Tidewater Quilt Show

The Tidewater Quilters Guild had a really good show last weekend in Chesapeake, Virginia. I had an enjoyable few hours looking at all of the quilts and vendors booths. So good a time that I didn't take as many pictures as usual and missed taking pictures that I wanted to get.

I thought I had a photo that captured the entire quilt. I was wrong, but if you missed the quilting detail, check it out below.

This is a gorgeously detailed applique quilt with closely packed quilting. Wow!

I wish I had done a better job with pictures. The people captured my attention. I really enjoyed talking with so many friends and others I hadn't met before.

Thank you ladies. It was a really good show. Well balanced and well presented.

Eating and Talking over the Worlds Cup

I enjoyed a very pleasant dinner Monday night with my friend Cathy, and her friend Lisa at an incredibly NOISY Mexican restaurant. We could hear the instructor talking and see the students working at their easels for a painting class going on in the adjoining large room. The big screen TV showed the US win over Ghana in the World Cup, followed by a baseball game. The US debuted in the World Cup and won their very first game! The frequent cheers had us repeating what we said so we could be heard.

Lisa designs quilts, takes commissions for quilts, gives talks, and judges quilts. You can see her designs and other things that occupy her time on her blog and her website. She is in Hampton Roads to judge the Tidewater Quilters Guild show coming up this weekend, Friday through Sunday, June 20th through 22nd.

She showed us her designs for the Row by Row Experience, a unique shop hop going on in several states.

I showed her the applique mermaid block I completed recently. Here's the picture again, in case you missed the post on it.

We talked about Lisa's dog Shelby, her experience with facebook's restructure of how people see, and now don't see, the small business pages they are interested in, print shops and anything else that popped into our heads. I really enjoyed meeting Lisa. The three of us had a good time.

After Quilt Market Show

The Spring Quilt Market was in Portland, Oregon this year. Last Sunday Northcott hosted an After Quilt Market Show in Richmond, Virginia. Six of my reps were in attendance, along with two regional sales managers. Reps are representatives from quilt fabric manufacturers that show new fabric lines, and older lines that are staples to the buyers at the shops in their territory. A group of reps joining forces to have a show is a fairly new thing, and it is the first time it has been done in this area. 

Click on pictures for a larger image

The main focus is to give the small quilt shop owners and buyers an opportunity to see lines from manufacturers whose reps don’t call upon them. It is a wonderful opportunity for them to see what is available and expand their inventory. 

KIm from Hoffman in the background

One of my reps, Larry, told me twice that his wife would be there. I have heard about Julie for twelve years. I decided to take this opportunity to meet her.  We talked for about fifteen to twenty minutes.

Sarah, from Sarah’s Thimble and I went up together. We normally see each other no more than once a year at the Tidewater Quilters Guild Vendor’s Day, so this gave us a chance to get to know each other better. We hit it off and enjoyed our time on the road together.

Shirley from Northcott and Sarah from Sarah's Thimble

The new items that stood out for me were minkie in chevron, both printed and embossed, and Jenny Beyer branching out into batiks with a group of blenders!!! That was quite a surprise!!

I had lunch with two small shop owners and their husbands. One of them has shopped with us. One purchased her shop last year and has taken it from one hundred bolts to four hundred. I think the other one said her shop is a house of 1,400 square feet including the kitchen. Neither of them knew all of the reps. I found it interesting that one owner didn’t intend to introduce herself and look over the lines from the ones she didn’t know. I tried to encourage her to do so, but she didn’t change her mind. A rep who lives further north, might come down as far as Virginia, and one who lives in the south, might come up as far as Virginia. Therefore a buyer from Maryland probably wouldn’t have a rep that lives in South Carolina. There were shop owners there from as far away as Maryland and Georgia. I knew all of the reps and one of the regional sales managers. I had heard about the other sales manager and met him while I was there.

I loved seeing all of my reps in one room. I had a great time.

Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival 2013 Wrap

We have quilters that make a point of stopping by the Fabric Hut to shop in route to the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival each year, quilters that take time during the festival to shop, and many that come by afterwards either heading home or because they worked the festival and couldn't come during it. Not all of the quilters notice that we have a nice coupon in the Festival program each year.

This past couple of weeks work has kicked my tush. Consequently I am posting my wrap-up of the festival later than I had intended.

But I can't let it slip away. I would like to share with you a few of the quilts that grabbed my attention at the festival. Left click on pictures for a larger view.

There were three portraits in a row all handled differently, which I felt captured raw emotion.

The Asian quilt isn't quite in focus. Sometimes I wish I still carried my big old Olympus camera. I wanted you to see the entire quilt before looking at the detail that follows it.

There are rhinestones on the bodies and wings of the cranes!

Artistic interpretation and embellishment were key to many quilts. Notice the beadwork on this hanging which was made in linked pieces.

There is a maximum upload for each post, so I won't be putting the full quilt up for this one. Embellished candy skulls!

Look closely at the white background for an excellent example of quilting.

I want to wrap with the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival 2013 Best of Show. There are rhinestones scattered over the background and accenting details such as the harness.

I heard several complaints about the scarcity of traditional quilts, and the lack of hand quilting. It was present, there were extremely good pieced quilts on display with hand piecing and hand quilting. However they were certainly in the minority. The sweeping trend is toward art quilts, excellent machine quilting and embellishment.

I love embellishment. My applique, bead work  couching, embroidery is usually on clothing or accessories and not quilts. I enjoy looking at it on quilted projects, and felt that there were wonderful examples of every technique I could think of at the show.

I don't know names to go with the quilts. If you do, please include the name along with anything else you would like to say about them in a comment.

Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival

Chris and I went back to the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival on Sunday. We had a great time looking at the quilts, the quilted clothing and dolls, the vendors booths, and talking with friends. I'll post more on it later.

Just now I wanted to say that I met a lovely lady there, Jan Shore. While we were in her booth, I paused to compliment her on how attractive it was. She was selling cute little buttons displayed on very attractive cards that were obviously handmade by someone, not mass produced by a manufacturer.

She thanked me and said that her husband was an artist, Jim Shore. I immediately recognized his name and was pleased to be able to tell her that I have purchased his fabric for the shop. I didn't think at the time to tell her I have one of his panels at home.

Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival

I will be at the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival at the convention center in Hampton, Virginia part of the day on Friday, February 22nd and all day Sunday, February 24th. I plan on wearing a bright blue tunic length hooded sweater one day and a bright fuchsia the other day. If you see me, please say "Hi!"