Amazing Quilters - Inge Mardal & Steen Hougs

While at the Long Beach International Quilt Festival I was fortunate to see several quilts created by the couple: Inge Mardal & Steen Hougs. They are a French couple who are award winning quilters.
They had one quilt in the exhibition - The Sky's the Limit call "Capturing the Eye" that I went and stood in front of for a while just taking it in. They also had another quilt in the Town and Country Exhibition which took out first prize called "Threshers"
Their quilts are amazing and you have to check out their website www.mardal-hougs.com
Take a look through their quilt slide show and watch out for one of their quilts which is of two swans.

Long Beach International Quilt Festival Day 5

The final day..... my bags are packed I fly home tonight, but what fun I've had.

Today was my final class with Judith Baker Montano - embroidery of Trees and Shrubs. Some of you will know that I am not a hand quilter, I try to avoid it as much as possible. However when I saw this class I thought, I have to do it, without realising that it was a hand embroidery class (I thought it was on machine!). Anyway when I was packing for the trip and getting all my bits and pieces together I saw sewing needles and hand needles and realised what I had signed up for. So I was a bit hesitant when I walked into the class, but what fun it was and a great learning experience. Here are a few photos from the class. For those of you who like Judith's work she has a new book coming out later this year (I've ordered it for the shop) called "Fibreart Montage - combining photography, embroidery, quilting with embellishments" It should be in the shop in September.

Long Beach International Quilt Festival Day 4

Day 4 at the show, only 1 day left after today. My feet are hurting, so is my head, but I'm having lots of fun.

Today I took another class with John Flynn - Storm at Sea. I love the look of these quilts, and how the design can play with your eyes.

I took a photo of the class room today so you can see the layout. In a class there is approximately 10 - 25 people. Today's class has over sold and there was 30 of us. Everyone gets a sewing machine. The machines are provided by the different companies, during my time at the show I've used Bernina, Janome and Husqvarna (they call them Viking in the US). The only difficulty in to the rooms is that there are only 2 irons, which doesn't make it easy.

During my lunch break I headed down to the show to do some shopping - here are a few pictures of the show.

Long Beach International Quilt Festival Day 3

The first day of the festival/show being opened to the general public. Lots of people around the convention centre today.

Today I took a class with Marti Michell. Marti is a lovely lady and I have previously met her at Houston but this time I was fortunate to have the chance to take one of her classes - Log Cabins. Once again this is a quilt style that I have never attempted and thought it was time to make one of these quilts. The class was fun and Marti is a calm and relaxed teacher which makes the class very enjoyable.

Only 2 more days left at the show, time is flying by quickly!

Long Beach International Quilt Festival Day 2

Day 2 of classes, today I had one class in the afternoon with Nancy Brenan Daniel. She is an author of several book but today's class was based on a new book she having published at the end of the year. Here are some samples of the pieces I made in the class.

Just after the class finished there was a preview night of the show which runs from 5pm till 9pm. This is when it opens up to those who are members of the association, those who are attending classes and have pre-registered. It's a good time to see the show as there isn't that many people and especially have a look at the quilts that are on exhibition.



This was the line up of women waiting patiently
for the doors to open.

Long Beach International Quilt Festival Day 1

Today was the first day of classes at Long Beach Quilt Show. They start classes on the Wednesday however the show doesn't open until Friday. It's a bit quiet around the convention centre but I'm sure it will be busy once the show opens. Long Beach it about a 40 minute drive from the airport. The area is a bit like Darling Harbour here in Sydney, it has all been newly developed and they are still opening up areas.

Today's Day class was with John Flynn - Double Wedding Ring.

I've always been a bit afraid to sew curves. I tried once and got so frustrated when it didn't work that I put it down and never went back to it BUT when I saw this class was on I thought I should bite the bullet and try. It's always been a quilt that I have wanted to do and being a soft curve makes it easier to sew. The class was very enjoyable. John had an amazing collection of quilts to show us. Check out his website http://www.flynnquilt.com/






This evening's class (I've been here from 9am in the morning until 9pm today!) was with Jodi Barrows who is the designer of Square in a Square. The quilt we were making was Trinity River Bridge which features in one of her new books. The class was great as she showed us all the possibilities of using this ruler and also how quick the method is! (we will be stocking the rulers in the shop soon and running classes on how to use them!) Here is a picture of the quilt (hopefully mine should look like this when I'm finished)



More tomorrow x Tamsin