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Cherie Ekholm and I had a great Saturday with Carol Schillios of Fabric of Life. After seeing the beautiful quilts CQA made from the fabrics from the Fabric of Life, Carol just knew she was meant to be an art quilter. She bought a small sewing machine and we helped her learn the basics of sewing machine use. Then she started a small fused wall hanging that she made from the FAbric of Life hand dyed and hand stamped fabrics. We just had a great time and she decided that she is addicted to fabrics now.

She also brought me more fabrics as I had sold out of almost all the fabrics I had at Quilter’s Threads the first day that they were available. So I will periodically be adding more fabrics to the web site. These are unique hand made designs so they tend to vary in the stamped design and in the color combinations. The solid colors are a bit more consistent. If you are looking for a color combination not shown, or if it shows that we are out, email and I will see what I can do. You can also order yardage if you want it. Once again email me. Email diane@quiltersthreads.com

On Sunday my 9 year old grandson came over to help me plant vegetables. He was very good at planting and pulling weeds. My 3 year old grand daughter came too.

Afterwards we played tennis and spent a lot of time chasing the ball. He has a very good backhand. I am not allowed to run, so it was a bit of a slow game but fun nonetheless.

The Quilter’s Threadlady’s African Adventure

No, I did not go to Africa, but my friend, Cherie Ekholm of Farm Fresh Textiles and I did go to a Contemporary Quilt Association meeting in Seattle a month ago and heard from a wonderful woman, Carol Schillios, who is a micro-finance consultant. She has personally sponsored a project through the Schillios Foundation (doing business as Fabric of Life). The project is the Here Je Project in Mali, Africa. The vision of the Hèrè jè Center is to stop the cycle of begging for begging girls and provide sustainable income generating activities. The Hèrè jè Center offers skills training, health and nutrition, family planning, AIDs prevention and literacy skills. These skills lead to developing micro-entrepreneurs who can generate sustainable income for themselves and their families. The first 10 students in the pilot program graduated in July 2006 and form two teams to start their own businesses with help from a micro-loan. The second group of students is currently in training.

There is a lot more information on the web site, Fabric of Life. The girls learn the skills of sewing and fabric dyeing. Mali produces its own cotton, some of very high quality. The cotton is sent out of the country and re-imported as woven cloth. The cloth being used is a beautiful damask with incredible designs woven into the fabric. These designs are subtly woven in the same color as the fabric. Dyeing this base fabric produces wonderful results. In addition to the plain dyed fabric, which is very fine and reminds me of silk, the girls also produce hand-stamped batiks in African inspired designs. These batiks are produced on the damask fabrics, giving a wonderful hand to the fabric.

Cherie and I are very excited by this project and by their products. We also love Carol who is decided she might be an art quilter at heart and will be coming over for a play date in a couple of weeks. I now have a stock of their fabric designs to sell through the Quilter’s Threads web site. Every penny from the sale of these products goes directly to the Here Je project. Please check these out. These are just samples. The pictures were taken by Cherie Ekholm and are found on her blog. I borrowed them as I am getting ready to photograph the ones I will have in stock for you

You can also find out how to donate to this project on this page, http://www.schillios.com/schillios/section.cfm?wSectionID=791. Receive Carol’s newsletter, sign-up.

There is an exciting addition to this story. Carol receives our Quilter’s Threads newsletter and saw a recent article that we had on Ricky Tims. Carol’s assistant, Deborah Binder, contacted Ricky and he graciously agreed to attend a talk by Carol and as a result he will be hanging the quilts made by the Contemporary Quilt Association from the Here Je Fabrics as well as selling the fabrics on line. Ricky will also be doing a TV show with Alex Anderson about the project.

The Threadlady Looks Out The Window

On April 18, I was working on integrating a gallery into our onlne class courseware. I looked up from my computer and out the window and it was snowing! This does not happen in April in Washington State, Many of my flowers were blooming so as soon as it got light out in the morning. I pulled DH’s down vest over my pajamas and put on my shoes and headed out the door to take pictures in the 30 degree F chill. (Ever wonder why there is no degree key on the keyboard?)

I spent about 1/2 hour taking pictures and went back in to the nice warm house only to discover that none of the pictures had been saved to the card? So I seated the card better in the camera and back out I went. I think the results were worth it!

The weatherman says more snow tonight and we have had some hard flurries during the day, so maybe I will have more photo oportunities in the morning. Or maybe I will stay warm.

Granddaughter Alicia, 7, came by for a while and we beaded a piece of cotton and then she made a purse from it using the free project pattern on Quilter’s Threads. She was very pleased with the results and added a grosgrain ribbon for a strap.

Original version of the purse. Opened up size before it is folded is 8 1/2 X 11 inches.	Alicia

OK, then back to the computer. I still have not gotten the integration finished but I am getting close and then it will be very cool to have the courses, videos, references, forums and the gallery all in one interface. One login gets you everything.

I am adding some more computer classes to our curriculum. A Publisher for Beginners class by the test manager for Publisher at Microsoft, Cherie Ekholm. and a Vista Introductory class by me (Microsoft alumni) and a FrontPage for Website Newbies class . We are also getting a second level Passport to Using Specialty Threads class, a Lone Star piecing class and possibly another class. In the June timeframe, we are adding a Rust Dyeing class, a Sampler class, and several collage classes. Are you ready? If you want more computer classes let me know and we will find a teacher.

Now I just got a replacement router to install on my home network at my new house, so I am hoping this one works. Off to find out.