5.16.2010

Anxious. But excited.

Whew. I'm tired just thinking of the week to come.

There are so many ideas swirling in my head for the Pillow Talk Swap and I'm keeping myself busy pulling out fabrics and sketching up ideas and then nixing them. But, I think that I'm getting closer to settling on the perfect pillow plan for my partner. Which is good . . . but I'm betting that if I don't begin working on it this week I'll most certainly change my plan again after visiting our first Quilt Market this upcoming weekend in Minneapolis. So, do I begin working it out and try getting to a point where I can't change my plan once I return or do I hold off and let the wheels spin on my drive to and fro the Twin Cities? Ah, the dilemma. Fortunately, I think I'm pretty sold on using this Echino Hanging Birds print (that I so, so love!) in some way so hopefully that will keep my focus fairly narrowed. I hope.




We're busy preparing, too, for our trip this week. As I said, it's our first Quilt Market. This year was also our first Quilt Festival and I could not believe how many people were there and how crazy-busy it was! I can only imagine that the Market will be just as insane. We keep hearing and reading more and more about what the Market traditionally entails and I go through waves of excitement, anxiety, and then more excitement. It's a really cool thing—I'm so excited to be attending and am hoping that this will really get our wheels going on the shop.

Thinking about Quilt Market has me recalling all the photos I took at Quilt Festival in Chicago in March and I want to share some of those photos with you. I've been to the Stitches knitting festival at Rosemont several times and for some reason I just don't recall that or the scrapbooking festivals being quite as crazy as the Quilt Festival. I was really amazed by the sheer volume of exhibitors/stores/vendors as well as the number of people that seemed to be in each booth. It was so crowded and crazy! I loved it!

There were so many great things to share with you . . .

There was a flurry of giggling and smiling while scooping up some old Amy Butler at one of the booths. I also especially enjoyed my brush with greatness—seeing Kaffe Fassett and Liza Prior Lucy at the Material Girl booth on Saturday night. But, truly, the highlight was probably seeing so many historical and antique quilts—both in the vendor booths as well as in the display/show area of the event. Below are some of the quick shots I took . . .

Be inspired. I certainly am.

These first five were all being sold by antique quilt vendors. Some serious vintage love, here.

The rest were all quilts in the gallery/show/exhibit at the Quilt Festival. I was astounded by the age and amount of work in some of these quilts. I just have to share a few these with you . . . 


























ALL PHOTOS TAKEN AT INTERNATIONAL QUILT FESTIVAL MARCH 2010 CHICAGO, IL

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