It all started with a colorful scrap quilt made by one of my grandmothers, given to me by my mom when I was 18. As she unfolded the quilt from her old cedar chest, the bright colors of the Grandmother’s Fan cast its spell and I was hooked. At the time, I had no idea of the incredible journey this quilt would start for me.
The journey began with a beginning quilt class at a local quilt shop. It continued after a move to Maui, Hawaii, where I discovered Hawaiian quilting and became a charter member of the Maui Quilt Guild. It transformed me into a quilt shop owner, teacher, artist, and so much more. My name is Dianna Grundhauser and I am a quilter.
Every quilter has a story to tell! That’s why I’m putting together a book called The Quilting Spirit. The book is a celebration of the spirit and community of quilters and our art, a special collection of stories we can turn to again and again for affirmation and inspiration.
To get an idea of the type of story I'm looking for, please read the samples:
The Quilting Trumpeter
The Challenge of Entering Quilts into Juried Art Shows
The Quilting Spirit will be a book by quilters about our quilts and the lessons we have learned along the way. These are the stories we tell at guild meetings, quilting bees, and one-on-one over coffee. The stories that unfold as you put needle and thread to fabric and perpetuate the art of quilting.
Whether you consider yourself a beginner or expert, make traditional or contemporary quilts, work by hand or machine, I invite you to share your stories for publication.
- How has the act of quilting, sharing ideas, the quilting community, changed your life?
- How has it empowered, strengthened, healed you?
- How has it taught you perseverance and patience?
- How has it built your self-esteem, shaped your identity, or boosted your creativity?
Submission Criteria
While the “story of your quilting life” may be intriguing, short anecdotes work best. Your true story should be original, unpublished, and embody what the “quilting spirit” means to you. I am looking for stories that either make you laugh or make you cry (and sometimes both!). See below for topic ideas, but keep in mind that it is not an all-inclusive list. Don’t worry about the writing process itself, just write! If selected, your work will be gently and carefully edited and returned to you for approval prior to publication.
For consideration, send your submission (up to 1500 words) along with your name, address and daytime telephone number. Send them via email to quiltingspirit@hawaii.rr.com, or mail to Quilting Spirit, c/o Inner Ocean Publishing, Inc., P.O. Box 1239, Makawao, Hawaii 96768. If you choose to send your submission via e-mail, please paste it in the body of the e-mail message, do not send an attachment. Non-selected submissions received by regular mail will be returned only if accompanied by an SASE.
If Your Entry Is Selected
You will be notified by mail and asked to sign a contributor permission agreement. Expected publication date is Fall 2005. Published contributors will receive their choice of a small honorarium or five (5) free copies of the book. You will have a listing in the “Contributors” section, on the upcoming website, and be included in publicity and promotional materials where applicable.
Special Note
Ten percent (10%) of the royalties earned from the sale of this book will be donated to the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles to further aid them in their goal to move to a new 11,000 s.f. facility at 520 South First Street in downtown San Jose, California. For more information on the museum and their capital project visit their website at www.sjquiltmuseum.org.
Additional questions may be sent to the e-mail or regular mail addresses listed above.
Thank you for your participation!
Topic Ideas
Art quilts
Cats/dogs/animals and quilts
Challenges and contests
Children and quilts
Do Not Touch the Quilts
Fabric stash/fabric collecting
Getting quilts finished
Gift quilts, given or received
Grandmothers/heirloom/vintage quilts
Group/round robin quilts
Guilds
Hawaiian quilting
Husbands and quilting
Learning to quilt/first quilts
Lost and/or found quilts
Measure twice, cut once
Memory quilts
Perfection and the attempts to achieve it Quilt “finds”
Quilt disasters
Quilting bee stories
Quilting friends and family
Quilts inspired by dreams
Recovery quilts or quilting to recover
Secret pals
Shop hop trips
Teaching
The "quilt police"
Tools of the trade (how and how NOT to use them!) UFO’s