Canadian Quilt Talk

I hope you can take a few minutes to day and listen to my interview with Brandy Maslowski, the producer of Canadian Quilt Talk, a new internet podcast that she has started for quilters! It has just opened this month and already Brandy has so many devoted followers looking forward to each episode on Thursdays at 4pm PDT.
You can listen by visiting the Explore Fibre blog at:http://www.brandylynndesigns.blogspot.ca/
 Brandy is a well respected quilting teacher, author, pattern designer and apprentice judge. She is full of energy and talent. Don't miss out!
You can also "like" Canadian Quilt Talk on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/CanadianQuiltTalk

Meet Dale Anne Potter - Inspiring Designer

I would love to introduce you to a wonderfully inspiring and energetic woman whose newsletters and Facebook missives have been motivating and energizing me for a long time! I've never met Dale Ann but I feel like she's one of my best friends and supporters, I even received a video message on my birthday from her....

Here's what she had to tell me recently during our interview:

I am a Textile Mixed Media Artist, Teacher, Positivity Coach, Speaker who lives in a small town in SW Saskatchewan, Canada.

I grew up on a farm  in east central Alberta so this little town is perfect for me!  I have lived in large cities across this country of ours, but this is HOME! I enjoy the landscape - places where I can see for miles & miles and also, places that have surprises behind the hills and trees.

I have been creating all my life.  I recall sewing by hand with Mom when I was 4 or 5.  I never thought of myself as an "ARTIST" until 2001.  I kept telling myself that I needed an ART degree! I am ever expanding and enjoying trying new ideas, techniques, etc.

I know as a business you are supposed to concentrate on one thing and GO BIG.  I LOVE both textiles and mixed media, so use them both in my artwork.  Sometimes its more textiles than papers, etc. and sometimes its reverse - this is the reason I call myself a Textile Mixed Media Artist!

I branched out last year into being a Positivity Coach.  I have been, myself, expanding with courses, workshops, many books, etc. and have been promoting a more POSITIVE LIFE.  People started noticing, I was  asked by a couple people about coaching, then one more and one more.  

Again, I have been told that I should have a degree or initials behind my name in order to do this, but I feel EXPERIENCE is also a great teacher.  I coach using art journaling as its been therapy for me over the years.  We do inner work and I am fully aware if someone needs more than I can give, I recommend them to someone.

Living in a small town, the Internet is very big for my business.  Its where I have sold the most artwork, where I teach regularly, and how I promote my business.  Social Media is the NEW way of marketing - you get to know your clients/customers and they get to know YOU.  Where else can I spread my POSITIVITY with barely any cost and to the masses?

Presently, I am teaching 5 online workshops/programs and more to come in the fall.  My website: http://www.daleannepotter.com has more information.  One of the events I am honoured to host is the first Positively Creative Retreat to be held in April 2013 with a special guest.  Positivity, Creativity and Serenity - what more could you ask for?

I have many more surprises coming in the future and the best thing to keep up on these will be my Creative Ramblings newsletter (sign up on my website).

I hope you will sign up for Dale Anne's newsletter, its a bright day when it arrives in my Inbox!

Meet Diane Shink - Collector and Appraiser

Let’s start by talking about your new book. Please tell us what it’s about and how you chose this topic?

I am a textile junkie and started collecting aprons to use for repairing quilts when I was in the quilt restoration business. In 2001 I had an exhibit of my star quilt collection scheduled for Mississippi valley textile museum in Almont, just outside of Ottawa. They gave me the large gallery, a huge warehouse and at that time I did not have enough quilts to fill it so I remembered seeing a display of aprons at the Waterloo Quilt Festival so decided to use aprons to fill in the spaces. Check out www.dimacquilt.com to see the original apron exhibit. I counted the aprons in my home and already had 50 so visited second hand stores and church bazaars and increased my collection to 200. At that time I paid .50 cents an apron and had a selection, today I am lucky if the stores have one or two and usually pay 3.99. I have always been drawn to fancy needlework and fine fabrics so on occasion I have paid as much as $65 for a fancy apron with Provenance.

I decided to write a book because I will be doing a lecture as part of the Kitchen party dinner at Quilt Canada in Halifax on May 30 and I wanted something with images of my aprons I still plan to write a larger book and have the outline and chapters, but need to find the time and hopefully a Canadian Publisher.

Can you tell us about your background and interest in fabrics and textiles?
I am a native of Nova Scotia so grew up surrounded by quilts. I had a great childhood free to run and plays some of those memories are recounted in the aprons boo. My neighbours taught me to knit and quilt, I think my mother did embroidery with me. I started sewing when my mother got a Singer featherweight in the early 1950’s and loved Home Economics in High school, which I went on to study in University. I made my own clothes until the 1980’s and still indulge in occasionally making jackets and scarves. Most of the spare time I have today is spent making quilts. I do machine quilting but always have a project on the go with hand quilting.

You are also a certified quilt and textile appraiser, what does that involve?
I studied for many years and “flapped hundreds of antique quilts” to get to know the patterns names, how to evaluate workmanship etc. My Home Economics studies in Textiles and Clothing and experience as a clothing construction teacher also helped. I visited scores of museums, apprenticed with a local appraiser and made many trips to AQS in Paducah for courses and workshops. I also attended the Vermont Quilt festival for 10 years when teachers such as Barbara Brackman were regulars and where there are always exceptional antique quilts on display. The testing by peers is rigorous and I am pleased to say that in 2000 I was the first Canadian born appraiser to be certified by AQS where the failure rate is 60 %. Only a small percentage of applicants are chosen to be tested. I will be submitting a report for my fourth re-certification in June2012. I travel to seminars and conferences all over North America and the best weekend of the year for me is when the AQSG quilt lovers meet somewhere in the USA.

Why would I need to have my quilts appraised? It is important to have your quilt appraised so you have a monetary value to use with Insurance companies. In case of loss or damage quilts are considered to be blankets unless you have a written appraisal to attest to their value. I also appraise quilts being used a gifts so the recipient will be aware of the value. In some cases my expertise has been enlisted to make an equitable division of property, in estates and divorce settlements. I also do Market value appraisals when makers want to sell their quilts and need a regional value. Market Value is also used to determine Donation value for quilts being donated to museums and fund raising events.

Where else can I read more of your writing?
I have been writing the Yesterday Quilts Column four times a year for Canadian quilter since 1998. In 1998 I co-authored the book Canadian Heritage Quilting with Karen Neary, published by Formac of Halifax. We close 15 quilts mainly from my collection. I write the historical information and Karen patterned and made them using today’s methods. I recently had an article published in Blanket Statements ( AQSG’s newsletter)about the oldest patchwork in North America which is housed in Montreal at the Mc Cord Museum.

 Do you teach and/or lecture as well as write?
When I first retired from High School teaching I taught a number of classes but after my husband retired he wanted me to be less programmed. I started doing only lectures and now I mainly do exhibit and or work as guest curators at Museums. Lugging quilts gets more difficult as one ages and soon I will loose the attic storage space in this 10 room home where we raised our two sons. Time moves on so I now am starting to place some of my quilts in Museums and part with others. The beauty of working with aprons is that they are small and lightweight and I can get a full lecture into one suitcase. The older I get the more time I spend on the computer so will be writing more and flapping quilts less...

Visit Diane's website at:
http://www.dimacquilt.com/

For further reading:
http://www.montrealgazette.com/life/Diane+MacLeod+Shink+life+textiles+teaching/5992644/story.html

http://www.montrealgazette.com/life/Aprons+Once+symbols+repression+fashion+accessories/5992352/story.html
http://www.montrealgazette.com/life/Aprons+Part+fabric+time+women+lives/5992575/story.html

Pippa Moore - Quilter with a Mission!

I don’t remember when I first met Pippa Moore but I’m sure it was at a quilting or art event. We’ve been friends for a number of years and have each had a booth at Quilt Market to promote our patterns as well as attending art quilt retreats together.

I’ve followed Pippa’s blog http://kitambaa.blogspot.com/  when she travels and have always enjoyed reading her stories and adventures.

I’ll let Pippa tell you about herself:

I first started quilting as the stay-at-home mother of twins. I desperately needed an occasional break from the babies, and my university student husband had Thursday afternoons off. A quilt teacher and author - Frances Fournier - offered to teach me in her home, in exchange for which I proof-read her manuscript for a book on making quilted clothing. A year later we moved to rural Manitoba, where I was asked to teach the local women what I knew - the sum total of which was the making of a Sampler quilt - and I have been making quilts and teaching ever since.

So how did Pippa get involved with Africa and cloth? Through love, of course!

I married a man who had already lived in Africa for 5 years - in Burundi, to be more specific - before I met him. We had the opportunity to return to the continent - Lesotho this time - in the early nineties. While there, I had two fantastic jobs. Both involved working with grass roots development, particularly with respect to women and income generation projects. My husband has been working in East Africa - mainly Uganda - since that time. When I resigned from my full-time job, my dream was to begin a project with grandmothers and widows, and that's what I've been doing for the last 4 years.

Pippa began a business to help women learn to sew and produce items for sale, thus helping them earn a living.

“Kitambaa” is the Swahili word for cloth, and the baobab tree that I use for my logo is a tree prevalent in many equatorial African countries. There is a legend, variously told in several countries, that it once was the most beautiful tree in the forest. But it became proud, and the gods were not pleased. They plucked it out of the earth and planted it upside down with its roots in the air, so it could never boast again. And that explains the root-like shapes of the ugly-beautiful branches. Both the logo and the name were chosen in recognition of the years I spent living and working in Southern Africa, and the importance for me of this experience.

In February 2009, the first Kitambaa Designs workshop was held in Mbarara, Uganda. Twelve women, mostly widows and grandmothers, and chosen from existing grandmothers’ and widows’ groups, began learning how to sew using a treadle sewing machine, and how to quilt. These twelve came to the workshop knowing little about cutting fabric and using an iron and sewing, but at the end of three weeks, had developed the skills required to make saleable products. Previously most of them had been subsistence farmers, working in the fields from six in the morning until six at night. They brought such enthusiasm and determination to the project, and have been sewing on an ongoing basis ever since then. Many of them has at least one child in school who was not in school previously, and other proceeds from their work has been used to purchase things like a bed, a cow, a table, as well as for food and for medicine.
 This photo is taken at the closing ceremonies of our third workshop with the ladies I work with. Alice is the amazing Coordinator of this group - patient, skillful, with a sense of professionalism and a sense of humour. Here she is being presented with a solar operated desk lamp, so that she can keep sewing in the evenings. Working with Alice, and getting to know her, has been one of the highlights of recent years.

 
In between her travels to Africa, Pippa has designed an exciting range of patterns and kits. She has shown her quilts in international shows and has received rave reviews. I particularly love her exuberant use of colour and her stylized Art Deco designs.

"There's an Elephant in my Garden is inspired by the Art Deco period, and combines many of the motifs that have been drawn from the early part of that period, with a love for saturated colours. I like the improbability of it, the marvel of it.

Pippa is also strongly influenced by the cloth of Africa as you see in this piece.

The Kente-inspired piece is one of a series of quilts I plan to make, honouring the textiles of Africa, in this case Ghanaian hand woven Kente cloth. I use diverse techniques in my quilts - whatever suits my purposes - but must admit that my favourite is machine piecing.

I’m sure that you will enjoy a visit to Pippa’s website and blog, be sure to sign up for her newsletter and keep up to date with all her wonderful adventures!