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!

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Cincinnati- Day 4, thoughts, and Show N Tell

Sunday morning, Catherine and I packed up and took one more spin around the show floor before getting into the car and driving back to Chicagoland.  The show floor was quiet today.
So, what did I think of IQF Cincinnati?  Well, first of all I had an overall good time, so don’t let any of the following comments make you think that wasn’t the case.   My main issue is that without Make It University at the show, there is almost literally NOTHING to do on your vendor shopping day.  For those of us who go to these shows over multiple days, MIU is a staple of the show.  Without it there, and all of the art vendors surrounding it, was a letdown for me personally.  If you want it back, you must be sure to tell IQF that you would like to see it next year!  
So, show and tell?  Here’s everything I bought, and holy cow, it was a doozy.

Beautiful hand dyed linens from Wendy Richardson.

I love antique linens, so this pair of trimmed pillowcases needed to go home with me.

Pebeo Setacolor fabric paint in shimmery opaque colors!  YUM

These cool bits and bobs came from Random Arts!  They were sooo nice and fun to talk to!

Fabric from Fat Quarter Queen.  You can never have enough yellow.

Fun stamps and fabric dyed bits from Judy Gula of Artistic Artifacts.  She was so nice!  And I got a new foot for my Janome!

You can never have enough thread.  YUM  From Superior (my favorite) and Aurifil.

My cat Lillith decided I was not taking enough pictures of her with these shots and decided to sidle up to my stack of Cherrywood Fabrics.  I have been using so much of these in my work lately I decided to fill in some colors I was missing.
So that’s it for my trip to Cincy!  Hope you enjoyed!  

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Cincinnati- Day 3

Boy did we wake up tired on Day 3 after all of that dancing.  For me, my head was still swimming!  

I decided to take a class today since I had really gone through the show floor on Thursday and Friday.  I signed up for a class by the “Zipper Queen” Jamie Fingal, whose heavy metal works really speak to me, and the amazing Leslie Tucker Jenison, whose mixed media work and art quilts inspire me so much. 

Our class was called “Musical Chairs: A Painted Canvas Adventure”.  The idea is that you rotate around a canvas and continue to add to it, and then cut the canvas up into sections to use.  You get a little bit of each person’s work! Here’s our class and one of two canvasses.  Yes, that’s Pokey Bolton in the class too!!

Here’s some more shots of the canvasses.

One of the nice things about the afternoon was the ability to sit and talk with Jamie and Leslie while we cut up the canvas pieces we got.  It was a real treat.

After our class, Catherine and I met back up to go to our Saturday Sampler class and had a good time learning from 16 teachers about various topics. 

Finally  it was dinner time, and we wound down pretty quickly.  We had to pack, and I had these leftover paper towels from the class that were just too cool to throw away, but they were wet, so I ironed them.

Catherine thought this was funny and I’m borrowing the picture from her blog!

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Cincinnati- Day 2

Today was a good day.  No.  Today was a GREAT day!
My taping for my segment on Quilting Arts TV was today!  I was thrilled to be asked and I was so happy this day was finally here.  I got there early and watched part of the set up.
Pokey and I did our thing in one take!!!  I have ZERO recollection of anything I said so if I made a mistake, I’m sorry!!
I spent a good amount of time on the show floor afterwards and I got to shop and see all of the quilts.  I didn’t have time tonight to take a picture of my show and tell purchases but I will tomorrow!
I needed a break and sat for a while and saw a wonderful lecture by Nysha Nelson on Inspiration and Nerve, which I really enjoyed.
I reconnected with my friend Catherine after her Noriko Endo class and we headed back to the hotel for a much needed break.   After all, the party was about to begin!!
We danced, drank, and generally had a great time.  I feel like my friends were missing (Judy, Melly, Sally, Lindsey and Helen!) but we made the best of it and had a nice time.

I’m exhaustedand need to sign up for a class tomorrow bright and early so it’s off to bed with me, and more tomorrow!!

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Cincinnati- Day 1

Catherine and I were up early and made fantastic time to Cincinnati for IQF!  
After we dropped off our bags and parked the car, we headed to Fountain Square for some food and took pictures of the weird fountain that is the centerpiece of the Cincinnati Downtown area.
It really is a weird fountain!
We registered for some classes and off to Preview night we went!
Well, we did a good job getting separated from our money.  Check out Catherine’s wool stash and other bits she picked up on Preview night.
I came with a few lists of specifics to pick up, like Cherrywood Fabrics and Superior Threads.  And the other amazing bits I picked up too, so much fun.  
We did a cursory view of the quilts and off to the bar we went for our nightcap. Many people stopped Catherine to ask about her fabulous felted handbag, which I will show tomorrow.  It’s so beautiful!
More tomorrow from the taping and much more!!
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