International Quilt Festival Houston – the closest quilters can get to a religious experience!
Everywhere I travel I am asked if I have been to Houston.
Now I can say I have!!!
And what a commitment to travel it is. I went with my sister in law – Tricia. With almost empty bags (space reserved for retail therapy), we left Melbourne. Twenty-four hours later, we arrived at our hotel in Houston (it is a long-haul trip).
I knew I was in for something special when I entered the hall and saw all the red and white quilts hanging from the ceiling like a chandelier. It was spectacular! This year was the “Ruby Jubilee” with the colour ruby as the theme.
I was impressed by how all the little details have been attended to, including seating when you get tired after walking through the miles of vendor stalls and quilt exhibitions, check-in booths for bags when you’ve bought too much but want to keep going, an easy to locate information booth (just look for the giant American flag) and even a husband’s area complete with reclining chairs and big screen TV! All-in-all, I thought it was a very well run event…
The entire week was an endless run of meeting new people, making new friends and the general excitement of being with thousands of people who all have the same passion. And of course, we all come for the quilts!
Here are a few of my favourites:
A peg inspired quilt
There is always at least one quilt per quilt show that reminds me that you can find inspiration anywhere.
Going through the vendor stalls, we were amazed by this workstation setup for cutting: Martelli elite workstation It was such a beautiful system, so impressed, I actually considered having one sent to Australia!
- all time high attendance of 62,108 attendees
- almost 1,500 quilts, dolls,wearable and fabric art on display
- more than 5000 students in the 400+ Quiltmaking Academy classes
- 521 exhibitors in 1020 booths in the merchant hall
Houston “chandelier” of quilts
OK, I’m hooked, I look forward to being able to go to the Houston show again. Quilters, why not plan a visit to the Houston Quilt Show in 2015. I’m sure you will have a lot of fun.
until next time,
Leslie..
