After Quilt Market, I stayed in Houston to teach at Festival. If you’ve never been to Festival, it’s an experience. Market closes on Monday, and Festival classes start that day as well.
Tuesday night is the Winner’s Circle where the winners of the International Quilt Association (IQA) quilt show are announced. It’s quite dramatic—the first place and big money winning quilts are hung around a large ballroom. The quilts are covered with black curtains until each is announced—then the black curtain is raised and the winning quilt is revealed. C&T Publisher, Amy Marson, presented the awards for the 2 categories that C&T sponsors: Digital Imagery and The Future of Quilting Award. (Complete list of quilt show winners.)
The 2 days between Market and Festival (Tuesday & Wednesday) are fairly quiet, and that’s when I was teaching. I taught three classes: Fabulous Fiber Scarves, Needles, Threads, Stabilizers, Batting, and More!, and Photo Editing for Quilters.
Arranging fibers; sewing; finished!
The fiber scarf class was first. The fiber scarves are made by arranging thread, ribbon, and yarn between 2 layers of water-soluble stabilizer. The fiber sandwich is stitched together and put into water. The stabilizer dissolves, and you have a fabulous fiber scarf.
For the photo editing class, I bring a digital projector and work through examples of how to use Adobe Photoshop Elements in ways that are of interest to quilters. I show how I’ve made quilts using digital imagery, and show how you can use your computer to design quilts. I also show how to use Kaleidoscope Kreator software to create amazing kaleidoscope images for quilts and other projects .
Thread stitch-outs
The next class was Needles, Threads, Stabilizers, Batting, and More! I bring lots of samples for students to see and feel, and I explain things like how to make sure you are using the right needle and thread for your project, when and why you should use a stabilizer, and how to select the right batting. It’s usually an eye-opener for the students. There are so many products that are available now, it can be overwhelming going to the quilt shop, and after my class students feel much more informed.
Wednesday night is Preview night—IQA members are allowed to enter the exhibit floor at 5pm, then at 7pm the general public is admitted. I was signing books that evening along with writers/novelists Sandra Dallas and Emilie Richards.
Signing books at Festival (Emilie Richards, Sandra Dallas, Lynn Koolish L to R)
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2 Comments
It was great to see you at the show Lynn. I heard great things about your classes.
And I’m happy to be home too!
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