Knoxville - Great City, Great Show!

We hosted our first AQS Quilt Expo in Knoxville July 22-25 in the great city of Knoxville. The citizens outdid themselves with friendliness and hospitality. They even had a business-window-dressing-with-quilts contest while we were there!

The Knoxville Convention Center is a wonderful facility, the concession food was *good* (!) and the nearby hotels very nice. Oh yes -- the quilts were magnificent and there were enough vendors to melt anyone's plastic. The teachers, lecturers and special events were all first class. It's unusual for a show to go off without a hitch, especially a new show in a new town and venue, but ours did, and everyone involved had a fun time. We're looking forward to three more years, at least, in East Tennessee.

We actively try to meet potential authors at our shows and talk about new book ideas. I give a lecture on what it is like to publish with AQS, which people say is informative and helpful. Join us in Des Moines for "Putting Pen to Paper: Publishing with AQS." The Des Moines registration guide is available online at www.americanquilter.com.

Some very creative people discussed some excellent ideas in Knoxville. If you weren't there and think you might want to write a book with AQS, look for our book proposal guidelines under the "Authors" tab on our home page. Send completed proposals with two or three finished, representative projects to: Andi Reynolds, Executive Book Editor, AQS, 5801 Kentucky Dam Road, Paducah, KY 42003 (270-898-7903).

We look forward to seeing what you're creating!

Put Some Magic in Your Quilts!

Hot off the press, we are proud to announce the arrival of Michelle Linder's book, Square Magic!

Michelle has devised an ingenious way to transform a plain square into hundreds of different blocks. Simple straight piecing and clever color use transform the ordinary into extraordinary.

Even better, she explains how to perform her magic with 3", 2" and 1" squares so you can work with a size you like.

As a bonus, after you trim to get the block you're going for, you've automatically created a miniature version of the same block!

Seeing is believing how amazingly simple but effective her technique is. And the 12 projects in Square Magic offer lots of placement and color options, border choices and more. Try it for yourself and you'll become addicted to using Michelle's method in all of your pieced quilts because it's -- magic!

AQS item # 8024 on our website, www.americanquilter.com or 1-800-626-5420.

Get Stylin' with Ease!

Look what just arrived! Fran Morgan's latest AQS book is Stylish Sweatjackets. Fran leads the design work at Fabric Cafe (www.fabriccafe.com) and is well known for her fresh, happy look. She's done it again here as she shows how to take off-the-rack sweatshirts and turn them into custom-fitted jackets suitable for any occasion. This book is geared to sewers of any age and experience and would be a great mother/daughter effort: first, you shop, then you sew! The techniques are straightforward and can be mixed and matched to meet your own personal style. Enjoy looking great on a budget and staying warm to boot. AQS item # 8025 on the website: www.americanquilter.com or 1-800-626-5420.

Don't Miss Out!

AQS's first show in Knoxville, Tennessee will be fantastic. Along with amazing quilts, excellent teachers and exciting vendors, there is the beauty of Knoxville and all that city has to offer, show specials, and opportunities to meet the individuals who make the quilt world so special -- including some of our authors!

Come meet Pam Clarke, Pepper Cory, Margie Engel, Rita Fishel, Klaudeen Hansen, Sandy Hart & Gudny Campbell, Deb Karasik, Rami Kim, Ann Lainhart, Laura Patrick & Ed Ditto, Marsha Radtke, Sharon Sebrow, Lynda Smith, Helen Squire and Alice Wilhoit.

See the blog for June 10, 2009 for the book titles, or search our website: www.americanquilter.com. Autographed books increase in value and they're just special, so treat yourself at the AQS Book Fair, Thursday, July 23, 4:30 pm - 6:00 pm outside the Lecture Hall (and just before a special evening with Eleanor Burns!).

And if you think you might want to become an author yourself, there's a lecture just for you: Writing a Quilt Book: The Reality Show, Thursday, July 23, from 4 to 5 pm.

See you in Knoxville! Let's make quilt history!

AQS Author is HMQS Teacher of the Year!

Congratulations to Pam Clarke, author of Quilting Inside the Lines: Machine & Frame Quilting! She has been named the 2009 Teacher of the Year by the Home Machine Quilting Show. Pam was honored for the marvelous level of professionalism, talent, and expertise she has offered her students.

Pam is a dynamo in the quilting world – in her professional longarm quilting business she has quilted over 7,000 quilts! A quilter since 1970, and a longarm quilter since 1988, she continues to teach machine quilting, piecing, and appliqué classes at venues and shows across the country.

Pam is teaching at the AQS Quilt Expo in Knoxville, TN, July 22-25. To sign up for a class call AQS at 270-898-7903.

Margie Engel, also an AQS author, won the PQA Teacher of the Year Award! Her post is dated March 25, 2009. Congratulations to both!

Shipping News

This box was not only ripped front and back, it was open when it arrived. The plastic shopping bags loosely wrapped around the quilt had come apart, leaving the quilt exposed and vulnerable to theft and damage.

Sending quilts to shows or publishers can be scary, for the quilter and the recipient. The horror stories you may have heard about quilts being lost, stolen or damaged are most likely true. This is one time when overdoing the safety angle makes excellent sense. We've written up the best practices in shipping quilts, so our authors and contestants can rest assured their treasures arrive at AQS safely. If you have additional suggestions, we'd love to hear them and will pass them on.

AQS Shipping Information

We know how much your quilts mean to you, so we’ve compiled this checklist of best practices when sending us (or anyone) your quilts.

Mail or ship them to:

(the contact name you were given on your entry form or email)
AQS
5801 Kentucky Dam Road
Paducah, KY 42003
(270) 898-7903

Email a tracking number as soon as you have it and let us know when we should expect your quilts to: Tracey@aqsquilt.com.

If you don't take any other measure suggested here, at least sew a label with, at a minimum, your name, the quilt’s name, and your address and phone number onto each quilt.

For quilts larger than 30” x 30”, sew a 4-inch sleeve across the back at the top. Be sure the sleeve is set down far enough not to show above the quilt when hung.

Enclose each quilt in some sort of plastic bag that you can close or tape shut to prevent water damage should the box rip or tear. Ziploc makes large-quilt size bags. Do not use anything that might be mistaken for a trash bag!

Include a color photo of the quilt in the bag with your name and contact information and why you're sending the quilt to us - the name of your proposal, book or magazine article or the contest or event you're entering.

Enclose a packing list with the box that includes your name and contact information and a list of the quilts in the box. Do not include any indications of your quilts’ values.

If you are concerned about insuring your quilts, have them appraised, and use a fine arts rider on your home owner's insurance rather than buying the shipper's insurance.

Do not pack your quilts too tightly. We have to use a sharp blade to open most boxes and the danger of damaging a quilt stuffed into a container is real. Consider adding a layer of cardboard on top of the bagged quilts as a safety barrier.

Do not indicate anywhere on the outside of the box that it includes quilts. Do not use the word “quilt” anywhere inside or outside, including the shipping label. Use “AQS,“ not “American Quilter’s Society.”

Send your quilts early in the week so they do not sit around a warehouse or loading dock over the weekend, or send them overnight so they arrive here by 2:00 pm CST on a Friday.

If you are sending multiple quilts or multiple boxes of quilts, consider packing them either one quilt to a box and sending them on subsequent days, or put two or three quilts in a box and send the several boxes on subsequent days. This prevents having all of your quilts on the one truck that gets into an accident or burns down in a warehouse fire.

If this seems like overkill, it isn’t. The condition in which many boxes reach us is terrible, and quilts have been known to get wet, become damaged or disappear in transit.

See additional good information about shipping sent in by Pat from Montana in the comments section. Thanks, Pat!

We hope you will take these precautions and we look forward to seeing your quilts.

Calling All Groupies!

If you're a quilter, you've got books, and if you've got books, you probably have a few favorite authors. You can meet your faves during the Book Fair at any AQS show, collect autographs and buy the latest, greatest AQS publications. Here's the author line-up for the AQS Knoxville Quilt Expo July 22-25:

Pepper Cory, Pepper Cory's Quilting Pattern Collection
Margie Engel, Bodacious Applique a la Carte
Rita Fishel, Mystery Quilts
Klaudeen Hansen, Quilt Art Engagement Calendar 2010
Sandy Hart & Gudny Campbell, Piecing with Pixels
Deb Karasik, Quilts with Attitude
Rami Kim, Quilted Elegance
Ann S. Lainhart, Fussy Cut Mariner's Compass
Laura Patrick, Heart for a Hero
Marsha D. Radtke, A Baltimore Album
Florence Riesen, Heirloom Quilted Nursery
Sharon Sebrow, Kaleidoscope the Smart Way
Lynda Smith, Quilt This!
Helen Squire, Quilting UFOs
Alice Wilhoit, Crazy Patchwork

See you in Tennessee!