I’m not sure if the quilt world knows what a huge Madonna fan I am. I am a huge Madonna fan. Ever since I was a little girl, I have been slavishly devoted to the woman and her art, even in its less-than-perfect moments. There have been plenty of those moments, of course.

But she’s Madonna. She can do anything.

And she nailed it last night at the Superbowl, right?? Wasn’t it amazing? Anyway, I was reading the reviews of the half-time show and came across something I simply had to post. Joan Rivers made a snarky (imagine!) comment about a dress that Madge wore recently. Here’s what she said, courtesy of this New York Magazine article:

“When reviewing Golden Globes dresses on Fashion Police, Joan astutely noted that Madonna’s looked “like a disco ball that had sex with a quilt.”

Clearly, I had to let you all know. The word “Madonna” and “quilt” don’t always show up together. When they do? Well, that’s a nice day for me.

Me, I ain’t watching a football game.

Me, I’m figuring out a puzzle. It’s a quilt. And it’s melting my brain. But I love it. Figuring out the way “in” on this Snail Trail/Milky Way variation is making me buzz with excitement and designer jumping jacks. My dear friend Ebony helped me cut out a lot of this quilt last weekend, but I’ve had a change of heart on a couple pieces. Even though I sewed strip sets, I think I have to scrap them. (Literally, into the scrap bag they will go.)

What I’ve learned in my years making quilts is that you have to work on that which you love. You have to find that way “in.” Otherwise, it’s work you don’t have time for.

Make the quilts you love. It’s better than…well, it’s really good.

(!)

Well, we just got the box, after all. A paperclip ain’t nothing! We’d love to have more stuff, though. Cards, letters, safe, wrapped, shippable foods like bars of chocolate, tins of cocoa, or perhaps some kind of cracker assortment. You can send pictures. You can send gift cards. Really, you can send anything, within reason, and we will probably see it. At least till we have to hire a dedicated mail person handling tidal wave of mail that is sure to come.

Let’s start now!

Quilty
P.O. BOX 1539
Chicago, IL 60634

You know what is so amazing and fabulous?

This quilt block.

Made by Ms. Deborah Walczak-Marshall, it was inspired by our show and THAT kind of awesomeness cannot be measured. Sure, Quilty is a good time program with an incredible team, good snacks on set, a little song and dance and a STUNNING, BRILLIANT HOST (I kid, I kid), but without actually inspiring people like YOU to make patchwork and quilts and do stuff, what good is it?

We’re just keepin’ it real for you, people. Make that patchwork. Do it!

Rebecca and I went to the DIY Trunkshow not long ago here in Chicago. We were wandering in and out of the aisles and thinking, “Does Quilty need a presence here?”

We decided that having a booth where people could sit and sew would be amazing. And expensive. We also thought it would be cool to be a sponsor of the show and have an informational booth. We would love to do this, but we would probably need a sponsor for our…sponsorship. Anyone? Anyone? Let us know!

Here’s a picture I took of Rebecca, the newest quilter in the Fons Family Quilt Mafia. She was thinking, being inspired, wondering, being curious, being awesome. Don’t you just love big ideas?

If I was just eating bon-bons and hanging around in a furry pink bathrobe all the time, it would not be okay that I haven’t posted in a week and a half. And if the holidays hadn’t just steamrolled time and space, it would also not be okay.

But the truth is:

a) I don’t know what a bon-bon is, exactly (is it a truffle? a cordial? I could find out but it’s kind of funny not knowing)
b) I don’t own a furry pink bathrobe
c) it WAS the holidays!
d) oh my GOODNESS we just filmed 25 episodes of the show!!!

Do you forgive me? Do you?

And I’d like to state, for the record, that the Quilty team is the BEST TEAM in the industry. Oh, that’s right. I’m sayin’ it! Quilting magazines, quilting shows, fabric companies, pattern companies, shops, retail outlets — we love you all. But I respectfully submit that of all the thousands of teams working in the quilting industry on various projects, Team Quilty laughs the most. We laugh the most, we work super super hard, we care, we try, we’re creative, and we really like each other.

May all the teams working on all the projects be so happy. I truly wish it. Thanks, team.

xo,
Mary

(And now, a few pix. There’s more on Facebook! Are you a fan of Quilty yet?? You can see so much more!)

Not exactly in order of appearance, but thanks to: Jack C. Newell (Director), Rebecca Fons (Producer), Matt Gonzales (Director of Photography), Matt Hyland (Sound), and Maria Wilson (Makeup).

I got a tip-off on a project happening at the V&A Museum in London and it’s totes worth checking out.

This Quity blog didn’t exist when I was there several years ago to see the V&A’s latest quilt exhibit, but if it had, you would’ve heard about it for sure. I was transfixed and transformed. The Victoria & Albert Museum is clearly staffed/funded by quilt lovers and there’s always something wonderful happening there for us quilters and aficionados. Which brings me to this tip!

The lady that wrote The Girl With the Pearl Earring? You know… That novel? The novelist’s name is Tracy Chevalier, and she is writing two new pieces that may interest you, reader. The first is a short story commissioned by the V&A. The second is some crazy mystery project that necessitated a bunch of quilt research by Ms. Chevalier. If you liked her novel about Vermeer’s models, you may be very excited by this news. I know I am.

Here’s the link to a super cool video about all of this. I hope every last person is having a fabulous holiday season! This time of year is my favorite — and I mean this time between Christmas and New Year’s. It’s like spring break only more awesome because everyone is in this magical limbo of like, half-work, half-fun, total merriment. Amiright?

We work hard, the Quilty team.

There are different branches of the team, which is important to mention. For example, several folks (including yours truly wearing a puffy vest that says “I AM WORKING ON SET RIGHT NOW”) just spent 1.5 days shooting photography for the Quilty magazine here in Des Moines. That was an ad hoc team to get a job well done, you know, done. There’s a team that is working to put the inaugural issue of Quilty magazine together, and while there’s some crossover with production/photography, etc., that’s a different team, too. Everyone is generally awesome.

The first Quilty team, however, the Gold Standard if you will, is the team that makes the show in Chicago. What can I say? I’m biased. After all, we do a lot of production meetings that are as fun as production meetings can possibly be. And we did the first pilots and the first shows, which were hard/exhilarating/not as good as the shows now. And we’re friends and family and it’s all just really hard work blended with warm fuzzies, which is the best ever. AND we won an award! which I think I mentioned back when we got word about it in September or October. The Chicago International Film Festival gave us a Certificate of Merit and showed Quilty on the big screen in Chicago! It rocked.

My sis just sent me a picture — really, like two seconds ago — of the certificate that finally came in the mail. Voila. Thanks, everyone, for a wonderful first year of Quilty. Here’s to Year Two: bigger awards, more fun, more viewers, more opportunity, and more love for quilting, which I believe is kinda sorta the fabric of my family and the entire country, sometimes. Ya know?

Is there anything — anything! — better than getting pictures from your longarmer of the quilt she’s just finished quilting for you?

Well, finishing the binding is pretty good. That’s up there. But I love this moment and need to share.

Remember the Burgoyne Surrounded quilt I worked on late this summer? Well, it’s hot off the longarmer. As I’ve said before, I love my Chicago-area longarm superstar Ebony Love at LoveBug Studios, but from time to time it makes sense to send a project to my Iowa longarmer for various, business-related reasons. Ms. LuAnn Downs, I salute you!

Working with a longarmer is great, but you need to communicate clearly what you want and give the longarmer plenty of time and backing fabric. There’s a great article here if you want to know more about all that. At first, LuAnn suggested a Celtic design, but I just wasn’t into it, so we worked a little more and now I’m super, super happy.

Enjoy the preview — I’ll be binding it over the holiday and turning the binding with a glass of prosecco to my side, maybe a holiday movie on the TV back home in Iowa. God, I love the holidays when there’s a plan like that on the horizon…

Remember the cute Log Cabin Lady? Well, I had another city quilt sighting. Lord, I love living in this city!

So I’m walking down the street and I see this white patch on the side of a building. I figure it’s a poster of some kind — happens all the time. But as I get closer, I realize it’s some kind of…fabric?? And there are words on it! And those words, aside from being really lovely and sweet, are embroidered on the fabric! What the Quilty??

Can you stand how adorable and warm-fuzzy this is? Not me. I can’t stand it. Here I am, not standing. In fact, I’m sitting. I am sitting and typing. And I am thanking the person who said, “Patchwork is for graffiti. I shall make some.” Because we all need to think outside the quilt sometimes.

And here’s a closeup. She’s so crafty!