The Singing Quilter Newsletter

October 2010


In this issue:

s    New Quilting CD "Little Crazy Quilt"

s Quilting Cruise to the Caribbean 
      announced

s Upcoming tours

s What Cathy is working on now

Cathy Miller and her husband John Bunge, of Victoria BC Canada travel the world singing songs about quilts, quilters and quilting.  For further information, visit the website at www.singingquilter.com. Or email them at cmiller@nucleus.com.

Follow Cathy's blog at www.singingquilter.wordpress.com

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Welcome!

Welcome to my first newsletter! I promise I won't deluge your inbox with irrelevant information, but once in a while there are things I would like to let you know about. 

John and I have had a very busy year to date, with a 4-month tour around the perimeter of the USA, plus a few dates in eastern and central Canada.  Highlights were the Virginia Consortium of Quilters conference in Wirtz, Virginia, and "Quilting in the Quarry", the Minnesota Quilt Show in St. Cloud. 

After doing 40 concerts and 12 workshops, we got home in early July and I had a month to do the final preparations for recording a new CD of quilting songs.  We flew to Toronto for 2-1/2 weeks to record with Paul Mills at the Millstream Studio. It is our fourth project with him - we really like working there!
 

The recording went very smoothly, and I'm thrilled with the result. 

As we finalized the album artwork, I was also getting ready to teach aboard Holland America's  ms. Zuiderdam on its way to Alaska. I went along with Susan Purney-Mark and Daphne Grieg on our third quilting cruise together.


This is all of us at the end of our week in Alaska.

 

Quilters of the Caribbean!

Join Cathy and her friends Susan Purney-Mark and Daphne Grieg
from Patchworks Studio
on Holland America's ms. Noordam
January 13-23, 2012
Round trip from Fort Lauderdale

Taking bookings now!

Details on website: http://caribbeanquiltcruise2012.weebly.com/index.html
 


"Little Crazy Quilt" NEW CD!!

I am delighted to announce the release of my 5th quilting CD: Little Crazy Quilt". 
Here is a list of the songs you can hear on this CD.
You can hear them by visiting my website: www.singingquilter.com
 

Little Crazy Quilt
I found this wonderful old Patti Page song from 1974, written by the great Frank Loesser. It screamed to be the title song of this CD

You Just Might Be a Quilter 
And this is how quilters know they are truly bitten! Paul (the producer) thinks this might be the hit song of this CD!  A little bit of swing with some cookin’ clarinet.

Quilt of Belonging
This quilt was made by hundreds of volunteers, thanks to the enormous vision and persistence of Esther Bryan. Canada's extraordinary 120' x 10' quilt features blocks from all the countries in the world, plus 70 native nations in Canada. It is a hugely impressive work of art.
 

Martha
Martha is a story about a quilt made in 1892 for Queen Victoria by a freed slave from Liberia. Kyra Hicks has written a charming children's book based on this story, called "Martha Ann's Quilt for Queen Victoria".

Two Peas in a Pod
John's bluesy solo on this CD is all about quilters' husbands who can identify each other, even when they're nowhere near a quilt show!

Panguitch
(a piece of Mormon history from Utah).
The first year the town of Panguitch was settled, winter caught the families unprepared, and their crops froze before they could harvest them. Mid-winter, they realized they were going to run out of food, so seven men were sent to the next town of Parowan (30 miles distant) to get food. After ten miles, the men were unable to go further because of the deep snow.  They held a prayer circle, spreading their quilts on the snow.  They realized that they could walk on the quilts without sinking into the snow, and proceeded by spreading their quilts on the trail ahead of them. They were successful in their journey. Now, there is a Quilt Walk festival every year in Panguitch to commemorate this miraculous event.

Buzzing at the Bee  
It's all about the modern quilting bee - with kazoo solo, of course!

Treat it Right
A song about the care and feeding of a quilt - and what not to do with it!  Bluegrass.

Midnight Knitters
There is an international fad aka "Yarn Bombing", or "Stealth Knitting", where knitters, under cover of darkness, "tag" stop signs, fences or bicycles, etc. with colourful knitted yarn. It's more fun than graffiti, and it's becoming very popular.  It had to be a rock song!
Dance Beneath the Moon
Written in 1991 the day after two friends got married.  It was performed at our wedding in 1997.

The Oak Leaf
From a story in Ruth E. Finley's "Old Patchwork Quilts and the Women Who Made Them" (1929).  The song is in the style of a traditional Celtic ballad, telling the story of a young girl who falls in love with a whaling captain, whom her parents consider unsuitable for her. After she elopes with her sailor, a single, unfinished quilt block remains with a rusted needle, awaiting her return.

The Sewing Machine
From the movie "Perils of Pauline" in the '40s. This song was originally sung by Betty Hutton, while flouncing around in a sweatshop. We have added two instrumental jigs, to give me time to breathe!

I Remember You

A lovely jazzy standard style song, written for Ami Simms' Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative.

Duncan's Cove

I wrote this one about an idyllic village near Halifax Nova Scotia - but it's really about home, wherever that may be. It was recorded on my first album in 1985, but I love it so much that I wanted to record it again.
 

What Cathy is working on now:

s A Songbook with ALL the quilting songs included, plus stories,
     photographs, and more.

s A pattern book/CD for the "Star and
      Plume" quilt

s Some new Quilts!

These are all long-term projects.  I'll keep you posted as information about them becomes available.
 

Upcoming Tours:

December 9 2010:  Sherwood Park, Alberta

March-May 2011:  Australia & New Zealand

June 3&4 2010:  Port Coquitlam BC
June 9-11 2010: Panguitch Quilt Walk Festival, Panguitch Utah
June 20&21 2010: La Habra CA
June 23&25 2010: Flagstaff AZ
 

Thank you for reading this newsletter.  Feel free to share it in its entirety.  If you have any suggestions of things you would like to hear about, please get in touch at cmiller@nucleus.com .
© Cathy Miller, October 2010