Valerie Bothell: Quilting: the new classics!

A couple of years ago, I received a fun email from Michele Muska. She told me that about this idea she had for a book and would I be interested in participating. Allie and I were just finishing up the book we wrote together (you can get one here) and it sounded like a fun way to keep myself busy again. Not only would I be designing with Allie again for this book, but in total there were going to be 20 different designers included. I read the list of designers and I knew instantly that this was going to be a great book and I felt very honored to be included.

Here is a description of the book:

All quilters draw inspiration from the past. But how do today's artisans put their personal stamp on classic patterns? Twenty influential quilters from across the stylistic spectrum present their unique creative vision of timeless designs. Each pattern, Double Wedding Ring, Crazy Quilt, Dresden Plate, Bear Paw, Log Cabin, Nine Patch, Hexagon, Yo-Yo, Flying Geese, and Rail Fence, comes with step-by-step instructions for two adaptations, one traditional, the other modern.
The book also includes a history of each pattern, images of heirloom or museum-quality quilts for inspiration, easy-to-use templates and essential quilting techniques.
Forwards by Meg cox and Janneken Smucker.

So Allie and I were each asked to do a crazy quilt piece, one would be modern and the other traditional. For those of you that know us well, (or own our book) you already know which one did each version. Of course, I did the traditional version....

Michele sent a picture of a crazy quilt that was made by her great aunt Sadie(pictured above). We decided that it would be fun to reproduce one of the blocks each in our own style.

I have been a long time fan of a crazy quilt that is owned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. In fact, it is on my bucket list...I will see it some day! I don't think I am allowed to repost a picture of it, but you can look at it on their website:

http://www.metmuseum.org/collection/the-collection-online/search/13907

It was made by Tamar Horton Harris North in 1877, to honor her daughter Grace who had passed away, it was my inspiration for the piece I made for Michele's book.

I incorporated some of the colors used in the quilt and embroidered some similar motifs. Strawberries represent perfection and pink roses were a symbol of motherhood. Such sweet sentiments...

Tamar Came to Visit, Valerie Bothell, 2013

When I received my copy of the book, I was extremely impressed! The photography is done to perfection, instructions are great and the quilts are beautiful! Definitely one to add to your library!

You can buy her book on Amazon here:

http://www.amazon.com/Quilting-New-Classics-Inspired-Traditional/dp/1936096803

I am participating in a blog hop with all the designers that participated in Michele's book. The following is a list of each of the designers, their blog addresses and the day they will be blogging about the quilt they made. I would invite you to take a look!

Oct. 20th Michele Muska http://www.lolarae.com/blog.html

Oct. 21^st Leslie Jenison http://leslietuckerjenison.blogspot.com

Oct. 22^nd Janneken Smucker http://www.janneken.org/category/blog/

Oct. 23^rd Valerie Bothell http://pinkbunnykansas.blogspot.com

Oct. 24^th Kaari Meng www.frenchgeneral.blogspot.com

Oct. 25^th Elisa Sims Albury : www.stitchoutsidetheditch.com

Oct. 26^th Heather Jones www.oliveandollie.com

Oct. 27^th Victoria Findlay Wolfe http://www.bumblebeansinc.blogspot.com

Oct. 28^th Amy Smart http://www.diaryofaquilter.com

Oct. 29^th Jackie Kunkel http://cvquiltworks.com/blogs/blog\

Oct. 30^th Pat Sloan http://blog.patsloan.com/

Oct. 31^st Shelly Pagliai http://prairiemoonquilts.com/?page_id=62