Bobbie’s Bobbin Quilting & Fiber Art Shop will host a Trunk Show and Open House at the shop from 5 to 9 p. Co-owner Bobbie Stendel said, “We’ll have a drawing every hour for a different door prize, and the grand prize will be one paid admission to a Ricky Tims quilt seminar in Farmington, worth $174, but you must be present to win! While Bobbie Stendel concentrates her attention on the wants and needs of customers that quilt and sew, husband Gary focuses on custom embroidery. A lover of what she and thousands of others call “fiber art,” Stendel said, “At the open house, there’ll be weaving, knitting and beading demonstrations throughout the evening, with experts on color, appliqué, weaving, quilting and beading here to answer questions. Bobbie’s Bobbin regularly offers knitting, quilting, sewing, and appliqué classes, and Stendel invites people to come in any Saturday morning to work on their projects at one of the big tables in the shop where she can help. The publication lists quilt shops throughout the United States and Canada, and Stendel said many of her customers are quilters traveling through Socorro. read more

It’s not always easy to combine two passions, but Rabbi Joanne Yocheved Heiligman, spiritual leader of Columbia’s Congregation Shalom Aleichem, strings together Judaism and art into a perfect tapestry. It’s not always easy to combine two passions, but Rabbi Joanne Yocheved Heiligman, spiritual leader of Columbia’s Congregation Shalom Aleichem, strings together Judaism and art into a perfect tapestry. A Reconstructionist rabbi in Maryland for just over five years, Rabbi Heiligman said she uses quilting as an expression of her rabbinate. She completed several mini-quilts, each time picking up a new technique, all the while collecting more materials and considering what has become a multi-paneled creation quilt. As she works, she said she considers her ancestors her great-grandfather, grandfather and uncle were all tailors, her grandmother was a seamstress but she envisions herself carrying on this tradition in a contemporary way. read more

Pam Henning, SVP, Global Integrated Marketing at The Weinstein Company stated, “As we expand the footprint of the Project Runway brand, we are excited to make the shows fashion and design experience accessible to consumers worldwide with specialized products and tools. The PROJECT RUNWAY branded products will be in the following categories jewelry, sewing patterns, fashion fabric as well as sewing machinery and notions. Through a growing network of sewing machine dealers and retail outlets nationwide, Brother offers a full line of home sewing machines, from basic to top-of-the- line sewing and embroidery machines. Founded in 1942, this Los Angeles-based fabric manufacturer wholesales to the home sewing retail and manufacturing markets, with customers including manufacturers of finished goods, such as apparel, bedding and accessories, and retail customers whose end-users comprise home apparel and craft sewers. read more

These are questions often asked of fiber artist Carole O’Brien of New Castle, Colo. The art quilt, or fiber art, has been called “the evolutionary cousin of the classic quilted bedcover” by Hillary Morrow Fletcher, Quilt National Project director, according to O’Brien, who likes that description. Fiber artists, O’Brien says, “may use paint, beads, digital imaging, found objects, etc. She manages the Book Train bookstore in Glenwood Springs and is a member of the Art Quilt Association of the Western Slope. Inspiration for her fiber art comes from many different sources, O’Brien says “a book I’m reading, a personal experience, patterns and colors in nature, but most especially the colors and textures of the materials I work with. One quilt, called “All My Mothers,” was shown in an “I Remember Mama” project and is featured in a book of the same title. read more