Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Quilt Festival

I'm back after a week away and like I always say, "There's no place like home."

I had a wonderful time with Becky and Kathy and all the quilts and vendors at Quilt Festival, but we all decided that it was just too much and that we are just as happy with smaller, regional shows like Pacific International Quilt Festival and Road to California. The show had over 500 vendors and supposedly 1000 quilts, but many were small journal quilts the size of a piece of typing paper with artist statements the same length and quite honestly, had meaning only to the maker.

We took a class, "Scrap Quilts from Antique Quilts" with Pepper Cory and had a good time with that. We are pictured with her in front of the antique quilt (above left-right) Becky, Kathy, Pepper, and MsJan. Pepper was a charming lady and her sample quilt was gorgeous. I got a few rows done and it will be a great project to keep by the machine for those times when I want to sew without thinking too much.

One of the highlights of our trip was a visit to M & L fabrics in Anaheim, a gi-normous warehouse of fabrics from $7.98-$1.98/yard depending on how close to the front door you are....literally! The place was mind-boggling. The back area was filled with row after row of very neatly stacked flat folds. Here is a picture of Kathy and Becky among the flat folds and if you can figure out how to pull one from a stack you are smarter than we are. We just stared in awe and moved on to the $2.98 fabrics figuring it was worth a buck a yard to not have to pull one of these out.

This is a view of the store from the front of the flat fold area. Mind boggling to say the least. We all picked up some quilt backs and a little bit of this and that and Becky got some gorgeous boucle woven for a jacket in just her color and I got a hunk of Robert Kauffman tropical rayon blend for a sarong to wear in Hawaii in September (at $2.98/yard).

I got a little bit more done on the boy's Christmas quilts and need to add the last row for Becky to commence the quilting for me. More on that later.


7 comments:

Teresa said...

Wow..that place is incredible. The bolts of fabric remind me of Mary Jo Fabrics in Gastonia, but those flat stacks are amazing. At $1.98 a yard, I am afraid I would have had to do some unstacking.

Glad you had a great time.

Mrs. Goodneedle said...

I like Gi-normous, thanks for sharing. I took a lecture from Pepper at Mid Atlantic Quilt Fest back in Feb., I agree~ she's great!!

quiltmom anna said...

Hi Jan
Wow- gi normous is the only way to describe that fabric warehouse- When there is so much it would be hard to see anything clearly.
Your class with Pepper cory sounds wonderful..
I bet the sarong will be lovely..
Regards from A Western Canadian Quilter
Anna

Nancy Near Philadelphia said...

What fun! Thanks for this great report.

n, np

Mary Johnson said...

I'm not a huge fan of quilt shows with lots of little art quilts - I like good size traditional quilts. The Mid Atlantic show has become more and more *arty* and I enjoy it less but still go with family every year that I can.

That is one amazing fabric store.

swooze said...

Wow! I know how you feel. Ask me about the Golden D'Or! LOL

Angie said...

It looks like you and Becky had a wonderful time! What a fabulous fabric store! I bet you figured out how to pull fabric from the stacks in no time flat! Your class with Pepper C. sounds fun!