JWD Publishing Blog

I just got back from the International Quilt Market in Houston, TX, and I found a lot of fantastic things that I bet you never knew you needed! Over the next few weeks I thought I would share with you what I have found. Today I would like to tell you about a couple of really cool things that I have never seen before. They are really awesome. They are a new felting tool and mat by Clover Needlecraft,Inc…O.K. I know what you are thinking. You have to use wool to felt and it takes too long to do. Wrong! This is over the top. The demonstrator had a silk scarf, you can get this from Pagewood Farms with the fibers needed, she laid the scarf on a felting mat. The felting mat looks like a big brush. She then placed all kinds of fibers, that come in a kit, on the scarf. She took the felting tool, his has 5 barb needles with a spring action, and punched it up and down. In minutes, yes minutes she had a finished scarf. It was so beautiful! What a great Christmas gift. Like I mentioned the felting tool and mat are from Clover and the kit with the scarf and fibers are from Pagewood Farm. You need to check these out. Stop by again and see the next great thing I review. Till then keep quilting.

Cindy Walter greets Andrew Dunlop of Tiffanies Treasures,  our favorite (and only) New Zealand distributor.    

The Gleesome Threesome: Ricky Tims, Joen Wolfrom, and Libby Lehman at Quilt Market

Boy, either the lighting is really bad or we’ve had an exhausting day. Behind us is Ricky’s booth where you can see portions of two of his beautiful quilts, as well as a poster featuring Ricky’s newest CD, Christmas in a Small Town (you’ll love it J).

Quilt Market in Action

A smaller attendance than usual made Quilt Market a more leisurely event for attendees to search for the perfect items for their customers. Looking down the aisle on the right, you’ll see a glimpse of Teresa Field’s new Snap, Grab, & Go quilt, as well as stacks of Ricky Tims’s luscious hand-dyed fabrics.

Houston is still abuzz with quilters. They are on a hunt to see as many wonderful quilts, fabrics, books, patterns, and notion as they can find. They are filling their brains with new ideas and techniques that are being shared by scores of teachers. Clearly, a high level of energy is prevalent in the hotels, restaurants, and the convention center.  It’s exciting to see so many happy, eager quilters coming together to spend every waking hour thinking, dreaming, breathing, and talking about quilts.

Yesterday morning it was time for me to say goodbye to Houston, as I headed for the airport to begin my journey home. We are so happy with our new pattern releases and are pleased that shop owners were excited about our product, new and old. Soon you will find our patterns in your favorite quilting store.  For us, another year of designing begins for talented designers and staff, as we plan for next lineup of exciting new projects for you.  We’ll see many of you again at the 2010 Fall Quilt Market.

Great Quilts ―Happy Quilters!

The ballroom was filled with high excitement at tonight’s Award Ceremony for the prestigious IQA Quilt Show in Houston, Texas. It was fun to watch the winners’ faces, as they accepted their awards. They came from all over the world, including Canada, U.K., France, Korea, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States. Japan had several quilt winners. Texas, California, and Illinois had the most U.S. award winners. I can only remember a small number of the winning results.  Even though this list is incomplete, you may find one of your friends or favorite quilters included here as one of tonight’s winners: 

Caryl Bryer Fallert won Best of Show, which brought her a $10,000 award prize. She also won 1^st place in the Digital Imaging category, which was a $1000 prize.  Karen Stone from Dallas, Texas , won a  major award, which earned her a $5000 prize.  Gloria Hansen won an honorable mention and 3^rd place in the Digital Imaging category. The Founders’ Award was a spectacular quilt created by a talented Japanese quilter.  Her award prize was $7500.  Hollis Chattelain won a major $5000 award with her woodland quilt,  Protection, which was in the Naturescapes category. She also won a 1^st place award for her quilt, Exodus. Inge Mardal and Steen Hougs won a 2^nd place prize for their stunning water scene quilt.  

Much-loved Hazel Canny of Houston, Texas won 2^nd place in the Merit Hand quilting category. In this same category, Cathleen Miller from Albuquerque, New Mexico won 1^st place with an exquisite quilt called Inner Beauty. In the Art Whimsical category, a crowd pleaser was the honorable mention quilt The Great Crate Escape by Pauline Salzman from Treasure Island, Florida. Pup Art received 3^rd place in this category. Once Upon a Christmas won 1^st place in this category.

In the Art People, Portraits & Figures category, the winner was a superb quilt of a young girl. This quilt was created by an Australian quilter. Pauline Salzman received an award for Portrait of an Artist. The wonderful quilt Broken Dishes by a quilter from Beaver Creek, Ohio won 2^nd place. This quilter also received an honorable mention for a quilt in the Art Miniature category.

Traditional appliqué quilt winners included a Christmas quilt by a quilter from Mesquite, Texas, as well as a quilt named Heart’s Desire.  In the Art Miniature category, Last Dance by Diane Doran received a 3^rd place.  The 2^nd place winner was from Japan, and the category’s winning quilt was a beautiful flower album quilt by Liz Jones from Leominster, England.

In the Art Pictorial category, Karen Hanken from Medford, Oregon received an honorable mention. Melinda Bula received a 3^rd place. The 2^nd place quilt was Morning Has Broken by Peggy Parrott from Lakewood, Colorado. The 1^st place winner was a stunning quilt by Barbara Shapel from Washougal, Washington.

 In the Group Quilt category, a crowd pleaser was the 3^rd place winner, Boston Fenway Park. The 1^st place winner was Grape Harvest, made by three quilters.  In Innovative Appliqué, Camilla Watson from New Zealand won an Honorable Mention with her quilt Menamorphosis. Kathy Wylie from Ontario, Canada won 1^st prize with Instrument of Praisenote: . In the Art Painted Surface category, honorable mention went to Moon Garden by Judy Coates Perez from Chicago, Illinois.

In the Naturescapes category sponsored by JWD Publishing, the results were a wonderful example of international talent and flavor. Crossing Over by Cookie Warner from Fort Collins, Colorado won 1^st place. Noriko Endo and an Australian quilter won 2^nd and 3^rd places.  An honorable mention was given to a Japanese quilter. I loved all of the quilts awarded prizes in this category. I thought the entire group of quilts was very strong.

Another quilt that won an award was Calamari Time by a quilter from Billings, Montana.  A beautiful quilt by Judy Mathieson won 1^st prize. A darling quilt with a cat trying to find a “mousie” also won a 1^st place. Roby Joy Ecklow won a 2^nd place for Eye Candy in the Art Abstract Large category while Rita Steffenson received a 1^st place award in that category. A Japanese quilter won 3^rd place honors in this category.

Well, I’ve hit the end of my memory of quilters, quilts, and awards tonight. I leave you with the thought that these quilts are truly superb. All should be proud of their accomplishments and creative adventure.  If you can see this IQA show during the following year, do so. You’ll love it.  

(Please note:  I apologize if there are any misspellings or incorrect information listed here.)

Happy Quilting!

There are so many amazing quilts on display here at the International Quilt Market and Festival. I spent a couple of hours viewing quilts one evening after Quilt Market, but I only saw about 1/3 of the show. I saw only a few of the IQA competition quilts before running out of time. I spent most of my time in the special exhibit areas.

I have listed a few of the quilts that I really liked. If I had had a camera with me, or if I could have remembered better, or if I had a bigger piece of paper to scribble on, my list would have been longer. If I have misspelled your name, or your friend’s name or given the incorrect name of a quilt, I apologize. It’s due to not remembering correctly or not being able to read my scribbles. I loved these quilts for a lot of different reasons. Again, I didn’t see the entire show, so if I didn’t mention your name and your quilt, it probably means I didn’t see it. However, if you are one of these people, congrats! If you know one of them, give them a high-five for me. Here’s my incomplete list in the order I remembered seeing them:

Charlotte Hickman from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma for Three Roses;
Pat Rollie from Los Angeles, California for Begonias at Butchart Gardens;
Fenella Davies from Bath, England for Australian Bushfires;
Sylvia Naylor from Cambridge, Ontario, Canada for For the Love of Trees;
Melinda Bula from El Dorado Hills, California for Splendor in the Grass;
Ruth Powers from Carbondale, Kansas for Spring Encounter;
Kathy Kelly from Waco, Texas for the Moda University block quilt;
Karlyn Bue Lohrenz from Billings, Montana for Calamari Time;
Pam Hadfield from Laguna Niguel, California for Goodness, Gracious, Great Balls of Fire…..
Kelly Monroe from Arlington, Texas for A Quark’s Tale
Cindy Henneke from Bresham, Texas for her Broken Star
Cookie Warner from Fort Collins, Colorado for Crossing Over

Several years ago I encourage IQA to add a new quilt category to their wildly popular quilt show at Houston’s International Quilt Festival. Happily, they agreed. Since then, my company, JWD Publishing, has sponsored the Naturescapes category at the show. We provide the prize money for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places for this category. I LOVE this category of quilts, as they are SO beautiful. Since this category’s inception, the 1st place quilt has often been upgraded to an even higher award, which brings more prestige, honor, and greater prize money to that quiltmaker. I love it when this happens.

I have a feeling this is going to happen again this year. I think one of the quilts in the Naturescapes category is so spectacular that it will be upgraded to one of the $5000 award prizes. That would be so exciting for that particular quiltmaker (and for me). Also, it would give another person in the category the opportunity to receive a ribbon, the honor, and prize money. I’ll let you know tonight what happens. I’m SO excited…………………..