Let the Magick Begin!

Calling all students of the quilting arts! Dust off your school trunks and pack your books, fabric, machines, supplies, robes and yes, wands (if you have them) to board the train to ThimbleThreads Academy, QuiltNebraska 2012 at the La Vista-Omaha Conference Center in La Vista, Nebraska, July 26-29, 2012.

A truly, one-of-a-kind, themed quilting convention, transporting you, the student, back to 18th century England to hone your “magical” quilting skills with some of the most renown National quilting professors across the entire realm; Joel & Bobbie Bergquist, Mary Ellen Kranz, Libby Lehman, Gina Perkes, Sharon Schamber and Laura Wasilowski along with a host of regional professors!

But it isn’t all work and no play! Save your gold, silver and copper coins to spend at Quilters Alley, 25 themed market stalls full of items to tempt any and all quilting wizards! Board the night trolley for Midnight Mischief, a late-night shop hop will take you, if you so dare, out to area villages to shop their wares; Quilt History Day featuring Carolyn Ducey, Curator of Collections at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, as your speaker, to include a cruise down the Mighty Missouri River aboard the River City Star; a trip out to the famed Boys Town to view magnificent quilts by the Mothers Guild; a Show n’ Tell Pajama Party and there will be quilts and doll exhibits galore at the conference center to admire! There will be much more and surprises as well!

The convention has an interactive website: www.quiltne2012.org/; everything you will want to know about classes, merchant mall, professors, activities, events, hotel registration info, is and will be included, so check back often. You never know what you may find.

Finally, yes, the theme, “Quilt Magick” embodies an old English boarding school complete with student houses and grand banquets. As much as this theme mimics a certain boy wizard and his life, the convention will be based on the rich appreciation of Nebraska’s quilting heritage. Student houses will be named after four Nebraska Hall of Fame Quilters; Sara Dillow, Ernest Haight, Louise Howey and Grace Synder. You will be able to pick which house to belong and sit at their honored table in the banquet hall. There will be house crests and colors and much pride among all houses to compete for the coveted Golden Thimble Award. See the website to read about each of these quilt wizards and you will be able to select which house to align your loyalty at registration time in April 2012.

To close, the idea of magic as been around since the dawn of time and the term is used today to mean many things. As headmistress of ThimbleThreads Academy, it is my responsibility for you understand and or discover your own personal magic, the quilt magic, that each and every one of us embodies; your magic starts deep within yourself, your heart, the “why” you quilt; it then flows through to your brain, the “how” you quilt and finally through your hands, to “create” the unique art form of a quilt or quilted object. Step back and look at quilts one day and open you mind of what you are really seeing. Pretty magical indeed!

Hotel reservations can start being made after September 1, 2011; call 1-800-EMBASSY. You will want to stay in the spacious 2-room suites, (cooked breakfast included!) as there will be much to do after hours. Check our convention website for code to use when making reservations.

So gather up your quilting wizard friends and plan your trip to the village of La Vista to attend classes at ThimbleThreads Academy, July 26-29, 2012. Stay tuned, there is more to come; so....“Let the Magick Begin!”

Patricia Susan Joyce Varner, Headmistress
ThimbleThreads Academy, “Quilt Magick”, QNE 2012