International Quilt Festival

I am wayyyy behind on all non-necessities, including blog posts! So please excuse the fact that Quilt Festival in Cincinnati was a couple months ago and that I am just now getting around to writing this post. I took a few fun pics that I wanted to share from the event so I didn't want to just let them go. Also, we could look at this as an advertisement for the up-coming mini-Quilt Festival in Chicago in June. There we go. Now, rather than being behind, I am looking forward to the next big quilting event! What a way to put a spin on it. :-)

Let me start off by saying that Cincinnati has great facilities for this event. From the upstairs walkway, you can see both sides of the convention center. On one side was the vendor area:

On the other side was the show quilt displays:

Here are a few of my favorite quilts from the show. There were several others that I loved but they were in a special area of the show where you are not allowed to take photographs. To see the whole thing, you need to go in person!

This quilt was absolutely stunning! I waited around for a long time to get an unobstructed photo but there was always a crowd around this quilt. I loved the Andy Warhol-esque appearance of this applique. A really fun one.

This photo doesn't do this quilt justice. My favorite part of this quilt was the use of the plaid in the applique. The design is fairly traditional but the color and fabric choices were refreshing to me. 

I always love polka dots1

Whimsical.

This quilt portrays designs of actual bridges. I am not sure if you can see in the picture the wording that was quilted in to it. There were names of cities and types of bridges quilted in to the design. I just thought it was a very cool quilt and was probably designed by a unique quilter.

I am realizing now that I should have taken notes along with my pictures so that I could give credit to the makers by name! I always love reading the bio info that accompanies each quilt. However, at the time, I was trying to not lose the interest of my quilt show companion (my husband - who took pity on me when I couldn't find a friend to go with on that day!) before I got through the whole show.

The vending side of the show is always fun. I love being able to find a new tool, pattern or other unique quilting item that I haven't seen at my local store. I left with a full bag of treasures and some fun projects to work on over the summer. 

Another great reason to go to a large quilt show is that vendors often have special show pricing on larger items. I have been researching sewing machines for some time now and knew what a good price was on the sewing machine that I have had my eye on. I was able to look at sewing machines from all of the major brands and talk with knowledgeable sales staff about the features of different brands/models. In the end, I stuck with the brand but not the model I thought I wanted. But, I got a new sewing machine! 

It was a great show! And my sweet husband was patient and even helped me carry my many purchases throughout the day. 

I plan to attend the International Quilt Festival mini in Chicago in June. See the Quilts, Inc website for tickets to the show on June 21-23 and more information.  Hope to see you there!