Quilt Festival Cincinnati

Last week was the first Quilt Festival in Cincinnati and I was so happy that it moved from Chicago since it is only a 2 hour drive for me!  It's committed to be here for 3 years and I hope it grows so large that they decide to stay longer.

I managed to get down for the last day and it was a very good show with lots to buy and lots of quilts to see.  The hotels are connected by skywalk downtown and so is the parking garage.  The Duke Energy center is a great space for classes and meetings and the show floor. Perfect location with restaurants within walking distance and the beautiful river running nearby with many bridges and paddlewheel boats floating by.

I got to catch up with many friends. First I ran into Vikki Pignatelli (Quilting by Improvisation) who has a new color line of threads for Wonderfil.  Then I had coffee with Barbara Olson (Journey of an Art Quilter) who taught a few classes there.  She's from Montana so I only get to see her at shows and we talked about her exciting new work and classes.

Then I had to get to shopping!  The most exciting booth for me was Shibori Girl http://www.shiborigirlstudios.com silk ribbons and scarves by Glennis Dolce.  Here is the necklace I made from her ribbon with a glass bead that I've had for ages.

Here is one of her freeform necklaces that I'd like to tackle next. She will be in Houston at Festival this Fall and I plan to buy one of her interesting shibori scarves and more ribbon of course!   Maybe I can even take her class!

My main purpose in going down there was to pick up my author, Noriko Endo (Confetti Naturescapes) and bring her back to Columbus with me to teach for my guild.  Here is Noriko with her friend Phyllis from NY and Linda Pumphrey, National sales manager from Accuquilt.

 
 

Linda took us all to dinner across the river where we had a great view of the city, boats going by and a terrific seafood meal!  Noriko will introduce some beautiful new dies for the Go! cutting systems this Fall....more on that later.

Below is a sampling of quilts that caught my eye, three are by the same artist, Sherri Driver who uses these ikat fabrics very effectively. 

This quilt won First and Viewer’s choice awards at the show. It’s made by Hiroko Miyama who is a student of Noriko Endo’s in Japan. You can see the confetti style background that she did.  She has monthly lessons at Noriko’s studio…lucky girl. It seems she learned well from the Master!