IQA - Australian Prize Winners

Tonight was the awards night for the A World of Beauty - the annual fall Judged Show of the International Quilt Association at the International Quilt Festival Houston.

There were several Australian Winners tonight which was fantastic.

We have to send out a BIG CONGRATULATIONS to Mariya Waters. Mariya was awarded First Place in the category of Miniature Quilts for her quilt Mini Magic (pictured below), I have seen this quilt and it is amazing. Mariya will be joining Berrima Patchwork  as a tutor at our Quilting in the Highlands Retreat in July 2013.

There were several other Australians who were awarded prizes including Linda Steele from Victoria who was awarded Third Place in the Embellished Category for her quilt Naturally Crazy. (pictured below, photo from the http://www.quilts.org/winners.html)

Elizabeth Camping from South Australia was awarded an Honorable Mention for her quilt Fantasy Seedpods in the Art-Abstract, Small Category. (pictured below, photo from the http://www.quilts.org/winners.html)

 Helen Godden from Canberra also was award an Honorable Mention for her quilt Rainbow Lorikeet in the Art-Painted Surface Category. (pictured below photo from http://www.quilts.org/winners.html)

Now the next winner is not an Australian however I do know Gilbert Muniz and was fortunate to take a workshop with him last year. Gilbert was awarded First Prize in the Wearable Art Category for his piece Composition. This is a beautiful outfit with some much detail on the jacket. Below are some photos that I have taken of this outfit and the write up. Congrats Gilbert!

All winners from A World of Beauty - the annual fall Judged Show of the International Quilt Association at the International Quilt Festival Houston can be view by clicking here or go to http://www.quilts.org/winners.html

International Quilt Festival 2011 - Part 1

Below is a selection of the photos that I took while at the Houston International Quilt Festival. Festival runs from Thursday until Sunday HOWEVER classes for Festival starts on the Monday and run till Sunday. On the Tuesday night there is the International Quilt Association Awards night and on the Wednesday night there is preview night for the show.

While at festival I attend many of the classes that are on offer. This year I was fortunate to take classes from Libby Lehman, Melinda Bula, Nancy Prince, Gail Garber, Gilbert Muniz, Cathy Miller, and Susan Brubaker Knapp.

The International Quilt Association is responsible for all the "quilt show" if you can call it that, it is SOOO MUCH MORE! The quilts on display are the best of the best, there is nearly $100000, worth of prizes awards. Think of a top quilter and chances are they either have had a quilt hung or have won a prize at this show. On the Tuesday night before the show opens they hold an awards night. During the evening, all the prizes are awarded. They have a large screen which shows you the winners and their quilts. The winners of each of the categories have their quilts unveiled at the show and they are on display around the room. It is very exciting as I know the quilter who have won a prize are notified but are not aware of which prize they have won. The top award winners, are also notificed and recieve return trip to Houston to recieve their prizes and to talk about their quilt during the show, once again they don't know which of the top prizes they have won until they are revealed at the show.

Below are some photos from the International Quilt Associations Award Night

 

 

Preview Night occurs on the Wednesday Evening before the show. This is a chance to shop before the show starts (and the crowds!) and to see the award winners before the show officially starts. If you have enrolled in classes or a member of the IQA you get early entry at 5pm otherwise a ticket can usually be purchased for entry at 7pm. At both these opening time there are lines to get into the show! I walked out just after 7pm and the line to get in was outside onto the sidewalk.

Here are some photos from inside the show.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is a picture of the George R Brown Convention Centre where the International Quilt Festival and Quilt Market Houston is held

 

International Quilt Festival Houston 2011

The International Quilt Festival is over for 2011. Had a great time, meeting up with everyone, taking some fantastic classes with great teachers, and getting to see all those amazing quilts on display. I was very lucky to meet up with 3 of the teachers that we will be hosting for the Quilting In The Highlands : Carol Doak, Melinda Bula and Sue Dennis. As an added bonus I even got to attend a class with Melinda (those of you who have booked into her class are going to LOVE it!)

I have been a bit slack over the past couple of days blogging so I decided to create a video slide show which has a taste of some of the classes that I took while I was at festival.

Most of the teachers that were teaching do have websites and many of them have books published if you are interested in more information about their work.

I'll be posting more when I get back to Australia (currently waiting in an airport for my plane)

Enjoy

Never Know What You Will Find in Houston!

You just never know what you will see when you are in Houston. I was walking through the foyer of the Downtown Hilton Hotel today and there was a display of Pumpkins by the staff of the hotel for Halloween. They all have a Disney Theme so I guess that was the guidelines. We don't really have a big Halloween events in Australia so I do love to see it when I'm over here in the US. It was rather scary however when I went down to breakfast in the hotel to be greeted by a server dressed up as the character from the Scream Movies! Enjoy the photos

 

 

International Quilt Market Photos

More photos from the International Quilt Market.
Happy Hallows is one of our regular suppliers of patterns. They create fantastic Christmas projects and we have several of their samples on display in the shop.
 

NEW PRODUCT

When I saw these samples I thought I must order them into the store. Sunfelt is a new company to the US and they create these fantastic kits for felt toys and food. They had the most amazing samples I have seen of the food, it looked so good you would have thought it was real. I have also ordered these cute little felt toys for the shop, they have a winder on the size which makes them move - how cool is that!

 

Rachel's of Greenfields is also another of our regular suppliers. They create kits for this mini quilts. The quilts contain everything you need to make up these mini quilts. There are a couple of new Christmas kits which I have ordered for the shop and some new samples of these fantastic kits.

We all love the printed quilting panels that Block Party Studios create. They have two new panels which will be in store soon: A panel for nurses and a New Christmas Panel. They have 3 different What Quilter's Think which make a fantastic present for any quilter. Check in store for all the different printed panels we have for them.

Superior Threads is one of our favourite thread companies, it was great to see Bob and Heather again. They have a new DVD on "Thread Therapy with Dr. Bob DVD Seminar" If you want to know more about thread in general, don't understand tension or sewing machine needs then this DVD is a MUST BUY! after attending their School of Threadology in July I can say that the knowledge that Bob provides is amazing. Below are some photos from the Superior Thread Stand and of Patterns By Annie.

  

Below are some photos of the different Fabric Company Stands

Quilt Market - Houtson International Quilt Show

Today was the first day for the 2010 Quilt Market here in Houston. This morning I took a class  - Silk Ribbon Embroidery by Machine with Susan Schrempf. Susan is the author of the book by the same name and the class was great. For those who know me well I avoid anything which needs to be sewn by hand so when I saw this class I thought I have to take it. It was a 2 hour class and very enjoyable  (and we were on a Bernina sewing machine!). Below is a sample of Susan's using this technique

After the class it was down to the show for a full day of fun.

The Quilt Market is a 3 day trade only show. Starting Saturday it goes through until Monday. Everything you can think of using in relation to sewing/quilting is available from notions to books to fabric to quilt hangers, jewellery with sewing themes, templates, threads, batting, ironing tables, sewing machines, machine storage units, die cutters, buttons, zippers, you name it is is here. On the first day of Market usually I go through the show, collect flyer's, see all the companies that we regularly place orders with to check out new products. That night I go back to the hotel and spread out of the flyer's and brochures and work my way through them, try and figure out if there is anything I want to place an order for or if I want to take a second look at a product. Then on the second day I have my list of places I must go and see - place orders, and once again I go through the show again, there is so much to see that you never take it in during the first walk through.

I also try to go to some of the book signings. I was lucky to attend and received a copy of Elly Sienkiewicz's new book - Beloved Baltimore  Album Quilts: 25 Blocks, 12 Quilts. The book features quilts from the 2010 Quilt's Inc. exhibit, Baltimore Album Review II: Baltimore's Daughters—Friends Stitch Past to Future. I have ordered the book for the shop - it will be in store soon.

This was a display for the Clothesline Fabric Club by Darlene Zimmerman for Robert Kaufman Fabrics

I am so hooked on zippers - they seem to be one of the next big thing at the show. Embellishments were also big. Below are some photos from the Ghee's stand. I have ordered some of their patterns, they will be in store soon. It is amazing how you can use the zippers as embellishments and for decoration not only on bags but also jackets.

Check out the zippers on the sleeves!

Lastly I was fortunately to finally meet up with Leesa Chandler. She was on the Superior Thread stand with a selection of her quilts. Leesa is the designer of Under the Australia Sun Fabric line for Robert Kaufman which has been very successful both in Australia and overseas. We have had several phone calls with Leesa but have never met (typical that you have to go overseas to finally meet up with other Aussies!) If you are interested in any of Leesa's patterns they are now in store and we still have the fabric collection in store, I know we have sold out of some of the bolts but will be getting them in soon.