Quilt Festival!

The International Quilt Festival in Houston has come and gone.  There were four great things that transpired:

 

1) I had the pleasure of attending for two days, and I took classes from two fiber artists that I greatly admire: Hollis Chatelain (www.hollisart.com) and Frieda Anderson (www.friestyle.com) .  Overall, I was able to get some good ideas on how to approach my quilting in terms of design, and I got some more practice with free motion quilting motifs. 

 

2) I had the opportunity to do some shopping, and I actually only (mostly) bought the things on my list.  I was not wooed by all those tempting deals that always seem to be coming at you from every turn. This very well could have been because I had no spare time to wander.  Hmmmm, we'll never know!

 

3) I was so inspired by all of the spectacular artworks, both traditional and contemporary, and

 

4) I myself had my own fiber art exhibited there.  It was such an honor!  I cannot wait until next year when I plan to enter numerous works in several categories.  I am getting started now.  (But more about that later!)

 

 

 

Here I am in front of my "Jumping The Broom" quilt.

It was juried into the Traditions exhibit.  It was very interesting to see what traditions were interpreted in fiber.

 

This quilt is based on my favorite wedding photo of my husband and I jumping the broom.  Jumping the broom is an old tradition in African-American culture which dates back to slavery.  During this time, slaves were not permitted to legally marry.  It became a tradition to "jump the broom", to symbolize sweeping the past behind you and starting afresh together.  This display showed a couples love and commitment to one another. 

I also had another piece in the "What's for Dinner" exhibit.  My "dinner" was Pizza and Green Salad.  Back when my husband and I had the time and moolah to go out to eat regularly, we would eat pizza every week at our favorite pizza joint.  While we were waiting on the pizza to be served, we would always get a salad first so that we wouldn't feel like we were eating too badly. 

"Pepperoni, Please!"

The exhibit was set up really nicely!  Each entry had to be a placemat of the same size, 15"L X "24"W, and they had an extra long, decorated table set up with each of the entries placed along the perimeter. 

 

I especially loved the entries with the crawfish boil, the sushi, and the placemat with the spilled milk, mac and cheese and French fries with the title "I Do It!, I'm Two!" because my two year old daughter says that all the time!