International Quilt Festival – Chicago – June 20th- 23rd!
Hey everyone! I’ll be in lots of places at the Chicago Quilt Festival in Rosemont IL, so come on out and see me, will ya? I’m making samples and kits like crazy, including all new, never before seen fabric manipulations for the Heirloom Sewing demos I’ll be doing. 
Don’t forget that Schwerkraft, my Modern Log Cabin quilt, will be in the Naperville Modern Quilt Guild Exhibit at the show! Check out my crazy schedule and I hope you will stop by and see me.
Thursday (Preview Night)
7pm -9pm Open Studios: Cartooning For Quilters
Friday
10 am to 12 Noon – Open Studios: Heirloom Dimensional Sewing
2 pm to 4pm- Open Studios: Light Up Your Quilts!
7pm – Rosemont Hilton (Across the street from the Convention center) – Modern Meet Up!!
Saturday
12 Noon to 2 pm- Open Studios: Cartooning for Quilters
3 pm to 4pm – Create on the Spot! – Light Up Artist Trading Cards! ($10 Make n Take)
4 pm to 6pm – Open Studios: Heirloom Dimensional Sewing
Sunday
10:45 am to 11:45 am – Create on the Spot! – Light Up Artist Trading Cards! ($10 Make n Take)
12 Noon to 2 pm – Open Studios: Light Up Your Quilts!
Cincinnati International Quilt Festival
I feel like I’m late posting my update from the Cincinnati show, but the past few weeks have been just insane with how busy they have been. The comic book event I attended downtown in Chicago butted right up against the trip to the quilt show, but it was worth the harried and frazzled nerves for the fun that I had!
The view I left to get to Cincinnati before the Welcome party started! A 5 hour drive later, we were in Cincinnati!
First order of business, visit with my quilt, Road To Home, which is on the second to last stop on it’s tour.
Well before the Welcome party was underway, with a great band called After Midnight. We danced like crazy!! And someone said to me “Are you Muppin?” which always makes my day. (Thanks, Bob! It was great to meet you too!)
Catherine and I getting ready to get our party on. Judy Coates Perez was also hanging out with us! See pictures of us on her blog too!
After-party beers and chocolate caramel desserts in the hotel bar, where we got to see folks there for the National Tattoo Association Convention! They were fun, we got invited to a party, but I was way too tired… (ha ha)
Just some of the loot I got by spending just a couple hours on the show floor. What do you not see here? A table that I bought for my studio! Yes, a super fancy table is coming in 6 weeks!
I was so happy to see my friend Pokey in her new role with the International Quilt Festival as Chief Creative Officer! Congrats, Pokey!!
You have to see the modern quilts done by the Modern Quilt Guild of Cincinnati… So awesome! We could not stay for their party, but their display was so inspiring. Click on their member blogs on their sidebar and check out the exhibit pics.
After this photo, Catherine and I hoofed it back with our loot to the hotel and drove the 5 hours back to Chicagoland. It rained and it’s a long drive, but worth it! I met an awesome quilter on line for Starbucks who has a blog called 52 Quilts in 52 weeks! Sounds like me and my little weekly quilts, right? Check her blog out!
Sewing and Quilt Expo
Went this weekend to the Sewing & Quilt Expo in Shaumburg, IL, and was easily separated from my money at the show… I had a good time with my quilt friends Steff and Catherine.In this picture you can see my take from the show. Some of the things i was happy to find here, like the discharge paste, the ruffling foot, and the “magic fabric” that texturizes. It’s that kind of weird stuff that I look for at a show like this; stuff you can’t get in the average quilt shop. I also was taken in by a booth with some antique textiles, and got the lace and beaded motif in the lower left. It was a fun trip!
Not much quilty has gone on lately as I have been cleaning my sewing studio and getting ready for the next project. I have a design, it’s been blown up to the size I need, and now I just need to work on it. Some long weekends are in order to really get it done.
Where in the world is Cheryl?
Every where it seems!
Thanks for all my quilt friends for the shout outs! To see some silly pictures of me click the linkies…
Party like a Rock Star!
I had an amazing weekend at the IQA Chicago quilt festival. Lots of cool things happened, and I enjoyed every minute of it. I spent each day at the show until it ended, so I had little time to “live blog” the show like last year, but here are the highlights! (Pictures from the hallways leaving the show, because I hate posts without pictures.)
Thursday: I spent the day in a full day class with Maggie Wiess on Thermofax screen printing. It was great fun, and I think Thermofax screening is right up my alley. While I love my Gocco, the supplies are getting more and more expensive, and hard to find. Thermofax printing is similar enough, and there are enough services out there to provide me screens without buying the machine that I can make use of it. I can’t wait to finish my project from class. After class, the show floor opened, and I walked the floor, spent money, and took a Make It University class on Little Windows resin. When Pokey Bolton called my name, she said “Oh I know her!” and even gave me a little hug. Wow!
Friday: Bright and early I got to the show and took the Embellishment Know How seminar, which was about 8-9 demos on embellishing your work. Afterwards, I had lunch with Steff and Catherine, and did some shopping with Steff. I made it through the whole vendor area, and had some time for some of the quilts. The Art Quilt reception was Friday evening, and Steff and I attended. I made a tiara last year that I didn’t wear because I could not stay, but entered the “tiara parade” this time. Now, style counts, so I entered as the “queen of mean” and my skull pendant on my tiara even has a crown on it. Instead of a Miss America wave, I threw up the “heavy metal” horns and rocked down the aisle. Well, I guess this paid off, I was a runner up! Best of all, my co-runner up was none other than Melanie Testa, and we chatted for a bit and really hit it off. We also got a chance to speak with Karey Bresenhan, Bonnie McCaffrey, Laura Krasinski, Maggie Weiss, and many others! Melanie, Bonnie, Steff, Catherine and I went to dinner. Bonnie even taped us doing our “Shopping Show and Tell” for one of her video podcasts!
Saturday: Wow, how could you top yesterday? By hanging out with Melanie Testa for a portion of the day, that’s how! I took her MIU class first thing, and we shopped a couple of booths and looked at some of the quilts afterwards. My friend Amanda and her friend were visiting the show from Baltimore, so I went to lunch with them, and then got to hang out with Melanie a bit more. It was really good to get her perspective on art quilting, and her story on how things in the art quilting wold are going. It gave me a lot to think about. At that point, it was time for Surviving the Runway. It’s was an 80’s Prom theme, and I made my Prom Queen tiara in ridiculous over to top fashion. I am sure You Tube Videos will surface. It was silly, and lots of fun. I didn’t win, but had a great time with everyone. Bonnie McCaffery even gave me some sideline help. So fun!
Sunday: I got to sleep in a little bit (one extra hour). Arriving at the show at the opening, I did the last of my shopping, and got a call from Steff, who was there shopping with our friend Pika. We all took the “good girl Doll” class from Debbie Crane at MIU, did some more shopping, and took one last gander at the quilts. I spent literally my last dollar saved for the show, a grand total of almost $700 spent on the show overall. It was an amazing time. I felt like I really was part of the “it crowd”, and was a bit of the MIU groupie, but had a fantastic time, and can’t wait to see the shak out of the many things I discussed with everyone.
I’ll post my “Show and tell” things I bought on the next post!!