Chicago Quilt Festival 2008

These are some photos from Quilt Festival. Despite the poor economy in the US, there were lots of shoppers from many countries. We had trouble squeezing through some of the aisles on Friday.

Chicago Quilt Festival - bird's eye view

Beautiful booths and lots of shoppers

Quilting Arts Booth

My Leaf Magic Little Quilts in the Embellishment Village booth

The next Quilt Festival will be held in Long Beach, California this July. Many people that I spoke to are planning on going. It sounds like an amazing event.

The following photos are of the Friday Sampler. We paid a fee that gave us a booklet of one page instructions from each teacher, and we visited each of their technique demonstrations over a 2 hour period. These were my favorites:

Kathy Kansier

Mary Sorensen

Karen Kay Buckley

Karen Kay Buckley again - isn't that a gorgeous quilt?

Leaf Magic Little Quilts

The Leaf Magic Little Quilts are my latest pattern which use real leaves. I discovered how to preserve leaves for use in my art journals a number of years ago. The leaves are not indestructible, however they remain pliable enough ( even after years) to attach to stable surfaces. Just lately I've begun to use them in my quilted work. This is a photo of my first prototypes. This pattern will be ready for sale this spring at the Embellishment Village booth at Quilt Festival in Chicago as well as International Quilt Market in Portland, Oregon.

I am using Blank Textiles Rock Candy, Guilded Greenery, Bali Rain, Floret and Lava fabrics. I am also using the gorgeous Glitter, Metallics and Rainbows threads from Superior Threads . Embellishment Village is creating little kits of leaf beads to sell with this pattern. I'll post more about it when I get the final pattern published!