Dear Readers:

I apologize that a total computer meltdown last month torpedoed my November issue of Quilt Journalist but I'll try to make it up to you with a juicier December offering. While reading an analysis of Quilt Festival may seem like stale news, trust me, you are going to want to hear about the coolest new gadget on the market and other Festival doings and plans. The giveaway also bundles two month's worth of goodies.

Year end is when a lot of people dig deep and make donations to organizations and causes close to their hearts. Some of the quilt-centric nonprofits that I contributed to this year are the International Quilt Museum, the Quilt Alliance and the American Quilt Study Group. I consider each of them indispensable and am close enough to the individuals running them to know how hard they work. Last year for the first time, I asked readers to nominate their favorite quilt charities and then chose one of them to win a donation of $100 in the name of the person who nominated the organization. I'm repeating my offer this year, but the donation is even bigger. I hope you'll share your favorite quilt charity!

Quilt on!

Meg

Let Me Show You A Quilter's New Jersey

I've been writing for Quiltfolk magazine since 2018 and traveling the country with the glorious souls involved in this luscious quarterly has been a great joy. But I had a very special experience this fall when the state being examined was my own, the state I married into in 1988 and the place where most of my own quilt life has unfolded.

I got super excited when I learned the New Jersey quilters were going to get a great big spotlight and because of my local's knowledge I was asked to be way more involved than usual in suggesting everything from profile subjects to scenic shots. I even had to pick a location for my own photograph to be taken because I was asked to write the issue Introduction. (About which the editor said at one point, are you sure you want to be that snarky? And I replied Yup, it's a Jersey thing.)

I generally lift up each issue as it appears and link to the online "tease" showing the story lists and some gorgeous photos. But today I want to go a little farther behind the scenes with one of my favorite people on the planet, Mark Lipinski, a dear friend of many years. I've written for him, including when he asked me to write a gossip column called Megabites for his magazine Quilter's Home. I even occasionally co-hosted his Creative Mojo radio show and was a guest presenter at his Slow Stitching Retreat. We used to have a famously loud and silly lunch in a favorite NJ eatery with our mutual pal Liza Lucy every couple of months. But I haven't seen Mark for long stretches the last couple of years between Covid and his continued serious health issues. I hadn't been to his cozy home for a couple years.

I knew that most of the pursuits that made Mark famous on the quilt scene weren't activities he was physically able to pursue any longer, from teaching and travel to even quilting itself. So I proposed a profile about someone with chronic illness finding ways to stay creative no matter what. I know there are many people in that situation and more of us will face that challenge in our futures. Normally I shy away from profiling friends, but Mark made it a condition of doing the interview: he didn't have the energy to explain his life story to a stranger.

So back in September, Quiltfolk's principal photographer Azuree Holloway and her stylist (and husband) Trevor and I spent a full 7 hours with Mark and his husband Jeff Turner. Mark talked about his past and current lives, shared some of the art work he's doing now and we drove to a picturesque local horse farm for outdoor shots. What an immense pleasure it was, for all of us.

I'm excited for you guys to see the whole issue. The editors and writers worked as hard as we always do to show the breadth and depth of quilters and quilt stories in a given state. Of course we were disappointed that art star Bisa Butler was too busy working on a solo show for the Smithsonian to chat with us. And I didn't get to have my portrait taken in front of the oldest building on the Princeton University campus because there happened to be a student protest on the steps (over cheapskate pay for the college staff).

Here is a link to the contents of Issue 29, which will appear in subscribers' mailboxes in just a couple of weeks. If you want to start a subscription or just buy the NJ issue, I invite you to use my personal discount code MegQF29 when you check out to get 20% off whatever you buy.

Mystery Quilts Are All the Rage

Yup, I know that the mystery quilt is not a new concept, but there are two new Mystery Quilt projects that are racking up massive interest because of the people designing them and the way they're being handled.

The first one is the Secret Agent Mystery Quiltalong (QAL) about to launch from Modern Quilt Studio. This is the third mystery QAL in recent years from married designers Weeks Ringle and Bill Kerr and like everything they do, it is wildly creative and thoroughly planned. Nobody does a QAL like they do and this one has some special twists. I'm putting this one first because the first instructions, I mean the first mission, drops on January 1 and I want you to be able to jump in right away if this sounds like your cup of tea.

The instructions will come out in six weekly installments (er, missions) between January 1 and February 16 for a finished quilt of 52 inches by 52 inches. All of the directions will be downloadable pdf files and the pattern includes templates. There will be new information and a new how-to video for each mission. The goal of the QAL is to teach quilters the transparency technique that Weeks and Bill wrote about in their 2012 book Transparency Quilts. The book provided 10 projects and showed how to create the illusion that one fabric is showing through beneath another fabric. (Just to be clear, the book isn't needed for this project.)

I wouldn't give away any of the mystery even if I knew it, but Weeks said there will be "twists and turns" and surprises as it rolls out. She explained that everyone will receive the same general directions, but each of the final quilts will be unique. Cool.

Although they have done zero advertising and promotion, just reaching out to their usual customers, Modern Quilt Studio sold out of their initial supply of fat quarter bundles for the project in 24 hours on their website. The bundles they are providing are from their Transparency fabric line (see photo above). They will have more of the bundles soon, but Weeks recommends people reach out to their local quilt shops to find out whether it's in stock. Also, it isn't necessary to use the Transparency fabric to create the effect, Weeks said. Detailed info will be provided for anyone who wants to shop their stash or go with a different fabric line.

A good number of those signing up are repeat customers who joined Weeks and Bill for either or both of their previous QALs. They know they are in the hands of good teachers who are also playful. One previous QAL was called Summer Camp and the theme was used to create what Weeks calls "an imaginary immersive environment" that allowed participants to pretend they were campers. The online portal where quilters go for their weekly directions was called the Lodge and Weeks and Bill were counselors. The instructional installments had names like Barbecue Week. Participants made up cabin names and camp songs and played along, interacting via a special Facebook group called Modern Quilt Studio Patterns + Fabric (it's easy to join, I just did.)

For this mystery QAL, the resource portal is called Headquarters, Bill and Weeks are Spymasters and the participants are Agents. Adding to the fun, the pair offered Secret Agent t-shirts and hoodies for sale and again, quilters jumped right into the fantasy, posting selfies online with their bundles, wearing the hoodies with sunglasses, and sometimes a trench coat.

How is the signup so far? Weeks told me a few days before the launch, "we currently have 1,200 agents on five continents and from every state in the country. "

Intrigued? Here is some of the info you need. The cost of the QAL is $35 and if you use the official bundle, that will cost about $90. Here is the link to the MQS website to learn more and sign up. And here is a YouTube video posted a month ago, where Bill and Weeks explain everything.

Please know that you can also join later and catch up. Some people want to see what a mystery quilt looks like before they commit: they lose the mystery, but know what they're making. If you want to start right in, mark your calendars: the first mission will appear online at midnight on New Year's Eve. Weeks and Bill do regular monthly livestreams called Quilts First! on the Modern Quilt Studio (regular) Facebook page and next week their livestream at noon CST on January 1 will focus on the Secret Agent project.

I have to say, I've admired these two creatives for years, but I'm so impressed with all of this. Weeks said that a few years ago, the two decided it would be fun to create mystery quiltalongs as a new venture. "But we thought that what people want was a real experience, not just a pattern delivered."

If you choose to accept this mission, enjoy the heck out of it. And if that mystery quilt isn't your thing, maybe the one from Kaffe Fassett in 2024 will ring your bells.

This is only the second time the Kaffe Fassett Collective has done a mystery quilt project: the first time was in 2018. When the 2024 version was presented at fall Quilt Market in Houston, quilt shop owners were highly receptive and orders strong. They had to order fabric for it pretty quickly even though they won't get it delivered to their shops until July. (I understand the demand was so robust that Kaffe is already working on a new mystery quilt design.)

The project is a pieced quilt called Cathedral Tiles that will finish at 76 inches by 76 inches and is said to be suitable for advanced beginners. Quilters have a choice between two color ways: the one chosen by Kaffe is called Multi and the one put together by his colleague Liza Lucy is called Delft. There are seven sections of the quilt and instructions for each section will be available online in succession every two weeks from July through October.

Quilt shops all over the country (and beyond) are now advertising the program and taking reservations. I've noticed a few shops online stating that they've already got takers for all the kits they reserved, so if this idea intrigues you, perhaps you should contact your local quilt shop. The price of the program including fabric and instruction is about $230 at retail. Most shops are taking a nonreturnable deposit of between $25 and $75, to be subtracted from the total price.

This level of excitement says a lot about the fervent fandom for Kaffe. As with the Secret Agent quilt, quilters don't know what it looks like or how it's made, and this is the bigger financial commitment. To get an idea of how it's being marketed, here is the approach from a Tennessee quilt shop called The Sewing House.

All The Buzz:

Quilt Market + Quilt Festival

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My original plan for the November issue included a well-researched long piece about International Quilt Festival and Quilt Market (the trade show, also run by Quilts Inc. that happens before Festival). I did plenty of interviews and got interesting intelligence but much of the material doesn't seem fresh a month later, so I'm going with a truncated version here.

Especially stale is the announcement of prize winning quilts: these days there is no Wednesday night award ceremony at the George R. Brown convention center and the winners are published online before the event starts. But yeah, as one expects, there were some dazzling quilts, including the one above called "Circling Sevenstar" by Lyn Crump which won third place in machine quilting. (If you missed seeing the winners or want to refresh your memory, go here to see the quilts and in some cases, video interviews with the makers.)

But I do believe it's worthwhile to share some of the statistics about the show and observations of seasoned veterans, and then I'm going to tell you about the single hottest product unveiled at Market.

I interviewed Bob Ruggiero, longtime head of communications for Quilts Inc., who echoed the reports of many industry folk that while attendance was below average for both events, the trends are promising. Bob told me that the number of exhibitors and the number of booths at Festival were both 5% higher than in 2022 (278 exhibitors and 635 vendor booths) while the attendance rose more than 15% to 41,212.



Of course I had to ask Bob about the swirling rumors that several potential buyers of Quilts Inc. were spotted among attendees. There has been industry gossip for years saying that Karey Bresenhan was looking for a buyer, and it didn't help that she was barely seen publicly at this year's events. Predictably, Bob pooh-poohed such rumors, replying "It's very simple. Karey was just not feeling well. She had had a Covid shot recently and was under the weather. I know she was there for half a day during Schoolhouse (product presentations during Market) and all of preview night." And he added emphatically, "Quilts Inc. is not for sale, we haven't been sold and we are not in negotiations to be sold."

Now the energy and expectation moves to Quilt Festival in 2024, because that will mark the 50th anniversary of the event, which is HUGE. Bob declined to spill the beans on all the grand and fun ways Quilts Inc. plans to celebrate. I did attend the 40th anniversary celebration in 2014, and it was spectacular. I remember dancing in the park until late next to a giant ice sculpture and that even the Hilton lobby was decorated in red and white to honor the milestone. What has already been announced is a quilt contest to make red, white and blue quilts for the event, and you can go here to learn more about requirements of submission.

I do know this: I think it is an extraordinary milestone and I'll do everything in my power to attend and personally report on the festivities. Between the pandemic and a busy schedule, I haven't been to Festival since 2018 after attending every year for a decade. Meet you there, readers?

Finally, What Was that Hot New Product?

First, let me tell you that the shop owners I spoke with said there was a gratifying amount of cool new products and designers at Market, which bodes well for all of us. But every single person I spoke with mentioned this one product: the Glow Ruler.

This is a 6-inch acrylic ruler that, when pressed, turns on a bright thin LED light at all the edges and also along the marked lines of the ruler. It is charged with a USB port and its inventor, notions designer Carolina Moore, created it especially for use when fussy cutting, so you can see exactly what you'll wind up with after you've trimmed side bits off a hunk of fabric. That may not make you squeal, but if you watch this video Carolina made of quilters reacting to it at Festival, you might get what feels exciting here. (Is this woman good at marketing, or what?) And here is the You

Tube video she did 2 months ago to show how it works.

Carolina, who lives in San Diego, told me in a phone interview recently that she's been making quilts since age 12 (she's in her 40s now). She earned her MBA in 2020 and has been creating a series of products she sees as practical solutions to typical quilting problems. She's also been making and selling patterns for a decade and you can check out her products at www.carolinamoorepatterns.com. Her Instagram handle is @craftmoore, another great place to follow her work.

A patent is pending for the Glow ruler, and Carolina is working on two larger sizes. But what really got me jazzed was something she has done for the past several years, a variation on an Advent calendar for quilters. This isn't a box where one opens a door, but a package of thick, pretty envelopes. For $80, people who order the calendar get 12 envelopes, each containing a mini quilt pattern and an acrylic template to make it. To celebrate a full 25 days, people can pay a little more to get 13 more patterns that utilize the same templates. Here is a teaser video she did on YouTube to launch her 2023 Advent calendar package.

I love this concept and am charmed by how Carolina presents it. My plan had been to give away one of the $80 12-day Advent packages with templates as my main giveaway in November, so the winner could have opened them in December. Well, here we are on the cusp of January, so that package will still be part of this month's giveaway and in my view, will still be great fun to play with. If you are like me, you are tucking away this idea for fall of 2024...

I couldn't get my hands on the Glow rulers for the giveaway, but there seem to be quilt-centric retailers selling them out there for $58 and up. I understand they brightened up Christmas for some quilters who received them!

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Tell Me About YOUR Favorite Quilt Charity

And Win Them a $150 Donation

Last year I made this offer for the first time and loved hearing about all the organizations that quilters support with their hearts, hands and wallets. All you need to do is write one paragraph describing a quilt-related charity and why you value it so highly. This could be a local or national charity, something your guild supports or a cause you care about personally. If there is a website, please provide the URL so I can learn more.

The donation amount was $100 last year but I wanted to make it more robust, so it is 50% higher this year. The gift will be made in your name. And just like last year, I'll announced the winner in the January issue. In addition to information about the winning charity, I'll share names and links of other organizations nominated.

All you need to do is send your nomination to meg@megcox.com by January 15 and please write Charity Nomination in the message line.

(Photo from Getty Images, creator Mykola Sosiukin)

After 15 years of corporate sponsorship, this newsletter is now supported by its readers. Just by reading and subscribing you support my work. For those who are able and interested in doing more, please click on the yellow bar above or the link below.

When you click on my profile at the BuyMeACoffee website, you'll see that you have an option to buy me one or more coffees at $5 each. (I really love the subscriber, an industry insider, who bought me 8 coffees - she explained it was one coffee for each year she has enjoyed reading this newsletter.) Or you can become a member. Joining my Inner Circle costs $2 a month, or $20 for the whole year. I've just added a second tier for people who'd like to give more: $5 a month or $50 for a year (some of my readers asked me to add another level, which was gratifying.)

The benefits of membership include things like exclusive short videos, links to articles I've written and Zoom gatherings. I hosted a Labeling Retreat on Zoom in July and this fall, we had a Passion Project Show + Tell. On the Winter Solstice this month, I did a fun Zoom solstice ritual with members. I send special messages to members from time to time and recently sent them a Quilter's Year-End Review list for those who want to review their 2023 quilting year and set goals for 2024. Some of my members love the bennies and gatherings, and others have made clear they just want to show their support and don't want any more Zoom in their lives. All they want is for me to continue the work they value.



Let me be crystal clear: you will still get the same newsletter as everyone else if you don't contribute a dime. And everyone has an equal chance to win monthly giveaways. Supporters allow me to do more, give more and interact differently and I'm hugely grateful for that. But do me a favor: if you are reading this and don't subscribe, please take a moment to do that: the link for subscribing is here.) And forward this to a friend who makes, collects or simply loves quilts.

Thank you so much!!!!!!! I've loved the deeper engagement with my readers that has come with this way of funding. It's not just the financial support that has lifted me up but also the encouragement and even story ideas.



Is JoAnn Fabrics About To Fold? Wall Street Thinks So

You may recall that the pandemic was very good for JOANN fabric stores as sales of craft items including fabric and sewing machines soared during lockdown. But lately, sales have plummeted, staff has been slashed and many stores closed, making it hard to repay $1 billion in debt. The CEO who retired in May hasn't been replaced. An article last month on RetailWire declared that JOANN Inc. "might be the next retailer facing extinction." The company founded in Cleveland by German immigrants in 1943 still operates about 850 stores in 49 states. But the writer said the company's credit score was recently downgraded by a trusted service to a score of 1, "the worst possible score" and there is a decent probability of bankruptcy in the next 12 months.

Curated Quilts Ceases Publication of Online Issues Too

Christine Ricks and Amy Ellis started this stunning quarterly magazine 6 years ago, producing themed issues that included excellent writing, gorgeous modern quilts and no how-tos or ads. One issue might be about a simple shape like a hexagon and the next might lift up a single color like red or a technique, like applique. One issue was full of "youth" quilts and another featured utility quilts. It was smart and refreshing and ambitious, mixing articles by professional writers with curated photo spreads of readers' work. A brilliant concept, in my mind. But it turned out to be unsustainable. The founders made a brief attempt to keep publishing only digital versions but people missed holding these sturdy colorful treasures in their hands. In November, Christine and Amy said they would cease the digital issues too, but as one last gift to their readers, publish the three digital-only issues on paper, especially for those who wanted to own the full collection. The economics of quality publishing, never forgiving, have only worsened. I applaud Christine and Amy for this amazing effort and look forward to seeing what they create next.

How To Get Your Your Story Into Quiltfolk If You Aren't Famous

Every issue of Quiltfolk magazine attempts the impossible task of presenting the full quilt story of one state. The editors try to represent every major geographical area, as many demographic groups as echo the quilting population, and a wide range of types of quilts and quilters. If quilting has been a big deal for generations and centuries, there should be some breathtaking old quilts or at least quilts that help tell the state's history. If you have seen issues of Quiltfolk, you probably recognized that some of the profiles are of A-list celebrities in the needlehood. But if everybody profiled is already famous, we would miss the fizz of discovery, of highlighting someone who is new to the craft but epic in their passion and fresh in their approach. You don't have to have a viral Instagram account or your own fabric line to be a potentially perfect story for Quiltfolk. Writers and editors reach out to known experts in various quilt genres for recommendations and scour the internet for good quilt stories for each state when it's next in line. But here is what you may not know: as we start researching a new state, Quiltfolk sends out a mass email to every subscriber with a mailing address in that state. Some people write back about why they are a great story for this issue, while others propose a list of people, venues and institutions based in that state. Just another benefit of subscribing.

Meg Cox

I'm good at talking too!

meg@megcox.com

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