Amy Stewart Winsor's Newsletter |
Dear Quilting Friends, Please send me an email amywinsor@juno.com if you do not wish to receive these newsletters. This newsletter can also be found on my website www.WinsorArtQuilts.com
Amy's Tip of the Month: Develop confidence in making short-term decisions. When making a quilt, tell yourself that each small choice is not such a big deal. When you make little decisions, you enable yourself to move forward. Can't think of a quilting design for that block? Hand- or machine-quilt a simple design, and add more stitching to make it more complicated as you see fit. Does the quilt top need more pizzazz? Lay some tentative applique shapes all over the surface and decide whether you want to stitch them down. You can always take out the stitches and go back a step if you don't like how it turns out. But for the most part, the little step will work fine, and then you can advance one more time. And so on. And eventually your quilt will be finished, instead of sitting there in an unsewn heap.
(If you want to read any previous Tips of the Month, just go to my website and click on "Newsletters" to see the Tip of the Month Archives.)
Local classes: I will be teaching locally at Elegant Stitches, Cary, NC numerous times this fall. My first class is scheduled Monday July 30. "Crooked Log Cabin for the Precision Impaired". This will be followed a month later by my brand-new class, "Finishing Touches: Slick Tricks for Borders, Embellishments, and Bindings." In the Finishing Touches classes, I have put together all the best finishing techniques which I usually teach during my other 5 workshops. I will also be offering "Curvaceous Houses" and "Crazy Quilting" during the fall. See calendar listings below. Magazine articles: I have had two magazine articles published this year. "Couched Quilts" was in Bernina's "Through the Needle" magazine,Issue 22, June 2007 issue, and "I Have a Style" was published in "Quilter's Home Magazine", March-April 2007 issue. MAQF 2008: I will be teaching at MidAtlantic Quilt Festival in Hampton, VA Feb. 20-23,2008.
Announcing my new class: "Finishing Touches: Slick Tricks for Borders, Embellishments, and Bindings." Do you have quilt tops begging for a creative border solution? Do you dislike the drudgery of sandwiching or binding? Learn creative finishing skills that are perfect for precision-impaired quilters. Make small samples of the Best Machine Binding, Pillowcased Edges Couched with Yarn, and Amy's innovative Haphazard Piecing. See demonstrations of numerous techniques and view Amy's large trunk show. Zigzag sewing machine required. For the first time I am teaching this six hour class, I have broken it down into two three-hour classes, titled Part 1 and Part 2. These can be taken separately, you do not have to sign up for both. I have put together all the best finishing techniques which I usually teach during my other five workshops. See calendar listings below.
Where I have taught quilting in the past: 2002 Gifted Hands Guild Cary, NC 2003 Asheville Quilt Guild Asheville, NC 2004 Greenville Quilters' Guild Greenville, NC 2005 Foothills Quilters Guild Shelby, NC 2006 Quilt Symposium 2006 Winston-Salem, NC 2007 Utah Valley Quilt Guild, Provo, UT, Colonial Quilters Guild, Bethlehem, PA, Friendship Star Quilters Guild, Gaithersburg, MD, New Bern Fabric Center, New Bern, NC, Charlotte Quilters Guild, Charlotte, NC 2008 MidAtlantic Quilt Festival, Hampton, VA, Pinetree Quilters Guild, Apex, NC, Greater San Antonio Quilt Guild, San Antonio TX, Hearts and Hands ECA/Quilters Guild, Sanford, NC, Pamlico River Quilters Guild, Washington, NC.
NEWS ABOUT ME TRIP TO SWITZERLAND: PIEDMONT ARTS ASSOCIATION: My quilt, "In the Limelight" was featured on the catalog cover of the 2006 Eastern Music Festival, based in Greensboro, NC. I was thrilled to find out that about 50,000 people received copies of the catalog.
"Decadence" was accepted into "Small Wonders VII", which was shown at the Spring International Quilt Festival in Rosemont, Illinois, and also at the International Quilt Festival Houston in Oct-Nov 2005. This is also one of my "Frazzled Fancies" series of quilts. I curated a special exhibit entitled, "Logging On", which featured log cabin quilts, made by me and five other quilters (Jane Hall, Flavin Glover, Lyric Kinard, Lynne Harrill, and Karen Zeher). This exhibit was seen at both venues of "World Quilt and Textiles" in August 2005, and at Pennsylvania National Quilt Extravaganza, in Sept. 2005. My quilt, "Magic Carpet Ride" was published in fall 2005 in the book, "I Remember Mama", by Karey Bresenhan. You can see the quilt on my website, click on "Gallery". It was made from a satin quilt top which was made by my mother in the 1980's. It was included in the "I Remember Mama" travelling exhibit, which was shown at the International Quilt Festival 2004. My quilt, "Missing Ingredient" was accepted into the National Quilting Association show 2005, in Columbus, OH and in the "Art Quilts: Journeys" exhibit. "Groovy Basket of Blessings" and "Book of Mormon Stories" were accepted into Quilters Heritage Celebration March 2005 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. "In the Limelight"is one of my series of Crooked Log Cabins, and was juried into the MidAtlantic Quilt Festival, in Hampton, VA, Feb. 24-27, 2005. "Sunday Morning" is featured on the cover of a regional quilting publication, "Southeast Showtime Quilters' Guide and Directory", Southeast edition, 2005. Many of my quilts were in a two-person exhibit entitled, "On the Bright Side: Art Quilts by Mickey Depre and Amy Stewart Winsor". The exhibit was displayed at the Pennsylvania National Quilt Extravaganza" Sept. 2004, and "Pacific International Quilt Festival", in Oct. 2004. "Make an Appointment" won Second Place, Professional, at the 2004 Rockome Gardens quilt competition, in Arcola, Illinois. I won five ribbons at the N.C.Quilt Symposium held at Peace College in May 2004. First Place on "Make an Appointment", Third Place on "Mystery of the Seven Stars", Third Place on "Mother Nature's Son", Honorable Mention on "Crazy in Black", and Judge's Choice on "Mother Nature's Son". "Creations of a Precision Impaired Quilter", Quilts by Amy Stewart Winsor. "Groovy Basket of Blessings" and "Book of Mormon Stories" were exhibited in the National Quilting Association Show in Peoria, IL, June 2004. A photo of "The Opera Quilt" was featured in the Journal of the International Quilt Association, Winter 2004, p. 16. Two pictures of me were in "Quilting Arts" magazine, Spring 2004, p. 46. I am the one in the long sleeve black lace blouse with a black crown with bright colored yoyos. "Hurricane Party" won a Judge's Choice ribbon from judge Roberta Horton at the Pacific International Quilt Festival in October 2003. It was also shown in the "Elements" exhibit, held at the Page-Walker in Cary, NC April-May 2004. "Elements" is also travelling to the Pennsylvania National Quilt Extravaganza 2004 in Fort Washington, PA, and to the Pacific International Quilt Festival 2004 in Santa Clara, CA. Three of my quilts are featured on the cover of a book which came out Oct. 2003. The book, "Spray Fun", contains instructions for quilts made using temporary spray adhesive. My quilts, "Child's Play","Squiggly", and "Meditation in Green" are on the cover. It is published by Sewcraft Inc. Those same three quilts were displayed at the Kagaoshima (Japan) Quilter's Association "International Friendship Quilt Show" in Japan, November 2003. "In the Beginning" is featured on the cover of a regional quilting publication, "Showtime Quilters' Guide and Directory", Southwest edition. I sold this quilt in April 2003 to Dr. William Gurley. "The Flame of Hope", my quilt about the terrorist attacks of 9-11, is on display at the Knoxville Museum of Art through April 18, 2004. An image of "The Flame of Hope" was featured in the museum newsletter, and in City View magazine, a local Knoxville publication, and in a column from the Knoxville News-Sentinel, Feb.26, 2004. In addition, "The Flame of Hope" was chosen as one of only 40 from the international travelling exhibit "AMERICA: From the Heart"to be exhibited in the Dairy Barn cultural Arts Center in Athens, Ohio, Oct. 7-Nov. 9, 2003. Jan. 2002-June 2004: "The Flame of Hope" toured internationally in the "America: From the Heart" exhibit. The quilts were all made in response to the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. As of June 2003, the collection had travelled to 14 venues, including Barcelona, Spain, and the Spring International Quilt Festival in Chicago, being seen by an estimated combined total of 150,000 people. (See below under "Publications" for information about the book.) "Weekend Getaway" won a blue ribbon in the small pieced category at the 2003 North Carolina Quilt Symposium. It was exhibited in the PAQA-South Members Only show, "Art Quilts: Layers of Meaning" at the Page-Walker in Cary Oct.2003. My quilt "My Stars and Yoyos", was purchased Jan. 2003 by Karey Bresenhan for the collection of the International Quilt Festival and Quilts, Inc. This is one of the biggest honors I have had. (The quilt she purchased just prior to mine was Ricky Tims' "Songe d' Automne", which is my favorite quilt of all time.) My commissioned quilt, "The Opera Quilt", was installed in the stairwell of the A.J. Fletcher Opera Theater at the BTI Center for the Performing Arts in Raleigh on Jan. 29, 2003. The Cary News ran a story about it on Feb. 6,2003 and the Raleigh News and Observer ran a story on March 5, 2003. See photos on my website, click on "Gallery". Two issues of The Journal of the International Quilt Association, "Quilts: A World of Beauty", Winter 2003 and Fall 2003, had articles about the bleach damage done to my quilt, "Make an Appointment", and to Arlene Blackburn's quilt, "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Elvis". Karey Bresenhan, IQA co-founder and director of the International Quilt Festival, wrote of Arlene and me, and two other quilters, "they are all truly a credit to the quilt world" (Cool!) The Winter 2003 magazine featured photos of two of my quilts: "Make an Appointment" and "Book of Mormon Stories". (Note: the man who threw the bleach was sentenced to 6 months in the Texas prison system, starting June 2, 2003.) ) PUBLICATIONS My article, "Do Your Quilts Have a Style?" was published in "Quilters' Home" magazine, March-April, 2007 issue. "Magic Carpet Ride" is included in the book, "I Remember Mama", 2005. "Sunday Morning" is featured on the cover of a regional quilting publication, "Southeast Showtime Quilters' Guide and Directory", Southeast edition. "In the Beginning" is on the cover of the "Showtime Quilters Guide and Directory" Jan-June 2004, Southwest edition. The 2003 American Quilters' Society Quilt Art Engagement Calendar had a picture of "Make An Appointment" on the week of Sept. 1, 2003. America: From the Heart: Quilters Remember September 11, 2001 features "The Flame of Hope" on page 39. C & T Publishing is donating all profits to the "Families of Freedom" Fund. Great American Quilts 2003 includes "Make An Appointment" on page 138. It is published by Oxmoor House. Three of my quilts are featured on the cover of "Spray Fun", which contains instructions for quilts made using temporary spray adhesive. It is published by Sewcraft Inc..
amywinsor@juno.com http://WinsorArtQuilts.com |