Quilt show attractions

There are many attractions associated with any quilt show, and the Number One spot is definitely the Merchant Mall or vendors.
I have even known people to go to a show and never even look at the quilts!
The NQA show had about 80 vendors, a good amount for plenty of variety.

It gets too crowded in the shopping area to take pictures, and some of the vendors don't like you to photograph the quilts in their booths. They would prefer you buy the pattern, not copy....and rightfully so. They may also be displaying a borrowed quilt that is a copyrighted piece of art. Some vendors don't mind if you take a picture. It's considered polite to ask first.
The booth above is one of my favorites, the painter Rebecca Barker. She does scenes that have a quilt incorporated in different ways. Each year she aso paints a special picture for the NQA show to reflect the theme. Her artwork can be purchased in several forms, from originals to prints to notecards. You know I like to buy cards, and this year she added a Thank-You card! Now who cannot use a box of those?

Cherry-Cherry and I made up for our lapse of fabric buying in NC by handling every batik in sight at the show. How do you like this one that has a Passion Flower motif?

That came from the fabulous Batiks Etcetera & Sew What Fabrics of Wytheville, VA. 
Now, you know we must really have a batik habit, because shop owner Carol Britt actually recognized us from other shows! Especially our local show...she asked CC if we weren't from Jacksonville, and then wanted to know why we had not stopped at the shop, since we had to be traveling by there on our way to Ohio!
Well, I guess we cannot let that happen again! We promise to stop next time!
I was in class for two days, and that gave Cherry-Cherry time to work on a project in the hotel room...yes! she finished a couple fused pieces. But she also had time to buy these pretty batiks for me!

Thanks, CC...you said they were in return for the last of my 505 spray baste cans, but really...my basting spray is your basting spray!
Of course, if I'm not drooling over batiks, I'm pawing through any collection of Black & White fabrics. These came from The Quilting Connection...no website, but you can find Glenda Brady at many shows with a "field of fat quarters".

 
There were other attractions around the Convention Center, including many lovely plantings:

Does anyone know the name of that pink flowering vine? CC got one for Mother's Day and it did not have any identification.
I am always attracted to food, and this place, barely a block away, is the spot for lunch or dinner:   

The Old North Market has been in operation almost forever. It's like a farmer's market with food stands and other little shops...a total delight for the senses!

Who can resist a sign like this?
Maybe me, as I purchased a chicken salad sandwich one day, and Indian food another. The shops are ringed by an upstairs balcony area with tables and chairs so you can eat while enjoying the sights :

I did not get a shot of the coffee shop inside the Convention Center, but you can be sure that was a popular place. Some day the food vendors will realize that quilters like something after 3:00 in the afternoon, and they could do plenty enough business to afford extra hours.
The other attraction at a quilt show is People Watching...but you won't see any photos of that from me!

In the next post, I'll  share some comments about the class I took on judging a quilt show.

Around the NQA quilt show

Last seen from the top, this is the long escalator down to the quilt show:

Those who did not have to make the long trek through the building could come in right on the ground floor! But if you had a class upstairs, it was the same escalator ride in another location.
NQA members may register ahead of time, but everyone still has to go to check in:

I got my class info, show pin and a great bag with a water bottle holder on the outside, and special pockets for pens and business cards! Nice embroidery, too...

    

Going into the show, it's no secret who the big sponsors are:

   

There is no place like a large quilt show to be able to check out all the newest sewing machines. I have my eye on the new Janome 7700 Horizon. But it will require some major remodeling of my sewing area...using saws. That's a story for another day!
Inside the show is the NQA booth with lots of info about this great organization. They have a wonderful grants program, funded by the annual small quilts auction.

Around the side is a set up for demos, with the times posted so you can plan a sit-down. Some of these were quite crowded, but it's really a nice way to have a small class:

 

Really, I do try to be good and not show full pictures of other people's quilts without their permission. So if you see something here that you object to, let me know and I will take it down!
There are miniature quilts at almost every show. I look at them quickly, and run away before I get too crazy:

Much better are the rows of competition quilts and special exhibits, all well marked:

 There are NQA members as white glove ladies, but the clear plastic tape across the stanchions does a pretty good job of reminding people not to touch. This show's visitors seemed to have much better etiquette than the ones at the Mancuso show in West Palm Beach. I will have to do a little study...are attendees at volunteer organization shows better behaved than the ones at shows run as businesses?

 

The quilts were displayed well, too...I always think of that when I see the big-time-award-winning one I almost stepped on, while white gloving!..at the previously mentioned show. It was at this one, too. But safely displayed.
Cherry-Cherry says it has design issues, which she kindly pointed out to me, so I won't show it again . 
Quilted clothing seems to come and go in popularity. These entries are more "costumey" than some.
But I enjoy seeing them, whether or not I'd ever wear any!

Award ribbons are another way to make a show special. The NQA ribbons feature the black & yellow colors, although that did cause one viewer some distress. I guess she was accustomed to the blue ribbon system!

 

They all have a little golden bee pin (the NQA symbol) and each level from Honorable Mention (above) gets fancier as it goes all the way up to Best of Show:

  

You can see "Tribute to Tolkien" by Sue McCarty in many magazines...it is winning loads of well-deserved awards. Here's a little detail shot:

    

Even though the words are in Elven runes, please do not read them aloud or we will all be in trouble! (only amusing to those who know "Lord of the Rings").

This quilt is entered in the category "Other", meaning it uses special techniques. Everything on here is done with thread. There is some painting in the three figures in the quilt's center (not shown) but all the rest is done with thread on a solid background.

Each show sets categories and awards as they see fit. NQA likes to divide between "bed" and "wall" for sizes, then techniques used (pieced, applique, mixed and other). Here are some other winners...it is hard to get good pictures even when the crowds are thin!

   

There is a full list of winners on the NQA website, and sometime soon there will be pictures.

Coming next: around the Convention Center...and the judging class!

On the way to the NQA...quilt show, that is!

Last week it was into the QuiltMobile and heading north to Ohio for the National Quilting Association show!
Half the fun of going to a quilt show is the actual going. It was just Cherry-Cherry & me, but we managed to have a lot of laughs along the way.
The first stop was just to celebrate being out of Florida, our home state. Here's the QuiltMobile in Georgia:

  
June is a beautiful month to go almost anywhere. It's like the best of Spring and Summer. There were trees and flowers all along our route up I-95, I-26 and I-77 to Ohio Rt. 33.
But wait!
Doesn't that take a quilter close to MaryJo's in Gastonia, NC?
Why yes, it does...just a quick side trip, and well worth the time. Here's the QuiltMobile in the parking lot. You will know it's my van, as there is always a flag of Spanish moss hanging from the luggage rack somewhere.

I didn't recognize the place! The mall has been completely re-built around the original MaryJo's store, which has stayed open and unchanged inside. Let's take a look:

This is exactly like a fabric supermarket....if you want it, they have it. It's fun to see the swimsuit, decorator and bridal gown supplies.

This is an entire aisle of Food Fabrics. Besides the healthy & colorful fruit and veggies, there were plenty of ones like Potato Chips, too! And chocolates, of course.

In the quilting cottons there is a tremendous selection of theme fabrics, with signs suspended from the ceiling so you can find the animals, sports or any other item you want.

And notions...like spools of giant ric-rack!

The strange thing was that neither of us bought any fabric, even at the outstanding price of $6.49 for top quality batiks. What we really wanted was 505 for spray basting, and we found it in large cans for only a few dollars more than the small ones! So now we are all stocked up and ready to baste a pile of tops.

Our plan was to spend the night in Gastonia, but we decided to use these longer day-light hours and get some more miles done. We finally stopped in Jonesboro and Elkins, NC.

The next day we had to get to Columbus, OH in time for the Preveiw Party, so we hit the road and had a wonderful ride on the West Virginia Turnpike (aka I-77).

If you're going up that way, be sure to stop at Tamarack to see the crafts!

It's a beautiful big round building that is a showcase..and sales point...for West Virginian crafts people. It's good to see states promoting their artisans.

What lovely displays! The prices are set for people who cannot make any of these things themselves. I think that is absolutely correct. Good craftwork should not be cheap.

And though I may never be able to buy them, these shoes will always be a favorite fantasty:

You just have to love all that color!!!

We made it into Columbus in plenty of time to check into the Red Roof Inn (across the street from the Convention Center) and mosey over to the show. It was a short walk to the entrance, and then a longer distance inside the Convention Center! We had no idea where to go, so we adapted the Airport Mentatlity:

Keeping moving forward and look for signs!

Sure enough, it was almost a straight shot through. But we did have to go up some levels and back down...

This is a huge place, and there were several events going on at the same time as the quilt show, including a knitters' convention and one for CPAs!

Dinner was a nice plate of chicken, and the tables were formally set. After everyone ate, the doors to the exhibit hall were open and we strolled among the quilts for a few hours.

The vendors were open, too!

Ahhh....there is nothing like being in Quilt World for a couple of days.

Cherry-Cherry was free to roam, and I took the 2-Day Intro to Quilt Show Judging class.

Coming next: lots of quilts! 

Americana blocks for Memorial Day

Up on the design wall for Memorial Day:

My guild had a request for a fund-raising quilt. The theme of the event is Americana, so I asked the members to make a red, white & blue block...any pattern, any size! 
I love to make sampler quilts with different block sizes. It goes back to my original T-Shirt quilt, when I wanted to use all the artwork, not cut up the shirt into standard size blocks. I soon realized the method I devised could be used with any collection of odd blocks. In fact, many times when I teach that class, I have someone who brings all their trial blocks and puts them into a sampler!

Although today is Memorial Day, about 20 guild members came for a "Mile-A-Minute" demo (see side bar for a tutorial post) and to get their first look at the Americana blocks.
We still get together when it's a holiday, which often happens on a Monday (we meet every Monday for one thing or another). Somebody always asks if that's a good idea, and I always say it is, because if even 5 people need somewhere to go that morning...well, they have a good place to go to enjoy themselves for awhile!
Quilt guilds have many reasons to exist, and among those are important social reasons. When the guild meets on a holiday we have a pattern to hand out or a simple demo...nothing big. Just a reason to come, if somebody needs to justify it.
Well, there was the year we met on Christmas Eve...and then again on New Year's Eve, when one of our members was inspired to make an entire Southern NewYear's good-luck dinner of black-eyed peas, collard greens and corn bread! My, my...that was something!
But sometimes it's just a Sit & Stitch when we can have a good time with grown-up conversation, sharing creative projects and solutions, and mainly taking time away from the crazy world we each inhabit. It's a bit of running away to Quilt World, a very healing place to go!

Quilt Studio: Fantasy vs Reality

It's true: quilters love "fantasy magazines"!
You know what I mean, the ones that show the winning quilts from Big Shows, make claims about "quick" and "easy", anything with paper-piecing a gazillion little bits (OK, that's just me.., some of you really are good at that!). We love to dream about The Perfect Quilt Life.
And just in time for our Summer-time fantasy reading, there is a new issue of Studios from Quilting Arts magazine (Interweave). I know, from subscribing to "The Quilting Daily" email that QA sends, which is sometimes an ad but often has very good tips.
The following are "Tips for Making Your Studio Unique" from the new magzine (as sent in The Quilting Daily today 5/20/10), and a few of my comments.
WARNING: some photos are not for the faint-of-heart

"Punch it up with bright colors"-- I believe they are referring to painting the walls, which would have to be done before the room was turned into a studio. Or maybe some painted furniture...that's good, as many of us have re-cycled items in use. But it's not going to get painted once it it is in the studio!
I say, punch it up with your own bright fabric, no doubt on display from being pulled for a project-in-process!

Yes, siree...there is nothing for decorating your studio like reurning home from Paducah and a retreat! The combination of purchases, multiple projects in progress, and inspiration (overload) is just divine!
(bright fabric was just pulled to complete the quilt top recently made with blocks from 1993!).

Use every inch of space-- What space? Oh, the space I already have filled up! If you've heard my lecture "Taming The Scrap Basket" you know Sunnie's Rule of Storage: All horizontal surfaces (including the floor) are storage spaces...until gravity takes over!

Carve out creative time-- Always excellent advice. Note the use of "carve", which Webster's Dictionary defines as "to cut with care and precision". Friends, be sure your knife is sharp, and carve out that creating time! I suggest you get it from house cleaning. Obviously, the amount of cleaning time I have should all be spent in the studio!

Get organized once and for all-- Being organized is good. Having a place for everything allows you to find it when needed, and put it back when you're done. Or when you finally get around to it....

 The "once and for all" is the fantasy here. There is no end to it! Organization is an on-going process...yeah, that's the ticket! Treat it as another hobby.
(Oh, no...I think I see some un-used wall space near the Kit Kat Clock! Quick...get the stick-on wall hooks!)

Bring the outside in-- If you work in a basement this is very important. You need some daylight bulbs, maybe a nice large picture of a meadow or garden. I am fortunate to have a wall of windows, and on the second floor, it's tree-top level.

And being large windows, I can usually see over the stuff stacked all around!

But they are also 100 year old casement windows, and I assure you...they definitely let the outside in!

Create all over the place--I've said it before and I'll say it again: you cannot justify the cost of purchasing dining room furniture unless you put that big table to good use! At my house, there is no telling what can end up on that table. You may remember this picture from two years ago:

                              

Over all, it is good to be married to another creative person. You may have to fight for the use of the Big Table, but at least you can be forgiving when it's unavailable (sometimes for months...).

I do recommend the Studios magazine for some very good ideas & inspirations.
And the Spring issue (I believe) had Robbi Joy Eklow's studio.... I salute her for keeping it real in a world of  fantasy!
Do enjoy this magazine (and others). Then get into your studio and make art!
(well, after I manage to put a few things away..)

Quilt Retreat: The perfect get-away!

Does this photo look vaguely familiar to you?

If so, you've been on a Quilt Retreat! They all have a lot in common, regardless of the location: many brands of sewing machines, piles of fabric, and busy, busy quilters!

How many tote bags does it take to go on a Retreat?

Let's see...that's five, plus an Ott Light in a little bag.
By the time I was done, there were nine tote bags and I loaded most of them into a laundry basket for convenience sake.
I like to organize projects by tote bag, and took several with me. But my "packing" fell into such dis-organization that I had a couple tote bags devoted to stuff that I kept forgetting to put in another bag!
Not to mention two sewing machines (well, I might need a spare if one doesn'twork...) and a large suitcase.
This Retreat started on Sunday afternoon and went until after lunch on Thursday, adding up to four days!
Fortunately, the Quilt Mobile was more than enough room for both my excessive packing and all of Cherry-Cherry's things, too!

My guild decided to have a Spring Retreat because some couldn't go to the usual November Retreat. The place we head for is about two hours away, right across the road from Silver Springs near Ocala (Florida).
The Christian Conference Center is a camp, and not the motel-style accomodations some people like. But it saves money (for fabric!) and it's so beautiful there....

We stay in cabins that can sleep eight, but only use the bunks on "ground level".

When the beds are made with our own sheets, etc. and each has a quilt, it looks nice and homey here.The bathrooms have double everything, so it's actually easier than sharing a motel room!

We sew in the auditorium, eat in the spacious dining room, and leave the comfy lounge for hand sewing & relaxing.

 

That TV is for an evening movie only...no distractions here! We come to sew and maybe take a nap. "Whatever you want to do" is the motto! The building keys don't get much use...often the last quilter up all night is leaving at the same time the early risers are coming in!

Everyone gets a big table, and there are extra tables for laying out a large project like the blue One-Block-Wonder. Basting a table runner is a quick job when you have a nice space.

What fun it is to see all the projects going on! Newbies and experienced quilters share with one another for a healthy dose of inspiration all around. This is the Kooky Star pattern I taught for the guild in January (based on a number of ideas, especially Gwen Marston's Liberated Stars). She finished it with a border of small stars on different color backgrounds...another fantastic charity quilt!

The array of equipment dragged....er, I mean brought!...to Retreat is amazing! What a wonderful way to learn about machines, lights, special tables, irons and even chairs!

I discovered that a good office chair will fit into the Quilt Mobile along with Cherry-Cherry's & my supplies. That's beacause I had to bring one back home when you-know-who-you-are left it behind!

We don't plan too many extra activities for Retreat, but many people like a block drawing of some kind. These are pink/red flowers fused on black & white blocks. If you made 4, your name went in the drawing 5 times. Blocks were grouped into batches of 12 and we had enough for four drawings, plus one "mini" of nine blocks!

The brown blocks are one of Cherry-Cherry's projects, from a Brenda Henning book about using Bali Pops (sort of a flat jelly-roll, if you get the drift). Batiks....yummm!

Here's the work area we had:

I'd like to claim that blue project in the back, but let's face it...I am not going to be making a "Bella Bella" style quilt (based on the marble tiled floors of Italy). That was class last year in the guild. It's fun to see classwork spanning several years and finally getting done!

Our theme was "Spring Cleaning", and I can't think of a better way to do that than to leave home! Most of the quilters brought UFOs to work on. I brought one of my favorites: the President's blocks I received in 1993!

First I sewed them together:

The blocks are signature stars, and did not end up being the same. When I realized that, I set myself a challenge to sash the blocks with a different fabric on each side but matching the color of the star. The fabrics all had to come out of my stash and not repeat...and I did it! Then the project went into a box for 17 years. Now the blocks are together and have a little black & white border:

I refused to go fabric shopping on Retreat (though it is a popular activity!) so the top came home for border fabric. I have to "go shopping in my stash" for that to complete the challenge...I probably have even more to choose from 17 years later!

Another project was making Mile-A-Minute blocks. That's my favorite "brainless" sewing. The hard part for me is finally throwing away scraps! But I did end up with 40 blocks. Here are just nine of them:

I had my lap-top with EQ6 on it and played with some arrangements. I also "made" Cherry- Cherry's Christmas quilt while she was still sewing it, earning me the "Smartie-pants" moniker yet again. I can hardly wait for EQ7 to come out next month!

I did have another project, the one I actually sewed first. I was so proud that it used fabric I had collected years ago but don't need for a quilt now.

WARNING! This means you, Cherry-Cherry! And anyone with a delicate constitution.

VERY UGLY FABRIC!

Scroll fast to the end!

It was supposed to be a dinosaur quilt, but my son is almost 27 and doesn't need one  now! So I made a bunch of pillowcases:

They are folded in half...the green dinos are flannel! I think some little boys will like them, but this did lead to a very important insight about Retreats....

THE PERSON ACROSS THE TABLE FROM YOU HAS TO LOOK AT YOUR UGLY FABRIC FOR A LONG TIME!

From now on, I shall try to bring non-ugly fabric projects when sewing in a group setting.

But I am thrilled to have used a bag of fabric that was taking up floor space in my closet!