Last year, I made this two sided quilt and gained its entry into two well loved magazines, International Quilt Festival Quilt Scene 2017 and Fons and Porters, Modern Patchwork, both magazines are owned by F+W media. The front, pictured above, was completely handprinted using Melly Marks stamps and thermofax screens.
The back of the quilt, is half handprints, half commercial prints. The hand printed aspect of this quilt is what made their entry into these magazines so exciting for me. While I understand folks might be hesitant to print the fabrics used in their quilts, both magazine articles highlighted the handprinted aspect by talking about color value, varying use of texture and motif size. And both magazines showed off the quilt beautifully. Neither showed the back, as I had hoped to discuss this in a future magazine article.
Placing this quilt in a magazine is a huge deal for me as I so often feel like an outlier in the more traditional quilt community. With this quilt in particular, I felt honored to be embraced and showcased as a quilt maker, despite my penchant for working from the ground up, designing the tools to print, mixing the dyes, printing the yardage, piecing, quilting and then getting the work seen.
Unfortunately, when the quilt was shipped back to me, it was left on my stoop, by the shipper, and was stolen off my doorstep. I live in New York City. My doorstep opens out onto the street and there is nowhere to discreetly hide a package.
I contacted the magazine and we discussed my quilts value in addition to the companies shipping policies. As restitution for the loss of the quilt and to honor our longstanding working relationship, they paid me a fee for the quilt, though not its retail value, for which I am still grateful. They also changed their shipping policy to require signature for every shipped item. I am glad they made this change.
I am deeply sorry to have lost this quilt. I am sorry this event overshadowed my ability to support and highlight this quilts foray into print media. I wish I still owned it. I honestly hope it is being used and loved.