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.