Day: August 18, 2008

APNQ 2008 Show : the good, the bad and the merchant mall

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

As usual there were a lot of great quilts. Sadly, however, there were a lot of depressing colors in the quilts. Happily, the jurors really picked quilts with GREAT technique, so there was a lot of fantastic quilting, piecing and embellishing. It is a thrill to see people who care about wonderful piecing and try new techniques.

This slice quilt was very cheerful and joyful. I liked the umbrellas.

There was a Sharon Yenter/In the Beginning special exhibit of antique quilts. I really liked the exhibit and was glad that they allowed us to take photos (sans flash) on the second day. We looked at these quilts several times and decided that the difference between them and the new quilts was that the antiques had joie de vivre in them. These quilts were not perfectly flat, nor did all the fabrics match exactly and the piecing wasn’t perfect, but the quilts had life in them. They looked like the maker enjoyed making them. It looked like there was a little bit of a twist to the regular pattern in each one.

There were a few quilts that used wheel or plate designs and this was one of my favorites. I love the block, but the colors are also very cheerful.

I am drawn to tree quilts lately.There were a few at the show and this one was lovely. I like the fact that it does not try to be realistic. I also like the different fabrics that the maker used.

All in all I was disappointed with the show. I have always liked this show and been overwhelmed when I have attended. This year’s show did not meet my expectations. I am not sure if my expectations are too high or if people are submitting their new and fantastic quilts somewhere else or what else might be going on.


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.

Quilting Loft in the News

I had been looking for this article and came across it today. The Quilting Loft is a new-ish and really cool store in Seattle.

Latham Smith

Most quilting and fabric stores have white walls so they don’t clash with the fabrics that line them, said Angie Andreson, the 30-year-old owner of Ballard’s The Quilting Loft.

“When I decided to start my store, my husband insisted that I couldn’t have plain white walls,” Andreson said. “So we painted them.”

The Quilting Loft, which opened in March, offers floral prints, polka dots, stripes and solids alongside roller girls and children’s book characters splashed over square yards of fabric. It also provides quilting services and classes such as skirt making and quilting techniques.

  blog it

Painted Floors

Everywhere I go, I see something that reminds me of a quilt or something inspires me to make a quilt or gives me some creative idea and I just have to show you. Towards the end of our trip we went to the National Forest Service Museum (Smokey the Bear land). These were the floors.
It looks like some kind of applique. Can you see the trees and the mountains?

This would be much easier and you could probably piece the whole thing. Yes, even the circle. For those of you are beginning to suspect that I have lost my mind, take a look at Ruth McDowell’s Piecing book. This is a classic quilt book and really should be in everyone’s quilt library. She wrote this before C&T started publishing shorter books. A newer version is Ruth McDowell’s Piecing Workshop.

Fair Photos

This was the last weekend of the county fair, so we took our free tickets and went and indulged in quilts, rides, funnel cakes, lemonade and frozen, chocolate covered bananas.

The cheerful quilts are coming. I saw a definite change in the palette of some of the some of the quilts. There were a few really bright quilts, a number of pastels and fewer in the brown range.

Oak Hall, which normally houses the Home Arts (including the quilts) was closed and they were using a huge tent. Not an ideal situation, but Julie Curry, the Home Arts building director did a great job hanging the quilts. I would have liked to have had more room to take photos and a little more light, but at least the quilts were not 30 feet up on the wall.

I hope to see some of the quilts at PIQF so I can get better photos.

PICT2183 San Mateo County Fair 2008
http://www.flickr.com/photos/artquiltmaker/sets/72157606792927862/

A selection of things from the set

PICT2183 PICT2045 PICT2046 PICT2047 PICT2048


This quilt was my favorite quilt. I liked the black on white print that the maker used for the background. I liked that s/he used a lot of different prints as well. I also LOVED the blue circle. That detail is genius. I think it makes the pink stand out even more, but takes off the sweetness edge.

S/he did this in hand applique

Nice border as well.