I am very grateful to have a show of this magnitude nearby. I always leave feeling like I must go straight home and play with fabric. I usually don’t get to play with fabric, but thinking about it is half the work.

While I don’t always like the quilts that people enter, I respect the fact that:

1. they entered the show
2. they had the discipline to get the quilt done
3. there is an abundance of color
4. the vendors show up, create beautiful booths and have fabric for me to buy
5. quiltmakers have taken the time to get their quilts finished
6. people are trying new things
7. quiltmakers are still in love with their machines and continue to push them to the limit

I would like to see the Mancusos shake things up a bit. I am not sure how, perhaps rearrange the quilts and vendors, have a tote bag or ATC display, have a display of blogger’s work (there are some great bloggers not the least of which are Posy Gets Cosy and Sew Mama Sew).  It was nice to see some new vendors at the show (due to Houston being held at the same time) and the vendors being rearranged a bit.

Glitter Inspiration

We spent the whole day that show again. The BoNash booth had these tubes of glitter. I have no idea what they were doing, but I loved the colors. The stack of color was wonderful.

I have decided that, while there aren’t a lot of murky colors, murky colors are coming back. (NOTE: Dear Color Council, please do not add any murky colors to your list of the most popular colors of the year for any of the next 50 years. Thank you!) There were a lot of fabrics with grey and brown in them. In terms of quilts on display, there were lot that we saw today that had different browns in them. Usually they weren’t the nice rich chocolate brown, but more in the beige and taupe range. Note to readers: please make cheerful quilts.

Glitter Inspiration, detail

I am physically and mentally unable to buy murky fabrics. . I bought the following:

Fabric, PIQF, pt.1

The bottom left fabric will be a bag, perhaps the inside of a bag.

Fabric, PIQF 2009, pt.2

There is another bag and a half in the photo above. I need to get going on bags as I have a lot of fabric for bags in the hopper.

Here are some more impressions of the second day of the show. It is really the first official day when anyone can go in, but it was my second day.

Lots of spiral and circular designs.

There were 4 rear ends: one woman, two elephants and a giraffe. I think there were more last year. I wouldn’[t think to put rear ends in a quilt, but it seems to be popular.

After a second look, I decided that the muddy colors are still popular this year,, though the cheerful, happy colors have more of a presence.

People still seem to be working on figuring out how to use the large scale prints (Amy Butler and Heather Bailey, for example).

TFQ pointed out that there is a disparity between the fabrics int he quilts (lots of tone-on-tones and low contrast prints) and the quilts the vendors are selling (lots of large scale and high contrast prints as well as conversationals).  We are going to look more carefully at this tomorrow.

Hand-dyed fabric is being used as fabric again rather than the centerpiece of a quilt.

Way too many portraits. Portraits are hard to do and often look distorted because of the quilting. I don’t like the quilt versions, as a general rule, but there were some interesting elements on the non-face portions of the pieces I saw today.

I found the Nosegay and it was very well lit. It would have been perfect place for a nice shot of the whole thing, except for the chain across the front. I also notices that in the quilt show venue, it didn’t look as large as it does at home.

I stood around near the FOTY 2008 quilt and heard people discussing it. Positive comments and I was thrilled when one woman took about 10 details shots of the piece and wanted to see the back. I am really glad a few people liked it.

I went to the preview for the Pacific International Quilt Festival 2009  this evening. It was only 1.5 hours long, so I didn’t get to see everything. Some first impressions:

There were a lot more bolts of fabric than in previous years, as opposed to kits and fabric packs. I was pleased to see that I would be able to buy some yardage, if I want. There were still fabric packs.

Many of the vendors from past years were there and I saw a couple of new ones. I was nervous that the vendor hall would be empty because the Quilt Festival in Houston is on at the same time.

People didn’t seem to be buying much and I heard a vendor say that most people just look on the preview night. I bought one FQ.

I went to the preview to take photos when it wasn’t busy. I intended to take as many as possible, but I started taking them and just felt depressed about it, so I stopped and, then, only took pictures of quilts I really liked. I still managed to take a few hundred pictures. One thing I learned from this experience was that I need to make quilts – at least show quilts – that are interesting. I need to make quilts that people haven’t seen before. That is if I want to show quilts in the future. That is not to say that I have to show my quilts and that I can’t make any kind of quilts I want. I think if I am going to show quilts they have to be special and interesting.

Lots of landscapes and realism type quilts. There was one with a castle (Rheingau?), a triptych of big leaves, another of redwood trees, an Italian Piazza, etc.

The colors used in the quilts are a lot brighter; the quilts are not as depressing as they have been in the past. A few tree quilts, but not as many as last year.

The World Quilt Competition Quilts were very interesting as usual.

Reef Quilts/Patterns (not sure of the name) has some tote bag patterns that I want to look at more closely. They look like they are large, have plenty of pockets and interesting detailing without being too strange.

by Debbie Bosio & Yvette Ebaugh

There was beautiful machine work again, especially sheer types of embroidery. I am not sure of the name, but it is the kind of embroidery that the newer model machines do.

Pamela Allen's Cinderella Making her Getaway

Pamela Allen had a Cinderella quilt, which I thought was great.

There are some pretty Christmas fabrics with fun motifs in non-traditional colors such as turquoise, soft green cream and a light pinkish red.

FOTY 2008 at PIQF

FOTY 2008 was there and it didn’t look like I thought it would.I like the location where they hung the quilt. That wave on the bottom makes me crazy. Perhaps I am just nervous about having two quilts there? I didn’t see the Nosegay yet.

255 California has a small show of works by Debra King. Her work drew me in off the street with her quilt block-like shapes. Her pieces use Ruth McDowell’s concept of pressing carefully to highlight certain details. Within the quilt realm, her pieces are moderately sculptural. She is represented by the William Trophy gallery.

Like everyone else, the economy is affecting our family so I was extremely restrained in fabric purchases at PIQF this year. I tried to only buy fabrics that were really calling my name. As you can see, I still have the turquoise/aqua as well as dot themes going.

I am excited about the fabrics that I bought and I also got the best ruler in the universe. I know rulers and this one totally rocks. It is a 4.5″x8.5″ Creative Grid Ruler. The ruler is great because it is big enough to cut without fear that I will cut off my hand, but small enough so it doesn’t hang over the edge of my small cutting table. It is also the right size for the variety of pieces that I cut. For example, I can cut the FOTY pieces without having to move the ruler at all. One end is exactly the right size. TFQ and I both wanted to use it at the same time, so I may need to buy a second one for when we are sewing together. If you don’t have this ruler, go out and buy one now.

I also bought two new bag patterns. I know I know! I really plan to make them. I have some canvas-type Moda fabrics covered with cupcakes that I bought in Virginia this summer. I think it will be perfect. One is a vertical bag by Liesl + Co called the Backpack Tote. It converts from a tote to a backpack. It requires some hardware that I have never used before, but I can get through it. If not, I will bring the pattern to Seattle in the spring and TFQ can hold my hand while I work on it.

The other is very similar to the Eco Market tote that I have been using. It is by Gail Abeloe, owner of Backporch Quilts in Pacific Grove.
I bought it because of the slightly different shape of the top and the construction of the bottom, which you can’t see in this picture. It has a square bottom and not side panels. We’ll see which one I like better.

I spent a lot of the show really looking at the quilts. We didn’t succumb to trying to take photos at times when there were too many people in the hall. This resolved made me less annoyed and allowed us to really look at the quilts. We took photos on Wednesday evening at the preview and then late in the day when people had left. It worked out well. It was also a joy to see that people are using cheerful fabrics again. There were many, many quilts that were simply wonderful and I know you will see many of them show up in my end of the year roundup of favorite quilts.

Despite the fact that I had to turn around and, virtually, go straight to speak at a conference, it was great to get away, sleep in, not worry about taking care of anyone. I feel like I take a lot of time off, but I seem to need it. I have had several busy weekends in a row, though, so perhaps that is the reason.

PICT2941
Originally uploaded by jlapac
As I mentioned, the quilts were much more cheerful. I don’t think there were enough of them to think of ‘cheerful’ as a theme. However, I did notice two themes: leaves and hexagons.

I would say there were at least 30 quilts that incorporated leaves – full leafy leaves, colored Autumn leaves and thin, spiky leaves. I found most of the leaf (and by association, tree) quilts to be quite calming.

After breakfast and before we headed back to the show, we went to visit the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles. They had three exhibits on. he major exhibit was a group of Radka Donnell quilts. Many of them were from the 1970s and had been used. They were all bed sized and I think it was hard for me to appreciate what she had accomplished, because there was nothing to compare them with. Many of them look like the backs of quilts I make now. They were all best viewed from far away and that is the good thing about the new-ish space. The galleries were large and enabled us to stand back. My favorite was So Bubbly and Clear. TFQ liked some elements of The Pool of Nazzissos. The other gallery had quilts from a variety of artists including Faith Ringgold (prints) and Laura Wasilowski. A log cabin quilt by Terrie Hancock Mangat kept our attention for a long time as there were lots and lots of interesting fabrics. Finally, the last gallery had 8 Double Wedding Ring or wedding quilts. Most were the normal DWRs, but one looked like a cross between the Winding Ways and the Flowering Snowball. I wasn’t able to find a reference for it yet, but will post it when I do.

Back at PIQF, another theme I noticed was that many quilts used a hexagon shape. I don’t remember any of the traditional Grandmother’s Flower Garden type layouts. I saw one that used the hexagon shape for the base of a Crazy quilt and one that used hexagons to make flowers.

It was really interesting to see themes pop out.

We visited the vendors. I did buy a few fabrics, but passed many of them up. Best vendor award goes to: Erica at In Between Stitches from Livermore. She was friendly, funny and willing to have someone bring us Moda swatch packs of the Fresh Squeeze fabrics from their store. I love vendors who don’t complain and have a great attitude about customer service.

PICT3124
Originally uploaded by jlapac

Last year, after PIQF, I went home depressed. The quilts were so grim. Every year is a new year, however and I am really pleased with the quilts. They are much more cheerful and I am finding lots to look at in many of the quilts.

The quilt to the side is by Carol Stapleton of San Mateo. She did an amazing job! I talked with some people who know her near the quilt and they said that she does a lot of miniatures. This one is well designed/coordinated (e.g. does not suffer from the two quilt in one syndrome), but looks like it could be several miniature quilts on their own. The piecing is meticulous. Many kudos to Carol!

Yesterday was a nice day. We got up in a leisurely manner and went to a ‘difficult’ breakfast. The food was marginal. The difficult part was that the restaurant puts baking mix in their pre-made (!!!) omelette mixture!?! Apparently, the cooks didn’t know how to make an omelette from scratch either. Talk about stupid! I won’t be going there again.

We finally arrived at the show at about noon, right about the time people were going to lunch. We looked at all the quilts in the back of the hall and then took a chocolate break.

I felt much more organized and able to take in the quilts after photographing a bunch on Wednesday eve and not trying photograph right away on Thursday.

After our break, we went back to photograph the quilts in the back hall. There were still people around, but it wasn’t difficult to get in between groups of people enjoying the show to photograph. We ran into Linda and Terri and Maureen. Terri was signing her books at the Always Quilting booth. Her newest book, Old Maid’s Puzzle is available and she was signing those books as well.

We didn’t do much shopping. We visited some vendor booths looking for more background fabrics for the baskets we made last year. It is kind of a buttery yellow and we were finding mostly gold, lemon or banana yellow. There is (was??) a Moda Marble Mate Dot that we used for a couple of the blocks, but we didn’t see anymore of it.

We ended the day, exhausted, at 19 Market in downtown San Jose. It is a modern Vietnamese bistro and the food is excellent. This is our third visit and we really enjoyed the food. The waiter was also cute and just friendly enough to not be annoying. He had a good sense of humor as well.

PICT2528
Originally uploaded by jlapac

TFQ and I went to the PIQF Preview tonight and it was wonderful. Apparently, most people who attend, attend to shop. I saw two ladies leaving with Jem Platinums! We have started to attend the preview in order to take photos. I barely looked at the quilts, but just shot photos (http://www.flickr.com/photos/artquiltmaker/sets/72157608068541986/) so I wouldn’t have to worry about the crowds. It was great! And I know I will be much less cranky tomorrow when I can just look at quilts.

I am thrilled to say that people entered cheerful quilts. Not exclusively, but my overall impression is cheerful. I am so happy, because after EBHQ and APNQ, I was getting worried about the state of quiltmakers’ psyches. There are also a lot of quilts with a ton of details on them, so I think people have just been sititng in their studios for the past four years waiting for Nov.4. I didn’t look much at the vendors, but will work on that tomorrow as well.

Eddie’s Quilting Bee is about 2 miles away. We went there before the show opened and looked around. I bought an 8.5″x4.5″ Creative Grid ruler and a pattern for a tote bag from Gail Abeloe for Tracey Brookshier Design Studio. It is similar to the Eco Market tote, but has a square bottom and no side panels. It will be interesting to try it out.

The tree quilt above is called Leaves on a Tree and it is, coincidentally, by Gail Abeloe. Gail is the owner of Back Porch Fabrics in Pacific Grove. Nice work!

This is a quilt that TFQ and I saw at the APNQ show. It has been on mind because of the expressiveness of the little parakeets. I think that this quilt tells a story because of the implied movement of the birds. I can appreciate realistic quilts, but don’t always see the point in reproducing a photo in quilt format. This one, however, tells a story.

I spent last weekend in Seattle with TFQ. While I was there, we spent quite a bit of time at the APNQ show.

The merchant mall was very sad. There were not enough vendors with fabric. None of the vendors had much, if any of the newest fabrics, such as Heather Bailey or the new Pimatex dots. As you can see, above, I was able to find a few pieces. The fabrics in the lower right hand corner are silks, which I intend to use for another Colorblocks quilt.

I see a trend towards packs and kits rather than yardage as well. I don’t have anything against packs and kits, but I want yardage. I especially want to see the yardage in person since my recent bad experiences shopping online. I heard through the Grapevine that they didn’t let the Quilting Loft into the show as a vendor since the show organizers thought they had too many fabric vendors already. BAH! We went to visit the Quilting Loft anyway and stocked up.

Fabrics from Pactific Fabrics in Northgate Mall.

Gifts from TFQ from Seattle.