I have returned from Houston inspired and broke, but what a ride! I spent Saturday, my birthday, with the vendors. On Sunday, in addition to the clocks being set back, I was mixed up about the opening time for the show, and had an hour to kill with Ron. It was fun to share the quilts with him, and point out work done by my friends, and/or special techniques. The best thing about Festival is the inspiration, not only from the awesome quilts, but the amazing things that vendors are showing! If you are into mixed media art, you are sure to lose your mind--and love it!
So many AA quilters I ran into said they had a great time yesterday, and I am sending out the complete list today so everyone can stay in contact. If you would like your name added to my AA quilters database, please send me an email. Also, I can highly recommend checking out the link to African American Quilters Yahoo! Group, or Quilters of Color of NY, which has an inexpensive associate membership.
I am taking photos of my quilts this week and look forward to posting them!
Monday, November 05, 2007
Saturday, November 03, 2007
Houston 07 - Day 1 Recap & Happy Birthday to me!
After a 5:30 flight from Newark, I hit the ground running. I hooked up with Teresa and Wendi, two guildmates, and we headed over to the show. Due to some logistical snafus, we got in about 15 minutes late (less time for shopping!) Because I have less time here than usual, I have tried to be methodical. Before I left home, I made a list of things I wanted, (trust me, this is not the total list), and when I got here, I noted on my dancecard (a dancecard is a sheet that salespeople use to let them know when, where and with whom they are meeting) the booths I wanted to visit. Of the 18 rows, I only got through 6, but among them, I did meet with the Tom Pfeiffer, the President of New Joy (midarm frame), and I spent a considerable amount of time spending the $300 Superior Thread shopping spree I got when I bought my Juki TL98Q.
The best part of the day was a meetup, which Teresa and I promote (but did not start, we just picked up the ball and ran with it) of African American quilters. Basically, this started as a way for the African American Quilters Group from Yahoo! to get together in real life, but we figured, we should just be our friendly NY selves and invite every African American we saw at the show! It is great to mingle, and frequently, people meet new quilters from their area. We had a group of 55 yesterday. Are we not fabulous?
I attended three lectures: Textile Sketchbook, which gave some exercises for creativity; Bodysmart Quilting, which offered exercises for body safe quilting: 45 minutes of sewing, 15 minute break with water, walking and stretches; and Artcloth 2007, which featured amazing fabrics, all starting from a piece of white cloth.
We returned to This Is It! Houston for a just like your Momma cooked it meal, and I came back to my room and went to sleep! I usually get up around 5 or 5:30, and that means I was up at 3:47 a.m. today! My body will be really confused by the time I get back to NY/NJ, with the hour's difference in time, plus daylight savings starting tomorrow.
It is officially my birthday, and I would be remiss and trifling if I did not thank all of the people who have made me the happy, content, creative person I am. First up is my Mom, who, even if she thought what I was doing was weird/strange/stupid, let me go my own way if I wasn't harming anyone. Next is Ron, who is supporting me, both literally and figuratively, while I explore my creative Zen; then, all my guild friends, online and off, who are a treasure trove of creativity; my non-quilting friends, who have sometimes become quilt widows when I can't get together like I used to, and a special thank you to Kaaren, a generous artist who never fails to tell me I am more talented than I think I am.
Believe and begin!
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Vitae Interruptus
I am reactivating my blog after a crazy couple of years that had several high impact speed bumps. Having become unemployed since July 1, I turned to my creative side, and have toggled my own Restart button. I originally started this blog as a way to document my trip to the International Quilt Fest in Houston in 20005, and I am resurrecting it in 2007 for the same purpose with a promise to myself to keep it going for 28 days. With a laptop, blogging daily from IQF should be easier, and nowadays is a rare day that I am not tapping my own muse.
I have never considered myself an artist. Creative, yes. I have made my own clothes and home dec accessories for years; I have produced wedding cakes that have withstood a hot summer day in NYC; my cooking is legendary amongst my friends. I have never been able to think of myself as an artist. Even my stick figures suck. About ten years ago, my grandmother gave me a quilt and I have since found another outlet for my creative ventures. This lead me to art quilts and dyeing, as well as longarm quilting, all for my own creative pleasure. If I can help someone else, I am happy to do so.
I have been blessed to be surrounded by several groups of creative quilters. I am a member of FOUR guilds, and several Yahoo! groups. As for the guilds, two are large, two are small, two are "ethnic". I frequently host quilting sessions at my church, and rarely do I get to my own work, but I am happy to see others bringing their projects to completion. My favorite quote is a description of me in a nutshell, and reflects my connection to mentoring: "The best gift you can give a man is not to share your riches with him, but to reveal to him his own." -Benjamin Disraeli. Thus in sharing my treasures with you, I hope you will in turn, find something in them that inspires you to discover your own. Believe and begin!
I have never considered myself an artist. Creative, yes. I have made my own clothes and home dec accessories for years; I have produced wedding cakes that have withstood a hot summer day in NYC; my cooking is legendary amongst my friends. I have never been able to think of myself as an artist. Even my stick figures suck. About ten years ago, my grandmother gave me a quilt and I have since found another outlet for my creative ventures. This lead me to art quilts and dyeing, as well as longarm quilting, all for my own creative pleasure. If I can help someone else, I am happy to do so.
I have been blessed to be surrounded by several groups of creative quilters. I am a member of FOUR guilds, and several Yahoo! groups. As for the guilds, two are large, two are small, two are "ethnic". I frequently host quilting sessions at my church, and rarely do I get to my own work, but I am happy to see others bringing their projects to completion. My favorite quote is a description of me in a nutshell, and reflects my connection to mentoring: "The best gift you can give a man is not to share your riches with him, but to reveal to him his own." -Benjamin Disraeli. Thus in sharing my treasures with you, I hope you will in turn, find something in them that inspires you to discover your own. Believe and begin!
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
Intl Quilt Festival (IQF), Houston Day One
International Quilt Fest, Day One
I arrived in Houston, excited and ready to go. My plane was late, and I missed most of the sampler, but I didn’t care. I was at the QUILT FESTIVAL! I got the lay of the land, and I have to say: I’ve been to a number of conferences, and I’d gone to Chicago earlier this year. I wasn’t expecting anything to wow me. Chalk it up to being a cynical NYer, where the unusual is normal. Let me say it now: WOWEEE! I couldn’t get a picture of the floor, because the flash would have bounced off the glass, but this was simply unbelievable. Somewhere on this blog, I’ll post some tips I learned the hard way, (or sometimes the easy way), or from other attendees.
I will say this. To a person, the people I met were friendly and courteous. The Houstonians, who had to deal with a World Series on top of Quilt Fest, on top of Hurricane Katrina, were always helpful and not one was anything less than welcoming. The people I met, even those I hit with my big bags, smiled, and were understanding. Now don’t get me wrong. With that many people, some folks were bound to be a little short, particularly those in that Bernina bag line. For the most part, everyone was caught up in the excitement. One of the first persons I met was Joan, from Lake Charles, LA. Despite some damage to her home, and her son losing most of his possessions, Joan was able to smile and laugh, happy to be in Houston. She’d been to Houston six times, and her roommates were actually people that she’d met from all over the country. She gave me the date for next year’s Hilton reservations: November 12, 2005, 9:30 a.m. I saw her several times that afternoon.
My first event was a lecture by Lesley Riley, Making Time for Making Quilts. Her expertise is in image transfer. She must be an expert at making time. Lesley has SIX KIDS. I enjoyed this session. Because they were simple and practical, her tips made sense, and I’ll try to implement some of them when I get home. Sorry, but sharing them would infringe on her intellectual property rights. You can find some of them in her articles in Quilting Arts. Her website is www.lalasland.com.
By the time Teresa and Carol arrived, I had scouted out the places they needed to go to get registered and such, as well as gotten the lay of the land. The exhibit hall opened at 5 p.m. giving us a little breather. I wanted to do a quick quilt tour and then some serious window shopping in preparation for my spending spree, but when I saw that I couldn’t get close to the $10,000 best of show quilt, I went to Plan B. I started with the vendors that I knew: Djema Imports (in conjunction with Cultured Expressions), Batik Timbal, and African Folklore Embroidery. From there I made a note of any booth I passed that I wanted to return to, and collected lots of literature. I was intrigued by the many bright yellow Bernina bags I saw, and wondered how to get one. Teresa was not as restrained, and did quite a bit of shopping as well. Because of the restrictions, I did not take any photos of vendors booths…they’re very touchy, and rightfully so. It was a rare event that you found a vendor who sold something exclusively. We had another reason to be happy. Having taken a hand-dyeing workshop with a fellow guild member, artist Patricia Montgomery, we weren’t going to buy a ton of hand-dyes. In fact I had said that I wasn’t going to purchase any fabric at all, but I softened that by saying that I’d only buy exceptionally beautiful fabric. I kept my bargain, for tonight at least.
What can I say? With nearly 600 vendors, we lost our minds! We didn’t even get through the entire vendor court this evening. We did, however, make one goal: to speak with every African American person we saw, and let them know we were part of a Yahoo! group that was meeting on Friday at 1 p.m. This evening, we probably saw 20 people or so.
If I wasn’t so tired (nearly 40 straight hours awake, with only a plane nap in between), I would go through the few things that I purchased this evening. We crashed at Teresa’s sister’s beautiful home, 15 minutes from the GRB (George R, Brown Convention Center). I can’t wait for tomorrow. The photo below is Teresa & Carol.
I arrived in Houston, excited and ready to go. My plane was late, and I missed most of the sampler, but I didn’t care. I was at the QUILT FESTIVAL! I got the lay of the land, and I have to say: I’ve been to a number of conferences, and I’d gone to Chicago earlier this year. I wasn’t expecting anything to wow me. Chalk it up to being a cynical NYer, where the unusual is normal. Let me say it now: WOWEEE! I couldn’t get a picture of the floor, because the flash would have bounced off the glass, but this was simply unbelievable. Somewhere on this blog, I’ll post some tips I learned the hard way, (or sometimes the easy way), or from other attendees.
I will say this. To a person, the people I met were friendly and courteous. The Houstonians, who had to deal with a World Series on top of Quilt Fest, on top of Hurricane Katrina, were always helpful and not one was anything less than welcoming. The people I met, even those I hit with my big bags, smiled, and were understanding. Now don’t get me wrong. With that many people, some folks were bound to be a little short, particularly those in that Bernina bag line. For the most part, everyone was caught up in the excitement. One of the first persons I met was Joan, from Lake Charles, LA. Despite some damage to her home, and her son losing most of his possessions, Joan was able to smile and laugh, happy to be in Houston. She’d been to Houston six times, and her roommates were actually people that she’d met from all over the country. She gave me the date for next year’s Hilton reservations: November 12, 2005, 9:30 a.m. I saw her several times that afternoon.
My first event was a lecture by Lesley Riley, Making Time for Making Quilts. Her expertise is in image transfer. She must be an expert at making time. Lesley has SIX KIDS. I enjoyed this session. Because they were simple and practical, her tips made sense, and I’ll try to implement some of them when I get home. Sorry, but sharing them would infringe on her intellectual property rights. You can find some of them in her articles in Quilting Arts. Her website is www.lalasland.com.
By the time Teresa and Carol arrived, I had scouted out the places they needed to go to get registered and such, as well as gotten the lay of the land. The exhibit hall opened at 5 p.m. giving us a little breather. I wanted to do a quick quilt tour and then some serious window shopping in preparation for my spending spree, but when I saw that I couldn’t get close to the $10,000 best of show quilt, I went to Plan B. I started with the vendors that I knew: Djema Imports (in conjunction with Cultured Expressions), Batik Timbal, and African Folklore Embroidery. From there I made a note of any booth I passed that I wanted to return to, and collected lots of literature. I was intrigued by the many bright yellow Bernina bags I saw, and wondered how to get one. Teresa was not as restrained, and did quite a bit of shopping as well. Because of the restrictions, I did not take any photos of vendors booths…they’re very touchy, and rightfully so. It was a rare event that you found a vendor who sold something exclusively. We had another reason to be happy. Having taken a hand-dyeing workshop with a fellow guild member, artist Patricia Montgomery, we weren’t going to buy a ton of hand-dyes. In fact I had said that I wasn’t going to purchase any fabric at all, but I softened that by saying that I’d only buy exceptionally beautiful fabric. I kept my bargain, for tonight at least.
What can I say? With nearly 600 vendors, we lost our minds! We didn’t even get through the entire vendor court this evening. We did, however, make one goal: to speak with every African American person we saw, and let them know we were part of a Yahoo! group that was meeting on Friday at 1 p.m. This evening, we probably saw 20 people or so.
If I wasn’t so tired (nearly 40 straight hours awake, with only a plane nap in between), I would go through the few things that I purchased this evening. We crashed at Teresa’s sister’s beautiful home, 15 minutes from the GRB (George R, Brown Convention Center). I can’t wait for tomorrow. The photo below is Teresa & Carol.
Tuesday, October 25, 2005
Houston, here we come!
I've been wanting to start a quilting blog for a long time, now, and my upcoming trip to the International Quilt Festival in Houston seems like the perfect opportunity to do so. I went to the Spring Festival in Chicago in April, and decided that it was Houston or bust this year. I will be traveling with a quilting buddy, Teresa, and her friend, Carol. I am leaving tomorrow, and returning Sunday.
IQF holds many surprises for me. I am as excited as a kid going to DisneyWorld! I will have the opportunity to meet many people from my online groups: African American Quilters, AA Art Quilters, Complex Cloth, Dyerslist, Inkjet Transfer. Having the opportunity to see over 2,000 quilts will provide inspiration for many months to come, and I can't wait to see what the vendors have. I have given myself a daily budget, plus I've gone from swearing to buy no fabric to swearing to buy only outrageously fabulous fabrics. We'll see! I'm bringing an empty suitcase, just in case; less clothes means more room for purchases (LOL)!
I'll post photos and at least a once daily log; I'll answer questions about my experiences this week when I return next week, and I'll also post more about my quilting life.
Aleeda
IQF holds many surprises for me. I am as excited as a kid going to DisneyWorld! I will have the opportunity to meet many people from my online groups: African American Quilters, AA Art Quilters, Complex Cloth, Dyerslist, Inkjet Transfer. Having the opportunity to see over 2,000 quilts will provide inspiration for many months to come, and I can't wait to see what the vendors have. I have given myself a daily budget, plus I've gone from swearing to buy no fabric to swearing to buy only outrageously fabulous fabrics. We'll see! I'm bringing an empty suitcase, just in case; less clothes means more room for purchases (LOL)!
I'll post photos and at least a once daily log; I'll answer questions about my experiences this week when I return next week, and I'll also post more about my quilting life.
Aleeda
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