IQF–Final day!!

Saturday was my “classroom day” although I did find a few minutes for some shopping and quilt perusing.

I started out the morning with the “Saturday Sampler” where I got to spend 2 hours in a room with 28 quilt artists and walk from table to table to hear what they were saying and see their demonstrations.

Since I had seen so many quilts to painted tops, I was particularly interested in those techniques.   There were two artists who were talking about Inktense Pencils.  The best hint of the day was to hold the pencil at the far end when coloring so that you get filled in color and not hard lines that will stay as lines when they are activated…..

The question most asked was about how to “activate” the pencils and there were several different views.   If you are using the pencils on paper, then plain water will do, but on fabric, water will cause the colors to seep and spread.  The real debate was whether to use a fabric medium (such as Golden GAC) or a simple Aloe gel (the kind that is used to treat burns).   From what I heard, the fabric medium will set the colors, but will change the “hand” of the fabric….ie it will be thicker and less pliable.   The Aloe Gel apparently works the same but it soaks into the fabric rather than sitting on top of the fabric.

I spent time with Melinda Bula, listening to her talk about different types of fusible products…. Since I haven’t been pleased with most of the fusibles that I have tried, I found her talk very interesting.   If nothing else, she reminded me that I need to do some research before my next big landscape/portrait quilt.

Next, I visited with Susan Edmonson and enjoyed watching some of her hand embellishment techniques…..

Can you tell from the state of her “booth” that she is highly creative!!!

I had the most fun watching the hand applique work of Karen Buckley…..

She had great ideas about how to prepare the applique pieces which, to me, is the worst part of the applique process.   Her templates are made from “Templar plastic” and result in a sharp folded edge.   She also suggested brushing the edges with  “Magic Sizing” to help the fold hold in place.   I succumbed to her shop and bought a set or two of templates.   So, I guess that means that I need to get some hand applique organized!!

In the afternoon I spent 3 hours with Jenny Lyon, working on machine quilting filler patterns.   With each design, we started out by drawing the design for about 5 minutes…..

….and then we moved to the machine to give it a try……

As you can see, we were working on wonderful Pfaff machines that had a larger throat area. 

Next was a long feather design.   I found that I could sew the right side well, but moving to the left was much more difficult…..

The last design was a box filler…….I have always had trouble with this one but her instruction made it much easier to do.

Jenny’s quilts are all wonderful but I especially enjoyed the border in this Bunny quilt.    It is just a black piece of fabric with LOTS of quilting with white thread…..

I also like the idea behind this quilt…..

……make a top that highlights a single block of printed fabric and then use that design to inspire the rest of the quilting!!

During my lunch break, I made one more, very quick, run thru the show, taking a few photos of some quilts that I had missed.’

This piece by Cecilia Koppmann used fabrics that were given to her by her students……

These quilts were all reproductions or inspired by an 1876 quilt……

My favorite version of the quilt was this one in blue and yellow…….

We talked to Barbara Gonce who made THREE versions of the quilt.   Here she is pictured with two of them……

The night ended with Nachos and University of Georgia football…..

As we flew home, I could only think about all of the inspirations that I came away with.   I spent the entire time on the floor sending myself emails to remind me of things that I might want to try.   My suitcase was filled with a number of goodies, including a pattern for an upcoming baby quilt, a wool pressing board, a Tsuniko Ink starter set and many other fun things that I cant wait to try!!!

The last task of the trip was to fill out the hotel request for NEXT year’s show!!!

CAN’T WAIT!!!!!