International Quilt Festival roundup

I know, I know... I've been meaning to post the pictures I took at the Quilt Festival earlier, but a series of random events have prevented me. (long story...) Soooooooo... I finally have the time today and I'm going to share with you what I saw.

This is one of the first quilts that caught my eye (and was able to take a picture of). I thought it was just "quaint" until I read the description and realized what it was made of.

It's made of selvages! This is as close as I could get to it.  It's just too cute... 

And this was a quilt right next to it. It's so pretty reminding me of Monet paintings that I used to stand in front of for hours at museums. 

From a far, this quilt doesn't really stand out *that* much from many other entries in the show. 

HOWEVER!!!! when you take a closer look, the quilt just pops at you.  It's so 3D  with the flower petals and the buttons! I love it. :)

And then something shiny caught my eye. 

I saw this quilt from across the room.  At first, I was attracted to it because I thought the green lines on the flower are made of stitches and quilting lines.  However, on a closer look, the lines are just a print.  This is that kind of quilt that the longer you look at it, the more interesting it becomes...

... for example, the ric racks used for edging. and the different fabrics used, and the quilting used to define each part of the quilt. 

I was on my way out of the exhibition part of the Festival, and I just *had* to stop and take a closer look at this quilt. It was one of the award winners, and I can clearly see why.  The fabric choices are pretty simple, but the quilting and the bead work is just *amazing*! 

Just look at the details! 

I would have taken like a million more pictures, but alas, my camera chose the wrong time to run out of batteries.  I was soooo excited to go, I completely forgot to check the battery level before I tossed my camera in my bag and ran out of the door.  I didn't get a chance to take pictures of the all the other awesome quilts at the vendor booths and all the cool quilting toys I saw. boo :( 

Anyways, moving on to my thoughts of the vendor floor.  There were so many amazing vendors with awesome things to sell; anything from the typical fabric, threads, and appliques to huge and industrial quilting machines, and foot massagers (odd, I know).  I wasn't in the market for any large tools so I mainly looked at all the fabric shops. I felt like a kid in a candy store.  I looked everywhere and touched everything. I was in heaven.  After taking stock of what was available, I took out my plastic and started shopping. 

So here is a fat quarter stack of Civil War Chronicles from Schoolhouse Quilt Shoppe  

A close up of the fat quarters

Here is a fat eighths pack of lavender Civil War.  I've been looking for some purple/lavender fabric for some time, and this pack is just awesomely pretty 

Here is a stack of random fat quarters

and a closer look at them :)

 So here it is folks, my first trip to the International Quilt Festival and I'm sure I'll be back next year. I will have a plan next year so I can better plan my time, and not just wonder aimlessly and touching everything. One thing I was disappointed about is the fact that I didn't see that many Japanese imported fabric.  I've been wanting to add some Kokka fabric to my stash, but I didn't see any vendors that was selling it :( ah well...