Copyright Information

Recently we did some research on Copyright laws. This is a brief outline of what we have learned. It is not intended to be used as a legal document, just a guide in helping you understand what we have learned.


There has been and still are questions on what you can do if you purchase a pattern, fabric or attend a class. What can I share? Can I make copies for my guild? Can we use this pattern to make our raffle quilt? When do I need to ask permission? What can I share with my friends and guild members?

 

We hope this will give you a basis of what you should consider when you ask yourself these questions.

 

Remember we need to be fair and honest to protect the work of others we admire. If you unfairly give or sell their work, they will not be able to continue to create those great fabrics, patterns, workshops or new techniques. They will no longer be able to afford to devote their time to creating. We will all lose in this situation. What we see as a hobby, fun and relaxation is too many a way to earn a living in a field they love.

 

• "Copyright does not protect ideas, concepts and schemes. Rather, it protects the manner in which the idea or information is expressed".

• Copyright does not protect techniques, thus, while you may verbally share with your friends what you did in a workshop, photocopying the notes for friends is infringement of copyright.

 

• Work which is on temporary display may not be photographed without permission from the copyright owner.

 

• Taking photos of quilts without permission is an infringement of copyright.
• The fact that there is no sign does not necessarily mean you have permission.
• It may be permitted if the exhibition organizers have asked exhibitors to allow photography as part of the conditions of entering the show, as many guilds do.
• Always check with the organizers, or ask specific permission of the quilt maker.
• You may have to explain why you want the photographs - some may allow photography for personal use, but not commercial use (such as publication in a magazine.)
• You should always ask vendors permission before taking pictures of quilts displayed in their booths.

 

• The fact they are on display does not mean you can photograph their quilts.  
• You should not make drawing to copy their quilts.
• Most, if not all have these patterns for sale.
• Many will allow you to photograph the quilt if you have purchased the pattern from them.
• We at Quilters Treasure will permit you to photograph quilts you have purchased patterns for. If you do not have a camera, we will email you a picture when you request it.

• Publication of a pattern usually implies that the reader is allowed to use the pattern for their own personal use.

 

•  Many quilting books and magazines will contain a statement to this effect.
• Copying the pattern yourself rather than photocopying it is still copying, but is allowable for personal use.
• Photocopying a whole book is an infringement of copyright.
• Libraries post signs over the copiers stating the copyright laws permit copying of up to one chapter or 10% of a book for personal or research needs. It probably holds true elsewhere.

 

• Photocopying and submitting a design from another publication.

 

• This is an infringement of copyright.
• It would be permissible to redraw the pattern yourself, but only if it is a design already in the public domain, such as the Ohio Star, or one of the many traditional block designs.
• If the pattern is original to a particular person, then permission from the designer is necessary for it to be published.
• Copying a quilt would be an infringement.
• Ideas cannot be copyrighted. It is acceptable to see another quilt for ideas.
• Just acknowledgement of another person’s work does not give permission to use it. It is generally accepted that there is a moral right to acknowledge, and in some countries that moral right is a legal obligation.
• To comply with copyright law, you should ask permission of the copyright owners, the quilt makers. Organizers of a show or display do not control the copyright and cannot give permission.
• As part of "fair dealing" in copyright, the use of a work in reviews or for criticism is permissible.

 

• It is OK for you to go ahead and photograph the quilts for the purpose of a review, however, it would be a courtesy to tell the quilt show organizers and the quilt maker but it is not strictly necessary to do these things.
• You cannot take a class from a teacher and then teach a class.

• Basing your work on the ideas of others is permissible, but you must do all your own notes, samples, etc.
• We all learn from each other, so is not realistic to think we are not all influenced by the works we see and the teachers that we meet.

 

• "Copyright protection is automatic." "There is no requirement of registration or any other formal procedure".

 

• You do not need to apply for copyright protection.
• However, marking the copyright sign, your name and the date is a reminder to people that copyright exists and therefore is a good idea, although not legally required in Australia.
• There is no copyright in a title.

• "Copyright generally lasts for 50 years after the end of the year the author died".

 

• Outside this time, the work is often said to be "in the public domain".
• Copyright is something owned, and therefore can be assigned to someone else, or inherited.

 

We hope this will give you a better understanding what "copyright" means. If you have additional question you should seek the advice of counsel.

 

 

 

We encourage others to add their comments to this post. This is how we all learn.

 

 

 

We also would like feedback on this post. Did you find this interesting? We have many subjects we can discuss and we need your feedback to let us know what you are interested in learning more about.

 

 

 

Have you ever wondered about?

 

• Needles, there are so many types, did you know English needles, for hand sewing, have a larger eye?

 

• Thread, what do all the weights mean?

 

• Joel heard another vendor talking about 40 weights when we first started attending quilt shows. He had spent 25 years in the automotive industry and to him, 40 weights was oil. He could not understand why the vendor behind his booth was talking about oil.

 

• What to consider if entering a quilt into competition?

 

• Do you have questions on terms or techniques you have heard about?

 

Feel free to send us your question. We will do our best to answer all.

 

 

 

Thank you for reading, please visit us again soon.

 

 

 

Bobbie & Joel

 

Happy New Year

January 9, 2011

Welcome to the New Quilters Treasure Blog. I hope you will help me to make this an interesting and educational site. We are changing our format so please email any suggestions or comments to Joe@QuiltersTreasure.com.

We have just come from our visit with our friends Al and Emma in the Florida Keys. Emma and Bobbie spent the time doing what they love, sewing. Al and Joel went fishing and Joel caught a sail fish. Unfortunately he had to release the fish but it put up a good fight.

We are in Mississippi and on our way to Oklahoma City, OK. We hope you can come by and say Hi.

Here is looking forward to a great 2011.

Bobbie & Joel

Traveling to quilt shows across the country is a dream come true for me.

January 17th Ontario, CA
2008 has taken us to our first show of the year at "Road To California" in Ontario, CA. The show this year was exceptional. We were located in the room with the "$100,000 Quilt Challenge" quilts. They were outstanding. Pictures in books do not do them justice. If you have the chance they are well worth taking the time to view!

If you have never attended a major quilt show, here are some tips to help you enjoy your experience.

1. Arrive the day before, when possible. You will be doing a lot of walking and being refreshed when you start the day will help you visit all the wonderful guilts & many vendors.

2. You should wear comfortable shoes. There is a lot of walking to be done. There is so much to see, so little time. The floors are concrete and this will tire you more quickly.

3. If you have difficulty walking or need to rest often, you should consider a walker, wheel chair or rent a scooter. There are few chairs available and not always close by.

4. Work out a system to communicate with friends traveling with you. Plan a meeting place and time. Cell phones are great to keep in touch. Most large shows will only page in cases of emergency. Or all wear a bright color vest or hat that you can spot anywhere – it also identifies your group to others!

5. Visit the vendors first and the quilts after. Many vendors offer sale or special items in their booths. Good items will disappear quickly. The quilts will not be any different the second day.

6. Start saving some money each month so when you find something at a show that you really like or can not do without, you won’t be disappointed.

Even if you go with the thought of not buying new fabrics, many hotels and groups have their own private “show and tell”. We have also seen this activity at restaurants, hotel lobbies and just about anywhere two or more quilters are gathered together. Temptation is everywhere

If you plan on visiting any of these shows, please take the time to see the 2008 winners of the “4th Annual Quilters Treasure Challenge Winners”

The 2008 Special exhibit will be displayed at the following shows:

Feb 21-24 HAMPTON VA Mid Atlantic Quilt Festival XVIII

Feb-28- Mar 2 SOMERSET NJ, The Quilt Fest of New Jersey

Mar 12-16 Pigeon Forge, TN, 14th Annual “A Mountain Quiltfest”

Mar 27-30 Lancaster, PA, “Quilters Heritage Celebration”

May 1-4 DENVER CO, “Denver National Quilt Festival”

May 7-10 Salt Lake City, UT Home Machine Quilters

May 16-18 Pittsburg PA La Roche Collage Quilt Show

June 12-14 Edison, NJ New Jersey Quilt Convention

Jun 6-7 Riverhead (Long Island,) NY Peconic Quilt Show

Jun 25-28 Rochester, MN, “Minnesota Quilters 2008 Annual Show & Conference

July 18-20, New Berlin, NY, “Quilting in New Berlin”

Sept 4-9 Harrisburg, PA “Pennsylvania Quilt Extravaganza XV”

Sept 18-21 Manchester, NH “NH World Quilt & Trade - New England”

Sep 26-28 NOVI MI, “The American Sewing Expo”

Oct 11 - 14 Santa Clara, CA, "Pacific International Quilt Festival XVI"

Nov 1 – 4 Houston, TX, "International Quilt Festival-Fall”

Nov 8 – 11 Shamburg, IL, “Greater Chicago Quilt Exposition III”

This is not a complete list of all the shows we will be attending. You may visit our web site at www.QuiltersTreasure.com for more shows.

If your guild is having a show, or you know of a show we are not currently attending, please email us with information and we will try to attend.

January 23rd, Phoenix, AZ
Our next show took us to Phoenix, AZ. The weather was beautiful and we met many energetic quilters. This show is sponsored by “Rusty Barn Productions”. Their approach to shows is different than main stream quilt shows. There is no formal quilt display. Instead they offer many free lectures, workshops & “Make it & Take It” at various vendors booths. There are still enough quilts to satisfy any quilter’s lust for fabric & ideas. You also pay one admission and can attend all three days of the show. This allows you the ability to pace yourself and enjoy the entire quilting process. At our booth, we offered the opportunity to try marbling fabric with shaving cream and Tsukineko Inks.

After the show we found ourselves in a very interesting location. We stayed with friends in Glendale, AZ only 8 miles from where the Super Bowl was being played. We are from NH and there were no tickets to be found. A few were selling for $2500 to $22,000 for 2 tickets, air fare & hotel. The Catholic convent was renting out beds at $250 per night. Motel 6 rates jumped to $500 per night and no rooms available. Hollywood showed up and parties ran every night. Some residents were renting their homes out for the weekend for $1500 or more. To say it was crazy is an understatement. We watched the game in the comfort of our own motor home. It was an exiting game except for the final score. Well, there is always next year.

Bad weather had been chasing us across the country so we left the next day after Super Bowl for a guild show in Fort Worth, TX. We kept ahead of the storm and we kept south as the storm when north.


February 8th Fort Worth, TX
This was our first visit to this Fort Worth show. This guild holds shows bi-annually. This was the first show since they moved to a new and larger location. There were over 400 quilts on display and ribbons were awarded.

Guild shows are a pleasure to attend. The pace is slower and we have time to visit and do live demonstrations. Joel & I completed two tops that are ready for quilting. If you have the opportunity to attend the Fort Worth TX show in 2 years, you will not be disappointed.

We are off to visit friends in Charlotte, NC and then onto the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival in Hampton, VA.

Safe travels to all

Bobbie & Joel

On the Road 2008

A Happy New Year from all of us at Quilters Treasure.

We were very happy to see December end with its record setting snow fall, since 1876, of 44.5". That is almost the total amount for the entire winter and the snow banks are higher than most cars.

Our journey starts, or so we thought.

Our original departure date of Jan 2nd was moved because we had to meet with the accountant. This is a necessity for us since are not scheduled to arrive home until after the 3rd week in May. I did learn that the IRS has not finalized their forms for 2007 yet and this will result in a mad rush or time extension from the IRS. Just thought you might want to know.

Thursday, Jan 3rd we woke to -4 degree temperature. This is not weather that is kind to bodies or machines. We bundled up and finished packing the car and drove to our friends house where we had parked the motor home. Our narrow dirt road had been reduced so much that we had moved it two weeks earlier. Looking back that was the smart thing to do. We never would have gotten out of our driveway if we had not.

First the diesel motor refused to start. Joel went home for a propane heater. Encasing the area with cardboard, time, the heater and electric block heater would warm the engine. 45 minutes later it reluctantly started. Success or so we thought.

Two of the leveling jacks were incased in ice. Space is limited so Joel had to slide under the motor home with torches to melt the ice. This worked after another 2 hours but the pads separated from the pistons. Joel (the repair man) pried the pads back onto the pistons. Joel wears many hats which is very beneficial.

It was too late to leave now so we went to dinner with our friends and back home for a good night sleep. Joel was so cold he built a fire in the wood stove and took a long hot, hot shower. Tomorrow is another day.

Friday, Jan 4th we started to the motor home about 8 am. The motor started, we did not put the jacks down last night, so they were ok and off we went. We covered 520 miles and stopped in Hagerstown, MD for the night. The weather there was a balmy 45 degrees. When we leave NH it is important we get far enough south the first day to prevent pipes from freezing. While in NH for only 6 weeks we (Joel) had to drain and winterize the motor home. Snow or no snow it is always too cold to just sit for this length of time.

As we travel I will post our adventures. I hope you will enjoy reading these and will someday have an opportunity to visit the wonderful places we see.

We will tell of quilt shows, quilt shops, new tools or techniques, what is hot and what is not. If there is anything you are interested in you can email us directly at joe@quilterstreasure.com. We also hope you will check our schedule on the website http://www.quilterstreasure.com/ and stop to say Hi at the shows.

Brian & Paul are busy with the web site and plowing all that snow. We are fortunate to live on the same street and they take care of the house when we are gone. When the weather breaks they will be doing shows & quilt guilds. These are also posted on our web site under “Show Schedule 2008”

As previously posted we are a family business. Our love of fabric & quilting is shared by all of us. We do have different interests and approaches to what influences our quilting. I love to hand quilt. Brian has a quilting machine. Joel drives so has less time to sew. Paul is gaining more confidence in his abilities. As you can see we all approach quilting differently. We still remember our humble beginnings and are constantly learning each day.

We live in a Log Home that Joel built. This is where the studio & warehouse are located. Brian & Paul live at the Lake House. The panoramic view of the water and woods offer them their inspiration.

It is a rural area with only 4 houses on a dirt road that ends at the water. Great in the summer but Paul & Brian must plow it in the winter. This winter looks to be a snowy one.

I am a lucky woman. I have three men who quilt and know the difference between fabric & paper scissors. Joel, Brian & Paul paint all our hand marbled fabric. Brian is know as MRMARBLEDFABRIC We all quilt, teach, vend at quilt shows & present trunk shows & workshops for guilds & quilt shops.

Coming soon to our web site is “Show & Tell.” This is for you to post and brag about your work. This is something I miss by not being able to attend my guild meetings.

Our new Challenge is now posted on the web site. The winners for last year will be announced at the Mid Atlantic Quilt Show in Hampton, VA on February 21, 2008 and will be posted on our web site with pictures. We want to thank all the entrants for outstanding entries. Judging will not be easy. Don’t forget you have to enter to win.

I hope you enjoy our blog. Let us know what your interests are and we will be happy to include these in our posting.

Bobbie & Joel Bergquist

Stained Glass Quilting

We have a different technique than the traditional quilting method for Stained Glass Quilts. Using iron on bias and sewing it down with a twin needle; using fusible and black for applique or reverse applique; making your own bias and stitching it down. Our method differs from them all. We use leadline, a black poly cording with no adhesive. This means no right or wrong side.

We use some tacky glue to hold it in place, instead of iron on adhesive. There are many benefits to this method, including the cheaper price. Here's a couple images of quilts that I have made using the leadline. People in the classes we teach say that they find it amazingly easy and are pleased with their in class project.

If you're interested in this, it's a great beginner project. Good for young quilters too, as the perfect patterns are coloring books with their favorite designs!

Happy quilting!
Brian

Quilters Treasure Marbled Fabric Introduction

Well, first time blogging. We are a family owned and operated business that makes hand marbled fabrics and also has them commercially printed. We are very lucky to have Print Concepts of NY as our manufacturer of our 100% cotton marbled fabric prints. They have produced 48 fabrics for us to date, based on several different hand marbled samples we provided them. The rich jewel tone colors are are most popular, although the lighter marbles have a wonderful color contrast with other darker, bolder colors. It's nice that the print is so strong on the fabric, as it lets you use the reverse side of the fabric and still have a nice print but in much lighter tones!

Here's a few pics of my work.... These are the commercial prints. I'll have some more information about our travels, vending, making hand marbles, how to marble on shaving cream and lots more over the coming months. Thanks for checking out our blog! Brian & Paul