International Quit Festival Chicago 2018

Last week was Spring Festival in Chicago, brought to you by the folks who run Fall Festival--in Houston. While it's a nuch snaller show than the Mother of All US Quilt Shows (Houston) it is great to be able to see all the vendors and all the quilts, if you choose.

This nice woman posed at the "Photo Opportunity Tree", right by Open Studios, so she could show her friends she was having a great time.

I look forward to this show because here I get to present at Open Studios, a two-hour lecture/demo class on the show floor, free to any who wish to grab a chair and learn, while they rest.. In previous years I've discussed String Piecing so this year it was a new topic: Tips and Tricks for Beautiful Bindings:

I gave this talk four times in three days, the last day giving two sessions back to back, 10-noon and Noon-2. Even with water I was a little "croaky" at the end of the second session. Each year there are several local attendees who make a  point to see my presentation and several women from the Illinois Quilters Inc, where I taught last month, came up to say hello.See more about that visit here: Illinois Quilters Inc.

Nona brought her quilt top from our class Feathered Stars Precisely Paper Pieced:

Wonderful job, Nona!

And fun to see my "hostess" from ILI--Sue S:  

These working trips are so much fun for me because of the PEOPLE I get to see and talk to, many are friends from years of working these shows, faculty and vendors, Quilts Inc. employees, as well as attendees.

Here are a few photos of quilts at this show, starting with my own. This quilt was included in the Special Exhibit "In the American Tradition, Pieced", it was on exhibit in Houston last Fall and will now be coming home to me. It's one of my favorites:

About 96" square

I am captivated with Millefiori quilts, though I doubt I'll ever make one. This won a prize in the Celebration of Color competition:

A favorite quilt I do hope to make one day:

Upcoming Special Exhibits you can enter include the BIG Sapphire Celebration at International Quilt Festival Houston, 2019--the 45th anniversary of Festival. Got a blue and white quilt? Enter it later this year for consideration:

Are Landscape quilts more your style? Hurry and enter this Special Exhibit, entries close May 3, 2018:

I'll finish with photos from our two special events. Friday night was the final Iron Quilter Challenge, #10. It was won by Charlotte Angotti and her team, Angotti's Avengers:

Saturday night was Last Course, the reveal of the Progressive Classes taught by Charlotte Angotti, Debbie Caffrey-Batey, and Karen K Stone. Each teacher taught a one day class that could stand on its' own OR you could take two or three of the classes and create a cohesive quilt. The fabrics were provided in a kit, all you have to do is show up ready to sew. These have been very successful, whether the students took one, two or all three days of classes:

This Year's Chicago Progressive Quilts, made by the Teachers

 Prior year quilts are equally stunning:

Mark your calendar for nest year's Spring Festival in Chicago, March 28-30, 2019.

Let's quilt!

Barbara

Recovery Day

That's what we call the day after we travel home from working an International Quilt Festival show. For me today that's even more appropriate:  I came home with a bad case of the "head crud". Coughing and stuffy head commenced about the time I left Atlanta and has been most unpleasant today. The air in the hotels is so dry and the air in the planes is too "re-circulated"--a few more days and I should be good as new.

Delta got me where I was going with no delays yesterday, despite the problems that linger from last Wednesday's major storm system. BUT they also did this:

You can just barely see it, but there is a 3" RIP in the front of the beautiful new 29" Travelpro suitcase, which was on its' second ever trip. We noticed it as we put it in the vehicle last night and I thought I'd have to send photos to Delta. NO! I should have gone right back in to the Baggage Service desk to start a claim. This morning I checked online and learned the claim starts at the airport. So, back to the airport we went this morning--I wasn't fit to drive so my husband went with me. They offered to replace it on the spot with new luggage they had but it was all black and 25" or smaller. NO! I want a 29" Travelpro PURPLE suitcase. They shipped it off to see if it can be "repaired" and if not, they'll offer to replace it. Time will tell how that goes. I dug out the original receipt: 8-22-2016 showing the price. I'll let you know what happens. The agent was apologetic and I wasn't mad, it wasn't her fault. Just be nice, things go in your favor more often that way.

I'll keep this short and will have quilt photos later this week. Here is my favorite meal:

A dark greens salad with cranberries, walnuts, blue cheese crumbles, balsamic vinaigrette and the best salmon filet I've had in a while. Park Tavern in the Entertainment District.

Two friends from home drove up, they are sisters and wonderful students who take most of my classes. They had a ball and Jo Anne won a terrific goodie bag at Iron Quilters Challenge:

They drove 11 hours home yesterday and promptly got online and booked a room at the brand new Marriott for Houston and started on flight reservations. I told them our Houston show is at least 8 times bigger than Chicago, they'll have to pace themselves! Chicago next year is a great chance to see wonderful quilts with smaller crowds and have great vendors to visit. Hope to see you there--April 12-14, 2018. I did see several people who follow this blog or are Facebook friends who made it a point to meet me. Fun!

They also attended my two-hour Open Studios presentation "Work Faster, Not Harder--Tips and Tricks for Speedy Quilting". Several people who attended my presentations the past two years were front and center when I went on--they were eager to hear what I had to teach them this time and I was glad to see familiar faces. I talked for two hours non-stop and was a bit froggy by the end but the loud round of applause at the end made it worthwhile:

My beautiful purple suitcase weighed 6 lbs more coming home and here is all I bought:

I was all packed up and ready to leave my hotel room for the airport yesterday when I did one last check to be sure I had everything--I did NOT! Here is what I almost left behind:

My bag with ALL my supplies for my Open Studios presentation, including two finished quilts. So glad I didn't leave that behind--I am teaching that as a 3 hour, hands-on class this summer. And I love those two quilts. Always double/triple check your room before you leave.

Today is our 41st wedding anniversary. I was lucky to find the best Marine out of 2000 at The Basic School in 1975 and he found the best woman out of 50. My philosophy of what makes a great marriage:  When each person thinks they are the lucky one, and they are BOTH right. That is still us:

That's it for now, more to follow. I thought I would sew today but I'm still in "recovery" mode so it will be tomorrow or the next day before I am safe around sharp implements.  Let's Quilt!

Barbara

Recovery Day

Just like the employees of Quilts Inc. who travel and work at our Quilt Festival and Market shows, I take a "recovery day" the day after I get home.  It's the day to do laundry, check and process mail, pay bills, read all the newspapers that piled up, sleep in, watch a TV show or 2 I missed, and generally come back to real life after 6 days in a hotel and convention center.

This morning I slept in until 6:15--all the things I wanted to do were calling me.  Here's a little recap of International Quilt Festival Chicago.  The photos aren't mine as I took hardly any, these came from our Facebook page and a few friends:

Merch

Almost Amish by Tamara Watts McPhail quilted by Linda McGhee

This is a kit quilt that I've always liked.  This one was very well done and I enjoyed looking at it.

Elaborate Quilts:

Out of Africa by Barbara McCraw

Artistic Quilts:

LOTUS by Koh Jaesook

Modern Quilts:

Quilt for our Bed by Laura Hartrich

Many Special Exhibits:

Magna Carta Special Exhibit

Vendors:

One of my Favorite vendors of antique quilts:  Pique'

My other top Favorite vendor of antique quilts:  Cindy's Antique Quilts

Fun Events:  Iron Quilter Challenge

Catherine and her Team and their quilt

Catherine Redford celebrating her win of the Iron Quilter Challenge

A Touching Ceremony was held to present Quilts of Valor to two Veterans:

Those photos give you just a hint of all the great quilts, special exhibits and vendors you will find at Festival.

I know it was April but this is Chicago and we did have snow a few days--nothing that stuck around but the Texans sure had fun seeing it come down.  The locals just laughed:

 In addition to my regular duties in the Education Office, I was asked to present four Open Studio sessions on the show floor.  We have four "Studios" set up:  Quilt, Stitch, Embellish, and Paint. Throughout the entire show, each of these has a presenter demonstrating a technique, method or project in these areas--these are two hour sessions. Folks can move from one to the other or stay for all 2 hours with only one.  It is located at a prominent place on the show floor and, best of all, it's FREE.  I love doing this and must say I was thrilled with the response to my presentations.  

Here I am discussing Artist's Trading Cards--we did an Education Office swap in 2004 and I had 47 great cards to show--frrom simple to elaborate, artistic or quilty, each is a small piece of art that is a reminder of the maker--each is signed and dated and most were 2.5" x 3.5", the usual size.  

This fun shot was posted on the International Quilt Festival Facebook page and is from my session on Hexie Stars--either by hand or by English Paper Piecing--I demoed both methods.  There were lots of people interested in this, at least 20 and as many as 30 at one point.  The free pattern is available at Nellie's Niceties.

I wish I had a shot of the two sessions I did on String Pieced Stars--Use Your Stash.  I presented this one twice and each time it was mobbed--there were 40 people there most of the time.  I found out I have "groupies"--one lovely lady told me she was so happy to see my name back on the schedule as she wanted to see string piecing again.  Many of them thanked me personally for all the tips and info and I got a round of applause when  it was done--what a pleasant surprise!  We do have fun in class. I'm already working on ideas for String Piecing projects for next year:  last year it was blocks, this year stars, come back next year for new and exciting projects.

12" String Pieced Lemoyne Star

I promise to do a Tutorial here soon on this String Pieced Star--for now, the Template Set I used is  Marti Michell's Perfect Patchwork Templates, Set E, The Eight-Pointed Star Set. One woman came back to tell me she had found them at a vendor on the show floor--I wish I had known which one because they would have sold out for sure.

Let's Quilt!

Barbara

Fun Projects for International Quilt Festival

I've been asked to present a couple educational sessions at IQF Chicago, March 26-28, 2015 and Quilt!Knit!Stitch! in Portland, OR, August 13-15, 2015. 

For Open Studio, I demo how I work on my choice of project.  People come and go over the 2 hour time segment, asking questions, basically they "visit" me in my studio and we converse about the process.  For Chicago I'll be showing String Blocks with several different setting/design possibilities:

Half Red/Half Neutral

1" finished black strip in the middle, color on one side, neutral on the other

 

There are lots more possibilities and I'll be working on samples for the next month.

In Portland, I'll be making Japanese X and + blocks, showing how easy it is to get those intersections to intersect:

I also get tiny bonus triangles from the corners that are cut off.  They finish to 1" and are so cute.  I wouldn't be likely to create 1" finished half square triangles, but these are too cute to throw away so I'll show several ways to use them.

The other event is Make It University!  This is a one hour, hands-on project that costs just $10.  Each student gets a kit with everything they need to make the project.  All they have to do is drop in, buy a ticket, and they are good to go, no pre-registration necessary.

Finding a project that can be completed, or almost completed, in a hour is a challenge.  And I have to prepare the 25 kits for class.  This will take some time too.  Since I have 2 sessions to kit for, I think I'll need to call in my troops for a "help me" day.  I'll teach them the one hour class to be sure it works well in that timeframe, then have them help me make the kits. 

In Chicago, I am offering  Hand Piecing the Lemoyne Star, yes, the real one with the dreaded Y seam:

This is a 6" star and one I really enjoy making by hand.  Having a hand project ready at all times is a must for a lot of quilters.  I can't take my sewing machine to the doctor's office, but a baggy with the basics of this block is easy to whip out and sew a bit on. 

In Portland, I am offering the HexieStar, 8" across the middle:

 

 

I found this on Pinterest and have gotten permission from the designer to offer it as a class.  You can find her free pattern here. Her pattern is available for your personal use only, which is why I sought her permission before going forward with this class.  Please abide by copyright rules--artists deserve that respect for their work.

Here is my question to you about HexieStars:  The top one is English paper pieced over freezer paper templates, while the bottom one is hand-pieced, with sewing lines drawn on the back of each piece.  In a one hour class, would you prefer to only be given one set of instructions, EPP OR hand-piecing, or would you like to be able to choose in class which method you want to do?  The kit prep time for this project will be intense, and my friends will come in handy here.  I need your input on this one.

So, along with everything else I'm working on, I've now got another couple of deadlines to work toward.  I love to teach so this is not a chore, it's fun! 

And, if you are in Chicago and/or Portland be sure to come to our shows and look for the Open Studios and Make It University opportunities we bring to you!  It's a great way to sit for a bit and learn something.

Let's Quilt!

Barbara