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Quiltfest Oasis Rocks the Desert

Quilts, quilts and more quilts will roll into the Palm Springs Convention Center October 6-8, 2016.  Now in its third year, Quiltfest Oasis brings the ever popular craft to southern California with the first National Modern Quilt Competition, Mid-Century Mod. While newly created,  these competition quilts will have a Mid-Century Mod feel to them. The festival will also include the traditional, innovative and wall quilts that everyone has come to enjoy.

The World Quilt Competition also rolls into beautiful Palm Springs as a special exhibit. Quilts from ten countries will be on display as part of this exhibit. Look for the country flags to identify the quilts from each participating country. Other special exhibits include A Slice of Oz by Quiltfest instructor Gloria Loughman of Australia, quilts by the 3-D Designing Desert Divas, California’s Hues, Tints, Shades & Tones presented by the Southern California Council of Quilt Guilds, Modern Simplicity by Kathleen Probst, Oasis by SAQA SoCal, and many more.

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Alinea #5 by Kathleen Probst

Quilt festival vendors will also roll into the convention center with items not only for quilters, but also for home sewers, knitters, wearable artists, textile artists and other crafters. These merchants will rock the show floor with the latest gadgets and gizmos, and fabric (lots of fabric!) to help festival attendees create their own stunning works of art.

Festival attendees may opt to learn new quilting techniques or brush up on old ones from the Quiltfest’s internationally renowned faculty. Joe Cunningham, Libs Elliott and Gloria Loughman are headlining the show. A Modernism Presentation & Tour, presented by Kurt Cyr (who you may recognize him from his appearances on HGTV) will also be available on Friday morning.

Quiltfest Oasis is Thursday thru Saturday, October 6-8, from 10am to 6pm each day. Attendees who roll into the quilt show this October will certainly not be disappointed.

World Quilt New England Instructor Highlights

World Quilt New England, to be held at the Radisson Center of New Hampshire in Manchester from August 18-20, 2016 features a world-renowned faculty who have all developed their own quilting techniques, styles and interpretations. However, they all have one thing in common: they love to quilt. Included on the faculty are the talented Marjan Kluepfel and David Sirota, well-known fiber artists, quilters and instructors. Taking a workshop from Marjan or David will inspire and educate – prompting a curious quilter to create something extraordinary of his or her own!

Marjan Kluepfel
Marjan-Studio-1Marjan Kluepfel was born and raised in the Netherlands, but has lived in many places – Florida, Hawaii, South Carolina and Australia. Now residing in Northern California, Marjan teaches and exhibits quilts across the globe. Her main artistic influence is nature; most of her designs are organic. Marjan pays close attention to color and texture, “I like to work with color and movement in my pieces. The bright colors I use express my positive outlook on life.” She uses many different surface design techniques such as fabric dyeing, painting, printing, pleating and machine quilting and embroidery. She will offer three, full day, 9 am to 4 pm, workshops at World Quilt New England:

  • Thursday, August 18: Bobbin Drawing, Thread Painting &Free-Motion Machine Embroidery
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  • Friday, August 19: Zen and the Art of Free Form Fiberscapes
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  • Saturday, August 20: Shimmering Dragonflies & Sparkling Flowers
    KluepfelWQNE16_008aKluepfelWQNE16_008c

 

David Sirota
David Sirota & Students '12David’s friend Amy taught him the basics of quilt making. Following this start, he learned just about everything he knows about quilting from watching Simply Quilts. He then spent the next 13 years looking for the quickest and easiest ways to complete a quilt. As a result, he developed the No More Tears© method of foundation or paper piecing. David has taught this workshop at World Quilt New England for the past several years, changing the way most of his students paper piece … forever! David and his students can’t imagine going back to the old way. David is pictured surrounded by his students. David is teaching two full day, 9 am to 4 pm, workshops at World Quilt New England:

  • Thursday, August 18: Chevron Star – No More Tears Method©
    Scrappy Chevron Star Good One
  • Saturday, August 20: Storm at Sea – No More Tears Method©
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World Quilt Competition Countdown

There are just 10 days remaining to submit your entry to the prestigious 20th annual World Quilt Competition: click here for the online and printable entry forms. The entry deadline is Monday, July 18, 2016.

Enjoy some of the wonderful entries from the 2015 competition:

Coco (The Quilt) by Neroli Henderson, Australia
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Pro und Kontra by Martina Hilgert-Vervoort, Germany
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My Green by Maya Chaimovich, Israel
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Plainly Not Simple by Denise Havlan, USA
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Traditions at the White Swan Returns to PNQE

White SwanEvery September Dick & Wendy Shank, whose Traditions at the White Swan store has been based in Hagerstown, Maryland for over 25 years, travel to Pennsylvania to participate in the Merchants Mall at the Pennsylvania National Quilt Extravaganza. Though their shop originally started out as a combination crafting and quilting store, today they devote all of their resources entirely to quilting.

Traditions at the White Swan features an extensive inventory of designer fabrics including reproduction prints, batiks, and flannels, all from top fabric manufacturers such as Moda, Marcus Brothers, Wilmington, Timeless Treasures, P & B, and Maywood. When you visit the Traditions booth at PNQE, you’ll be greeted by inspirational project samples along with the patterns and kits to go with them. They also carry a selection of notions.

Dick & WendyBe sure to stop by and say hello to Dick & Wendy at the Quiltfest this September 15-18, 2016 at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, PA (Valley Forge area). They always look forward to meeting the creative needs of quilters. Their goal is to provide the best customer service, helpful project advice, ongoing support, and high quality products. Dick, Wendy and their staff are ever willing to assist customers with questions and projects, big or small!

Dyeing Workshops @ PNQE

Pennsylvania National Quilt Extravaganza, September 15-18, 2016 in Oaks/Valley Forge, PA features an impressive instructor line-up offering a variety of workshops and lectures. This year’s Extravaganza features well-known instructors including the very talented and informative Lisa White Reber.

Lisa White Reber, who has been quilting since 1994, started dyeing fabric in 1996 after seeing a demonstration on a television show. Lisa’s first few squares turned into a few quarter yards, and that turned into buying 100 meters of white fabric at a time. A few years and a few dye classes later, it was time to take the plunge and dye for a living. Lisa new vends as Dippy Dyes at major quilts shows where she also teaches her wonderful fabric dyeing classes.

A student wrote, “Lisa is an amazingly talented artist with the mind of a Ph.D. in chemistry when it comes to the science of creating colors. She is a dream to work with…exceedingly kind and generous with her expertise.”

Lisa will be offering two dyeing classes at PNQE:
On Friday, September 16, Lisa will teach Exploring Deconstructed (Breakdown) Screen Printing. Suitable for all levels of dyeing skills, this class explores thickened MX dyes applied to a silk screen and then printed from the screen onto your fabric. This is much easier to do than to describe – look at the sample pictures below to see the results.
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Lisa’s second, full-day dyeing workshop at PNQE is on Saturday, September 17, Machine Stitched Shibori Vest. Shibori is a Japanese term meaning ‘shaped resist’ dyeing and encompasses a variety of techniques. You will learn a fast method for stitched resists along with the basics of dyeing with MX. The patterns made by many different stitch and thread combinations will also be explored. This workshop is also suitable for all levels of dyeing skills, beginners through advanced. The images below are examples of what you will create in class.
REBER_PNQE16_019Click here to register for Lisa’s workshops at PNQE. We’re sure you will learn a lot from this talented dyeing teacher.

World Quilt Competition Entry Deadline

Who will win Best of World in 2016? It might be you!

The entry deadline for U.S. entries to the 20th annual World Quilt Competition is Monday, July 18. Printable and online entry forms for U.S. entrants only are available from quiltfest.com.

The international entry deadline was last month. Thanks to the efforts of our international coordinators, we received a very strong response for the 2016 competition.

To view the spectacular winning entries from the 2015 World Quilt Competition, please visit quiltfest.com.

The World Quilt Competition at World Quilt New England, August 18-20, 2016 in Manchester, New Hampshire, is an amazing opportunity to see the work of quilt artists from across the United States and from aaround the world. Enjoy viewing the diverse talents and techniques captured through quilt making!

Best of World 2015:  Free Tibet by Meri Henriques Vahl, USA
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