On Saturday (National Quilting Day!), I went to the Voices in Cloth Show, which is put on every 2 years by one of my guilds, the East Bay Heritage Quilters. Friend Julie of High Fiber Content, Mom of Mary’s Art Musings and TFQ of No Scrap too Small made up my carpool.
It was a great show! I would say that the overarching theme that I saw was color: GLORIOUS color and not just in the Kaffe Fassett way. The colors of the show were colors that I use and I realized that it must be the light in our area. The bright colors can stand up to the bright light we get.
The location was new and I was reluctant to go, but I couldn’t back out after promising to drive 3 other people I would drive them. I am glad I went. I wasn’t able to take the train, which was a big downside, but aside from the quilts being gorgeous, the space was wonderful! There were huge windows and lots of natural light that made for a pleasant viewing experience and showed off the quilts to their best advantage.
We had a respite from the rain, which poured down in buckets yesterday. I was glad, because although I could have taken our heavier car, I didn’t really want to. I don’t drive it much so am not as comfortable driving it in heavy traffic. I am glad I had the option.
The clouds were still dark and looking like they would let loose anytime. The clouds made for beautiful views out the windows. I could see at least two bridges and some of the islands.
One of the first things I did was drop the Food Quilt off to my quilter. She had a booth at the show and I was so glad to see her. She is down until at least April 18, so I have time to bring two more quilts over. I have FOTY 2011 and the Stepping Stones in the queue. Also, perhaps, with any luck, I can finish The Renewed Jelly Roll Race and bring that one to her, too. That is a lot of quilting in a month!
I am not sure if this quilt by Carolyn Brien is my favorite of the whole show, but it does epitomize the color and vibrancy of the show.
This is a great, classic pattern. Carolyn said that she was inspired by the cover of Kaffe Fassett’s book, Quilt Romance.
The food situation was a little dicey. For me, I always bring something, because I never know if there will be food I can eat. In this case there was a restaurant next door to the venue. They supplied the box lunches, but we went into the restaurant to sit down for awhile. It was over an hour from the time we walked in the door until the time we had food set in front of us. Some of my companions were about to start gnawing on their own limbs by the time the food arrived. I wasn’t really very hungry and there was very little on the menu I could eat, so I wasn’t terribly enthusiastic about the meal anyway. The restaurant near the venue is a great idea, but they just did not have enough tables and waitstaff to accommodate the crush of quiltmakers. I think next time they should arrange for the gourmet food trucks to come. That would be awesome!
One thing I was asked to do was a beading/embellishment demo.I am not sure why they pegged me for beading (perhaps someone saw Kissy Fish?), but it was fun. It lasted about half an hour. I showed them what I do, which is VERY basic, answered questions and then was done. I am embarrassed to say that I did very little preparation. I got out the Garden quilt and decided to use that as an example. I meant to quilt it, but just didn’t take the time, so I went ahead with the demo without the quilting. I did tell them to machine quilt it before beading is usually the best route. It was fun and I was glad to have recently completed Kissy Fish, so the process was fresh in my mind.
I also did a bit of fabric damage and bought some beads. I actually have some ideas for some of the pieces. I seem to be falling into the grey fad. I bought a large piece of a background grey on spec (lower left corner). TFQ bought some as well. She will test the pattern I am writing with it and some Bali Pops Tonga treats.
All in all it was a good day. I am glad I went.