Chicago Quilt Festival 2009

As promised I'm back with a few pictures and commentary on the recent quilt show in Chicago. The first day crowd was tremendous, a half hour drive there took two hours. The last two miles alone took almost an hour to cover. Seemed everyone was going to the show. I was so busy looking at the quilt exhibit that I forgot to take pictures of my own but did purchase a CD of the quilts that were up for judging.

One of my favorites was "The Summer Before Christmas" by Maria Bayarena. Did you ever wonder what the characters, in the 12 days of Christmas, did during the summer? This quilt shows us. The detail is outstanding, the picture doesn't do it justice. Everything is hand appliqued right down to the tiny 1/2 long shoes!


A $2,500 winner was "Houston I Think We Have A Quilter" by Martha DeLeonardis.


Another winner was "Threshers" by Ingi Mardal & Steen Hougs, this one won $2,500 too.


Like I said there were a lot of people, most carrying cameras to record as much of the detail work as they could. Always a nice way to get ideas for the quilts we want to try ourselves. From what I know, all the quilts in the contest area were original designs and copyrighted, this is why no picture taking. BUT there were always the people who can't read signs or didn't care. I myself took one of a remarkable quilt with the Virgin of Guadalupe as well as other religious figures from many different religions. I was stopped, reminded "no pictures," and deleted from my camera. Wish I still had that pic, the quilt was covered in all sorts of embellishments - pearls, laces, beads, charms, anything and everything. Unfortunately this one wasn't on the CD.

Spent a good two hours looking over the quilts, then on to the best part of the show . . .the dealers booths!!! Must have been over 100 of them. Like dying and going to quilter's heaven. Everything you ever wanted to find, for quilting and sewing, was there! Pins, needles, threads, fabric, patterns, machines, sewing and embroidery and the best of the best, as far as I'm concerned, the Long Arm Quilters!! Those all-wonderful machines that make it possible to get your work quilted in a matter of hours instead of weeks! I fell in love with the new one in the Tin Lizzie line - show price 10,000 - after the show 14,000. Priced way out of my range but I did get to play with and test it. WOW! Where can I find 14,000?

Lunch was to be found but quite pricey. A hotdog, chips and coke came close to 8.00. There was other food, more like dinner, salads, pasta, beef sandwiches, etc for around 13.00 plus. Next time we take out lunch, a lot of people did although there are, again, signs, telling you this wasn't allowed.

Like I said, last time I met some friends. Chris Booth and her friend Mel from Winnebago west of Chicago on Friday. The quilt behind Chris and Mell is made up of hundreds of tiny octagon pieces stitched together! A version of a Grandmother's Garden pattern.


Then Saturday I met Linda Meyer from Washington and Barb Linares from Florida. These gals are from the online group I belong to—Quilters Who Care. This was the first time I met them, up to now all our talking was on our group's message board.

Here's a picture of the three of us.

That's me on the left, in purple, Barb in the middle then Linda.

Although I was quite conservative in my spending on Friday I more than made up for it on Saturday. But after all, this show only comes once a year and where else can I find anything and everything in one place? :)

That's it for now, I'll post more pictures later.

Box Mom