But skeleton and weightlifting have about as much in common as quilting and auto repair, and that is what makes Ms. Uhlaender so unusual.

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"It looks like a hi-tech version of quilting, " Mr. Kriemler says.

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The fever has spread--a quilting bee gone mad.

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But much of that quality, he would have said, came from the wood itself, in the swirl, curl and quilting of Devon walnut, perhaps his favourite, or the dark, coloured stripes of Macassar ebony, so hard to work.

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Workshops that teach the basics of sewing and quilting, as well as an introduction to the use of soft circuits and conductive fabrics that are increasingly used in projects (see eTextile expert Lynne Bruning profile late last year).

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What we do is we get every quilting circle and church group in America to start making Mylar screens and sewing them together like quilt, and then we put them into the ocean, where they reflect the sun's rays and keep the water underneath cooler.

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