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Showing posts with label International Quilt Festival Cincinnati 2011. Show all posts
Showing posts with label International Quilt Festival Cincinnati 2011. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

International Quilt Festival, Cincinnati 2011 Last Chapter

Lots more photos and information to share about IQF....you know I take a zillion pictures everywhere I go.

While walking down an isle I spotted the Laundry Basket Quilts booth and I got excited because I knew I'd find some familiar faces.  I saw Michael and a young woman from the back....hmmmm.  Inquiring minds wanted to know...but when the young woman turned around I knew she had to be Edyta's daughter.  Michael and Delfina were working the Laundry Basket Quilts booth because Mom was home with the other two children who were on spring break. 
Nice to see them having some Daddy and Daughter time!
This is Applique Affair, one of my favorite patterns by Edyta Sitar.  And while I'm on the subject of Edyta....guess who has a pattern featured in the Better Homes and Gardens Special Interest, Perfect for Precuts?
Anna Sitar, Edyta's youngest daughter!!!!  Way to go Anna :) 
"Oh Anna, your quilt is so pretty and I'm glad you had the desire and courage to make a quilt and submit the photos for publication....nice job!"

As I walked the isles in Cincinnati I came upon another friendly and familiar face......
Karen Montgomery from The Quilt Company, PA.  She was demonstrating her Creative Grids Quick Trim Ruler before I walked up. 
When I was speaking with Karen at the Checker Distributors 62nd Anniversary Open House, she told me she does not like "one hit wonders."  This is what she calls rulers with only one purpose. 
The Quick Trim Ruler not only makes circles it also has a 45 degree angle that cross at the quarter inch to trim points from half square triangles and flying geese.   It is also great for making the blocks pictured below.

 LuLu Bears were new to me and I could not help but stop and marvel at Luann Bowen's Bears.
 They had sold so many items that they were apologizing for their display and I laughed.  I loved it and I had no clue how it looked when the show started. 
 Look at these beautiful strawberries....they looked so yummy.   The bears stole my heart....I only wished I had taken more close-ups of them.
 Click here and here  to see more of LuLu Bears....you gotta see them :)

Then....much to my delight I ran into the Pieceful Designs booth. 

I was so excited when I saw these cupcakes I begged Pam Bocko to please let me take photos for my blog.  I just had to share these with everyone.....look how beautiful these cupcake pincushions are.....



"With a Cherry On Top" is the name of this pattern and if you love cheerful pincushions, click here to buy the pattern from Pieceful Designs.

Pam did not know me from Adam and yet she allowed me to photograph her booth and cupcakes.  I'm thrilled Pam trusted me.  Many people take the photos and then copy the designs.  I now know enough pattern designers to tell you that copying their patterns  is really a bad choice.  So much time, energy and finances go into taking a pattern to market ....keep that in mind when you think to yourself...hey I could do that.....it's not that easy and it is so important to honor the designers creativity.

Ok....I'm finished with the Cincinnati photos for now.  I did take more but I'm going to share those when I have more information to go with them.

Smiles,
Kelly

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

The Personal Connections in Cincinnati

I've written about some cool finds....but the best by far were some of the people I met while in Cincinnati.  I stayed with Lois Grabowski...below on the right.  She was an absolute delight and she even cleaned her house and her sewing room before I arrived.  Talk about an excellent host....she already knows I can't offer the same in return.

We were invited to Jill's house for dinner on Friday night.  Jill, from Jill Quilts Blog, had invited several other quilters to stay at her home for the Festival.  By the end of the evening the house was full of wonderful women all sharing about the good times, purchases and one even shared her baby son with us....it was definitely a highlight of my trip. 

Jill made a great dinner for us....and speaking for myself....I probably had too much....it was so good. 

 Regina on the left is from Up State NY and the sister of Susan, from South Carolina, below.  Lois is on the right in the photo above.  These gals are all friends because of the internet....I think that is so cool.

 Susan took her turn with holding baby Charlie.....gotta love those baby smells....so sweet and precious.
 Carolyn, above, and Marj, below, are also from South Carolina.  The three gals belong to the same Guild, The Busy Bees.
Given I used to live in Irmo, South Carolina, we had some fun things to talk about.  These gals had brought all of us a gift....I was floored.  Check out these fun bags we got to choose from (below).
 Look at all this fun stuff and it was all made by these gals.  The fun drawstring bag came with a note pad, bottom right, a rotary cutter carrier, back center, and a stack of charm squares.  The charm squares were put together with a Palmetto Tree pin....the South Carolina State Tree.  The charm squares consisted of 6 different fabrics:
Palmetto trees - State Tree
Yellow Jessamine - State Flower
(Boiled) Peanuts - State Snack
Peaches, SC grows more than Georgia,The Peach State
Clemson University fabric and the
University of South Carolina fabric

I just loved this photo of Susan smiling....I remember people smiling so much more when I lived in South Carolina....maybe it is just my memory...but it sure seemed to be the case.
Regina was doing some show and tell....that was lots of fun.....later more ladies came and some were bloggers too.  The gals from South Carolina told us they have a tradition in their guild.  When they travel they bring back everyone a 6 inch charm square that represents their trip.  I loved this idea....perhaps not the entire guild....but how about a few friends?  One lady forgot her underware on a trip so she brought back everyone a square of fabric with panties on it....another got lost so her's had road signs on it....and the list went on and on.  What a great tradition for a meaningful girlfriend quilt.
I honestly don't recall seeing a stash of a quilter....not a designer...but a quilter with such a fun collection of fabrics as Jill has.  The quilt below is just one that she is in the process of finishing.  Each one of her dogs has their own quilt....now that is what I call impressive!!  LOL
 There was some talk of Lois and I ending up behind bars during the trip.  Believe it or not....we did end up behind bars....the bars of the gate leading up to Lois's grand estate (ok...I'm embellishing a little bit). 

 Someone had locked the gate one night so we were actually stuck behind the bars....so it is true....but it was a gate :)
 Lois says she is a beginning quilter.  She may be new....but she is no beginner....let me tell ya!  Check out what she did with "just a few squares from the scrap bin."  This is her dining room table folks.  I loved it....almost as much as I enjoyed that she also has a devil may care attitude.  I don't mind photos of me straight out of bed on my blog....neither does Lois....now that is a woman ya just gotta love!
She is holding the bed scarf she made for her bed....you should hear how casual she is about her quilting....this is just practice.....meanwhile I'm thinking...."Girl if this is just practice.....I'm never showing you my work....nope....not gonna happin."
 This is just practice quilting.....I'm still chuckling about that one.....and of course I had to meet the famous Haywood Janome.  He has tattoos....I loved it!!!
Remember those silk embellishments I bought from Artistic Artifacts?  Lois bought some too....we weren't sure what exactly to do with them....she had her's draped around her neck like a scarf.  It did not take too much convincing to get her to wrap it around her head like a turban.....oh the laughter....my soul needed it too.
Before I close...I had to show everyone the way Lois keeps the wind from coming through the door.  We have wind all winter long coming through our front door (6,000 dollars to replace, no thank you very much).  Kindred spirits....how do you stop the wind?  With a Grabowski Wind Wienie that's how!
You sew the vinyl into the edge of the wind Wienie and put heavy Velcro on the door and on the Wind Wienie as pictured below.
Stick it there and close the door.  Not only is it fashionable....but it really works too.  My kind of solution :)

I was sad to leave Cincinnati....at the same time I was excited to get home to my family.  All I could imagine when I saw this group of female motorcyclists is that they too were quilters.  I bet they have quilt block tattoos on their bodies someplace.  How about we start a quilting biker babes guild?  I don't want to be the president....but I'll surely be a member.  I'd be willing to learn to ride a motorcycle....one with three wheels!

I imagined this to be me....wrong color hair though.

Before I close I have to share a story one of the gals at my guild shared.  Two large groups took a bus to Cincinnati for the Festival.  On the way home one of the bus drivers said they just had to take the gals to a excellent ice cream parlor.  It was in a college town.  Many ladies got off the bus to go in and get some ice cream.  One of them overheard some college students walking by.  The one kid says to the other, "I wonder what this big bus is doing here?"  The other one replies, "I think they brought the people  from the old folks home to town for ice cream."  We all laughed so hard when she re-told this story.....Laughter is so good for the soul isn't it?

Back at the ranch the co-workers were very happy to see their mommy....first thing they said when I got out of the van was..."it's mommy.....yeah."...hugs and then "what did you bring us?"

Smiles,
Kelly

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Quilts That Caught My Eye in Cincinnati

Susan Shie's work was what I saw just as I entered the conference center floor.



 This was a shot of the Applique Quilts that were on exhibit....I was quickly approached and told not to take any more photos of them....but this give you a little peak.

 BEST OF SHOW....truly an amazing piece of work/art.

 This is Deborah Kemball and she spent quite a bit of time in front of her quilt answering questions and sharing wisdom about her process.

When asked if she had planned all the flowers in advance Deborah said no she had not.  The vines were laid first and then she added flowers as she felt the needed to be placed.  I found it quite interesting that she said she had most all of the flowers on and it was dull....the quilt lacked something.  Then she added the purple flowers (you'll see them splashed about the quilt if you look) that one color brought the entire piece together.  Isn't that amazing? 

 Can you believe she said she is self taught? I think starting out without knowing the "rules" really allows creative people to trust their creativity and can bring about some amazing work.
 The rest of these photos were taken as I walked through the show.


The front is all done by hand including the quilting....and check out the back...

it was painted...isn't it beautiful?








































Many of the close ups were taken so I could look at the details of how the stitches added to the overall quilt.  I'm always learning new things and these were the quilts that caught my eye....I hope you enjoyed walking with me :)

Smiles,
Kelly

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