Dimac Quilt

Summer Has Finally Arrived, At Last!

June 7, 2009

Summer has finally arrived in Montreal and I am busy getting ready to “move camp’ for the summer. The star quilts will be shipped to Nova Scotia on Monday for instillation in late June at the Museum of Industry. There are many decisions to make: What reference books are absolutely necessary for the summer; how much material should I take for personal projects; what research projects will I complete, and; what will I focus on?

Talking about decisions  the vintage and antique non -star design quilts used in the book Canadian Heritage Quilting will have to stay in Montreal West for the summer since there is simply not enough space in my car. I am planning at least four  book signings  in the next few months. Check the schedule for dates and locations.

This summer there will also be an exhibit of my Apron Collection, so I have been shuffling them around trying to decide which of the 400 plus will make the trip to Nova Scotia. It would be great to get them all documented and a spread sheet done but there aren’t enough hours in the day. Recently I have been able to take some classes given at the local Mac store so that has made my life a but easier, but a computer geek i am not!
During the past month  I participated in two quilt  shows so there are always appraisal values waiting to be researched and then I need to be making plans for next year. With a this type of work even when you are focusing on the now it is necessary to plan for the future...

My main winter project, the log cabin quilt, will be posted on the site after the bride and groom receive it in late July. I  also worked on a presidents challenge with the Beaconsfield Quilters and am pleased with my black and white study. I plan to do more work with the red lobster motif this summer. I am the lady in the shades pictured here:

It is quite amazing how twelve people can use the same block pattern and get such different results. Our closing Picnic was held last week at a members home on the shores of Lake St. Louis.  Deborah Kemball, our hostess, had just been notified of her recent award of Best Quilt in Show at the Canadian Quilters Juried show  in Saskatoon Sask.

During the picnic we also has a photo taken of Nicole Meneard our new Quilt Appraiser:

Nicole successfully passed the testing process for AQS Certified Appraisers and is now the first Bilingual French Canadian Quilt appraiser in North America. She worked with me for over two years and was a great assistant, she calls me her Quilt Godmother. We are so proud of her accomplishments. Thirteen people were tested in Paducah this year and only 5 passed. In addition to helping Nicole I also had to re-certify as an AQS appraiser by submitting samples of my work and giving a resume of the appraisal work I had done during the past three years. This also involved a report of museums and quilt related activities I did during the last three  years. I was exhausted just looking at what I had done and where I have been.

Mother's Day

May10, 2009

Mother’s day already. and currently I am reading the wonderful gift I received,  a coffee table book:  Massachusetts  Quilts edited by Lynn Bassett and assisted by two of my appraiser friends from that state.  For the next few weeks I will be focusing on my Star Quilt collection as I select and prepare 25 of the best for their debut in Nova Scotia this summer. I am thrilled to finally have an exhibit in Nova Scotia especially at the provincially operated Museum of Industry in Stellarton,  a reasonable driving distance form our summer cottage.

It has been two weeks since I returned form that fabulous  April quilt and spring fix in Quilt City USA, Paducah ,Kentucky . Located on the banks of the Ohio river the whole place and especially the old town revolves around quilts. Even my favorite clothing store and the local pub feature family quilts in their windows. It takes at least 3 days to see the highlights of the show and sample the satellite exhibits many of which in 16 years I have yet to sample. I hear the  meals sponsored by all the local churches are great  but I am often too busy to stop for a meal just graze as I run from one show and group of vendors to the next.

You cannot go to Paducah without visiting  Hancocks the largest fabric store in America. This April , after buying more fabric than I needed , I meet a client Carolyn Hudson( we are pictured here) who flew from Nova Scotia to Toronto and  along with friend Janet Mills joined a Quilters bus tour . The first time I attended in 1993  I flew from Montreal to Boston where I met a quilters tour and  accompanied them to Nashville. Helen the director hired a bus which took us the last 2 hours west  to Paducah. Accommodation was at a premium during Quilt week so the bus shuffled us  in and out of the city daily. The downside was that we were too far out to receive the transmissions from the local cable station which broadcasts from 6 am to midnight. While cleaning out my Moms things recently I found the post card sent directly from the convention lobby in 1993 . “Guess what Mom there are thousands of people who are as crazy about quilts as I am.” 

To quote fellow appraiser appraiser Cindy Claycamp, “This show is so much more than isles of quilts and vendors in a convention center,it is a community celebrating our mutual quilting heritage.”  In addition we have the opportunity to take a refresher course in appraising. I was one of six appraisers who along with the leaders, Bobbie Aug and Gerry Roy, presented information on topics  such as contracts, southern quilts and appraising hooked mats. This year I was on faculty, so gave my early morning lecture What Comes Around Goes Around and also taught two classes on edge finishes for Quilts.

For the 25th Anniversary celebrations the Schroeders, who funded the American Quilters Society in 1985, hosted an elaborate Award ceremony where thousands of dollars are given out in prizes. The top awards are purchase awards and these quilts were used to start the Museum which is now called The National Quilt Museum. In addition to state of the art storage facilities, galleries of quilts and classrooms  for quilt workshops its gift shop is one of the best places in America to buy quilting related books.