Book Review - Fabulous Fabric Beads

Fabulous Fabric Beads
Kristal Wick
Interweave Books, 2008 Paperback, 111 pages
$22.95

I've had two opportunities to meet Kristal at IQF Samplers in Houston and Chicago. Each time, I was impressed. Kristal has finally published her first book, Fabulous Fabric Beads: Create Custom Beads and Art Jewelry. The book is most appropriately named.

Quilters are known for saving the most insignificant scraps of fabric in the hope of using them again. Kristal provides 24 different beads to try, using fabric, paper, ribbon, leather, metal, mixed media, wood and resin.

The book is broken into three sections. The first section illustrates surface designs, and you can test these methods on beads first, and try them on larger pieces of fabric later. The second section provides how-to, with beautiful, step-by-step easy to follow illustrations. Kristal provides plenty of notes for variations.

The third section is filled with projects, a beautiful section with color palettes, a gallery, a beading techniques primer, and a list of resources.

This is great book for beginners and experienced beaders who are looking for another type of bead to add to their repertoire.

In Praise of Continuing Education

My absolute favorite quote comes from British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli: "The best gift you can give a man is not to share your riches with him, but to reveal to him his own." In my mind, the perfect teacher is not the one who does everything for you, but who encourages you to ride on your own, stands there ready to steady you as you take off without training wheels, is ready to pick you up when you fall (as you are likely to do when you're learning) and cheers like hell when you've gotten the hang of it.

Carol Soderlund is such a teacher. I cannot say enough about what I learned these past five days in her Color Mixing for Dyers class offered at Pro-Chem's facility in Fall River, MA. Don't get me wrong. The days were long, and the information was, in Carol's words, relentless. But the group of women I shared the class with were wonderful, generous and gifted; that, in turn, raised my inspiration and enjoyment level exponentially. We came from different levels and styles of expression, but had a common love of color and fiber.

By day three, you have dyed the 1029 squares you will need to assemble your very own copy of The Book; when Carol says this on day one, you might be wondering: well, what are we going to do the rest of the time? Carol probably has forgotten more about dyeing than many people remember, and what is extraordinary about her, is that she doesn't keep it to herself, she shares it....all of it; I'll bet she could have done the class for seven days, and we still wouldn't be finished! Fortunately, there is Color Mixing for Dyers 2, and I will be taking that class sometime next year; I'm sure there is much more to learn.

Another wonderful feature at the Pro-Chem class is Vicky Jensen, the Director of Education. Vicky is very talented in her own right, and showed us some gorgeous felted pieces she was working on. Vicky was there to assist from the start, helping us get our stuff into the class and arranging lunch and dinner (one night in the classroom, another night at a wonderful Mexican restaurant in nearby Somerset). Though the class went through the weekend, Vicky was there, making sure everyone was getting what they paid for.

If you've seen The Book, you know that it is, simply, a monumental thing of beauty. Carol gives you the knowledge to create your own colors, and the freedom and encouragement to get out there and experiment. I'm sharing a photo of gradation dyeing we did in class, and you will get an idea of how wonderful having The Book is. To see an open copy of The Book click here.

I'm still using my training wheels, but Carol has given me what I need to keep going. Look out, world!

On Dyeing

This is it! This is the week I finally check off one workshop I have been dyeing to do, so to speak. Carol Soderlund is a dye goddess, and leads a 5-day workshop at Pro-Chem (and a few other placed as well) that teaches you how to mix a thousand different colors...no lie! When you are done, apparently there is this master book that will be yours, little grasshopper.

My adventure starts tomorrow. I'd better get to bed so I can look fresh in the photos I'm going to post of the class!

On the Renegade Route

I made the trek to Brooklyn yesterday to check out the Renegade Crafts Fair. I love the idea of an organization making it possible for artisans to market their handmade crafts to the public. Etsy is awesome, but seeing the vendors in person was a huge plus. It was a sunny day, and after so much rain this past week, NYers were surely ready to be outside in the sunshine.

There were hundreds of stalls with crafts for sale; many, many t-shirts, lots of funky jewelry, body care products, art on display everywhere. One of the things you realize is that the handmade items have a certain je ne sais quoi that mass produced items cannot match. I enjoyed strolling through a pure crafts fair, without the distraction of food and crafts that had little or no handmade touches.

Hmmm, I wonder if they've considered a NJ venue?

Where Ya At?

'Where Ya At?' is something you hear a lot of in New Orleans. Translation: whassup? how are you doing? where've you been? (Yes, a blog gives you the license to create your own contractions). :-)

Over the past couple of months I've been on the road a bit, and gearing up for classes I'm taking and teaching this summer. I went to the Spring IQF (International Quilt Festival) in Chicago, and I was surprised to see how many classes I could still get into at the last minute. Class attendance seemed lighter, but attendance was heavy as usual.

I had the opportunity to hook up with (one day I might have to change that phrase, as it doesn't mean what it used to apparently!) some African American quilting buddies that I only see when I get the chance to check into my African American Quilters group on Yahoo! We plan a lunch on the Saturday of the show every year, and spend the time catching up. The photo was taken by Jeanette Walton's camera (so she could be in the picture).

Upon my return from Chicago, I headed off to Paducah, KY for the AQS show. What made this show different and wonderful was the fact that the whole town was part of it. Paducah is, indeed, Quilt City USA. From Hancock to the National Quilt Museum, to Caryl Bryer Fallert and Eleanor Burns, everyone is all in. My only complaint, and it is a huge one, is the HORRIBLE execution of the shuttle bus. If you have your own transportation, I strongly urge you to use it. Otherwise, you will subject yourself to long waits, blank stares instead of answers, and less of the show surroundings because of a tight schedule. I was also amazed at the number of residents who had never been to a show. If I had thousands of people descending upon my tiny town like locusts, I think I'd make it my business to find out why. Go figure. I'd also train the hospitality industry a wee bit more. I had an inept Group Manager cancel my group booking, and then have the temerity to tell me she "probably should have called me". If you want to know who, and what hotel you should avoid if you want to skip that nightmare, email me, and I'll tell all. ;-) All in all, the Paducahns make you welcome, and if you are a quilter, Paducah is a trip you should complete once in your lifetime.

On With the Show!

This weekend, I had the opportunity (again) to experience a show from the hosting guild's perspective. Presenting a show gives you great appreciation for all the effort that goes into preparing, producing, and executing a (usually) weekend long quilting party. Just before your guests arrive, you get anxious, and wonder what in the world you were thinking. By the time your guests arrive, you are happy, and when it is over, you are pooped, and vow to be so much better prepared if you ever do this craziness again. The twist with a quilt show it that it is usually a new cast of characters at the helm, and they may or may not have had the experiences you did.

A show is a wonderful gift to both your members and the quilting community at large. It offers:

1. a chance to share with a wider circle of people the talents of your guild members;
2. a chance for the guild to gain new members;
3. a chance to introduce new quilters to quilting or change a person's idea of what a quilt is or is not;
4. a chance to meet other quilters from nearby areas and guilds;
   
5. a chance for the ever-shrinking group of vendors to find new customers and stay afloat in a difficult economy; and
   
6. a chance to offer speakers, or classes that attendees might not otherwise have a chance to see.

A show can be fun....for the people not involved with producing it. However, based on the comments, smiling faces, and bags I saw at the Urban Inspirations show put on by Empire Quilters Guild, it was worth it.

The Months in Review

When one thing happens to throw me off track, it is usually followed by a series of unexpected events. You know what I mean...a family emergency, elder care issues, LIFE in general?

While I have not been posting regularly (shame, shame), I have less guilt than most because I have been actively doing quilt related things. Here's the catchup:

I thought, when we (Quilters of Color Network of NY) went to Kingsborough Community College (Brooklyn, NY) in February that we would be talking to ourselves, and explaining the art of quilting to the few stragglers passing by. Was I ever pleasantly surprised. We had engaging, thoughtful conversations about quilting with a number of students and staff. One of our volunteers that thought to bring a small machine, and once we let the visitors sit down and sew....WOW. The effect was magic. The ability to sew, even for a little while, speaks to creativity, to accomplishment, to empowerment. We were all very glad we went, and special thanks go to Joanne Meyers at the school for organizing the event. We can't wait to go back!

I have completed my first full guild presentation...well actually my second. Over the years, I have been an active member of four guilds, and one online group. In addition to that, I have a sewing background. As a result I have amassed an extraordinary amount of quilting, sewing, and home dec stuff, plus the tips to go with it. In January, I showed to Empire Quilters my method of creating a database to keep you from buying duplicates of stuff you already thought was necessary to have and then forget about. ;-) The presentation I did for Garden State Quilters was called Night of 1,001 Tips. Despite some technical difficulties, I managed to keep a room of quilters interested without showing a single quilt. The tips were broken into categories: Acquisitions, Saving Money, Sewing & Pressing, Tool Tips, and the Zen of Quilting. I also included some exercises (which we actually did), because everyone needs to remember the most critical tool in the quilting room is YOU.

I am the trips host for Empire, and we have made two excursions this year: Winterthur, and the Quiltfest of NJ. Winterthur was exquisite, with small group private tours; we will surely go back. QFNJ was our first show of the year, and we were glad to get out of the city to see some of the creative pieces as well as shop. The next trip is our Paducah adventure. It is the first trip for many of us, and to say we are psyched is an understatement. I will have the computer in tow to share some daily blogging.

Lastly, two of my quilts are being displayed in the show that Empire is doing this weekend (setup was yesterday, and surprisingly, after 8 hours of lifting, reaching, walking, I am not aching...(thank you Zumba!). If you can get to NYC March 21 or 22, please come and see some awesome works of art. Show information is on the Empire site (see link above).

Now you are caught up....I am still catching my breath!

Organizing Your Stash - The Database

Last Saturday, I had the opportunity to share with members of Empire Quilters one of my tips for organizing my multitude of quilting items. We commiserated about finding a hot new gadget, getting it home, and finding out you already had it. Ditto for books, templates, stencils, etc. This, by far, is the most important organizing tool I own, and it is easy enough to do. I am including a sample of my book database below, but if you would like a sample file to download, subscribe to the blog and send me an email.

A database is a fancy word for a computerized, sortable list. There are many ways to create a database; the most popular programs are Excel and Word. I prefer Excel simply because formatting and manipulating the database is a little bit easier, but the input for Word and Excel are exactly the same. I have a master database, which is comprised of several smaller databases, including books, patterns, inks/dyes/paints, templates/rulers/stencils, markers/pencils, batting, thread/floss/yarn, and notions.

Because of my formatting limitations here, I have taken a photo of my screen which appears at the top of the blog. Below are the fields (columns) in my book database, and I have provided a sample entry and described the information that I input in the column. The most important thing for you to remember is that the database should make sense to you. If you need more columns, add them; if you don't need all the columns that I have, delete the ones you don't need. I type everything in capital letters to make the inputting faster.

TYPE BOOK Is it a book, a magazine, an ebook?

TITLE 1000 GREAT QUILTING DESIGNS Self explanatory; Omit The if it starts the title.

AUTHORLAST ROBERTS If there are two authors, I enter both last names.

AUTHORFIRST LOUISE If there are two authors, I enter both first names.

CPU 22.95 Cost per unit; how much did it originally cost? This is for resale purposes.

SUBJECT M I created a one or two letter system for categorizing my books; i.e., A= applique, AQ = art quilts, etc.

HARD/SOFT H

The hard process is gathering your stuff and doing the initial entry. After that, it should be simple to to maintain. I hope this helps you get started, and feel free to answer any questions. The full database will be available on my website at a later date for a nominal fee.

Week 1 - Review: The Quilting Arts Book

If you're just getting started with art quilts, you could have no better guide than The Quilting Arts Book: Techniques and Inspiration for Creating One-of -a -Kind Quilts by Patricia "Pokey" Bolton.
Pokey, with her husband John, has transformed her love of all things fiber into quite an empire, and Quilting Arts (QA) magazine is the crown jewel. If you've never opened an issue of QA , TQAB is a great way to catch up on all the creativity you've missed. One of the hallmarks of the magazine is great photography, and the book does not disappoint. You'll also find the directions to be clear and concise. There are step-by-by step shots when needed, and closeups provide excellent support for the text directions and descriptions. While the techniques are grouped, you would not have a problem hopscotching around, trying the techniques that interest you first, and then circling back to the others. If you already have a subscription to QA, much of the text and photos used in the book will be familiar to you. However, there are some wonderful additions, and having a book filled with so many techniques to try is preferable to lugging out 29 issues of QA.

I have few improvements to suggest; if I were a beginner, I'd appreciate a robust glossary, as many of the tools and terms used may be new to budding quilt artists; the Resources and Supplier lists are skimpy, but since Quilting Arts has a well-stocked store, you could simply find the supplies and a wide selection of books through them.

One of the best things about art quilts is that the process is part of the creative journey. You may start with one idea, and the simple process of creating leads you to entirely different and more satisfying place. The Quilting Arts Book is an excellent travel guide for your art quilt adventure, and I highly recommend it.

New Year Resolutions

Happy New Year!
I thought I'd share my New Year's resolutions with yall:

1. I am going to doodle for 10 minutes every day.
2. I am going to be less critical of my creative self.
3. I am going to set aside a creative play date every two weeks.
4. I am going to post weekly; each week will have a different topic: Book Review; Tips, Tool Review, Techniques or Loose Threads, which will be a potpourri of stuff
   
5. I am going to teach one class on quilting techniques before June.
6. I am going to learn Photoshop.
7. I am going to participate in a minimum of four calls for entry this year.
8. Less procrastination on my artwork!
9. I am going to consistently create items for those craft shows throughout the year, and get a jump start on my gift list.
10. I am going to finish, toss, or give away one UFO for every other project I complete.
    

Okay, what are your resolutions?

Craft Sale O-mania!

I've just experienced my first craft show season and it was a crazy, hectic wonderful, stressful, learning experience. I thought that I was prepared; I had been stockpiling some things for months, and had quilts ready for sale. Here are my tips and thoughts:

1. The organizer and previous participants are a treasure trove of information about the sale. Talk to them, if possible, about what things are likely to sell based on past sales. Talk to the organizer about what price range the biggest selling items fall into.
2. Try to provide products that differentiate your brand from the rest; either something that is not typically sold, or some kind of signature to your brand..
3. Think about the timing of the sale; if it is at Christmas, people are shopping for gifts for others more often than they are buying that splurge for themselves, especially in this economy.
   
4. Walk the room; see what others are selling, and at what prices. Make sure you introduce yourself to everyone, and spend extra time with artists whose work you love. Network the room; get their cards, and give them yours.
   
5. Make sure you save some of each item for each sale; even if it is only one or two pieces, at least you have a sample to show so people can order.
6. Think about forming a cooperative with other crafters, where you can share sale duties and fees in exchange for selling each others' non-competitive craft.
7. Have a variety of items at different price points.
8. Make a few things each month, or make a single item production style; work on that item until you have a number of them produced (repetition will make you faster), then move onto another item. You may be willing to do this as part of your cooperative group.
   
9. Keep an inventory of what you have produced. An Excel spreadsheet is great for this.
   
10. Wear your goods if possible; if it looks good on you, people feel it will look good on them.
11. Make sure you bring some work that can be done during the sale, even if it is just creating price tags for your goods, but preferably bring work that shows you making an item. I frequently use the time to bind or label my quilts. Seeing how much goes into making a piece helps to justify the quality and the price, and people frequently ask me what I am working on, a great conversation starter.
12. Let people know that you notice them at your table by saying hello, and telling them if they have any questions, you'd be happy to answer them (rather than asking if they have questions).
    
13. Immediately after the show, do a debriefing: What sold? What did not? What kept you from selling more--poor traffic? a bad location? timing? lack of goods, or goods priced too high? Did you get some non-monetary gain from the event, i.e., a referral to another event? Did you break even? What would you do differently? Write all these notes in a notebook, and use it as a reference tool.
    
14. I try to send an email to people I met, building my network of crafter contacts. I also send a thank-you email to the organizer, regardless of how well I did.
15. Invest in display items. These do not have to be bought items or expensive items, but again, take a look at other displays, and what you see in stores. I use a mixture of both. Presentation and merchandising are an art, too!
16. Don't equate your worth as an artist with how you've done at a craft sale. There are too many unrelated variables to make that determination. If you've sold something, wonderful, but if you've learned something, you have gained something more valuable than a quick sale.
    

Giving back with the Girl Scouts

This week, I had an opportunity to get to spend some time with some young women at a Girl Scout Troop meeting in Newark. The young ladies were vibrant and mostly confident, but I was surprised. So many people speak of how self-absorbed and apathetic our young people are. I was prepared to meet young people who wouldn't pay attention to anything longer than a video, and who would find the art of quilting dull and uninteresting. They were respectful and polite, and asked questions our entire time together. I allowed each of them to create a block using crayons and their own art or rubbings, which they will use to create a charity quilt (or rather, I will use to create a charity quilt), and they both appreciated and absorbed the knowledge I was sharing. In return, I gave them a pack of sugarless gum at the end of our session. The other surprise was this: not one of them could thread a needle and knot the thread! I did not expect them to be able to sew, but they caught on quickly. Let me say that my mom did not sew, or participate in any crafts that I remember. Her mother, however, was a self-taught crafter. I wish I could have met her. My dad's mom was a quilter, and her gift of a quilt set me off on my fiberquest. It still keeps me warm on cold winter nights. Yet, when I was 14 or so, with the blessing (and funding) of my mother, and the support of my best friend, Jeanine, who's Mom is an awesome seamstress, I took classes at singer, and never looked back. I never made dresses for dolls, but did create dresses for friends and for my mom. I am still hoping to teach my niece some of my crafting skills. I hope my teasing lesson gets a few of those girls on the path to sewing, so that they will go back and ask their mom, or their aunt, or their grandmother to teach them how to sew. I know they will never regret learning.

Quilters of Color and quilters' generosity

One of the wonders of being a quilter is discovering how generous they are. I am currently serving as President of Quilters of Color, a guild which has members of all colors, though we are primarily African American. Last Saturday, we had a visit from Ms. Jolli Brown, who is on the staff of LIU. Jolli is working on a collaborative effort in which they train teachers to teach in urban areas, and as part of that program LIU is hosting a film in April, and is providing activities where young women, predominantly young women of color, can learn to quilt and get involved in some media production.
At one point, Jolli asked for suggestions about the program, and boy, did she get them! As quilters, we have a vested interest in "passing the thimble", as Alex Anderson likes to say, and specifically, quilters of color have an interest in building not only our quilting community, but our communities at large. The ideas came in fast and furious, and I am looking forward to our participation in this event.
I am being uber productive, and have hit an unforeseen snag. My machine picks its moments to act up, and I had to return it to my dealer, and get a loaner. This is one of the benefits of buying a machine from a dealer. Try getting a loaner from Walmart or Costco in a pinch. :-) I have attached photos of one of the Christmas stockings I've made. An all-nighter is looming!

Back on the Block

Okay, I've been trifling. But I have been productive! Though I missed Houston this year, I am excited about a number of things these days. I have recently been juried into a local crafts show in South Orange, NJ Dec. 4-7. I have also submitted a list of classes that I'd like to teach, and have gotten interest in a Memory Quilt class. Like many people I am a procrastinator. But when I have to get things in for a deadline, I am focused. Lately, I've been dyeing and embellishing some silk pieces, and working on felted scarves and soap. I love fiber, and the exploration of many types of fiber is a critical part of my journey. I am posting some photos of my quilts, and have ideas for many more, including an Obama quilt, which I will begin working on right after I get going on my Mermaid quilts, which are due in January. I have used these past few months to finish a number of pieces, and (in addition to my job search) to focus on activities which restore my creative self. I am commiting to writing at least one blog entry a week, and posting as many photos as I can, one at a time. The quilt shown is titled Market Women, and used a batiked appliqué with a background that is a combination of cotton, and a sheer "party dress" fabric. I enjoyed doing this piece because it let me see what was possible and not just what is. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Houston 07 Day 2 & 3 Summary

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!

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!

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!

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.

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