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.

Students learn how to use various silk fabrics and embroidery stitches to appliqué a Japanese design pattern. 

               Project:  Tote bag, 12” x 12”

This workshop is being offered to Members first beginning May 1, 2012. It will be open to the general public on May 21.

Workshop Cost: $45.00; please call the Museum at 360-466-4288 to purchase this workshop.

Material Fee: $15.00 for kit; payable to instructor on day of Workshop.

        The kit includes:  Pattern, fabrics with batting and backing, embroidery needle and thread

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Tools to bring;

-         scissors for paper and fabric,

-         small ruler (20 – 30cm)

-         ball point pen or pencil

-         sewing needle

-         pins (10+)

Interpreter:  Ako Shimozato

Students will learn about making templates, the variety of vintage silks, lay-out and color combinations, piecing and appliquéing parts and applying embroidery stitches.

This workshop is being offered to Members first beginning May 1, 2012. It will be open to the general public on May 21.

Workshop Cost: $55.00; please call the Museum at 360-466-4288 to purchase this workshop.

Material Fee:  $30.00 for kit; payable to instructor on day of Workshop

    -The kit includes assorted vintage silk kimono fabrics, sewing and embroidery thread, needles for sewing and stitching, batting with lining, and base bafric (linen and silk). Frame and mat are NOT included.

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Tools to bring:

-         Scissors for paper, and for fabric

-         ruler (30cm or 12”)

-         red and black pencil

-         pins 30+

-         fine grade sand paper

-         cutting board

-         basting needle and thread

Students learn a basic Ainu embroidery stitches and appliqué with simple Ainu pattern on the indigo dyed cotton fabric.

This workshop is being offered to Members first beginning May 1, 2012. It will be open to the general public on May 21.

Workshop Cost: $45.00; please call the Museum at 360-466-4288 to purchase this Workshop.

Material Fee:  $12.00 for kit; payable to instructor on day of Workshop

        -The kit Includes:  Pattern, indigo dyed fabric, pieces of red and white fabrics, embroidery needle and thread. Pillow and frame NOT included.

Tools to bring

-         two kinds of scissors for paper and fabric

-         small ruler (20 – 30cm)

-         ball point pen

-         sewing needle, black thread

-         pins (10+)

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