesday 21st December.  20% off all fabrics, 50 cm min, and all fat quarter sets. www.quiltsmith.com.au

Have fun.

Melinda

Some New Stuff, and Who I saw in Houston

I have a few things to show you that have turned up in the shop in the last few days that are well worth sharing with you.

Susan brought in this great quilt made with Aboriginal design fabrics.  I think this is for an overseas relative.  Susan is in Anne Sommerlad's  class.

I have for years been wanting to have Quilters Dream Cotton wadding in the shop.  I have achieved it.  We now have the "Request" weight, which is the thinnest weight, in Twin, Queen and King size .  This is one of the best cotton wadding for hand quilters. It has a very low loft and gives your quilting that "antique" look.  It is also beautiful to quilt through.  These will be up on the web-site shortly.

This me with Lori Smith, I have admired her patterns for some time.  We now have a selection of her patterns on the web-site.  These are just great for using up some of those scraps!!!

Janet and I ran into Kaffe and Brandon at their fantastic stand. I'm making that red quilt in the background over Christmas. (Well I'm going to attempt to.) I just fell in love with it when they brought out to Australia in February this year.

What has Brandon got on his head.  A hint it was just before Halloween.  Creepy.



Janet and I did a knitting class with Brandon.  Yes you go to one of the largest quilt shows and knit.  Why not.  This was what greeted us in the classroom. Yes its all about the colour.

This is what the class made.

Brandon in full critiquing mode.  It was fun, makes me want to run a knitting shop, oh no.

Here are some photos of Margaret Sampson-George's class this week.

Love the border.

Margaret helping to sort out the start of a new quilt. 

Just beautiful.

Melinda

 

Those Crazy Quilts

Here is a bit of a shop update before I show you some of the Crazy Quilts I saw in Omaha.

This is the new "Pezzy Prints" from Moda.  This are a repeat of the very popular print from Peas and Carrots by American Jane.  We are very happy they have been reprinted.  There are more colourways to come.

West Indies by Jennifer Paganelli for Free Spirit has arrived. I just love the bird toile.

We had a very productive workshop on Saturday with Catherine Butterworth.

Catherine will be teaching a regular monthly class next year.  The class will be on the 3rd Tuesday of the month.  Please ring the shop if you would like to book in.

SNEEK PEEK

We are thrilled to let you have a sneek peek of one of our new Blocks of the Month for 2012. 

It is called Kew Gardens.

We are creating this beauty with the help of Sue Ross.  You have the choice of two beautiful floral border fabrics.

We should have full details up on the web-site before Christmas.  We already have a number of customers who have booked their quilt (they saw it on the design wall).   So stay tuned.

Crazy in Omaha

The trick with Crazy Quilts is to take photos of the stitching.  This gives you a stitch reference library.  I was quite amazed at the variety of embroidery stitching on the quilts we saw.  The problem with most Crazys is that the silks they were made of has shattered. So when you are looking at restoring a crazy the main focus is on the stitching.

This was a very interesting quilt.  We tried to put together its story.  The photos are of the back of the quilt (yes the back was a crazy) it is all done in black and grey wools.  The embroidery stitching was all there.  The front of the quilt is a brick pattern of wool suiting fabrics cut into rectangles.  The front appears to have been made in the 1920's - 30's.  The quilt was then quilted in the red and yellow "big stitch " quilting around the rectangles on the front.  This gave the back a really cool look.

The story we made up was Mum made the crazy top in the black grey wools.  Brightened it up with the embroidery.  She never finished her crazy quilt.  The daughter used the crazy top as the back for her utilitarian "depression era quilt".  She hated Mum's dark crazy.  But waste not, want not.

That's our story, who knows it might be true.

Melinda