Saturday Special: Time Travel and Dear Jane Goes Psychedelic

Hey there, Q-Bies…

We’re shivering here, and not with the crispness of the season, either. It’s excitement! In less than two weeks, we’re Houston-bound for Fall Market (which, for quilt journalists, is truly like Nirvana and the Bataan Death March rolled into one). And when it’s over, we’ll be sated…no, overwhelmed by all the sights, sounds, new products and projects, conversations, new companies and new ideas and trends we see flooding the market.

Oh, we’ll keep you up on things, with posts about what we saw and who we talked with. Keep an eye on our Facebook page, where we’ll keep a running feed of pictures of all the aisle action. For now, though, we’re setting appointments and starting to pack. And dealing with really important issues, such as getting that mani-pedi scheduled…..

Blog Post of the Week

Some of us remember the 1970s. Most of us won’t, though, having been mere zygotes (or even more ephemeral forms) at the time. But regardless of your age, it’s your quilter’s eye that matters, and pretty much all of us find it interesting to examine the various styles and trends in the overall quilting picture. And whether your knowledge of this decade comes from TV re-runs or from living it, you should take a look at what Bill Volckening of Portland, Oregon, is doing.

Bill is a quilt collector and preservationist, and lately has been focusing on quilts from the 1970s. These quilts are really fascinating, coming from a time when Pop Art was flooding the consumer art world, but because many are made with polyester knits, they are often dismissed by collectors. Go to his blog http://willywonkyquilts.blogspot.com/ and see some of the 70s quilts he’s unearthed, and read what he has to say about them.

Quilt Pick of the Week

We don’t care who you are…you’ve gotta love a Dear Jane quilt done all in Kaffe Fassett fabrics! This one was pieced by a quilter named Gwen, and quilted by longarmer Judi Madsen of Green Fairy Quilts in St. George, Utah.

Judi blogs regularly about her quilting for various clients, as well as her own fine piecing, and we were cruising her blog when we spotted this honey.

Now, the Kaffe-ish Dear Jane has apparently seen a lot of cyber play already, but a good thing deserves more study. You’ll find the full frontal quilt pic here, and some chat about Judi’s work on it and WIP pics here. Took 70 hours to quilt, it did!

You just can’t hide talent or quality, folks.

Q-Bies, if you stumble on a blog post or a quilt that just screams out to be shared with your fellow GenQ-ers, then dish! Just send an e-mail with the pertinent link to Melissa at Melissa@generationqmagazine.com, and tell us what captivates you about your pick.