Houston and back again

OMG what a trip! So many quilts, so much fabric, so much walking! Prepare for a big blog post :)

It's hard to know how to start describing the International Quilt Festival at Houston. As my first trip all I wanted to do was soak up the atmosphere, but there is so much to take in. Mum and I went every day for four days and we still didn't see everything!

First of all the halls are huge, and there are so many people, so all you can do is look at what is right in front of you, that way you don't bump into anyone :)

Here's what the food hall looks like at lunch time! This was only half of the hall, there was that many people again to the right of me.

On the last day after the tour buses had left I wander around just taking photos of how big the halls where! This first shot is of the hall is where all the quilts were, and the second photo is where all the retail stores where...the lights on the dark ceiling give you an idea of how deep the halls are!

Apparently 60,000 people visited over the four days the show was opened.

Enough of fact and figures! How about the quilts!

Wow....some of the quilts were...wow

Of course there was the Best of Show America, Let it Shine by Sherri Reynolds, my photos really don't do it justice....there are better photos over at Dutchbaby, and for the really curious there is a 5 minute youtube video to watch of Sherri Reynolds being interviewed, this also has some great close ups of the quilt.

There are thousands of Swarovski crystals that have been used, the words of the Gettysburg address quilted around the centre star...

Check out the back... it was all done a 20 year old domestic machine....impressive!!

A list and photos of all the winning quilts can be found over at the International Quilt Association website.

There was such a great variety of quilts, but I am a real sucker for quilts done by Japanese quilters, mainly because their eye for colour is so different, and the level of detail in their hand work is incredible....one of my favourite quilts that had the most impressive hand work was The Twelve Days  of Christmas by Osami Gonohe, who won Third prize for innovative applique.

Aren't those little Santa's so cute?

 Busy elves....

The little white dots above the rooftops that look like snow are french knots...

I spent quite a lot time looking at this and it still kills me that the quilt is hand appliqued, and hand quilted!

One of my favourite quilts from the show that has a more modern feel to it is Majestic Tulips by Chizuko Kojima.

I love the use of the velvet and satin which makes parts of the quilt glow...

The colour palate is interesting....and again the quilt is hand appliqued and quilted.

In fact I don't normally do brown (actually not at all) but I did buy some yardage of the brown text print above....who knows maybe I will make a brown quilt!

And yes I acquired some other fabric...all I will say about that is...I bought my husband a new suitcase at Macy's which I was able to fill for the return trip. I will put together another couple of posts over the next week with some of my other photos.