PIQF report

A report on the "other" quilt show this month :-)

On Thursday I took Expressive Free Motion Quilting with Robbie Eklow.
Her work is way different from anything I usually do. But it was fun to
stretch a little and play with ways of filling in a background without
stippling per se. We did have some problems with the Janome machines in
the room -- about 1/4 of the class, me included, had some sort of
grumble-inducing issue. Mine was the automatic thread cutter that also
un-threaded the needle at the same time, every time -- and the
"automatic" needle threader didn't work on my machine either. The woman
next to me had her machine removed and replaced because it jammed so
much. Other than that, the class was good. And Robbie is so relaxed and
laid back -- any "problem" with a quilting motif becomes an "opportunity".

On Saturday, my friend and I took Didi McElroy Hanere's hand quilting
class. She has very definite opinions, but backs them up with research
and good reasons. I don't agree with *everything* she said, but my
stitching definitely improved. I was a consistent 6 per inch quilter
before and am a consistent 12 per inch quilter since! Lots of hands on
time and a considerable amount of personal time with Didi. Especially
considering the size of the class (27.) I was impressed that she was
able to give each of us personal time. My friend had never hand quilted
before and was doing 9 per inch by the end of the day. OK, not perfectly
even or straight, but still Wow!

Lots of vendors, lots of $$ spend by me and GF. Mostly I bought gadgets
rather than fabric.

The only thing I didn't like about the show over all was the emphasis
(getting all to common these days IMNSHO) on art quilts vs. traditional,
and wall hangings -- some really dinky and small vs bigger quilts. Also
more of the wearable art this year, seemed like. But then, I really
prefer the bigger, traditional quilts. An art quilter would have felt
right at home :-)
--
Anne in CA
annerudolph AT comcast DOT net
"It's not having what you want; it's wanting what you've got." -- Sheryl
Crow
http://community.webshots.com/user/annerudolph3

Wait! Wait! Don't go yet! What KIND of gadgets? Something new & fun that
we don't know about? And why no fabric? Nothing there to suit your
fancy??

Hugz
Patti in Seattle

"forgiveness is the fragrance the violet sheds on the heel that has
crushed it"
**mark twain**

In article ,
Anne in CA wrote:

A report on the "other" quilt show this month :-)

On Thursday I took Expressive Free Motion Quilting with Robbie Eklow.
Her work is way different from anything I usually do. But it was fun to
stretch a little and play with ways of filling in a background without
stippling per se. We did have some problems with the Janome machines in
the room -- about 1/4 of the class, me included, had some sort of
grumble-inducing issue. Mine was the automatic thread cutter that also
un-threaded the needle at the same time, every time -- and the
"automatic" needle threader didn't work on my machine either. The woman
next to me had her machine removed and replaced because it jammed so
much. Other than that, the class was good. And Robbie is so relaxed and
laid back -- any "problem" with a quilting motif becomes an "opportunity".

On Saturday, my friend and I took Didi McElroy Hanere's hand quilting
class. She has very definite opinions, but backs them up with research
and good reasons. I don't agree with *everything* she said, but my
stitching definitely improved. I was a consistent 6 per inch quilter
before and am a consistent 12 per inch quilter since! Lots of hands on
time and a considerable amount of personal time with Didi. Especially
considering the size of the class (27.) I was impressed that she was
able to give each of us personal time. My friend had never hand quilted
before and was doing 9 per inch by the end of the day. OK, not perfectly
even or straight, but still Wow!

Lots of vendors, lots of $$ spend by me and GF. Mostly I bought gadgets
rather than fabric.

The only thing I didn't like about the show over all was the emphasis
(getting all to common these days IMNSHO) on art quilts vs. traditional,
and wall hangings -- some really dinky and small vs bigger quilts. Also
more of the wearable art this year, seemed like. But then, I really
prefer the bigger, traditional quilts. An art quilter would have felt
right at home :-)

I was there on Thursday. I took no classes so I just had fun.

First I wandered through with a friend I ran in to. We picked up
another friend along the way for a while. I also saw lots of ladies
from classes, shops and guild, so it was rather social.

I shopped first and bought lots of fabric and many stencils (a weakness,
I confess) and some of the new MasterPiece thread by Superior to try
out. Oh, and a spool of King Tut thread to quilt with - wonder who
recommended that? :-)

Around noon was lunch break time and I met up with my mom, her sister
who had flown up from San Diego and Kathy Applebaum. They had been in
classes all morning, so I got to hear about those who were being
productive unlike the slothful shopping me.

After lunch it was back to the show floor and I looked at quilts. There
was a wonderful quilt as I walked in the side door of Fire. It had
sparkly crystals over in and was machine quilted by Miz Applebaum of the
fabric tramps. Very cool to see a name you know. I really liked the
japanese exhibit and saw a very cool quilt made from triangles which had
been divided into curvy thirds which formed a little triangle in the
center. I will have to do a little drawing and give this a try. Lots
of whole cloths this year.

I think there is a lot of innovative / art quilting going on right now.
There are so many neat techniques being developed that it is fun for
quilters to try it out and then, well, those are the quilts they have to
enter. I'm waiting for the traditional quilt entries to become a very
small number and then enter - ups my odds of a ribbon :-) Actually, the
hand quilting winner by Zena Thorpe was very cool and that machine
quilting winner with the carousel horse was quite wonderful too.

Saturday my sister called and was trying to find a pattern I had seen to
get for our other sister. My husband brought me the phone in the shower
and there I was, nekked, water raining down on me saying "ok, you go to
the third aisle towards the back and the booth has a quilt with nine
patches......" I don't even know if she found the pattern. Guess I
should call since I'm not in the shower.

marcella

More like too much fabric. First I thought I'd look for something to set
a Hug quilt with; then I thought I'd look for black and whites for
Terbear's black and white swap; then maybe something for DGS1 and/or
DGS2 who both "need" big boy bed quilts; then something for DGS3 who
"needs" a play mat quilt ... not enough focus, too much fabric, I got
overwhelmed and ended not buying any :-( But I did splurge on a $45
Roxanne thimble, some marking pencils I had wanted to try, a few
stencils I couldn't resist. Nothing new and state of the art, I am afraid.

Anne in CA
annerudolph AT comcast DOT net
"It's not having what you want; it's wanting what you've got." -- Sheryl
Crow
http://community.webshots.com/user/annerudolph3



Patti S wrote:
Wait! Wait! Don't go yet! What KIND of gadgets? Something new & fun that
we don't know about? And why no fabric? Nothing there to suit your
fancy??

Hugz
Patti in Seattle

"forgiveness is the fragrance the violet sheds on the heel that has
crushed it"
**mark twain**

My server never downloaded the original, so I'll piggyback onto Marcella's
reply...

Anne in CA wrote:
The only thing I didn't like about the show over all was the emphasis
(getting all to common these days IMNSHO) on art quilts vs. traditional,
and wall hangings -- some really dinky and small vs bigger quilts. Also
more of the wearable art this year, seemed like. But then, I really
prefer the bigger, traditional quilts. An art quilter would have felt
right at home :-)

Interesting to hear another perspective on this. I'm well into the
transition away from the traditional world, and am so glad to have a show
where art quilts are not only tolerated but celebrated. (Yes, I did feel
right at home! LOL) Our guild show is the reverse, and I'm never completely
comfortable showing my art quilts there.

--
Kathy A. (Woodland, CA)
Queen of Fabric Tramps
http://www.kayneyquilting.com ,
remove the obvious to reply

Guess I'm really behind the times. Everytime Alex Anderson calls
something a quilt that doesn't go on a bed I cringe. I mutter under by
breath, "Its not a quilt, its a quilted wall hanging (or quilted jacket,
or quilted whatever), but not a quilt."

I know, I know, the second definition of a quilt in my dictionary says
it is something that is quilted or resembles a quilt, but, as gorgeous
and stunning as these artworks are (and they are amazingly beautiful),
they just don't look like quilts to me.

Kathy Applebaum wrote:
My server never downloaded the original, so I'll piggyback onto Marcella's
reply...


Anne in CA wrote:

The only thing I didn't like about the show over all was the emphasis
(getting all to common these days IMNSHO) on art quilts vs. traditional,
and wall hangings -- some really dinky and small vs bigger quilts. Also
more of the wearable art this year, seemed like. But then, I really
prefer the bigger, traditional quilts. An art quilter would have felt
right at home :-)


Interesting to hear another perspective on this. I'm well into the
transition away from the traditional world, and am so glad to have a show
where art quilts are not only tolerated but celebrated. (Yes, I did feel
right at home! LOL) Our guild show is the reverse, and I'm never completely
comfortable showing my art quilts there.

Gotta have something for everyone, for sure. BTW, I really liked the
quilting on that flame-y piece :-) There are some art quilts I like to
look at, even if I don't like to make them.

I just ran out of "traditional" eye candy before my appetite was sated.

Anne in CA
annerudolph AT comcast DOT net
"It's not having what you want; it's wanting what you've got." -- Sheryl
Crow
http://community.webshots.com/user/annerudolph3



Kathy Applebaum wrote:
My server never downloaded the original, so I'll piggyback onto Marcella's
reply...


Anne in CA wrote:

The only thing I didn't like about the show over all was the emphasis
(getting all to common these days IMNSHO) on art quilts vs. traditional,
and wall hangings -- some really dinky and small vs bigger quilts. Also
more of the wearable art this year, seemed like. But then, I really
prefer the bigger, traditional quilts. An art quilter would have felt
right at home :-)


Interesting to hear another perspective on this. I'm well into the
transition away from the traditional world, and am so glad to have a show
where art quilts are not only tolerated but celebrated. (Yes, I did feel
right at home! LOL) Our guild show is the reverse, and I'm never completely
comfortable showing my art quilts there.

OK, Phyllis, let's you and I remain back here, stuck in the mud ;-)

My girlfriend who went to the show with me on Saturday is SOOOOOO into
"wearable art" that we finally split up and agreed to meet at the food
court at X o'clock! There is a place for the art stuff, but it will have
to be at someone else's house.

I have a Round Robin quilt top that I haven't finished yet because I
feel it needs to be bigger. My daughter said, "Just hang it on the wall.
Over there behind the couch is nice ..." Can't do it. Gotta put another
border on it so its big enough to snuggle under at least.


Anne in CA
annerudolph AT comcast DOT net
"It's not having what you want; it's wanting what you've got." -- Sheryl
Crow
http://community.webshots.com/user/annerudolph3



Phyllis Nilsson wrote:
Guess I'm really behind the times. Everytime Alex Anderson calls
something a quilt that doesn't go on a bed I cringe. I mutter under by
breath, "Its not a quilt, its a quilted wall hanging (or quilted jacket,
or quilted whatever), but not a quilt."

I know, I know, the second definition of a quilt in my dictionary says
it is something that is quilted or resembles a quilt, but, as gorgeous
and stunning as these artworks are (and they are amazingly beautiful),
they just don't look like quilts to me.

Kathy Applebaum wrote:

My server never downloaded the original, so I'll piggyback onto
Marcella's reply...


Anne in CA wrote:

The only thing I didn't like about the show over all was the emphasis
(getting all to common these days IMNSHO) on art quilts vs.
traditional,
and wall hangings -- some really dinky and small vs bigger quilts. Also
more of the wearable art this year, seemed like. But then, I really
prefer the bigger, traditional quilts. An art quilter would have felt
right at home :-)



Interesting to hear another perspective on this. I'm well into the
transition away from the traditional world, and am so glad to have a
show where art quilts are not only tolerated but celebrated. (Yes, I
did feel right at home! LOL) Our guild show is the reverse, and I'm
never completely comfortable showing my art quilts there.

Anne: So glad you enjoyed Didi's class. I enjoyed it back in
February, and learned quite a bit about HQ. Now I should to put
it to practice. PAT

Anne in CA wrote:

A report on the "other" quilt show this month :-)

On Thursday I took Expressive Free Motion Quilting with Robbie Eklow.
Her work is way different from anything I usually do. But it was fun to
stretch a little and play with ways of filling in a background without
stippling per se. We did have some problems with the Janome machines in
the room -- about 1/4 of the class, me included, had some sort of
grumble-inducing issue. Mine was the automatic thread cutter that also
un-threaded the needle at the same time, every time -- and the
"automatic" needle threader didn't work on my machine either. The woman
next to me had her machine removed and replaced because it jammed so
much. Other than that, the class was good. And Robbie is so relaxed and
laid back -- any "problem" with a quilting motif becomes an "opportunity".

On Saturday, my friend and I took Didi McElroy Hanere's hand quilting
class. She has very definite opinions, but backs them up with research
and good reasons. I don't agree with *everything* she said, but my
stitching definitely improved. I was a consistent 6 per inch quilter
before and am a consistent 12 per inch quilter since! Lots of hands on
time and a considerable amount of personal time with Didi. Especially
considering the size of the class (27.) I was impressed that she was
able to give each of us personal time. My friend had never hand quilted
before and was doing 9 per inch by the end of the day. OK, not perfectly
even or straight, but still Wow!

Lots of vendors, lots of $$ spend by me and GF. Mostly I bought gadgets
rather than fabric.

The only thing I didn't like about the show over all was the emphasis
(getting all to common these days IMNSHO) on art quilts vs. traditional,
and wall hangings -- some really dinky and small vs bigger quilts. Also
more of the wearable art this year, seemed like. But then, I really
prefer the bigger, traditional quilts. An art quilter would have felt
right at home :-)

My only problem is that I've never had luck using a hoop and the one I
currently have is a square PVC one that is a pain. She showed us the
Grace Hoop2 - that is "squared" not "doubled" - that she uses, and I
may get one of those. My quilt from Terbear's Purple & Green block swap
is waiting to be quilted so I am "practicing" in the setting squares of
that one. Using exact matching thread color, the mistakes won't show too
badly. And it will be a quilt for watching TV under, not entered into
any shows ;-)

I did enjoy her approach and her class. Nice lady.

Anne in CA
annerudolph AT comcast DOT net
"It's not having what you want; it's wanting what you've got." -- Sheryl
Crow
http://community.webshots.com/user/annerudolph3



Pat in Virginia wrote:
Anne: So glad you enjoyed Didi's class. I enjoyed it back in February,
and learned quite a bit about HQ. Now I should to put it to practice. PAT

Anne in CA wrote:

A report on the "other" quilt show this month :-)

On Thursday I took Expressive Free Motion Quilting with Robbie Eklow.
Her work is way different from anything I usually do. But it was fun
to stretch a little and play with ways of filling in a background
without stippling per se. We did have some problems with the Janome
machines in the room -- about 1/4 of the class, me included, had some
sort of grumble-inducing issue. Mine was the automatic thread cutter
that also un-threaded the needle at the same time, every time -- and
the "automatic" needle threader didn't work on my machine either. The
woman next to me had her machine removed and replaced because it
jammed so much. Other than that, the class was good. And Robbie is so
relaxed and laid back -- any "problem" with a quilting motif becomes
an "opportunity".

On Saturday, my friend and I took Didi McElroy Hanere's hand quilting
class. She has very definite opinions, but backs them up with research
and good reasons. I don't agree with *everything* she said, but my
stitching definitely improved. I was a consistent 6 per inch quilter
before and am a consistent 12 per inch quilter since! Lots of hands on
time and a considerable amount of personal time with Didi. Especially
considering the size of the class (27.) I was impressed that she was
able to give each of us personal time. My friend had never hand
quilted before and was doing 9 per inch by the end of the day. OK, not
perfectly even or straight, but still Wow!

Lots of vendors, lots of $$ spend by me and GF. Mostly I bought
gadgets rather than fabric.

The only thing I didn't like about the show over all was the emphasis
(getting all to common these days IMNSHO) on art quilts vs.
traditional, and wall hangings -- some really dinky and small vs
bigger quilts. Also more of the wearable art this year, seemed like.
But then, I really prefer the bigger, traditional quilts. An art
quilter would have felt right at home :-)