World Quilt New England is coming to the Radisson Center of New Hampshire on August 17-20, 2016 and is bringing its world renowned faculty with it! Our lecture lineup features an impressive group of women, among them Rosalie Dace and Bonnie Dwyer. The two will speak at the World Quilt New England’s luncheon lectures.

Internationally renowned instructor Rosalie Dace will travel from Durban, South Africa to speak at the 12:30pm, Saturday August 20, 2016 luncheon lecture. Rosalie will explore the ideas of Old Traditions, and New Directions. Rosalie is a South African studio artist with a background in art and education. Not only has she spent years teaching and lecturing but also judging and exhibiting around the globe. Although she values tradition she believes that a quilt should say something about its time and place in history. Rosalie’s colorful, South African, surroundings inspire her textile work, which gives all her pieces a particular character.

Rosalie’s lecture will speak to the abstract and give insight to difficult questions asked by quilters. She will shed light on questions such as: Why do we take such obsessive pleasure and delight (and a measure of agony) in making our quilts?; What drives us to seek out new directions and techniques?; What are the traditions we work from and why? Her talk will ask listeners to think outside of the box, and reflect on the roots and traditions of quilting, as well as where we go from here.

Rosalie’s luncheon lecture won’t be the only one that asks its listeners to reflect. Bonnie Dwyer will speak at the 12:30pm Thursday, August 18, luncheon lecture on The Roots of Modern Quilting. Bonnie’s professional experience in the textile arts community began in the 1980s. However, her sewing experience reaches back much farther than that. She began to sew at the age of nine and grew up surrounded by family members who were prolific at knitting, tatting, crochet, embroidery, clothing construction and, of course, quilt making. She believes that the modern quilt revival of the early 21st century is quilt history in the making.

The Roots of Modern Quilting lecture will showcase Bonnie’s study and findings about the Modern Quilt Guilds and how they reflect the development of modern quilting. This lecture will help its listeners understand what modern quilting is, what it looks like, and who and what it influences.

To register for these lectures or for more information on all World Quilt New England activities, please click here.

Quiltfest Oasis Palm Springs
Octoer 6-8, 2016
Quilting is the Best Way to Travel

For those interested in breaking borders to find that perfect quilting design or who simply want to try a new technique, Quiltfest Oasis Palm Springs offers a wide variety of workshops and lectures with an international faculty including Libs Elliott from Canada and Australian Gloria Loughman. Both instructors will be at the Palm Springs Convention Center, October 6 – 8, 2016 offering participants the opportunity to experience a medley of multi-cultural quilting and textile art.

Libs Elliott is a quilter and textile designer who explores the intersection of technology and traditional craft by using generative design to build handmade quilts. A deep appreciation for craftsmanship, design history and future-focused applications are all reflected in her work. As a quilter, Libs’ ongoing project is an exploration in how modern technology can transform a traditional craft into modern functional art without abandoning the inherent pleasures of handcrafted products. We have become accustomed to identical mass-produced goods, but Libs believes many of us also crave personalized objects that communicate our individual identities. Libs’ goal is to underline the importance of craft as art in our contemporary age by producing bespoke modern heirlooms. Just like quilts from a century ago, these are pieces that can be passed down through generations. All her quilts are randomly designed using a programming language called Processing. This project began in 2012 as a collaboration with designer and technologist, Joshua Davis, who provided the original code framework. Using Processing allows Libs to quickly edit the code and generate random compositions from simple geometric and traditional quilt block shapes. Libs has been quilting since 2009, and lives and works in Toronto, Canada.

In Palm Springs, Libs will teach 3 full day workshops including Dynamic Stripes on Wednesday, October 5 and repeating the class on Thursday, the 6^th. On Saturday, October 8 she will present Embrace the Chaos – An Exercise in Controlled Randomness. Pictured: Dynamic Stripes workshop sample

In addition to the workshops, Libs will also present a lecture titled Quilting with Code: The Quilts of Libs Elliott. In this lecture, Libs will discuss her ongoing exploration of how technology can transform a traditional craft into modern, functional art. She will give attendees a peek into how she works, what inspires her designs and where she finds balance.

Australian Gloria Loughman lives by the sea, on the beautiful Bellarine Peninsula, in Victoria. Her initiation into the world of quilting occurred approximately 20 years ago. After completing studies in design and color, she began to make her large vivid landscape quilts depicting the Australian bush. Having the opportunity to travel to many unique and fascinating parts of the Australian continent, she finds herself continually challenged to reproduce these images in fabric. These quilts have won many major awards internationally. If you have wanted to learn the techniques that make Gloria a prizewinner, here is your chance. However, be sure to sign-up early – Gloria’s classes fill quickly. She really enjoys sharing her knowledge and skills with others. She challenges students to design their own quilts, but is also happy to provide patterns for those less confident.

Gloria will teach two, full-day workshops at Quiltfest Oasis, Light Up Your Landscape on Thursday, and Distinctive Doorways on Friday. Pictured: Light Up Your Landscape class sample.

In addition, Gloria will present a luncheon/lecture on Saturday, Share the Journey. Come and be entertained, listening to a humorous account of life as a contemporary quilt maker, teacher and author. Learn of Gloria’s inspiration and the techniques she uses to create her prize winning quilts.  Laugh as you hear of the challenges of working with students around the world, and view beautiful images that will inspire you to start creating your own designs.

Gloria’s collection of quilts titled, A Slice of Oz will also be featured at Quiltfest Oasis as a special exhibit.

Mancuso Show Management is excited to announce that BERNINA sewing machines will be represented at Quiltfest Oasis Palm Springs by Ralph’s Vacuum & Sewing Center from Palm Desert, California.

BERNINA, a leader in home sewing and embroidery machines, has a strong and loyal following.  Founded in 1893, this company from Steckborn, Switzerland has continued to be on the cutting edge of the quilting world with innovations that include the BERNINA Stitch Regulator, touchscreen programming, CutWork Tool and CutWork software, PaintWork and CrystalWork software.

Ralph’s Vacuum & Sewing Center has served the Palm Desert, California community since 1976, offering sales, service, and repair of sewing machines and vacuum cleaners. The staff at the store has a high level of knowledge about the sewing and vacuum industries.  They are quality-oriented, always paying close attention to detail.  With their 35+ years of experience, they are ready to assist festival participants in selecting the BERNINA sewing machine that meets their needs.

Quiltfest Oasis Palm Springs takes place October 6-8, 2016 in the Palm Springs Convention Center. Show hours are 10am to 6pm daily.  With over 500 quilts and works of textile art on display, festival participants will surely be inspired to create their own work of art and Ralph’s Vacuum & Sewing will be ready to help with their line-up of BERNINA machines.