Quilt Festival Recap

Last Friday I experienced my first large quilt show and festival.  It was wonderful!  Thanks to the ladies at Hollyhock Quilt Shop in Corydon, IN who organized the bus tour, approximately eighty-nine ladies and I were able to attend the first International Quilt Festival  held in Cincinnati.  

Here I am, all by myself, in front of the "photo opportunity" at the entrance to the show.  It's obviously made so a group could have their photo taken, but since I couldn't get any of my non-quilting friends to go along, I'm alone.  I did make a few new "quilting" friends and I had a great time, and I'm already looking forward to next year when they hope to sponsor the same trip!  Anyone want to come?

I'm not sure which was more fun, shopping all of the vendor booths or viewing the awesome quilts that were on display.  Some of them were so unique, you didn't even realize you were looking at a quilt instead of a beautiful piece of art.  And in my opinion, any quilt is a piece of art! Some of these were definitely out of my league but so inspiring!  So here's just a few of the photos that I took.  Enjoy!

My apologies to each of the artists as I can't tell you who made each of these to give credit.  I hope I'm not violating some blog protocol here! 

 I believe this was an entry from a Japanese quilter.  There were several from Japan.  All so beautiful and different!

I loved this one!

Another Japanese artist used photo transfer, applique and traditional piecing on this one.  My photos don't do any of these justice!

Best of Show!  How difficult this decision must have been!  There were so many stunning quilts.  But this one is beautiful, and best viewed up close!

 In photography this is called "bokeh".  In quilting, I think it should be called "amazing"!

Fascinating!  Love the water towers!

 There was a special display of quilts by Susan Shie.  These were so fun to look at - it would have taken hours to fully appreciate the work here.  Check out her website for a better look.

 Do you have a thing for yo-yo quilts?  There were several on display that were amazing!

The shopping.  So much fun, but so much to look at.  Here's what came home with me.   It's much more impressive in person and I think I did a pretty good job of restraining myself.  There's a couple patterns, some fabric I needed for binding on a couple quilts I'm working on, charms, a little strawberry pincushion kit, a Supreme Slider (to help my free motion quilting attempts), adorable Japanese print fabrics and a WoolyLady kit for something new to try.  I debated over an accuquilt Go Baby and tried my hand at a couple of long arm quilting machines, HQ16 and APQS Lenni.

 Overall, a very fun day!  If you want your own virtual tour, check out this video!