More of Chicago

I’m baaaack!

Wow our first ever GBD quick 2-day jaunt to the Chicago International Quilt festival turned into an extra two days of time away from home for me. But the ice at the Buffalo airport finally dissipated and I’m trying to get caught up on my pay-the-bills job and my auctioneering side hustle (big event scheduled for this Saturday).

Some of the highlights from the trip for me:

It was so much fun to be in the presence of others who share our passion! Everyone was so friendly and open about their best tips and their quilting life.

Machine quilting classes – Cindy and I took two classes from two different instructors. Our first class was on Thursday afternoon with Cindy Walters. The class room was set up with Baby Lock machines.

They were so easy to use and, well, who doesn’t love a brand-new sewing machine that someone else has schlepped to the location and thoughtfully threaded? Instructor Cindy helped us create a quilt sandwich, then we drew on a 9 square grid. Next she walked us through 9 different quilting motifs and we just quilted, quilted, quilted for two hours. It was exhilarating to look back at each grid square and realize that we were, in fact, quilting. Of course, our patches weren’t perfect, but at the end of the class, I really felt like I would be able to tackle a small project.

On Friday, we used the same Baby Lock machines for a fearless machine quilting class taught by Charlotte Angotti. She is irreverent and engaging and we got to practice with some spectacular thread from Superior Threads. We talked a lot about machine quilting threads in both of the classes. We’ll share more in a later post.

Oh, and of course I bought some fabric on the show floor.

I also bought some thread, including some pre-wound bobbins to experiment with (I’m never happy with my bobbin winding skills).

I snagged some freebees too, including a cloth bag.

I also found an adult beverage (or two).

We ate a slice of carrot cake the size of a basketball.

We admired some truly amazing quilts. I was hesitant to take lots of pictures of  the show because I thought we weren’t supposed to, but then I realized that everyone else was, so I took a few. Here is one of my modern favorites. It’s called Eichler Homes

 

 

Now its time to sew, sew, sew (as soon as Saturday’s big auction event is over).

Oh – did I mention it’s snowing again???