Tag: Quilt Show

Mom used to make the 80+ mile trek to my house every week to see us, cook us dinner, buy clothes and stuff for the YM and visit. Since the YM left for college, she isn’t making the drive (it is pretty grueling) and we don’t see each other as much. 🙁 We have plans to meet halfway for lunch or other things, but we have both been so busy lately that it hasn’t happened. When she mentioned that her guild was having a quilt show, I decided to trek out to the boonies and visit the show with her. Short version: we had a great time!

She lives an hour and a half plus a bridge away. Even though she made the trek once a week for YEARS, it seems super far to me. I was really glad I went. First and foremost, mom was really, REALLY happy. Second, the people were so friendly and genuinely pleased to meet me. They also appeared really like my mom. These ladies are like the BAMQGers! Their positive demeanor made me have a much better time. Third, the quilts were great. Yes, the show was small, but there was some very good work. Fourth, I got to see Colleen and actually talk to her (at PIQF I just did a drive by as her booth was mobbed and I had an Opportunity Quilt booth shift to man). Finally, the attention to detail in all aspects of the show was superb.

Partway through my drive, mom called and asked me to pick her up, so I stopped by the house to get her and see the Big Guy and my dog-sister. We gathered up all of her stuff and headed out.

The quilt show was housed in an old Mazda dealership building. The lighting was a little tough, but they rented the building for about 10% of what the guild paid the Scottish Rite Temple last time. Great deal and people couldn’t help passing by cars on the way in and out of the show. There seemed to be a sales guy stationed near the entrance greeting, not bothering, quilt show attendees at they came and went. Interesting marketing strategy!

We had to park a little way away, but we got some steps in. The first thing we did at the show was walk around the outside edge of show to get a feel for the size and extent of the show. The vendors were stationed along the outside of the building and the quilts were in the middle.

After checking out the lay of the land, we started looking at the quilts. This guild likes to applique’ and likes to get inspiration from patterns and books. The work is, generally, of very high quality. Many of them machine quilt or long arm their quilts. I don’t remember seeing any handquilted quilts.

The theme of the show was Quilt of All Seasons and the show was arranged by season. This seemed to be that quilts of certain colors or themes were hung near each other. It was a clever arrangement.

One of the quilts we saw in the first row, with the guild challenge quilts, was a summer themed quilt. I am not much of  a fan of watermelon (never tastes like much and all those seeds!), but I loved the watermelon quilt. I liked the octagon shapes in the middle. I also liked the shape of the watermelon blocks and the way the appliqued rickrack made the eye move around the quilt. I also thought one block could be used and, with a border, made into placemats for a lovely summer table. Three or so could be a table runner.

I saw a spiderweb that was really interesting. The maker said that her inspiration was from Kathy Doughty of Material Obsessions fame. Mom was having a hard time imagining that this quilt was the same pattern as my Spiderweb. I pulled up a photo of my spiderweb and showed her and then pointed out the block structure and she could see it.

The lighting was a little tricky, so this quilt was a tad brighter than it looks in my photo. In looking at this quilt, I really thought it looks like Millefiori glass. If you zoom in on the photo you can see some really interesting and clever use of stripes towards the center of the webs. I have said it before, but I really love the way you can use the same block and never make the same quilt twice. I think people could be given the same fabric and pattern and not make the same quilt.

My favorite quilt was a summer themed applique quilt. They didn’t have names on the attached cards, so I don’t know if the maker gave it a different name. It is a pattern from Cherry Blossoms Quilt Studio called Sunday Ride. Do you love that bike? I want a bike like that! I am a little embarrassed that it was my favorite. I do love applique’ quilts, though and this one was so bright and cheerful. I really liked the predominant turquoises (no big surprise!). I also think the maker may have used American Made Brands solids as those fabrics glowed within the quilt. The grey and white border was fantastic as well. Really a good solution. I was so impressed with the needle-turn applique’. It looks amazing. I would love to do needle-turn but even after a class with the magnificent Elly Sienkiewicz, needle-turn is not my strength. Finally, whoever did the quilting was a master. She (he??) did a perfect job matching the quilting motifs to the areas of the quilt.

I mentioned “all her stuff” above. Mom agreed to present a demo on the Exploding Star block. She had tools and supplies and step-out samples. After retrieving her stuff from the car, we headed over to the demo area at 2:30 and set up the area. I meant to take a photo of the whole setup, but only took a picture of mom. She did great job showing people how to make the Exploding Star. She was extremely patient and didn’t mind explaining over and over. She originally saw a YouTube tutorial for this block from Jenny Doan of Missouri Star Quilt Company, if you want to take a look.

I restrained myself and didn’t buy much: a few pieces of fabric, some SoftFuse and some chocolate. Cello Chocolates had a booth there and we engaged in an extensive tasting session. I couldn’t resist a few bars.

Yes, I bought a few pieces of fabric. I love those American Made Brands solids. When business picks up I am going to order a bunch of half yards from Colleen. I also needed another peacock panel to put on the back of my nearly in process Peacock quilt.

I was looking forward to visiting PIQF this year. It ended up being a mixed bag. TFQ couldn’t come down, but Julie and I went together. I didn’t have a lot of time to look at everything, but I also didn’t spend a lot of money. So both good and less good.

I was excited about the changes that the Mancusos said they were making. Last year they said they would make changes to freshen up the show. I didn’t see many changes and that was disappointing. They added a Modern category and there were a few quilts I would classify as modern, including some from BAMQG.

Of course I saw quilts, which always makes me want to run home and sew. One I saw was in the San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles special exhibit. This historic quilt from SJMQT is double anonymous (1915 with no named maker and an anonymous donor). It is a very modern design in the sense of the modern quilt movement aesthetic. I am sad that I don’t know who made this because I want to know what she was thinking when she (he?) designed the quilt. This is a good reminder to LABEL YOUR QUILTS!

TQS put up some posts about winners at PIQF. I didn’t look much at the award winners, because the area was always mobbed, so…

TQS PIQF Winners pt. 1

TQS PIQF Winners pt. 2

TQS PIQF Winners pt. 3

You may need a subscription, but I don’t think so. The videos look like they are just on the blog. There may be ads.

After manning the BAMQG Opportunity Quilt booth, I did stop and snap a pic of Song of the Sea. I love this quilt. I love the colors and the movement. Kathy McNeil of Tulalip, Washington did a wonderful job. The design looks inspired and if you have ever seen an octopus, it does look like they are dancing when they move. I was on my way out after the show closed so I had to be quick.

Manning the booth was fun. People stopped by and said hello and I got to invite people to the meetings while trying to sell them tickets. I left the booth with about $140 of sales. Some were from earlier in the day, but that was a good day’s total.

Julie and I did a quick circuit on Thursday of all of the quilts except for some to the left of the entrance. I only had 4 hours that day to see the quilts, because of my schedule for the rest of the weekend, but we had a good time and were pleased to see the quilts we saw.

Cherrywood had a Wicked Quilt Challenge and the quilts were at the show. I really enjoyed looking at them. There is something very appealing about quilts that are made with all of the same colors. I also like the gear and clock details.

Gears and clocks appeal to me, I think, because I saw the Crazy Time (The Clocks Quilt) quilt by Alethea Ballard of Walnut Creek, California right when we walked in. This quilt could be a hot mess, but it really works and I love the clocks. I also like the cascade of flowers. I am sad that I didn’t have time to study this quilt, but am glad I snapped a photo, so at least I can study the photo.

I really didn’t take many photos. There were a lot of the same looking quilts that I have seen in previous years.

The few I did photograph really appealed to me or inspired me in some way.

Caroline Wilkinson of the UK did a fantastic job on Not Much Sunshine, Plenty of Shadows.  I stuck my nose right up to the quilt and must have looked at it for 5 minutes. I love the grid (do I have a geometric thing going?) and what the artist did with the stitching over the grid.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I didn’t have much time to look at the vendors, but I did pick up FOTY 2014 from Colleen who was vending there. Normally, I stop and chat, but her booth was mobbed and she was rushing around cutting fabric, so I said I would catch up with her later.

I also stopped at Deb Tucker’s booth, which happened to be right across from Colleen! I wanted to see the Square2 ruler, which was recommended in the Fons & Porter show I watched that got me on the Carpenter’s Wheel bandwagon. Her booth was also mobbed and there was no chance of me getting to talk to her. Deb was demoing away like a crazy woman. Makes me wish I had gone to the preview. Oh well.

Anyway, I looked at the ruler and just couldn’t see how I could use it for more than the Carpenter’s Wheel block. Also, I like the way I am using two Flying Geese units rather than the Diamond Square unit. The FGs add more interest to the background, IMO. So I passed, but being the ruler junkie that I am I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I remembered the YM’s scout patches and how I want to put the patches that don’t go on his uniform on a block and make it into a quilt. Lots of work! I realized that I could use that ruler to make Diamond Square units in a lot of different sizes that would work with his patches. I had a friend buy the ruler for me and I will pay her back. I better start thinking about that scout quilt. 😉

Of course, Russian Rubix was on display, so Julie snapped a photo of me standing in front of the quilt. I was pleased to see it hung for the first time, especially when I saw how flat it hung. Hooray!

Sadly when quilt shows are put up they cannot stay up forever.

I happened to still be at the Santa Clara Valley Quilt Association quilt show when it closed on the 15th. I stayed around and helped to wrangle the BAMQG quilts that were coming down. I thought we would be able to help with other quilts, but we kind of had to guard the BAMQG quilts. Helpful people kept coming by and trying to take away our quilts and put them with the other quilts to be picked up.

While we were on guard duty, we took down the opportunity quilt, put the stand in its fancy bag, rolled up the BAMQG banner and put away the display quilts.

The opportunity quilt* is beautiful and very unusual. Ruth designed it and Marci quilted it. The photo is just a cell phone photo and doesn’t really do it justice. As mentioned, many of us made blocks and a bunch of us bound it. It was truly a group effort.

I was pleased to be able to help out at the show. I don’t think I had taken down a quilt show before.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*tickets have to be bought at a show. Email me if you want to discuss getting one.

The first thing we did after Julie and I met Marie Bostwick for breakfast 😉 , was look at quilts. Mom and Miss Vickie met us near the beginning of the quilts and we got on with it. We had barely started looking at the quilts when I had the best quilt experience EVER. We were signing blocks and chatting with the ladies at the QOV booth when a man walked up and asked if they were the ladies who made quilts for wounded soldiers. After they said yes, he said he woke up in the hospital in Germany with a quilt wrapped around him after he was injured in Iraq. It was clear this act of kindness meant a lot to him. OMG! I almost cried. He started to leave when they called him back and kind of swarmed him. They asked him to sign a block and just generally treated him like a hero. It was so great to see him as the walking epitome of some of the charity work in which I engage as well as chatting with the ladies. Very moving.

As I said, Miss Vickie joined us. It was fun to see the quilts through her eyes. She has clear ideas about what she likes and what she doesn’t like. She is not a quiltmaker, but will be soon. 😉 She bought some fabric and some charm squares and started playing with them while we had an afternoon break with candy bars and chips. We are staying with her north of Houston in the best B&B ever.

This show was similar to Long Beach in the set up, though there were quilts that were entered to be judged and awarded prizes. This was not the case at the Long Beach show. There were a lot of special exhibits: 500 Traditional Quilts, a collection of quilts from a Dutch Cancer survivor, a Bonnie Smith exhibit, Beatles exhibit, a Modern Quilt exhibit and some others I am sure I am forgetting. My favorite exhibit was the Farm to Fabric exhibit, which was an exhibit of quilts made from the American Made Brands solid fabrics. I like the idea of the company, which is that the cotton is grown in the US and the fabric is made in the US. That alone would encourage me to buy some of the fabrics, but when I saw the quilts, I couldn’t believe the colors! They were clear and gorgeous. There was something about the colors. They were different, and kind of glowed. I tried to find some in the vendor hall, but didn’t succeed. I was really excited when I saw the quilts and wanted the fabrics RIGHT NOW. ;-)They have a “find a retailer near you” feature and I see that there are several shops near home that sell them, so I will give myself a treat and go and look.

The other exhibit that was really moving was the Inspired by Libby exhibit. This was an exhibit of quilts that are being auctioned off (website above) to add to Libby Lehman’s medical fund. They were done by famous, or well known, quilt artists. I just loved Libby Lehman’s class. I am so glad I was able to take one from her and feel really sad that she can no longer sew. I hope it is temporary and she will be able to get back to it.

The prize winners were almost all applique’ quilts. They were amazing applique’ quilts, but I really wonder if you can win an IQF prize with a pieced quilt? I was kind of sad looking at them, because I will never make a quilt like any of the prize winners. I am not sad about that; I just don’t want to spend the rest of my quiltmaking career making one quilt that my heirs can enter after I am dead. I have a lot of fabric to use.

In terms of random themes I noticed myself looking at: lines (like grass), circles and turquoise. If you are surprised at all by the turquoise, you haven’t been reading long enough. 😉 Circles have been on my mind for awhile. Part of that is the The Circle Game by Jen Kingwell quilts that have been popping up all over the web. Also, though, I have been thinking I need a challenge. <Nota bene: I might be over that, though, with the &^%$# Russian Rubix border.>

We took some time to talk to the NASA people who were there. They were talking about the program they have with local high schools to get their equipment sewn. NASA donates sewing machines, like Jukis, to high schools and trains teachers, then the teachers train the kids to make things like sleeping bags that astronauts use in space. Not only are the kids learning a skill, but they get to know that their sleeping bag is keeping an astronaut alive in space. I thought it was great.

We checked out the vendors on all the days. We went back and forth. When the visual stimulation got to be too much, we went into the vendor hall and looked around.

We also met a Twilter, Glenna. Of course, she didn’t look anything like what I imagined, but she spotted me and was very nice. We only chatted for a few minutes, but it is nice to put a name with a face.

Yes, I went to Houston. We arrived on Wednesday and left on Monday.

The bad part was that I didn’t get enough steps and ate too much.

The good was so much. I can’t even begin to tell you how many fantastically gorgeous and amazing quilts were there. Even if you go once, you must go to this show. YOU MUST! Not only were there a gazillion fabulous quilts, but there were so many vendors I couldn’t take all of them in. The whole thing was amazing.

I really liked the vendors, but ultimately there was a lot of fabric, a lot of thread and a lot of people.

I took the time to look at the Janome MC 8900 in person. It is the machine that seems to be the right price for the right amount of features. None of the shops I have visited near my house have it, so the giant Janome booth was the place. I saw that it is a real machine and not as scary as it looks in pictures.

The guy was really nice and did the demo on a regular, if not slightly thinner, piece of quilter’s cotton. All the demos I have seen are done on felt, which, of course, makes the stitches look fantastic. The machine has a lot of decorative stitches and a knee lift. I do have to find a place where I can try the machine out myself.

Another thing I did was take the opportunity to look at the array of sewing cabinets.

My absolute favorite cabinet of the models I saw was this one from a company in Ontario called EddyCrest. It is solid wood (birch) and would be shipped to me for only $100. I also really liked the guy. He was not a smarmy sales guy and I got the impression that he actually works on the cabinets. He was really humble and nice. I don’t know the cost of this particular model (top left) because this is too large for my room and I probably wouldn’t buy it. I love it, though, especially the thread drawer.

If I buy a new cabinet, and, if I buy it from this company, I would probably buy the smaller version. This is a little different configuration than my current cabinet, but a little better, because it has drawers on the right, which my current cabinet doesn’t have. It also has a wider space to the right and I keep a lot of stuff over there for easy access.

This size cabinet isn’t as large as the other one, but I am pretty sure the back is larger than mine. I’ll have to go to the website and look at the sizes.

I also asked about the flip up back, which is fabulous for quilting. He said that he could add one on this size cabinet, which is great. Not that I quilt that much, but I wouldn’t want to give up that feature.

As I said, there were tons of other vendors, mostly fabric, but other stuff as well. I bought fabric for the music quilt, which will have a couple of other prints, such as a keyboard and some fabric that says BLAH BLAH BLAH as a small ode to being a high schooler and a teenager.

We brought mom’s cousin on the second day and, I think (fingers crossed), turned her into a quiltmaker. She has a long way to go, but bought fabric, a rotary cutter and a Creative Grids ruler. I am kind of excited, but we will see.

The most fun thing ever was Hallowe’en. I wore a black skirt, leggings and a black shirt. I wanted a black tutu, but settled for the skirt. I wear glasses so it is hard to wear a mask on the front of your head. I bought a mask and mom made eyes to put in the eye holes and I wore it clipped to the back of my head.  Friend Julie wore her green witch outfit sans green makeup. People saw us, especially at the beginning of the day, and wanted pictures with her or both of us. It was really fun.

There were sooooo many quilts that we barely made a dent.