C&T Publishing launches a blog

I just found out that C&T Publishing has launched a blog! C&T has published some of my favorite quilting books, including those by Piece O’ Cake Designs, Rayna Gillman, Elin Waterston, Jane Davila, Valori Wells, Mary Lou Weidman, Mark Lipinski, Carol Doak, Frieda Anderson, and too many more to mention here.

According to C&T, the new blog will feature free quilting and crafts projects, behind-the-scenes views of the publishing process, news about C&T authors, and information on events in quilting, fiber arts, needle arts and papercrafts. It is just getting off the ground, but promises to be a great resource and a lot of fun. Check it out at ctpubblog.com and stay tuned for fun!

Denyse Schmidt raffles one of her quilts for Obama campaign

"Yes We Can Quilt" by Denyse Schmidt

Denyse Schmidt, quilt designer, fabric designer and author, has designed and stitched an original design that is being raffled off to raise funds for the Obama presidential campaign. If you make a $10 donation, you get one chance to win; if you donate $20, you get two chances, and so on. You can purchase chances to win on Obama's website if you make a donation between now and midnight on election day, Nov. 4.

I’ve long admired Schmidt’s contemporary designs and clean style. This quilt is a good example. The quilt fundraiser page on Obama’s site notes, “Long before women had the vote, they created quilts with political and commemorative themes. We are proud to participate in this honorable tradition.”

The 50" x 52" quilt is 100% cotton, hand appliquéd and machine quilted.

NOTE: The day after I wrote this post, a woman who reads my blog regularly wrote to tell me that she was “dismayed to see a message with a partisan political theme.” I really appreciated her writing with her opinion. She said that she enjoyed reading quilting blogs as a "safe place" away from the political fray, and I can understand what she means. Sometimes we all need to just get away from the craziness surrounding the election and our dire economic situation. But I meant this post to be informative, and not partisan or divisive. If I heard about a well-known quilt designer doing a quilt for the McCain campaign, I would post about it as well. (Let me know if you have and I'll write about it.) This is simply interesting quilting news, and I try to include interesting quilting news on this blog. Let me know what you think.