SHE'S CALLED THE 'GRAND DAME' OF AMERICAN QUILTING

Our very own Georgia Bonesteel continues to wow us with her energy and design talents.  Most appropriately her work was featured at the Asheville, NC Quilt Guild Show this weekend. She's best known for inspiring legends of new quilters through her PBS series "Lap Quilting" and the many books that followed.

 Her show began in 1979 and she's not slowing down, even after all these years. Georgia's newly released book "Scrap Happy Quilts" is sure to be a best seller.  She shares updated methods for making 25 classic quilt patterns along with her wit and humor, emphasizing the importance of creating memoirs.        

                                                      
A room filled with quilters.....nearly hushed to complete silence absorbed every word of her lecture.  Several of her quilts were shared with the audience.  She and Linda Cantrell designed and stitched "Roots", an homage to our small fiber art group.  Linda is another award winning entertaining quilter who is also a member group.  We are referred to as the PTA group.....which stands for Professional Textile Artist. This 'family tree' design features hand appliqued black Ultra-suede motifs.  A silhouette of each member of PTA is surrounded by personal icons that depict that person's style/tastes.

Mine is a bit lower of center left....see the word "Bluegrass"....and next to it is the image of the dining hall at Lake Logan.....a retreat center where I organized our annual retreats for 10 years.  If you look really closely....you might want to count the number of wine bottles on this quilt, a definite theme among all our members.  Yes, what a perfect memoir.....roots have grown and generated a close knit fiber group of 14.

 I snapped this pensive photo of Georgia just before she was introduced to the crowd.  It got me wondering just how many times she's quietly stood off to the side, waiting to be introduced to her adoring fans.

Georgia, along with Charlotte Warr Anderson has taught workshops at a small ranch in Wyoming for many years.  She created this fun quilt of her many workshop projects and 4 or 5 using Charlotte's inspiring designs.

Georgia and I had been friends/collages when we both taught on the national quilting circuit....and now I consider her a very special personal pal as well.  One I admire greatly.