The theme for this week’s virtual quilt contest is Summer Vacation. Grab yourself a cup of coffee and browse these fabulous quilts! Thanks to everyone that entered.

Two lucky winners of this week’s contest will each win a layer cake of their choice from the Fat Quarter Shop.

Now it’s time for you to vote for your favourite!!

• Voting is open Friday – Sunday @ 11:59 p.m.
• One vote per IP address (NOT email address), so have your family and friends cast a ballot for their favourite quilt (from home if you send it to coworkers)
• Winner announced Monday!
• New: in the event of a tie at the end of voting, 5 random Facebook quilters will be asked to vote again to break the tie.

Next week’s theme is Log Cabins. I’m looking forward to seeing the fabulous quilts. Remember, interpretation of the theme is up to you. Get your cameras out!

Facebook, email subscribers and RSS readers: You need to visit the Quilting Gallery blog to vote: CLICK HERE

I had the great pleasure of leaving my home in what some people this summer are calling the Baked Apple (NYC) for a day, and heading out to Milwaukee where I visited the Milwaukee Art Museum and the exhibition "American Quilts: Selections from the Winterthur Collection". The show is on until September 6.

I was excited to see selections from one of the finest collections of early American quilts when my car pulled up to the Museum and I beheld the jaw-dropping futuristic architecture.

And inside, the museum was just as stunning! That’s Lake Michigan you see out the window.

In the Museum lobby, the signage for the exhibition shows a detail of an appliqué counterpane quilt by an unknown maker from around 1800-1825. It’s influenced by Indian palampores (a type of hand-painted and mordant-dyed bed cover made for export) and features birds and a butterfly cut from fabrics printed by John Hewson, a Philadelphia calico printer who learned his trade in London.

Here’s the quilt in its full vibrant glory depicting a tree in flower with curling branches and heart-shaped leaves. It’s so unique and feels to me like the tree of life. (Photo credit: Maker unknown, Appliqué counterpane, 1800–25. Cotton, 100 x 92 in. Courtesy, Winterthur, Museum purchase with funds provided by Mr. Samuel Pettit in memory of his wife, Sally Pettit)

Mel Buchanan, an assistant curator at the Milwaukee Art Museum and one of the organizers of "American Quilts", showed me some of her favorite pieces among the more than 40 objects of beauty and fine art. She pointed out the Quaker quilt in a starburst style that was made by Rebecca Scattergood Savery in 1827 for a marriage that sadly never took place because a split in the Quaker church divided the two families into different religious camps. There are 6,708 patches of printed cotton in this stunning quilt that shows an artist’s eye for color play, patterning and abstraction.

(Photo credit: Rebecca Scattergood Savery, Pieced quilt, 1827. Top: cotton; backing: cotton, 132 x 128 in. Courtesy, Winterthur, Museum purchase with funds provided by the estate of Mrs. Samuel Pettit and additional funds by Mr. Samuel Pettit in memory of his wife)

This shot gives an idea of the scale of the quilts and the top-notch installation. The quilt on the right was made by Fanny Johnson McPherson between 1835 and 1850. She was the granddaughter of the first governor of Maryland and a cousin to the wife of John Quincy Adams.

Here’s a detail from a wholecloth quilt that was used by Henry Francis du Pont. It shows American presidents and features an encircled Andrew Jackson. Winterthur Museum & Country Estate in Delaware is du Pont’s former home. He was one of the 20th century’s most avid antique collectors and horticulturists. Quilts were one of his obsessions and many of the rare textiles of the late 1700s and early 1800s featured in this exhibition were collected by du Pont himself.

A detail from Martha Agry Vaughn’s quilt (ca. 1805) made of fascinating and rare fabrics like dress silks, cotton velvet printed with silver spangles evokes memories of glamour and party dresses.

Here are some more views of the exhibition:

This is a detail from the oldest quilt on view. Dating from the 17th century, the color is actually a bright goldenrod yellow.

This detail of a mosaic-pieced cotton bedcover of beautifully stitched hexagons by Sarah Moon Cadbury Cash was made in England, but was given to her American great-nieces when they visited from Philadelphia.

I thought this miniature bed (1800-1825), complete with its original quilt, hangings, mattress, bolster and pillows, was charming, and gave insight into early American bedrooms.

The amazing works in "American Quilts: Selections from the Winterthur Collection" document the lives of their creators – from making political statements to celebrating marriages – while providing a glimpse into the birth of the American textile industry. Through skillful needlework and careful color coordination, the quilt makers transformed an array of fabrics, both common and exotic, into extraordinary works of art. Yes, the quilts engage graphic patterning and subtle color harmony, but they also tell stories from popular literature and politics, or feature individual scraps of fabric that travelled from far off places as part of the global economy.

It’s worth a trip to Milwaukee to see the show and the Museum, but if you can’t make it, you might want to check out the book "Quilts in a Material World" , by Linda Eaton, a 208-page hardcover that provides a rare opportunity to view the strengths of the Winterthur quilt collection.

Over the weekend, I got caught up on Bradie’s Summer Star Sampler quilt and got back to working on Rachel’s Pinwheel Sampler quilt. This quilt got put on hold a couple of months ago, but I’d really like to finish it this summer.

Here’s my Block 6:

See blocks 1 to 5 here.

I also cut out Blocks 7 and 8 as well as the sashing, cornerstones, scrappy binding, and top/bottom border fabrics.

I was inspired by this quilt here, to add top and bottom borders of squares. The quilt should finish around 56″x68″.

So, what have you been working on?

If you’re blog is not showing the latest posts, there are generally two reasons: (1) your blog’s RSS feed is broken or does not exist; or (2) you are not using the Title box in your blogging software. See this post for blogger/blogpost help.

Interesting fact: Of the 4,338 blogs in the Quilting Bloggers directory, 3,393 are blogspot web addresses (does not include domains hosted at blogspot). More than 78%. ‎236 are WordPress.com blogs or 5%.

More than 200 blogs were removed from the directory as they no longer exist.

You can help keep the directory up to date. If you see a blog that is no longer relevant or is broken, you can click the little cloud/comment-like icon that appears on the right side of the blog title. Enter the info on the next page, then I’ll get a notice to check it out.

Hope you like the new changes!!

This week’s theme is Summer Vacation and is sponsored by the Fat Quarter Shop. Two lucky winners will each receive a layer cake of their choice.

Fat Quarter Shop

Hello again, Quilting Gallery fans! I hope you’ve had a restful summer with plenty of A/C blasting!

With summer comes this week’s Quilting Gallery weekly contest theme, summer vacations — where has this season taken you? Hopefully somewhere relaxing, cool, and with Internet access so you could still keep up with Fat Quarter Shop happenings!

It’s been quite a summer for us, with a slew of giveaways at our blog and Christmas galore in the shop! All of our Christmas lines (check out our Christmas department for an idea of how much we are looking forward to Winter!) have arrived, as well as many of our Autumn collections.

We may even have a great sale or two up our sleeves to make room for more of these fabrics, so sign up for our newsletter to stay updated! Or, "Like" us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for other easy ways to see shop updates! We have started posting weekly Facebook and Twitter specials you won’t want to miss.

Our TWO prizes for the top two winners this week are Layer Cakes of the winner’s choice! Here’s one possibility:

Once again, a big thanks to Michele for letting us participate in this week’s challenge, and good luck to all of you Summer Vacation-ers!”

To enter the weekly contest, read the rules and guidelines, then submit your quilt photo by Thursday evening (EDT). Voting will start on Friday and last until Sunday night.

Blog It

Please share the logo below on your own blog. The more contestants, the more exciting the contests!

Blocks 1 and 2

Blocks 3 and 4

Blocks 5 and 6

Thanks to Bradie for the fabulous instructions. These blocks have gone together so well. Are you doing this quilt-along too? Share a link below in the comments.

Click here, to join the FUN!! If, like me, you were a little intimidated by this sampler quilt, don’t worry. Bradie’s doing a beginner version too, which uses the same 12 main blocks, but not the large centre one. Click here to see it.

For more inspiration, check out the Flickr group.

The theme for this week’s virtual quilt contest is Seashore. Grab yourself a cup of coffee and browse these fabulous quilts! Thanks to everyone that entered.

The winner of this week’s contest will win a $30 gift certificate from Around the Block Quilters Shop.

Now it’s time for you to vote for your favourite!!

• Voting is open Friday – Sunday @ 11:59 p.m.
• One vote per IP address (NOT email address), so have your family and friends cast a ballot for their favourite quilt (from home if you send it to coworkers)
• Winner announced Monday!
• New: in the event of a tie at the end of voting, 5 random Facebook quilters will be asked to vote again to break the tie.

Next week’s theme is Summer Vacation. I’m looking forward to seeing the fabulous quilts. Remember, interpretation of the theme is up to you. Get your cameras out!

Facebook, email subscribers and RSS readers: You need to visit the Quilting Gallery blog to vote: CLICK HERE

Congratulations to #120 Avery Claire for winning Patsy Thompson’s Free Motion Fun…with Feathers! DVD. I’ll be sending you an email to get your mailing address.

Here’s Avery’s tip:

I absolutely adore feathers….they look so elegant on a quilt. My favorite quilting tip is to do a LOT of practice quilting by making baby quilts. They don’t take much time and you always have a gift on hand and what better way to get really good at your quilting!

Thanks to everyone that entered such fabulous tips.

Thanks to Patsy for the great donation!

I had the pleasure to meet Julie from jaybird quilts a couple of months back in Lancaster. Her tutorials are always fantastic.

While I don’t really collect coupons, I love the size and shape of this little clutch. It’ll be perfect for storing needles, thread and scissors for applique-to-go projects.

Wilma Eichler

Christina Fokkema

This week’s theme is Seashore and is sponsored by Around the Block Quilters Shop in Illinois. One lucky winner will win a $30 gift certificate.

Maybe the winner will use it to Celebrate Summer! by choosing one of these fun fabrics:

Summer Fun by Deb Strain for Moda

Surfin' Monkeys - Aqua

Surfin' Monkeys - Yellow/Orange

Beach Birdies

To enter the weekly contest, read the rules and guidelines, then submit your quilt photo by Thursday evening (EDT). Voting will start on Friday and last until Sunday night.

Blog It

Please share the logo below on your own blog. The more contestants, the more exciting the contests!