Bring show & tell, projects to work on, an Ott light if you need one (+ extension cord), and your lunch.

At left, is a close-up of one of the crazy quilts in our permanent collection, a full image appears below.

To read about this quilt, click here.

At right is an appliqué quilt from our permanent collection. Liberty in America, by Ruth Carol Coombe was the Washington State winner in The Great American Quilt Festival, sponsored by the Museum of American Folk Art in celebration of the Statue of Liberty Centennial.

Photo by Kathleen Kok.

Presented by the La Conner Quilt &Textile Museum; hosted by the Museum of Northwest Art on Saturday, February 25 at 6pm. This event will be located at 121 First Street, La Conner WA. We will be serving light hors d’oeuvres and refreshments. Please call the La Conner Quilt & Textile Museum to make a reservation at 360-466-4288.

$5.00; free for members of La Conner Quilt & Textile Museum and the Museum of Northwest Art.

$18 per person; $15 for members. Please call 360-466-4288 to reserve a seat.

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Internationally known, award-winning quilt artist, Carol Taylor, approaches her quiltmaking with intensity and a seemingly boundless energy. Vibrant colors, striking contrasts, use of value, as well as heavy machine quilting and embroidery distinguish Carol’s quilts. She has created over 500 quilts since she began quilting in 1993. She also serves on the SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates) board of directors. 

 A teacher by degree, & outgoing by nature, she has been a sales recruiter (“headhunter”) for 22 years but closed her business in October 2003 to teach quilting internationally. Her 14 workshops are said to be “fun, motivational, & non-threatening.” Carol delights in using hand-dyed fabrics in her abstract, motif-driven designs, accented by the use of value. Her art quilts grace the walls of hospitals & businesses as well as many private collectors.

Do you love the look of those really skinny lines and curves, but don’t know how to make them? Now is your chance to learn.  Carol shares the secrets of piecing them, and you can make those practice blocks into a lovely wall quilt (41 x 36) full of those “sensuous lines and curves”!

We will start with piecing simple lines that you cut improvisationally on small pieces of fabric that will turn out to be 7 ½” blocks. The middle section of “sensuous lines and curves” is made by couching and becomes the centerpiece for the quilt. All of this is done with no pinning and a minimal amount of measuring to free you up and allows you to think outside of the box. You’ll also learn how to finish your quilts with facings instead of bindings.

You’ll be thrilled with the resulting small quilt, which you can do in any 4-5 basic colors you like. Check Carol Taylor’s website to see more quilts Carol has made using these same techniques in her Linear Series, and then come make your very own version.

$125;  One-Day Workshop;  includes lunch.

Register online or call the Museum at 360-466-4288 to register for this Workshop. Minimum 20 attendees.

Carol will also be teaching Arc-i-Textures on April 17. See more here…

The Best Western Cottontree Inn is offering a special rate to students of the Carol Taylor Workshops. Click here to see their rate flyer, CottonTree Inn.

For lodging in La Conner click here. 

Want to create a small (15 x 15) unique quilt of your very own and learn something about composition, textures, and circular quilting?  Then this is the class for you!  This is a chance to use some of those fancy and unusual fabrics that you’ve been attracted to, but didn’t know how to use. We will tame them by fusing, and learn to mix them with other textured looking fabrics. And you won’t need much of any one fabric…even scraps will do.

You’ll learn a bit about composition and how to balance it with both color and size.  You’ll learn about fusing and how to finish your quilts with facings as opposed to bindings. And Carol will also teach you how to quilt and couch those “perfect” circles that have almost become a trademark on her quilts. You’ll be thrilled with the resulting small quilt, which you can do in many different color schemes, and hang in your own home or give as a gift.  Visit Carol Taylor’s website to learn more about this dynamic quilt artist.

$125;  One-Day Workshop;  includes lunch.

Register online or call the Museum at 360-466-4288 to register for this Workshop. Minimum 20 attendees.

Carol is also teaching Sensuous Lines and Curves. Read more…

The Best Western Cottontree Inn is offering a special rate to students of the Carol Taylor Workshops. Click here to see their rate flyer, CottonTree Inn.

For lodging in La Conner click here. 

We will start with piecing simple circles that you cut improvisationally and move on to more complex circles. Then Carol will show how to make and use some unusual strip sets to complete the quilt. All done with a minimal amount of measuring to free you up and allow you to think out of the box. You’ll also learn how to finish your quilts with facings instead of bindings.

You’ll be thrilled with the resulting small quilt, which you can do in many different color schemes and hang in your own home or give as a gift. Check Carol’s website to see the many quilts Carol has made using these same techniques, and then come make your very own.

Two-Day Workshop, $250; includes lunches

Register online or call the Museum at 360-466-4288.

The Best Western Cottontree Inn is offering a special rate to students of the Carol Taylor Workshops. Click here to see their rate flyer, CottonTree Inn.

For lodging in La Conner click here. 

All the Color Explosion! Challenge Kit have been sold out! We are looking forward to seeing all the entries by August 1, 2012.

Kaffe-Brandon Challenge Rules:

Each Kit will contains two fabric fat quarters, one designed by Kaffe Fassett (see left: Paisley Jungle, Tangerine) the other by Brandon Mably (see below:  Bones, Green). One entry per Kit; limit of two entries per person. Download rules & entry form here  Kaffe-Brandon Challenge Rules-Entry Form 2

Your challenge entry need not be a quilt and may be of any shape, but the combined total of all sides of the entry cannot be less than 18″ nor more than 72″. A round entry must have a diameter of at least 6″ but no more than 22″.

 A recognizable amount of both Fassett and Mably fabrics must be used as an integral part of your completed entry, and the two fabrics must appear in the body of the entry (not just the border or binding in the case of a quilt). Any amount of other fabric/fiber/embellishments may be used to complete your entry.

Each entry that is a quilt must have a 4″-wide hanging sleeve attached to the top back for hanging. Other entries that hang must include hardware for hanging. Small entries must be securely attached to and within a shadow box.

An identification label must be securely attached to a bottom back corner of the entry, must contain the title of the entry, and the full name, address, phone number and e-mail address of the entrant as it appears on the Entry Form. Accessory items must also have securely attached labels.

Entries must be clean & odor free to be eligible for inclusion. Please do not add potpourri, sachets or fragrances to your entry out of consideration for those with chemical sensitivities and allergies. Cigarette odor will result in immediate disqualification.

Your entry must be received by August 1, 2012. Please package your entry securely for shipping. Entries which have accessories should be encased in bubble wrap (or similar) for extra protection. All entries should be shipped in a box or padded envelope.

Please consider donating your entry to the La Conner Quilt & Textile Museum for one of its fundraising events. If you choose not to donate your entry, include a self-addressed, prepaid shipping label for return, unless you will be retrieving your entry after the 2012 Quilt Festival.

All entries will be hung in the La Conner Quilt & Textile Museum from September 1 through the 2012 Quilt Festival, October 5-7. Entry must be museum quality in order to qualify for hanging.

Entries will be voted upon by People’s Choice during the 2012 Quilt Festival and the top three choices will be hung in the La Conner Quilt & Textile Museum during Kaffe & Brandon’s visit during the first quarter of 2013.

Fabrics generously donated by Island Quilter of Vashon Island, Washington & Westminster Fabrics.

Ribbons, Roses, & Women’s Rights:  Baltimore’s Albums (Lecture

Baltimore Albums – A Visible Face of Social Revolution

What about our own Baltimore -style quilts is classic? What, “beyond Baltimore”? Why does ribbonry delight us? And why did Baltimore’s ladies —rich with ribbons—use them on their bonnets, but not on their “Brides Quilts”? Theirs were momentous times. In fact, the Baltimores were a Visible Face of Social Revolution:  the Industrial Revolution; the Transportation Revolution (from wood to steel and from wind to steam); the Communications Revolution which we’re now in, had already begun — With electricity harnessed, Morse telegraphed “What hath God wrought?” from DC to Baltimore in 1844! Social movements, too, were revolutionizing life: Temperance, Abolition, and even Women’s Rights; to cap all, war — in 1845 — broke out with Mexico and the Gathering Storm of the Civil War could be heard. This rollicking talk asks “Why so little ribbon in Baltimore’s Albums?” and suggests some surprising motivations!

Time: Lecture begins at 6:30 pm. Books autographed before and after lecture. Books will be available for purchase.

Cost:  $35 

This lecture will take place at the Museum of Northwest Art, 121 1st Street, La Conner, WA 98257. Includes hors d’oeuvres and beverages.

You may purchase Elly’s Lecture online or call the La Conner Quilt & Textile Museum at 360-466-4288 to reserve a seat.

Elly’s Biography:

Trained in History, Art & Education (A.B. Wellesley College, M.S. Univ of PA) Elly Sienkiewicz adores appliqué! For twenty books … and counting she has been designing, stitching, teaching, and writing about appliqué — from basics to Baltimore Albums. Houston’s Quilts Inc. has twice invited special exhibitions of Elly’s work and that inspired by her books. Most recent was 2010 ‘s exhibition dubbed “Baltimore’s Daughters”: ten quilts, most designed by Elly and created under her direction, plus a judged show based on her patterns. The first such Exhibition was created to honor Elly’s work as the 2003 Silver Star honoree. The Silver Star Award was given to a handful of select artists who made a “profound contribution to the contemporary Quilting Revival” of the past half-century. Recently, Quilters Newsletter readers voted her “America’s Best Quilting Teacher – while her Appliqué 12 Easy Ways! won the Quilt Industry Classics Award for Best Book on appliqué.

Two major Baltimore Album Revival Exhibitions (Rita Barber’s Lancaster show, Mancuso’s Long Beach show) celebrated her books’ impact on the decades-long Baltimore Album and Appliqué Revival. Before becoming so deeply involved with group-made Albums, Elly’s was a resident artisan at the Glen Echo Art Park in Glen Echo, MD. Her individual work hung at shows across the country and at Museums and Galleries in and around Washington, DC. Inspiring as speaker, she has lectured for museums, including the Smithsonian Institution and the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Museum, where her work as a quilt historian has been recognized. Elly has taught across the United States, and on five continents.  Her work has been in quilt magazines in the US, Europe, and Japan, and in The Magazine Antiques, Folk Art Magazine, Victoria, Threads, and Uncoverings,The Journal of the American Quilt Study Group.  Please visit her websites www.EllySienkiewicz.com and www.AppliquewithElly.com