Archive for the ‘Quilting News’ Category

End of an Era

Thursday, June 25th, 2009

factory_obama

Sads news. The Cranston Print Works plant has closed its doors, so cotton fabric for quilting is no longer made in the U.S.

If you’ve ever been on a tour of the plant you’ll know how amazing it is to see all of the steps involved. We visited about 5 years ago and shot a show. (For Friends in the Bee–you can watch it on QNNtv.com) I came away with a new appreciation for fabric, and befuddled as to how it can sell for what it does. Just following yardage through the production process was exhausting!

I’m a native of Rhode Island, so it hits home for me even more that this piece of our history is now just that: history. The mills in New England were where the industrial revolution happened. This was the last of that amazing time in our history that brought people in from the farms to a new way of life. A testament to human ingenuity. And made goods both available and affordable. One thing for sure: Times do keep changing.  Read the whole story.

~Jodie

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Fabric That Cleans Itself?!

Monday, January 12th, 2009

So there was that orange cleaner phase, and then the oxy-clean period. What’s next? Would you have guessed “nanocrystals”. But what’s really neat is this time it’s all about prevention of stains, as in pre-treating fibers.

Reseachers have made natural fibers such as wool, silk, and hemp that will automatically remove food, grime, and even red-wine stains when exposed to sunlight. Researchers at Monash University, in Victoria, Australia, have found a way to coat fibers with titanium dioxide nanocrystals, which break down food and dirt in sunlight.

The fibers are coated with a thin, invisible layer of titanium dioxide nanoparticles. Titanium dioxide, which is used in sunscreens, toothpaste, and paint, is a strong photocatalyst: in the presence of ultraviolet light and water vapor, it oxidizes, or decomposes, organic matter. However the nanocrystals cannot decompose wool and are harmless to skin. And most important to fabriholics, the coating does not change the look and feel of the fabric.

” ‘When you burn something, you oxidize it,” says Jeffrey Youngblood, a materials engineering professor at Purdue University, who is developing self-cleaning materials that repel oil. “This [titanium dioxide coating] is just burning organic matter at room temperature in the presence of light.’

“Titanium dioxide can also destroy pathogens such as bacteria in the presence of sunlight by breaking down the cell walls of the microorganisms.”

I spent at least a half hour last weekend working on stains on blouses and placemats. Just think, soon we could spending  that time sewing!

~Jodie

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Quilt club pieces together fun

Tuesday, December 30th, 2008

An illustration of how quilting can make a difference not only in your own life, but the lives of those you have the pleasure of knowing, from a Sewing and Quilting Club “Piecing Together Fun” in Chicago’s Gompers Junior High School. Image and caption below from the full story by Catherine Ann Velasco at the Herald News.

Daisy Diaz, 13, lays out fabric squares for a twin-sized bed quilt she is making while Citlalli Serrato, 12, sews her quilt squares together during an after-school quilting club session at Gompers Junior High in Joliet.

Daisy Diaz, 13, lays out fabric squares for a twin-sized bed quilt she is making while Citlalli Serrato, 12, sews her quilt squares together during an after-school quilting club session at Gompers Junior High in Joliet.

Teachers May and Christine Reed lead a quilting club twice a week.

“I sew quilts. We felt it was something new that maybe the kids haven’t done before,” May said. “At home, if something happens to their clothes they can always sew them back together.”

But there was one problem that needed mending. Students didn’t understand what quilting meant so they renamed the group to the sewing/quilting club.

Jocelyn Delgado, 13, an eighth-grader, joined the club for a couple of reasons.

“I was bored. I didn’t think there would be any boys. You can talk here about stuff,” she said.

While boys are invited, none signed up and that’s kind of a selling point to some of the girls who prefer the laid-back atmosphere.

“They let us eat chocolate in here. When we talk, they don’t act like teachers,” Jocelyn said, adding their teachers don’t tell them to be quiet.

When she was little, Jocelyn said, she sewed by hand with her grandma, but she never had the opportunity to use a sewing machine.

“First, I was nervous that I’m going to pinch my hand and there was going to be blood and everything. But it was OK,” said Jocelyn, who is making a baby blanket.

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3 Dudes Quilting

Tuesday, December 30th, 2008

Excerpt from the article below—read the full story here

Tom Tingle/The Arizona Republic

Tom Tingle/The Arizona Republic

It all started at a Peoria quilting store. Maryvale residents Jeff Carr and Frank Costa decided it might be fun to take a quilting class.

For Carr in particular, quilting immediately became more than a hobby.

“They came home (from the first class) and Jeff said, ‘We need to open a quilting store,’ ” roommate Ray Steeves said.

Now, just more than two years later, the trio is preparing to open that store in Ahwatukee. The name of their store, at 5053 E. Elliot Road, is simple, they say.

It’s 3 Dudes Quilting.

They expect the name alone will draw some attention to the storefront, which until recently housed another quilting store called The Quilter’s Koop. Carr, Costa and Steeves started leasing the space in October.

They hope to open in mid-January.

The trio said they want to make their business a place to hang out on weekend days.

Steeves said he hopes women and men in the area will wake up on Saturday mornings and head straight to 3 Dudes Quilting.

Posted in Quilt Shops, Quilting News | 20 Comments »

Piece Makers Stitch Way to Heirlooms of Tomorrow

Tuesday, December 30th, 2008

From the article at Demopolis Time by Leewanna Parker :

Crazy quilts, kitty cat blankets for newborn grandchildren, Alabama themed quilts, prayer quilts, Dresden plates, lovely appliqués, log cabin designs and so much more are represented by these women’s’ handiwork. In fact there are few ideas they haven’t incorporated and sewn into treasured quilts over the years.

“We cry together and we laugh together,” said Jean. “We’re sisters. We’re family.”

When these sisters take trips together, which they have often done, it’s a sure bet they aren’t on a cruise, taking in the scenery. Excitement for them is discovering “fabric heaven” and spending hours shuffling through the range of colors and designs each might want to sew into the next project back home. Some of these women have even traveled to the Smithsonian to examine the quilts on display in the nation’s capital. “Unless you quilt you probably won’t want to travel with this group,” Betty said and laughed, remembering a non-quilting friend who made that mistake a few years ago, but never made it again.

Does this sound familiar to you, too?

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DIY Art Travel: Quilting at the Gas Station

Wednesday, August 13th, 2008

Here’s an interesting quilt in Syracuse, NY—what fun! Are there any readers in the area who have seen/contributed to this project?

Marsh enlisted the help of artists from 15 countries and more than 2,500 grade school students in 29 states to create panels to cover the building. More than 3,000 quilt blocks made of every conceivable material were stitched together to cover every available surface–including the pumps–of the 50-year-old gas station.

From the full article here at Jaunted.com

Update—Be sure to check out the “Documentation of Installation” (with many more pictures, including of the gas station before and after and during the installation!) at the International Fiber Collaborative website.

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County Quilts Emphasize Historic Role of Barns

Wednesday, August 13th, 2008

From CresoTimes.com:

Drivers in Howard County will be treated to a little more color starting this fall.
Residents and visitors will be welcomed into the county with vibrant colors painted on 8-foot-wide by 8-foot-tall quilts adorning six county barns.
Howard County is joining 11 other counties in Iowa that have taken part in the quilt project, coordinated by Iowa State University Extension, since its inception in 2003.
The goals of the Howard County project are to emphasize the historic role of barns and quilting and to benefit the county economically.

Read the full story here.

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