Made with Love

My plan for this art quilt - a wedding gift - was to collage a variety of red fabrics to create a large heart.  All of the fabrics were pre-fused with Mistyfuse. I made a heart pattern first, so I would know where the fabrics would be placed.

I pinned it to the heart, so I could cut out the pattern

and here is the beautiful big red heart. Everything about this wedding was about hearts and love

I made a typewriter with black and white fabrics.  The keys are Hoffman Fabrics - pre-made, so I would not have to do them by hand. Gotta love that. The groom uses a vintage typewriter in his art, so it was fitting that the heart should come out of the typewriter

I am measuring to make sure it is all straight

working on the background fabrics, which have all been collaged together, like the heart.  Instead of laying the background fabric over the entire piece, I am cutting it to fit it slightly under the heart, so I don't have so much bulk

This shows you that process

First look at my art quilt. I do not like the typewriter. It is too flat and has no personality.  It needs a re-do.

So, I made it more vintage with the ribbon cartridges on top, took out the black and white stripe.  One of the greatest things about Mistyfuse, is that you can take things like this apart when it is fabric to fabric, without any issues. I really like this feature. It makes my life so much easier.

Here is the program book for the wedding festivities

The logo for the wedding was a red heart with their initials. It's the icing on the cake!

a closer look

Initials were fussy cut

another detail

I am so happy with how this turned out.  I hope the happy couple loves it as much as I do. It has aluminum pop tops hand sewn on the back for easy hanging on the wall. Quilt with Love

The Win-Win Fundraiser

Home is Where Your Story Begins.  The tale of the typewriter quilts.  I made a typewriter quilt for the Quilt Alliance Contest in 2012, and when it sold on eBay, it broke all records, and you can view it here.  So, I decided to do a little fundraiser for the Quilt Alliance where I would make 3 typewriter quilts, and I would sell the quilt directly to the buyer, and then the buyer would make a donation to the Quilt Alliance.  Above - sold to Meg Cox (15x14)

Sold to Marie Bostwick (15x14)

Sold to Luana Rubin of eQuilter.com (19-1/2x20)
if you are interested in purchasing a one-of-a-kind typewriter quilt, please email me.

The Right Type - A Collaboration

Home is Where Your Story Begins, a typewriter quilt made for the wall, made in 2014.  all rights reserved.  Do not hang in direct sunlight, and do not wash.

 I made one similar for the Quilt Alliance Contest a couple of years ago.  It was sold on eBay as a fundraiser for the QA, and it raised $1,600+ - it was very popular, to say the least.  So, I thought I would make another one, where I could make money, as well as, the Quilt Alliance.  The typewriter quilt measures 19.5 x 20.  

Here's the sweet deal for February - I am offering this art quilt for $475.00 paid to me, that includes shipping in the USA, but you must also make a donation of $300.00 or more to the Quilt Alliance.   The QA is a nonprofit organization, who documents, preserves and shares the history of quilts and their makers.  If you are interested in purchasing this quilt and supporting the Quilt Alliance, and paying by check, please email me jamie.fingal@gmail.com  - first come, first serve basis
SOLD @ 9:31AM  PST  Whoohoo!
If you are not familiar with the Quilt Alliance, here are some facts about this great organization! 

The Quilt Alliance is for:

Traditional quilters, hand quilters, longarm quilters, art quilters, modern quilters, paper piecing quilters, embroidering quilters, mixed media quilters, hobbyist quilters, beginning quilters, professional quilters, driven-24-7-365 quilters or once-in-a-while quilters with a not-so-modest stash (you know who you are). All quilters should know about, use and support the Quilt Alliance. 

Quilt Alliance Core projects include:

Quilters’ S.O.S. – Save Our Stories (Q.S.O.S.): http://www.allianceforamericanquilts.org/qsos/ 

Grassroots oral history project preserving the stories of today’s quiltmakers from all over the US and abroad. More than 1,000 interviews with today’s quiltmakers currently on the Alliance website and archived at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. 

Go Tell It at the Quilt Show!, https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbRL8gNFw9DBEAuPT2fLHaehysLU9veeW 

A new oral history project designed to capture the stories of quilts where quiltmakers gather. The formula for Go Tell It! is simple: one person talking about one quilt in front of one video camera for three minutes. Unlike our Quilters’ S.O.S. – Save Our Stories project where the interviewee must be a quiltmaker, the Go Tell It! interviewee profile is much broader.

Quilt Alliance Partner projects include:

The Quilt Index, http://www.quiltindex.org/ 

An online database of more than 54,000 quilt records bringing new access to detailed information and images of quilts from museums, historical societies, guilds, documentation projects and private collections.

Partners: MATRIX: Center for Digital Humanities and Social Sciences at Michigan State University and the Michigan State University Museum. 

Quilt Treasures, http://www.allianceforamericanquilts.org/treasures/ 

Multi-media portraits profiling key quilt revival pioneers including quiltmakers, historians, collectors, teachers, and business leaders. 

MATRIX: Center for Digital Humanities and Social Sciences at Michigan State University and the Michigan State University Museum. 

Annual Quilt Contest

Since 2006 quilters from the U.S. and abroad have donated more than 650 quilts for our annual contest and auction. All quilts tour nationally and are documented in The Quilt Index before being sold to the highest bidder via online auction. The 2014 QA contest is “Inspired By.” Find out more here.

Fundraising and Educational Events 

Quilters Take Manhattan: the Quilt Alliance presents this annual fundraising & educational event in New York City’s Garment District each fall. The 4th annual QTM weekend takes place September 19-21, 2014 with our anchor event on Saturday, Sept. 20 at the Fashion Institute of Technology. Amy Butler will headline and attendees will enjoy a presentation by Moda’s founder and CEO Mark Dunn, Go Tell It! interviews with art, traditional and modern quilters, an exhibition of gorgeous quilts, vendors, make and take activities, and our own Quilt Match Manhattan design throw down. QTM attendees can also sign up for garment district tours, a Broadway outing, workshops at The City Quilter, and a quilt presentations at a major museum throughout the weekend. Like the QTM Facebook page to stay up to date on details.

Not Fade Away: Sharing Quilt Stories in the Digital Age: our biannual educational conference in Herndon, Virginia for all who care about documenting, preserving and sharing the stories of quilts and their makers. The inaugural Not Fade Away event in 2013 was held in conjunction with the Sacred Threads Exhibition and included a keynote speech by Janneken Smucker, Q.S.O.S. interview with Jinny Beyer, Go Tell It at the Quilt Show! interviews with local quilters and a curators' panel discussion. The 2nd annual NFA event will be held on July 15, again in Herndon and in partnership with Sacred Threads.

Visit us and find out more via our website • blog • FB page • Youtube Channel.

Then join us online or by mail-in form.

Ode to the Typewriter

I bought this great vintage typewriter on eBay, just for making typewriter quilts.  Isn't she grand?  I love the stature of her - big and bold with great lines.

I have made a drawing of her, not too detailed, but bringing in her best features.

I took my drawing and reduced it down on my printer.  I have placed my drawing under a Goddess Sheet (made by Mistyfuse)  It's the perfect place to build my typewriter with the pre-Mistyfused fabrics.

I begin to build the middle portion, like a patchwork

close up of the upper section, where the teeth are. 

She is now built and ready to be moved off of the Goddess Sheet and onto a piece of fabric.

A close up of the keys, that were carefully hand drawn, and fussy cut out.  It was sort of a labor intensive process

This is where that beautiful linen comes in again.  I placed the typewriter directly on the linen (it too has Mistyfuse on the back of it).  Got everything pressed with my hot dry iron, then trimmed the wool blended felt around the edges, and then backed it with the same, for stability.

Then I hand stitched all the way around the typewriter and the edges of the art quilt.  It measures 15x14.  I think she's pretty fine, and I love the look of the black and white fabrics on the linen.   Stay tuned, because I am working on a series of these quilts, all different and fun.