Quilt lecture and workshop slated for September

Discovering Illinois Amish Quilts
Admission: Free
Date/Time: Friday, September 5, 2008, 7pm
Where: Butterworth Center, 1105-8th Street, Moline, Illinois 61265
Description: Discover often-overlooked quilts, made near Arthur, Illinois, in this hour-long presentation. Learn their history going back to the 1870s and their developing diversity as quiltmakers merged their desire for simplification with quiltmaking trends. Illinois Amish quilters have produced masterpiece quilts that are considered to be among the best examples of American folk art. Find inspiration for your own quiltmaking, collecting and love of art.

Workshop: Amish Quilts: Design Lessons from Illinois
Date/Time: Saturday, September 6, 2008, 9am-4pm
Where: Deere-Wiman Carriage House
Cost: $45.00 includes all supplies and lunch.
Supplies: No sewing machine is needed. This is a design class so we will be working with a color wheel of one-inch squares of solid-color fabrics. A kit will be provided for each student which will include a copy of the book (a $25 value) and pre-cut fabrics to use in class and other supplies ($15).
Description:
Study Amish success in color and design to improve your quiltmaking. Illinois’ widely varied quilts offer lessons in value, rhythm, simplification, visual tension, and balance. This six-hour class starts with an introduction to the evolution of Illinois Amish quilts in terms of fabrics, colors, and patterns. Then we will discuss a design vocabulary that will help us to see these quilts more clearly and analytically as artistic compositions. We will also use this vocabulary as we study examples in the book, Illinois Amish Quilts: Sharing Threads of Tradition, to analyze why some quilts are more appealing than others. The last part of the class will involve demonstrations and exercises using small pieces of fabrics to better understand color harmonies and contrasts.