Saturday, August 30, 2008

Kind of Like Comic-Con


I explained to the boys, about the San Diego Quilt Show, that it's kind of like Comic-Con, but for quilts. So, naturally, they asked what I would 'dress up as.' I went as an *awestruck woman.* It's not often you will find me out in the world without children in tow, and the real bonus of the day was going with fellow quilter and blogging friend, Lesley, of Chapter III. You could say this is a Chapter III for me and Chickenblog: Chapter 1... I start Chickenblog, May 2002. Chapter 2... People start voluntarily reading the blog, about May 2007. Chapter 3... I meet a blogging friend in person, August 30th, 2008, and it's great!

What next? There's so much to consider and share and be happy about. Lesley and I met at her house and it was a curious combination of I know you very well, and this is totally familiar and wow, we are total strangers agreeing to spend the day together: how strange and wonderful. And walking up to Quilt-Con we saw Anna-Banana, who was waiting to meet a fellow quilt enthusiast and friend. Finding Anne so easily proves that Quilt-Con is not much like Comic-Con... it's far less crowded. So the fun of meeting bloggers was magnified and my pleasure was doubled. Inside the convention hall we were met with hundreds of quilts, and it was very nice to share the experience with Lesley. We seemed to enjoy many of the same quilts and to have many of the same humbling impressions of all the talented, patient and creative quilters out there.

My mind is still buzzing from all of the sight seeing, from gazing at an almost infinite combination of colors, shapes and patterns, stitched together. I am glad there were a lot of examples of hand-quilting, because those are still my favorite. And as my appreciation of machine quilting is increasing, it was great to see such a varied and beautiful collection of those quilts too. Gee, wouldn't some pictures be nice right about now? Yes, well, I did take a lot of pictures, but I was playing with my highly sophisticated camera and whatever button I pushed or setting I changed, has made it incompatible with low lighting and shaky hands. In other words... I have a lot of out of focus pictures.

Pictures are great, but the best part of my day was meeting Lesley, crossing paths with Anne, and savoring my newest favorite... Australian Sliders, with beets! Lesley is lovely and enthusiastic, she's as bright and pleasant as her blog, and I really enjoyed our conversations and exchanges.

Okay, when you take as many photographs as I do some are bound to come out alright, including the ones Lesley took, so here are a few...


"Red Wagon Panes" by Ruby Davison




"Kiku" pieced by Eleanor Sherrell and quilted by Michalee Sloan


"Dutch Treat" pieced by Charlene Hauri and quilted by Laurie Daniells, pattern by Judy Garden






Totally cool pattern by some talented person, whose name I did not catch... oops.


This is way too much fun!


Weeeee!

6 comments:

Anna Banana said...

So fun to see u and Lesley today! We almost had lunch at that Australian place, but ended up having Mexican food. Very sweet that Geoff was worried about you, glad you finally made it home!

Lesley said...

I'm so glad you got all the names of all the quilters — I really slipped up there!
It was so much fun — lots of ideas and inspiration. And great to meet you, too!

Laura Jane said...

Wow - what a great day.

And rarely kidless too - I'm so jealous of you towo meeting. I hope she gave you a hug from me!

Isn't the Bondi great?

Chris said...

I have visited a couple of quilt shows and I am always struck by what works of art they are! Just the pictures you show here are exceptional. The quilting on the Dutch Treat quilt is so gorgeous! That someone can conceive and create such beauty in fabric is amazing.

I'm glad you were able to hook up with blogging friends. What fun!

d.a. said...

I am always gobsmacked by the incredible detail and artistry shown by quilters... absolutely amazing. Thanks for the pics!

Jennifer said...

How lovely for both you and Lesley to have gotten together and to have made the trip to the show. Amazing things happen when we dare to do things for ourselves, and in the company of friends. Wish I could have joined you!