Saturday, April 18, 2009

I Do the IQF

Yesterday was the first time I went to the International Quilt Festival in Chicago, IL. I drove down in the morning, finally found a place to park my car (to the tune of $13!) and went to the show.
The first thing I did was find the "Make It U" and check out the workshops. I was lucky enough to see Ms Pokey Bolton demonstrating some art quilt techniques, so I had my picture taken with her.
I was kind of star struck...
my first quilt-world celebrity!

And no...I usually don't smile in pictures...
I smile with my eyes. ;)

Anyway, then I shopped the show. I picked up some dye kits, some patterns, and a few things from Betty Blais' Embellishment Village. It was a pleasure to meet her, and we chatted a little about the artquilt.com list. It was nice to put a face to a name.
I also met the nicest woman while sitting outside having a little lunch. Her name is Beth, and she was working at her mom's booth, Mary Flanagan's Woolens. They have a huge selection of hand-dyed wools, patterns, kits, etc. I bought a selection of pastel-colored fat-eights. Gorgeous! Here's the website:
http://www.mfwoolens.com/index.htm

I also ran into Terri Kirchner from MArQ working at the BBD Creations booth. It was nice to chat with her, too.
Later in the day, I looked at the SAQA exhibits, and all the other quilts. I was absolutely blown away by the fabulous art. Its really hard to describe the variety and the excellence, and how inspirational they are. They just have to be seen...

Finally, I attended the SAQA/artquilt.com Wine & Cheese Reception. Two more MArQ artists were there: Casey and Kasia, with whom I had a nice chat. I also participated in the Tiara Parade while wearing my old Esto "muts"--the embroidered hat with ribbons I used to wear while folk dancing. I'll post some pics soon.
I'm already looking forward to next year.

2 comments:

  1. Wow Toni, you got to chat with alot of people, it was SOO Busy on Sat. we could barely move much less chat with anyone. Glad you had fun, and isn't Mary Flanagan's Wool nice? I buy from her once in awhile too. :) LOVE HER STUFF!!!!!!!

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  2. HI- I was in the tiara parade with you, and I also had great fun. It was nice to meet you at the reception!

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