Quilt Week in Grand Rapids

This past week was AQS Quilt Week in Grand Rapids, Michigan. 

It's the 5th year the show has been here; and the 5th year I have attended. 

I stayed at the Marriot Hotel with my friend, Sally, who I have known since 9th grade. We keep in touch during the year via texts and card and letters, and try to visit each other every few years. This year we got together for the quilt show! I was surprised that the special rate for those attending the show was so reasonable. This worked well for both of us since we could walk from the DeVos Conference Center thru the skywalks and get to the hotel to rest or drop off class supplies! This freed our hands to take photos of the quilts and shop.

I cut back on the number of classes I took this year. It was the first big outing since my foot surgery and I didn't want to over-do. My foot did well with the walking and the classes. The 3 classes I took were: 

Designing Outside the Lines: Unlock Your Unique Creative Potential with Barbara Olson

Barbara had an hour-long lecture and talked about how she began designing her quilts and some of the methods she uses. I enjoyed learning about another quilter's background. You can see her gallery HERE.

Rock the Block, Album Style with Joe Cunningham

You can see Joe Cunningham's workshop quilt HERE. This was a full-day class and we were busy. 

While we worked, Joe played his guitar and sang some few songs. He was a very good teacher. The concept of the class is to use 4 different fabrics, sew strips, cut, sew again, cut and arrange to our liking.

This is how my blocks were arranged at the workshop. I need to rearrange, make a few more blocks and take photos of arrangements to see what pleases me. I plan on making a table topper with the blocks. 

They Aren't Weeds! Intro to Thread Sketching with Trisha Stuart

This class was awesome! Trisha presented the technique in such a way that everyone in the class was able to thread sketch a great piece. I never thought this could be so easy! 
This is what I had sketched in the 3-hour class.

The mauve and yellow flowers are wool.

After this Saturday class ended, I went to the vendor area to purchase some Fabrico Markers that Trisha recommended for adding coloring to our sketches. TSC Designs was the vendor. I watched a demonstration of how to marble with shaving cream. Joyce explained a few techniques that could be used with our thread sketchings using inks. When I got home I used the green marker to try coloring the leaves. 

HERE is the link to Trisha's website.

I'll have another post, soon, showing some of quilts from a special display from Taiwan.

REMEMBER THE ROW ALONG 

Starting September 4, 2018

See all the details at Seams To Be Sew.