PIQF Part 1

My day yesterday left me rather cranky and irritable and if that comes through on this post, I won’t publish and will see if I can uncrankify it. Work has a way of sucking all the good feelings I get from a few well deserved days off right out of my system.

Anyway.

Renewed Jelly Roll Race on display
Renewed Jelly Roll Race on display

I took a day and a half off of work last week and went down to Santa Clara to the Pacific International Quilt Festival to visit the Renewed Jelly Roll Race, which was on display. TFQ and I usually go and she missed a year last year. We got ourselves organized again and were back in the saddle this year – sort of. Our trip was abbreviated a little because of family obligations for me. Despite having less time to view the quilts, I think we both agreed that we saw plenty.

I am concerned that once the 49ers stadium is built, the parking will no longer be free or there will be no available parking on game days. I look at these next few years as, possibly my last chance to go to the show. Yes, I am being melodramatic and borrowing trouble. I’ll get over myself.

The show was not as crowded as usual on Thursday and Friday, but I thought the preview was more crowded. I loved not having such large crowds on Thursday and Friday, because it was much easier to take photos. However I was concerned about what that meant for attendance numbers. Both days, I saw lots of white hair and not many strollers. I didn’t attend on Saturday or Sunday, so I’d like to know if you saw more younger quiltmakers on those days.

In terms of quilts, the show had the same look – lots of landscapes and portraits especially. I noticed lots of pattern quilts being shown, especially quilts made from patterns or classes by Judy Niemeyer. I still took a lot of photos.** I wonder about entering a quilt made from a pattern. What do you think about that? Should the quilt have been altered in some way or is it ok to enter a pattern quilt in a show that is an exact replica of the original?

The Best of Show winners were in the “more is better” philosophy. I apologize for being snarky, but I think design counts for something and since I heard a podcast on what judges look for, I have been disillusioned by Best of Show quilts. Still and all, there was lots at the show from which I was inspired. The stitching is still getting better and better and there was a lot of hand work to satisfy that craving.

The vendors were meh. I had put myself on a strict budget and it wasn’t difficult to keep to it. There were a few things I would have bought, but, in general, the offerings were old and expensive. I saw only a few vendors carrying Jelly Rolls, Layer Cakes and the like and the variety of choices was slim. One vendor told us it was very hard to receive the ‘baked goods’ that you actually order and that Moda does one run of them, sends what it can and does not reprint. I suppose I can understand not reprinting the “baked goods” as they have so many lines coming out each year. I, personally, cannot keep up with all the lines and have kind of given up on getting the newest latest and greatest.

I did see quite a few of the Tonga Treats and Bali Pops, which I thought was interesting and didn’t remember seeing last year. I really liked the colors from the Macaron line of fabrics by Hoffman, but didn’t buy any. I still might. Still, I wanted to see what was new and exciting in the quilt stuff  department and just didn’t get that fix satisfied. I bought a little fabric, some dotty buttons, a couple of swivel clips and D ring sets and a Tonga Treats pack for a project I have in mind.

The SD card went bad on my camera while I was at the show. Fortunately, I only had about an aisle and a half left. Unfortunately, it was the aisle with New Quilts of Northern California on it.  TFQ took photos of the last quilts, so you will have a complete set of the photos *we* liked. 😉

I bought a new SD card, but the camera can’t seem to read it. I like my camera and think it takes good photos. It will be hard to create interesting blog posts when I can’t take photos.  I’ll have to deal with that problem sooner rather than later.

Marbled Star by Judy Mathieson
Marbled Star by Judy Mathieson

There were quilts in the various special exhibits that I liked. There was an exhibit of quilts inspired by the floors at Bristol Cathedral, including a smaller version of her quilt, Cosmati Stars, by Judy Mathieson. This is an offshoot or further examination of an exhibit we saw a few years ago, also at PIQF, of mosaic floor tile inspired quilts by Christine Porter.

Improvements the Mancusos need to make:

  1. Replace black drapes behind quilts with white drapes. It will make the space seem lighter and larger as well make it easier to take pictures.
  2. Include a special exhibit of Modern quilts (perhaps the Modern Quilt Guild should organize it?) to draw in more of the Modern quiltmakers.
  3. Encourage vendors to bring new stuff.
  4. Consider moving the show back to the City in order to provide more options for public transportation, which would, in turn, increase attendance.
  5. Create a category for bags and other small accessories.

**I will be uploading all of the photos to my Flickr account, but it will take me some time. There is a link above, but you will need to return later to see them all.

Author: Jaye

Quiltmaker who enjoys writing and frozen chocolate covered bananas.

4 thoughts on “PIQF Part 1”

  1. I went on Thursday and I felt like it was much more packed than last year when I went on a Saturday so I’m not sure.

    I had a much different experience this year after being in a Modern Quilt guild for most of the year as opposed to being super new to quilting and in a more traditional quilt guild last year. I’m still not that experienced of a quilter but I think the style I like is solidifying more and so that also made walking around much more different.

    I also would have loved to have seen a Modern Quilt section… I am not a fan of the “busy” quilts and so even though I can appreciate the work that goes into them I didn’t really stop and study them.

    As for the vendors. I had very specific things in mind mostly related to the dolls I make so I did great there. I found some deals but mostly just looked out for special things on my list. There wasn’t really that much that tempted me off of it. (I think this is due to knowing better places online to purchase fabric too) I did end up buying a book which I rarely do but the author was in the booth and was really nice so I wanted to support her. She signed it for me so that was fun and nice of her.

    1. Thanks for your nice long comment, Heather. I appreciate your thoughts. It is so interesting that you thought Thursday was much more packed. I didn’t see the busses from out of town guilds pull up this year. Perhaps I just missed them? I have always found Sunday to be pretty empty. After 4pm is usually empty as well.

  2. I agree with you completely with one exception – keep the show in Santa Clara!!! (But I’m a little biased, living in Santa Clara). I don’t think the stadium will be a problem, since games are not on Fridays or Saturdays and the City and VTA are doing a lot to improve transit and traffic in this area. Perhaps the Mancuso’s will take the football schedule into account when booking so they miss home games altogether. I totally agree on the black backgrounds, they are distracting from so many of the quilts.

    I went on Saturday and did not see many younger people there, same crowds as always. Each year the quilts seems to get a little more “modern”, but not by much. I always enjoy the New Quilts and the international quilts the best, I think because they are the most innovative and non-traditional. I agree on the vendors; I didn’t even buy a single thing!!! I would add to your #3 that they should encourage book signings and other activities at the vendors’ booths to bring more people in. Maybe do door prizes. The vendors area, although busy, seemed less exciting to me than in the past. Very few booths had enough visual pull to draw me in.

    I also didn’t take any classes this year because I felt the offerings were pretty slim. There were a few that I considered taking, like Janice Gunner, but in the end I didn’t.

    I’m starting to truly feel a part of the quilting community because each year I attend and see more familiar names on the quilts. It was very exciting to see your quilting hanging! Congrats again! All in all, a good show, but I think I enjoyed last year’s offerings better.

  3. Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts and for your nice long comment. Also, thanks for your kind words on my quilt.

    I do hope they take the football schedule into account before booking the show, but I am sure they are booked a few years out now and so can’t do anything about the next few years if there is a conflict.

    I love the idea of book signings and events at vendor booths. GREAT ideas.

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