Hats off to Sharon Pederson, and her Nine Patch Media business partner Elizabeth Phillips, for putting together the Rose of Sharon project. It was premiered at the International Quilt Market in Minneapolis last weekend where quilt shop owners go for the newest fabrics, thread, books, and gadgets.
The Electric Quilt Company hosted the Rose of Sharon block contest at the end of last year which netted 850 different blocks made by designers in 11 countries. Sharon and Elizabeth whittled the entries down to 50, and Alex Anderson and Ricky Tims selected the top 12 designs for Sharon’s quilt shown here.
It’s called “Roses of Remembrance” because Sharon and Elizabeth made the project into an opportunity for the designers to share their connection with Alzheimer’s (if any) and for the partner companies to support the Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Initiative (AAQI) in the fight against Alzheimer’s.
Sharon made the quilt reversible. On the back of the quilt you can really see Barbara Shapel’s quilting!
Sharon’s new “Rose of Sharon” book, due out this fall (Martingale & Company), includes an introduction I wrote about my mother and the beginnings of the AAQI. Sharon’s “Rose of Sharon” instructional DVD from Nine Patch Media will also be available soon.
Shops throughout the country will be able to offer quilters a “Roses of Remembrance” BOM (block-of-the-month) with fabrics from Island Batiks.
AccuQuilt has Go! Dies for all the Rose of Sharon appliques, and Oklahoma Embroidery Supply & Design (OESD) has each block design digitized for machine embroidery and/or applique. Aurifil has put together two Rose of Sharon thread collections to stitch and quilt everything together.
Quilt Market is always exciting, but this year it was especially so.
Through The Eyes Of A Quilter 
I saw the quilt (and Sharon & Elizabeth) at Quilt Market Ami. Island Batik’s booth was just near ours and there were always great crowds when Sharon was demonstrating in their booth. What a wonderful project and another way to support AAQI.
Congratulations all round!
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beautiful quilt and heartwarming project.
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I’ve always wanted to make a Rose of Sharon quilt — sounds like this is the year!
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I can’t wait. This is absolutely wonderful. Awareness is the real battle and the Quilting community is helping. Madison must be really proud of his mommy. I hope you get a extra kiss from him for me.
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Fabulous collaborative effort ~ awesome quilt!
Amazing … kudos to all involved!!!
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Simply Beautiful – I am anxious to see the applique and embroidery designs for this quilt. But how do you line up the quilt top and back so perfectly to make the quilting reversible!!??
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To answer your question about how to line up the top and back – each block was appliqued, layered and quilted before being joined to the next block by a 2″ wide sashing strip. The beautiful back is the bobbin thread from quilting the appliqued design.
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I am simply amazed at the beauty of this quilt. Will hand quilting work? Or does it need that bobbin thread to do it justice?
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That is a beautiful quilt! What talented caring people you associate with!
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Amazing talents!
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I love the rose of Sharon quilt. The blocks are beautiful and thread and fabric to match Wow that sound like fun. I love colorful quilts. This one is a winner!!!! I might try to make this thanks Debbie
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What a beautiful, stunning quilt. I started BOM this month–January, 2011 and can’t wait to get started. What a wonderful challenge!
Thanks for creating a wonderful winter project, and a keepsake for life!
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