Today in Textiles: Things I've Enjoyed This Week

This art deco sewing machine cabinet (I've never seen one in this style). You can bid on it here.

This upcoming exhibition at the American Folk Art Museum (AMFA), War and Pieced: The Annette Gero Collection of Quilts from Military Fabrics. I saw a quilt of this genre at the International Quilt Study Center (IQSC) last August and it stopped me in my tracks. The first two quilts below are from the upcoming AMFA exhibition (to be held from September 6, 2017 to January 7, 2018) and the last photo is a detail shot I took of the quilt at the IQSC.

And finally, not this week, but on June 28, Art Quilts of the Midwest opened at the Texas Quilt Museum.

This is the exhibition's last scheduled stop, after shows at the International Quilt Study Center, the National Quilt Museum, and the Iowa Quilt Museum. If you haven't had a chance to see it in person and you're near LaGrange, stop in to check it out. Cheers!

Art Quilts of the Midwest is Launched!

I really will post soon about something other than Art Quilts of the Midwest. But last night Codi held a book launch party at Home Ec Workshop and it was so much fun for me. There were lots of friends, old (as in 20+ years old) and new (people I've met while working at Home Ec) and in between. There were several folks that I was especially touched to see, including a group of my former colleagues from my days at the University of Iowa. Several of us had made quilts for one another for significant life events (here, and here, here).

Here Codi and I look oddly formal (considering that I must have hugged her 27 times over the evening). But she gave me this bouquet of daffodils tulips and I wanted to include it in the picture. She put so much effort into the evening, and I was so grateful.

This was the only shot I got of Erick, and we didn't get one of Astrid (the book's foreword author) at all. She and I each said a few words about our involvement in the book, and Erick showed a portion of the film he's made about his work that included the pieces he has in the book.

The funny part was that the crowd was so much larger than anticipated and we realized we wouldn't fit into the workroom. So Codi, Astrid, and I delivered our remarks from Home Ec's kitchen, and Erick showed his film in shifts in the workshop. Our friends listened patiently and there were so many great comments about Erick's film.

Emily, in the black and white jacket, was one of the book's jurors

It was an evening that reminded me how much the Midwest has given me. Though I rant and rave every year about my dislike of the cold and the snow, the community that is Iowa City makes me so very happy. As Astrid said in her remarks, it's a place filled with people who are hidden gems doing surprising things, and having this group of artists, professors, shop owners, scientists, realtors, poets, graphic designers, knitters extraordinaire, biologists, etc. come out to support the book meant so very much.

Art Quilts of the Midwest: The First Copy Has Arrived!

Last week, just before leaving for QuiltCon, I got an email from the University of Iowa Press saying that one copy of my book was available for me to pick up. It was a Monday and I'd been back for two days from Minnesota and was leaving in a day for Austin. I was harried, so I didn't respond right away. I was also afraid. There's this kind of magic time in between when you write a book and make your edits and hand it all over to the designer and the Press. You can say "I've got a book coming out," and everyone is very encouraging and excited and it's easy, because it's all out of your hands. Though I've definitely been doing some marketing work, it really just an idea of a book because the physical object didn't yet exist.

But apparently it now it did. When I talked to my husband and told him it was there he said "If you don't get it, I will!" That would have been a little embarrassing, so off I went. It was kind of a quiet visit—I guess I thought everyone might come out and cheer or something—but it was nevertheless wonderful. I gave Karen, the production manager, a hug because she did so much work to make it so lovely and because it was so amazing to hold it in my hands I just had to hug someone.

Then I took it home and put it in a plastic bag and ran around frantically packing and watering plants and doing last minute errands. I really didn't look at it until I was on the plane. There was a lovely, satisfying moment when I pulled it out (and secretly hoped that my seat mate would ask me about it—no such luck) and paged though it and felt the "book-ness" of it. And for the next four days I carried it around, whipping out my book-in-a-baggie and whenever appropriate (and sometimes even when it wasn't appropriate, just because I couldn't help myself).

I'll share more about the book itself, but for now know that it will be available in the next week or so at Prairie Lights, if you're local or through your local bookstore (you can ask them to order it), on Amazon, and through the Press. I hope you'll take a look!