International Quilting Weekend and a chance to win!

In honor of International Quilting Weekend, March 20-22, 2015, TheQuilt Show, the web TV show hosted by Alex Anderson and Ricky Tims, will open all of its shows from the first nine series-- shows 100-1513 --for the entire weekend. This means that, for three special days, everyone will have the chance to view over 200 shows, featuring some of the quilting world’s leading artists, for FREE. 

This year's sponsors are contributing over $5000 in prizes, including the Grand Prize, a BERNINA 550 QE.  Other prizes you have a chance to win are:

         Innova – Have your quilt professionally quilted ($500 value)          Superior Threads – five $100 gift certificates          RJR Fabrics – a Delicious Selection of RJR Fabrics          AccuQuilt – GO! Big Electric Fabric Cutter          Missouri Star Quilt Company – $500 in Quilter’s Cash plus signed copies of Volume 1 of Block Magazine and Man Sewing Swag

As you may already know, I appeared as the featured artist on TQS in show 208. If you didn't have the opportunity to see this show the first time around, now you'll have the chance to see it—and so many other terrific shows—at no cost in this unprecedented three-day offer.
I hope that you'll share this information with all of your quilting friends. It's a fantastic opportunity to enjoy three days of learning and fun without leaving your home…all for free.Enjoy the shows, and thanks for helping to spread the word!

I had a fantastic time in Colorado taping the episode I appeared in and meeting Alex and Ricky. I shared a lot of information about the principles and elements of design from the first book that Elin and I wrote, and lots of the art quilts that were in it. The experience was wonderful - even the bear I saw outside the hotel at 4 AM!
Link to TQS website landing page:  http://thequiltshow.com/international-quilting-weekend

News about books

Art Quilts at Play, my new book written with Elin Waterston for C&T Publishing is now available. If you'd like an autographed copy you can order one from me here. The book is gorgeous, the designer and all of the folks at C&T did a knock-out job. I've been furiously packing up all of the books for people who pre-ordered a copy and should be caught up soon.



In other news, our first book, Art Quilt Workbook, was voted the Most Inspirational Book by the readers of Quilters Newsletter magazine in the latest issue. What an honor!

Refrigerator Art Online

Dorian Price at the super-cool website Refrigerator Art Online interviewed me the other day. Check it out here.

Dorian's site is a fantastic resource for artists and art lovers with reviews of galleries and shows, art news, interviews, calls for entry. Head on over for a visit, she has all sorts of goodies!

Art Quilts at Play

Here's the big, exciting news! I've been living this project for the last 18 months and I can finally share. Elin Waterston and I have written a new book, Art Quilts at Play, for C&T Publishing, to be released in January 2009.

This new book is a perfect complement to our first book, Art Quilt Workbook, and covers a plethora of surface design techniques and special effects on fabric. The book is full of illustrated how-tos, many, many samples from the different processes and oodles of finished art. Once we've shown you how to create and alter some beautiful fabric, we give you scads of ideas of what to do with it, from challenges and trades to collaborations and more. Our first book was based on an in-depth, comprehensive class that we'd been teaching. This new one also draws on workshops plus the techniques we each use in our own art.

Over a year ago we asked a small number of very talented women in the art quilt and mixed-media world to contribute some pieces to our book and they very generously agreed. Their work enriches the material and shows you how different artists with different voices and different techniques approach the same themes or materials with exciting, original and unique results. We're so grateful to each of them for their contributions.

Natalya Aikens
Woodie Anderson
Liz Berg
Gail Ellspermann
Janet Ghio
Rayna Gillman
Terry Grant
Kathryn Hunter
Andrea Jenkins
Jane LaFazio
Mati McDonough
Tricia McKellar
Kim Rae Nugent
Karen Stiehl Osborn
Virginia Spiegel
Beryl Taylor

A few of our students were also asked and graciously agreed to share their work with us. We are so thankful to them for their generosity (and in a couple of cases, their bravery as well!)

There will be a big release party, book signing and art quilt exhibition at the Country Quilter in Somers NY on Saturday, February 21st and we hope you can join us!

You can pre-order an autographed copy of the book now by contacting me. We're so pleased with the response to our first book and hope that you'll like this one just as much.

Art Quilting dvd

The dvd that Elin Waterston and I taped back in April has just been released. Jane & Elin Teach You Art Quilting Basics is available in quilt shops worldwide or you can order a copy directly from me.

The dvd has lessons and demos based on material from our book, Art Quilt Workbook, and also includes a tour of my studio.

Art Quilting Student Exhibition

Last night was the opening reception at the Country Quilter for the latest Art Quilting 101 Student Exhibition. Elin Waterston and I have been teaching this class for the last five+ years and it's where our book, Art Quilt Workbook, came from. This was the last time we offered this class in its original ten-week format.



The opening is always my favorite part. The students are so proud of their work, their families get to see what has been obsessing them for months, they get a chance to see what their fellow students have created and it rounds out the art quilting experience rather well.

If you'd like to see the entire exhibit, I've posted pictures of all of the work on the Country Quilter website. Didn't they all do a great job? I know they all worked hard.

I remembered to take pictures after everything was hung (from a few directions at least) and then totally forgot to after the place filled up with people. So imagine it full of beaming artists and their friends and families, wine glasses in hand.

The show comes down tomorrow night but will remain online for a while. Next week, the shop is hosting Rayna Gillman for a Gelatin Plate Printing workshop - I can not wait!

Today's the day

The episode I taped for the Quilt Show with Alex & Ricky last August starts airing today. It's number 208 and is called Principally Speaking - A Firm Foundation for Good Design. You'll see a lot of the quilts from the book I wrote with Elin Waterston, Art Quilt Workbook, a fun exercise and more.

There will be a live "Meet the Guest" chat on the Quilt Show website next Wednesday night, April 23, at 8 pm edt, and I'd love it if some of my blog readers could join me!

Last week I was out in San Francisco visiting our publisher, C&T, to work on an upcoming project. It's always great to meet in person the people who you've talked to and emailed with for a long time. C&T is one of the most environmentally conscious companies I've ever seen. I'm going to work on implementing some of their ideas in the shop to save energy and resources.

Rolling...

I haven't posted much art lately and with good reason - Elin and I have been preparing to shoot a dvd for C&T Publishing based on material from our book, Art Quilt Workbook. We've been working on samples and step-outs, and gathering materials and supplies, and writing the script for ages. The shoot was this weekend at my house.

Got Moxey?

We worked with our awesome director, Jane Moxey, on Thursday and Friday rehearsing and getting ready, and then first thing Saturday morning the crew showed up at my house. We asked a good friend, Karen, to be our trusty personal assistant and we couldn't have chosen better. It was a pretty intense 16+ hours. The crew, Sean, Pat, Steve and Chris, was amazing. It was cool to watch them set up all of the equipment in my studio.

Chris connecting cords


Chris, Pat and Moxey shooting my stash with Karen looking on


Karen helping Elin set up a scene

We couldn't have done it without Karen. She kept us organized and centered. She even earned a cool nickname from the crew, Slate, because one of her many jobs was slating each scene with its number and take. We're so grateful to her!

Steve, Moxey, Sean and Chris check out a shot


Karen and Pat help me lay out a demo


Elin all super serious right before a take


And not so serious. Smashing!


Nearly done... It was a long day when we finished at almost 2 AM.


The dvd, Jane Dávila & Elin Waterston Teach You Art Quilting Basics, part of C&T's At Home With The Experts series, will be out this summer.