A Little Trip Out West

A couple weeks ago my husband and I hopped on a plane and flew to Denver. I was there to tape an upcoming episode of The Quilt Show. I have written about The Quilt Show before, most recently here.

This is what I saw the morning I walked in for the taping. The audience has not yet arrived but soon these seats will be filled with more than 60 enthusiastic quilters.

The day before my taping, we arrived mid-day to deliver the four large quilts I brought so they could be hung up that evening, saving time the next morning. Also arriving about then was Christa Watson, who was taping after me the next day.

We ended up staying most of that afternoon to watch the taping going on then. This is helpful so the "guest artist" knows what to expect for their own taping.

Oddly, I do not have many photos on my phone of my taping. My husband took a few short videos, not really good to show you behind the scenes. So I am using a couple from Christa's Facebook page:

The monitors that show what the various cameras see, this is during her taping:

 The control room:

Back to my photos. When I arrived early the morning of my taping, it was exciting to see how beautiful my quilts looked in the great studio lighting. Here is Pieces of the Past--Circa 1875. I wrote the story of this quilt here.

My favorite quilt, because it taught me so much, Joyful Journey:

 Hello, old friend, nice to see you again. Red and White--By the Numbers. To find out what this quilt means to me, read this. This quilt is now part of the Corporate Collection of Quilts, Inc. and was borrowed just for this special occasion. We are so grateful that was able to happen, thank you, Quilts, Inc.:

 Another favorite, Stars in a Time Warp:

A very special quilt, one I had to bring to help "tell my story". A-Round With My Friends. I spent 7 years working on this and it has been very successful so the time was worth it:

It was hard to decide which quilts to bring, there is only so much room in the luggage, and more importantly, only so much time to talk about them.

For the first segment, I discussed how to do basic piecing, the things that help you be successful, the cutting, the sewing and the pressing. The second segment was on binding, the steps I use for a well-done finished edge and how it doesn't have to be hard. The time goes by in a flash, and then it's over.

I did get to talk with the audience a bit and answer a few questions:

Another segment taped after mine featured Bill Volckening, a quilt collector and nice guy--I've known him for several years. I am eager to watch this segment on a few of his antique quilts when it airs:

Another terrific quilt-world person I am happy to know is Becky Goldsmith. She taped the day after me so arrived mid-day of my taping to deliver her quilts. I didn't see her taping but we did get to chat a bit. Here are two of my favorite people:

All in all, this was a wonderful experience, one I never even put on my Bucket List. I have been a member of TQS since the very beginning. I learn a lot here and am happy to provide what assistance I can with the Block of the Month, answering questions on the Forum and teaching a class locally, made up of the Sunday Sew and Sews, a great group who have become good friends too.

I do not yet know when my show will air but you can be sure I'll let you know. When it does, I will have a passcode non-members can use to watch the show during one week of its' airing. But I enthusiastically encourage you to join if you are not a member, it is the best money you can spend on quilting--all of the shows are great and there is so much more. And follow them on Facebook and Instagram--lots of fun photos there.

The crew is very professional and I was treated so well. This is quite an operation--they taped 6 days in a row, two shows per day. One of my new BFFs is Shelly Heesacker, the amazing producer who makes sure everything is done as well as it could possibly be. Everyone who has ever worked with her says so. Thanks, Shelly!:

It's a wrap:

Let's quilt!

Barbara