Happy New Year!

I hope your holidays were as bright and filled with love as ours. I am still here.. This house was filled with relatives from distance and kids.

The kitchen was always open and the laundry was constantly running. I said goodbyes to all the kids at once. My heart is full. This was our grandson's first visit, first plane ride. First Christmas together for now seven of us!

 Kai did not mind posing for camera for me at all.

Younger two kids went home as soon as I took our oldest son and his family to the airport this morning.

The house is empty and it has opened up space for our quilt-along. If you missed it, read all about it here.
https://therootconnection.blogspot.com/2018/12/red.html

Those of you who are interested in the quilt along, I have received and read every single comment.   I hope you are patient. I will come back with quilt # one next week.

A lot of you have ordered the book or already have it in your home. I hope you have had a chance to go through it.

Couple of reminders before I end this reminder post - (couldn't help myself)

This is going to be a stress free experience.

Those of you who are anonymous, please send me an email so I have your email addresses to send you an invite  to post on a community blog.

If you do not have Instagram or a blog? No worries, just have fun. This project is designed to get to know other like-minded people and build a community of quilters who appreciate quirky quilts just like the man who brought them to us.

Have a great rest of the week!
Sujata

RED

The best thing about moving to the San Francisco Bay Area has been coming in contact with quilters, authors, historians and collectors all at the same time.
 
Back in 2015 when I still lived in PA, we were invited to the wedding in San Francisco. My book had just been released in December 2014 and just couple of months before that, one of my favorite books was also released - Unconventional and Unexpected Quilts by Roderick Kiracofe

As soon as I got my copy of the book, I realized there was not a single quilt I disliked. I really wanted to meet this guy who collected old, unconventional quilts as art! So when the tickets were booked, I sent Roderick Kiracofe  an email wondering if we could meet for coffee. I was honored that he carved some time out of his schedule.

I took my book with me to get it autographed. When we met and I asked him for his autograph, he said humbly, "I am a quilt collector but people are treating me like some kind of celebrity!"

He is a celebrity to me. He has an eye for collecting quilts that have inspired us all. Wouldn't you agree?

So that brings me to this exciting news!

Last month I attended his exhibit RED in Berkeley. Common theme - In each quilt, color red used in unique way. It was wonderful to see some of his quilts in person for the first time and hear him talk about each one of them.
Clock on the link to view some of those quilts.

http://www.roderickkiracofe.com/newsarchive/2018/11/13/0w6d5o89ep71a0nc30obh1fkjtg2we

I had always wanted to try my hand at using his quilts as inspiration and make quilts of my own. In fact when I flipped through the pages of his book when it was released, Couple of quilts in the book reminded me of my quilts from - Cultural Fusion Quilts. I posted about it here.

Image Courtesy: Roderick Kiracofe

Here comes the best part! After seeing RED I got excited all over again to make quilts. Kind of quilts that have nothing to do with my book. I have been teaching for past four years and another year is booked with fantastic places to go and things to do. I have had an exciting times these but I am also craving to make new quilts.

As soon as I thought of making quilts inspired from U&U, I thought to involve my blogging friends.

I do want to emphasize, I have no other interest than just to make some quilts from this book and inspire quilters out there. 

Are you interested? There is only one rule for this quilt-along.

All you need to have is the book. You can find a signed copy here. It would make a great Christmas gift to yourself. I kid you not!

Here are some  "No Rules" of this U&U Quilt-Along

• They do not need to be wonky if  you like to stitch in the straight line. 

• There are no deadlines.

• I will be sharing some loose directions but you Do Not need to follow my guidelines. You are more than encouraged to go your own way. 

• Remember that possibilities are endless and you Do Not need to repeat the colors or pattern exactly like it is in the book.  

• When you post the progress pictures as well as finished quilts on Instagram, use #U&UQA  

The U&U quilt along will begin 7 January 2019.

What do you say?
Leave a comment and let me know if you are interested.
I will invite you to join Basket Full of Scraps blog.

Mean while I am going to figure out how to make the blog button for U&UQA

Leaving you with some images of quilts from RED

 This last picture seems like vintage now. It was only four years ago!

Come Join Me!

Sujata