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The Quilters' S.O.S. - Save Our Stories (Q.S.O.S.) collection, archived in the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress and shared on the Quilt Alliance website, has just grown by seven interviews.

Q.S.O.S. is our oral history project, launched in 1999 at the International Quilt Festival, that documents, preserves and shares the oral histories of quiltmakers. Six of the newly posted interviews were conducted with artists featured in the book Lone Stars III: A Legacy of Texas Quilts, 1986-2011 by Karoline Patterson Bresenhan and Nancy O'Bryant Puentes two of the co-founders of the Quilt Alliance. Newly posted interviews from this 2011 IQF sub-project feature: Andrea Brokenshire, Lynda Noll, Marilyn Mowry, Barbara Oliver Hartman, Helen Ridgway and Barb Forrister.

Andrea Brokenshire told interviewer Sandi Goldman how she felt about being included in Lone Stars III: "Like I won the lottery [laughs.] It's great, it's great... It's just honor, it's just honor and a privilege to be involved in this and as my girlfriend says, "You're now part of Texas history," and I thought, "Wow, that's pretty cool."

Barb Forrister told interviewer Karen Downer about Emerald Treasures, a quilt that required major restoration due to damage caused by a conveyor belt during shipping: "As you can imagine, this quilt has a lot of meaning to me because it represented a time in my life when I needed to take a leap of faith. I had to learn to trust in myself that I had created this piece and I could indeed restore it to it's original state so that it could once again be shared with others. It was also a lesson in letting go."

Also posted is the first interview to be shared from the North Carolina Quilt Symposium Q.S.O.S. sub-project started in June of 2012. Carlie Nichols was interviewed during the 2012 symposium held at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, North Carolina.

Carlie Nichols tells interviewer Susan Skuda about the first quilt she made for the Quilts of Valor project: "So I followed the instructions on the quilts of valor website, I found a place to send it, actually it went to Blanchfield Army Hospital in Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and I was told not to expect a thank you or anything but lo and behold I got a letter back from the chaplain. And it was a beautiful letter and it came at a very difficult time in my personal life so it was just the kind of motivation that I needed to make some more."

To find out more about how you can get involved with the Q.S.O.S. project visit our website.

Traditional quilter, hand quilter, longarm quilter, art quilter, modern quilter, paper piecing quilter, appliqueing quilter, embroidering quilter, mixed media quilter, hobbyist quilter, beginning quilter, professional quilter, driven, 24-7-365 quilter, once-in-a-while quilter with a not-so-modest stash (you know who you are), quilt historian, quilt collector, or person who just loves quilts.

should know about, use and join the Quilt Alliance!

Our friends at The City Quilter in New York City are teaming up with American Patchwork & Quilting Magazine in association with the NY Transit Museum & the Metropolitan Transportation Authority on a quilt challenge to celebrate Grand Central Station's 100th anniversary.

International Quilt Market is this weekend in Portland and many of our Quilt Alliance board members are planning to be there: Jodie Davis of QNNtv.com, Mark Dunn of Moda/United Notions, Brenda Groelz of Handi Quilter, Michele Muska of Simplicity, Steve Nabity of AccuQuilt, Victoria Findlay Wolfe with Newcastle Fabrics and C&T Publishing, and Alex Veronelli of Aurifil. Be sure to stop by their booths and say hello!

May we all see spring flowers, and no more showers!

Warm regards,

Amy Milne, executive director