The final day of the International Quilt Festival in Houston is today! My sister, Gretchen, and I had a blast! While there were only about 400 vendors, due to COVID, we still managed to fill up on interesting fabrics, patterns, pre-cuts, demonstrations, and even a couple of gadgets. We noticed the usual crowd of ladies testing sewing machines and longarms.
My sister and I made wonderful memories! Among them were the Day of the Dead Skulls sprinkled around town. Also, sharing downtown Houston during Game 2 of the World Series Astros vs. Braves. We won that one! Our favorite was dinner with my awesome brother, Pete, and nephew, Peter, at Shake Shack. Gotta love their fries!
The display of winning quilts and interesting quilt exhibits like the Tula Pink Challenge made us linger and ponder our craft. If I had been in serious “reporter mode,” I would have taken notes to share details of who made what quilt.
The Princess Diana tribute small quilts was a Cherrywood Challenge and quilters stepped up! I’m guessing maybe a hundred entries and all were lovely.
I adored the small rectangular “eyeball” exhibit message. It was called “Eye Contact: Creating a Connection” encouraging us to “Lift up your head, gaze into someone’s eyes, and make a connection.” Hopefully, with COVID in our rear-view mirror, more of that will happen. I’ll do my part, if you do yours!
My favorite quilt exhibit was the “Dear Jane” quilts. Named after Jane A. Stickle, who in 1863 created a most impressive sampler quilt, with 169 miniature blocks with an impressive pieced border. This particular exhibit is from a group of over 50 who, in 2014, decided to all make “Dear Jane” quilts. It took four years, but 52 completed their quilts, all in different colorways. I didn’t count the ones on display…maybe 10 or 15… but beyond impressive. Most of the quilts had the “signature” scalloped edges, although not all. I photographed my favorites.
My sister, Gretchen, makes mostly Hawaiian quilts so, of course, I snapped one of her standing in front of one. She is in the middle of making one as we speak. It is going to be amazing!
You might notice the dinosaur quilt with the battle shield. That one is for grandsons Jacob and Ben. Just for fun, I texted them a couple of quilts while at festival. Ben thought the dinosaur was silly holding a shield.
I can’t wait till next year!
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