Long Beach International Quilt Show!

Friday I took the day off to go visit the Long Beach International Quilt Show. There were so many wonderful quilts to see and even more vendors! I got to see some of my Santa Barbara fiber art pals there, Barbara, Maren and Penny, and had a fun time at the Quilting Arts booth and workshop center where the talented and friendly Ruth Rae and Traci Bautista, fun fellow Artfiberfest teachers were hanging out. Ruth was demonstrating fiber ATC's on her Singer featherweight and we traded a few...the first two below are from Ruth. After her Demo we had lunch together and then went to look at the Quilts...so many...and fun to see with another artist and to hear their viewpoint and ideas.."more burning!" said Ruth.
Quilting Arts had a wall set up for trading ATC's...Penny and I brought ATC's to trade and I came home with some new ones..and that is always fun.
After looking at the quilts and a little more shopping we went back to Quilting Arts and I got to meet Patricia Bolton, the charming editor in chief of Cloth, Paper, Scissors and Quilting Arts magazines. She encouraged me to send more stuff in...and I hope to. I bought the Studio issue and some of those dyed silk cocoons called "Oliver Twists"that I've been curious about playing with. They had a great selection of books, and after some browsing....I found more that I want to add to my ever growing collection. I also got to meet Beryl Taylor who was doing a great Demo on fabric paper. Fun talking to her and seeing her lovely silk books and fabric collages in person. I remember seeing the silk book she made in Quilting Arts years ago and being so amazed...one of the most beautiful things I'd ever seen. She is sweet and down to earth and I am so glad that I got to meet her and even get in a mini-class. Another fun spot was the ArtGirlz booth. Traci and Allison Stillwell were busy demonstrating and selling their cool charms and felt beads, dressed in funky fiber attire. I have been to quilt shows before but never on this scale. I think the thing that surprised me the most was the huge number of vendors. ...way more than quilts! I'm so glad that I got to see the quilts from all over the world, meet up with friends, new and old, buy a few things for fresh inspiration, and just take a whole day off for myself!

fun new ATC's from the Quilting arts booth....
Here's just a partial shot of the ATC wall of trades....
And the following are some of the wonderful quilts at the show.......these are just a few that caught my eye.....Enjoy!!!!
By Heidi Stegehuis-Ihle
By Elaine Plogman
By Bodil Gardner
By Cecile Trentini
Janet Twinn
Pine Eisfelter 1939
Dianne S. Hire
Diane S. Hire
Laura Wasilowski
Kathy York
Detail..Kathy York
Deborah Kimball
Diane Rusin Doran
See the lizard...? By Margaret Heinisch
Grasshopper on lower left side.... by Margarete Heinisch