I went down to the Quilt Festival in Long Beach on Saturday.
I had a great time, but I have to say... we modern quilters are just not in the least represented there. At least not in what's for sale... 450 booths and I spotted ONE YARD of Heather Ross. IN THE WHOLE PLACE! And it was HUGE.
Forgive the lousy photo but you're looking at a convention center full of fabric - with only one yard of Heather Ross mixed in.
What do you all think? Do they not know we exist? Do we not go to these events enough for it to be financially worth it to vendors who do sell our style of stuff? This is an interesting topic for me seeing as clearly we are the next generation of quilters. Why aren't they trying to appeal to us more? I'd love to hear your thoughts!
But I shouldn't complain because I still scored with the loot and had a blast digging through all the bins and bins and bins of fabric! I got a lot that I've never seen before. There are pros to being exposed to the enormous quilting world you don't know (read: the non-internet based one!). And there were deals to be had... prices varied a lot, but overall, after searching through the place forever, I found some beautiful stuff.
Fat quarters:
Yup! A bit of Flea Market Fancy!
The half yard and up bits:
The red Mingle was the only colorway I didn't have and wanted. And while you would think the fabric crazed ladies would be fighting me for it at $7.00 a yard... nope! That was one of the good things about no one else in the place having my taste!
And I mean lil' cowboys?!? How could I not...
Aside from the frenzied fabric shopping, there were some really beautiful quilts on display. Mostly very traditional, but also some that weren't at all. I apologize for these horrid photos but I just had my little not so great camera... I linked to the artist's site if I could find one.
Castle Wall by Trudy Kleinstein. My close ups of this came out fuzzy (found one here) but every tiny little "stone" you see is appliqued on there!! Amazing!
Leaves of Grass by Betty Amador - One of the handful of improv. pieced quilts.
Hospital Rising by Ginny Eckley
Red Owls by Karen Peirce
Overall I had a great time, but it sure did make me feel like they don't know that all of us modern quilters are out here... Here's hopin' that changes soon!