When I first came to the USA, I sat mesmerized and watched Simply Quilts while I ate breakfast.
I learned lots of new techniques and it was a race in the morning to get up early enough so we didn’t miss out on the program.
My friend Joan taped all the programs and I bought them home on some 10 videos….
I shared them with friends when we had quilt days, limiting ourselves to just one program a session….The videos were grainy, the sound terrible but I loved them.
I remember one day when our Stitch and Bitch group got together, it was 100 deg outside and we decided to go inside the house rather than sit in my non air-conditioned studio. Someone suggested we watch “Simply Quilts” the only place we had a video player was in our bedroom. So 8 of us sat on the bed and the floor and with the overhead fan going at full pelt we watched Simply Quilts all afternoon…. It was a great day.
Sadly simply quilts is no longer being filmed although we get it on ‘How To’ at home. I think the episode I filmed has been shown several times……
However, there are a number of shows airing here and I review Quilt Central
With Jamie Donaldson, Cindy Walker and Dave Martelli
It was an interesting show with a few contributors, one was Mary Leahey who talked about how to take care of antique quilts. There is a product called “Quilt Care” and I think they said that there are 48 washes in the jar!!! good value, but they didn’t give the price.!
One hint I found informative.
Put the antique quilt in a plastic washing basket (what a good idea) and then put it into the bathtub in luke warm water, gently agitate the quilt with your hands. Push the quilt to the side of the basket so the water flows though the sides of the basket….. once you have rinsed it you can then lift the basket and take it outside and lay the quilt flat.!!! How good is that?
Don’t use ordinary wash power it’s far too harsh.
Now if you have a quilt that can’t be washed, you could lay the quilt under a fibreglass screen and use the upholstery brush over the screen and the dust is taken from the quilt.
Store quilts in acid free tissue, crunch it up and put it in the folds of the quilt.
Make a cotton storage bag with French seams inside. Make a poly pocket for the outside from clear plastic acetate…. You know the Clear plastic tablecloth . Make a label for the quilt and pop it in the pocket and then add care instructions on the back of the label.
Dave Martelli. A young man whom looks more at home doing a physical fitness program rather than an appearance on a quilt show. Seems to me he’s there to interest the ladies. (reminds me of girlie’s draped over cars to sell a car wash)
He demonstrated how to cut through 32 layers while you are sitting. Dave, if you want ladies to see if it can be done… let a gal try!!!
I also watched him demonstrate a machine foot that sews curved pieces with-out being pinned. Eek, he was ¼” out but the camera disguised it with a care-fully placed hand.
Joyce Dressler demonstrated how to incorporate machine embroidered squares into her quilt. More and more digitized embroidery is finding it’s way into our quilts
I enjoyed the program, it was a little static, but informative.