Monday, November 13, 2006

Houston Quilt Festival

There were many highlights to our trip but for the artist in me, there can be nothing to compare with the sensory overload of the International Quilt Festival in Houston.
This was my 4th visit and the 3rd where I have been a finalist in the IQA show. This is a rare photo of me (photos are my personal nemesis and after 5 weeks of indulging - or is that over-indulging - in American food- say no more!) in front of my quilt 'The Eyes Have It'
Just noticed that my clothes match the quilt. When I first found my quilt - not an easy task amongst hundreds or is it thousands of others - there was a lady taking a picture of it. That gave me a great thrill to think that someone actually wanted to remember it too!




















Of course I did take far too many photos of quilts too but can't post them without the owners permission so thought I would just give you a taste of the enormous size and space this show contains.


This is a shot from the first floor of the Convention Centre showing about 2 aisles of the vendor area,There are 20 aisles just like these. This was taken before the show opened one morning so imagine it full of eager quilters! There are about 800 classes held over the Festival - I took about 4 and went to some lectures as well so you can see my days were very full
















This is a view from one point in the Quilt Show area. It was late Sunday afternoon so the crowds had subsided but it should give you some idea of the size and layout. Again - this is only one tiny section - you could turn 360 degrees and still see quilts and exhibitions in every direction. Even on Sunday after 5 days of looking and exploring I kept finding new exhibitions. I think I saw them all but might have missed something - surely not!
















I elected to collect my quilt after the show rather than have it posted and went to get it only two hours after the doors closed to avoid the queue. This id the site that greeted me - so amazing to see how much had been done in such a short period of time.
Houston over for another year but the inspirations and friendships formed and consolidated only serve to reinforce a wonderful community.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Loved reading about your vacation!