International Quilt Festival

Last week I traveled to Cincinnati for the International Quilt Festival. 
I have been really spoiled,  because for the past years this festival has been in Chicago.  Even though I traveled by myself I never felt alone.  The people were extremely friendly and at dinner time I met new people.   We talked about the classes that we took that day or the classes that we were looking forward to taking over the next couple of days.  Walking down the street people greeted you because they knew you were a fellow quilter. 

I was also fortunate enough to attend the Play "Gee's Bend".  I highly recommend if you have an opportunity to see this production.

I took two classes:  Digital Collage for Mixed Media taught by Beth Wheeler and Illustrative Quilting taught by Pam Holland. 

In Beth's class we selected a background and a cutout photo that were supplied by Beth which she printed on fabric for each student. When then embellished our printout with paint and stencils.  We also learned how to print on twill tape.  We quilted and then bind.  I still need to bind my project.

Pam's class required us to trace a drawing on fabric.  We painted the drawing with pigment inks. I added words to my drawing.  We then quilted the drawing with smoke monofilament thread.  I had such a difficult time with the monofilament thread,  it kept winding about the thread spool and breaking.  I finally completed the outline quilting of the tree.  Still need to quilt the background of the quilt.  Pam also talked about the properties of  types of thread and needles.

I highly recommend taking classes when you attend the Quilt Festival.

I Have Really Lost My Mind This Time



The Miracle is not that I finished.  The Miracle is that I had the courage to start.

 I have really lost my mind this time.  I have signed up to run a 5K in June.  I have never run a long distance in my life.  I have tried playing recreational sports in my younger days.  Now I wait until now and decide to run a race.  I have secretly wanted to run in a race and finish.  My biggest fear is that I will not be able to complete the race but I am going to try. 

I have been on a weight loss journey now for the past two years.  I have been working out religiously now for 15 months.  Now I am working on being able to run the a 5K.  There is an application for the iphone call "Couch To 5K" I and using this in addition to my workouts to get me ready for this adventure. 

I have also created a quilt to keep me inspired.   I have completed the top and now I need to quilt and bind.  I will hang this quilt in my office at work so I will know that I need to stay strong when the temptation to eat something that I know will not help my dieting.

The Quote that I will stitch in the border:  "The Miracle is not that I finished.  The Miracle is that I had the courage to start"