Finally - went to my first quilt show!

Being a newby to quilting I had not yet been to a quilt show and
unfortunately I have not heard of any near where I live recently. However,
last week we drove up to Champaign, Illinois to visit our son at the
University of Illinois. Thanks to information from several of you here
(Janice in central Illinois and Karen, Queen of Squishies) I learned about
the quilt show at Rockome Gardens just south of Champaign. As it worked out
we were driving back on the last day of the quilt show so we took a little
detour!

We were able to see many beautiful and creative quilts in addition to some
by our own Queen of Squishies and Muscmaker! I felt honored to get to see
your quilts ladies! I am now even more inspired than I was before and must
have at least 20 different quilts in my head that I want to make. Also
since it was the last day of the show all the items in the shop were 30% off
! What fun! I bought three patterns - a Santa wall hanging, a Santa runner
I will make for our buffet, and an adorable Cat wall hanging that came with
the fabric.

I learned that I have a lot to learn about taking photographs of quilts.
About half of the ones that I took at the quilt show came out bad and the
other half not great. : ( OK, I'm not great at taking pictures anyway but
I found that it was difficult to get good pictures when the quilts are
displayed close to one another plus many of the geometric designs did funny
things on film! Still, I did get some pictures that will help me to
remember many of the inspiring quilts at the show. I am using a digital
Pentax that handles most of the settings for you because I'm not the best at
photography. If anyone has any hints on getting good pictures at these
shows I'm happy to listen!

I now have more to do than I have time (of course) but hope to find a way to
fit things in. Before we went out of town I finished all the blocks for my
first quilt - a lap quilt/doll quilt for my DGD. I don't go back to work
until tomorrow so today I plan on sewing the blocks together. Once that is
finished and quilted I have plans for two I Spy quilts for my two
grandchildren that I "hope" to get done by Christmas. And then of course I
have the kits I bought at the quilt show as well! (and all those other plans
in my head)

We had a great time visiting with our son whom we had not seen since
Christmas. We spent time around the campus, did some shopping and sight
seeing and went to some great places to eat. We even visited a "chocolate
cafe" across the street from campus! Talk about heavenly!

I just wanted to share a little of our trip and thank those of you that
offered information and directions.

Bonnie


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