Chicago Quilt Festival Recap!
I had a fabulous time at the International Quilt Festival in Rosemont (outside of Chicago). I had one heck of a packed schedule, and I got to meet so many new people and see lots of my good friends.
First off, I had great fun at the Open Studios. This is where you get to stop by and see what quilt artists are up to and what they are making. It started last year in Houston, and I loved it, so I was totally game for it again this year. I showed off three different techniques: Cartooning for Quilters, Heirloom Sewing, and of course, Light Up Your Quilts! I was asked so many times “Do you teach?” The answer is YES, YES, YES!
I also got an opportunity to teach Light Up Artist Trading Cards at Create on the Spot! This is similar to the old “Make It University” (which is coming back to Houston this year– YAY!).
The students in my light up class had a great time, and I had lots of kids in my class! Everyone’s project lit up! I thought the class was a great value and I hope everyone liked their project.
There have been a few places I’ve popped up since, like over on Pokey’s Blog, and on Generation Q’s blog, which is also nice.
It’s always great to have a quilt in the show, and my quilt “Schwerkraft (Gravity)” was part of the Naperville Modern Quilt Guild’s Log Cabin Modern Quilt Showcase. It was great fun to see it hanging.
There was also a great Modern Meet Up that Catherine and I co-hosted with the Chicago Modern Quilt Guild, and we got to see our friends and have a few drinks to wind down the day.
Again I demoed the Conductive Thread and lights from Superior Threads, who were super great to work with! They have the best threads. In all, it was a great weekend. I can’t wait until Houston! I already have my flight and hotel!
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!
What I bought at International Quilt Festival/Chicago!
Everyone likes Show and Tell, right? Well here goes!
Stencil templates courtesy of Embellishment Village.
Gone With The Wind fabric! Oh, how my mother will love this!
A treasure trove of DVDs from Quilting Arts, some sewable metal for embellishments, a vintage scarf pin, rust dyed thread from Lois Jarvis, a huge pack of scissors I won at Surviving the Runway at Make It University, and a Virgin of Guadalupe fabric square.
Kelli Perkins was using this great fabric paint from Karen Pharr, and I had to go get some to try them out! I also got my hands on batick wax and a tjanting tool so I can try batiking my own fabrics this summer.
A favorite booth of mine is Maeda Imports, who has the greatest Japanese import fabrics. I loved this winter and children cotton furoshiki, as well as these hair clip kanzashi. The plushie owl will be part of next year’s Hina Matsuri display.
I would be remiss if I didn’t stop by Cherrywood fabrics and stock up on their luscious dyed fabrics, and I noticed I was missing blues in my Cherrywood collection, so I stopped by on a mission. I also found a great booth selling Jaquard’s ExtravOrganza, which will be a technique later this year. Wendy Richardson is a fabulous dyer and quilt artist, and she had this piece from Alexander Henry’s Home Sewing Is Easy comics strip panels. Lastly, the ladies at MistyFuse had a “goddess” pressing sheet to use witht he bolt of MstyFuse I got from them last year!
Technique of the Week #16 – Graffiti Fabric
Before you cry out “But, Cheryl! This is supposed to be week #15!” I looked back at my posts and realized there are two number 8’S! So, instead of correcting all of those posts (which frankly sounds exhausting) I’m kicking off this week with the correct number. Thanks for your understanding.
Project hours: 4 hours
Design and materials: 1 hours
Execution: 3 hours
I learned this FUN technique at the International Quilt Festival at the Quilting Arts/Interweave Booth. If you have never been, they have a classroom on the show floor called “Make it University”. The teacher of this class was Belinda Spiwak, also known as “CrazyArtGirl” and is a fellow moderator on the Quilting Arts website with me. Belinda is a fabulous altered art artist, and has been featured in many books, magazines, and even on TV!
This technique starts off with Tulip Brand fabric spray paints (in eco friendly and non smelly pump bottles). The best part is accumulating the stencils in which to “tag” your fabric.
The process takes no time at all, lay your stencils down and spray away. The “overspray” of the edges are your stencil just add to the graffiti effect. Belinda was great to show us to layer the lighter colors on first and and then the dark and/or black colors. It was quick! I did 3 large pieces of fabric in under an hour. She used a canvas type cloth, but how fun would this be to over dye existing “ugly” commercial fabrics or even a t-shirt!
Home from the quilt show
And boy are my feet tired! I promise a bunch of goodie posts this week, including the “What the heck did I buy at the show” show and tell and “what the heck did I make at the show” show and tell, and even a technique of the week that was learned right there at the IQA festival, and it’s something you might really love like I do.
But for right now, I am super tired from both this and the comic book event right before it, so I am off to dreamland and will get the first of my posts up for you to read tomorrow. Later!