Why Quilts Matter –
Question & Answer with Amanda Leins

One of the more colorful people we met while attending QuiltCon in Austin this past February was Amanda Leins. Amanda, a former archaeologist who has turned to quilts to tell stories, began quilting in 2002. Her quilt, “Eggs and Darts” from her new book Wanderlust Quilts, won First Place in the Modern Quilts category at […]

Why Quilts Matter –
Question & Answer with Jack Edson

What do you get when you combine a self-taught sewer (in kindergarten), the meticulous precision of a professional librarian, and hundreds of tiny bits of fabric?  You get Jack Edson, collector of all things folk art, Americana, and remarkable portrait quilt artist. Jack studied art history and completed his Master of Library Science at the […]

Why Quilts Matter –
Question & Answer with Marsha MacDowell

As most quilters know, the go-to website for information about quilts is the Quilt Index Website. But did you ever wonder how the Quilt Index got started? You need look no further than the Quilt Alliance (formerly the Alliance for American Quilts) for the scoop: “In 1993, recognizing the need to centralize information about quilts […]

Why Quilts Matter
Question & Answer with Penny Gold, Part 2

Editor’s Note: The following is Part 2 of guest blogger Bill Volckening’s recent interview with Penny Gold. Click here to read part one. After your first original quilt, “Loss”, what came next? I have made a sequence of quilts dealing with my feelings of grief, loss, and guilt, about ten altogether. The quilts that function […]

Why Quilts Matter –
Question and Answer with Penny Gold, Part 1

We here at Why Quilts Matter – History, Art & Politics have been looking a variety of charity quilts, awareness quilts, and quilts made for specific causes. We were deeply moved by this story and wanted to share it with our readers in a two-part series. Our heartfelt thanks go to Penny Gold for sharing her story.

Why Quilts Matter –
Question and Answer with Mary Fons >>

During our recent visit to Austin, Texas, for QuiltCon 2015, we met up with high-energy, whirling dervish Mary Fons! While influenced by her quilting luminary mother, Marianne Fons, it is important to know Mary is an accomplished professional in her own right. Before she had her self titled “quilt epiphany” in 2008 and began to […]

We are going to QUILTCON!

​Heading to Austin, Texas, this week for the Modern Quilt Guild’s QUILTCON? We are, and we’ll be in booth #906 – conveniently located next to Demo Area A and the concession stand!

Come by and say hello – we’ve got all kinds of things for you to watch and see and do. Need help with guild programing? We have you covered. Brochures for a meeting or cruise? Postcards? Pins? (Hurry, they go FAST!)

Why Quilts Matter –
Question and Answer with Marianne Fons

At the top of our wish list to ask about Why Quilts Matter was quilting luminary Marianne Fons. Marianne was a mere twenty-something and at the center of quilting’s resurgence in the late 70’s. After meeting Liz Porter at a beginning quilter’s class in 1976, the two went on to co-author a succession of important books and programs around quilting. In the following years, Marianne became (and still is) a sought-after quilt and fabric designer, teacher, lecturer and author. Her enthusiasm, energy and intense vitality continue to inspire and instruct the next generation of quilters. Rarely has Why Quilts Matter been able to sit down and speak to someone with so substantial a repository of quilting history and wisdom!