Friday, September 8, 2017

Quilt Expo 2017

Last year I found out about Quilt Expo literally the day before by a complete accident, but this year I marked it on my calendar and planned ahead, and I went with a blogger friend who lives in the next town over.

Although I usually take some photographs of my favorite quilts, I didn't do that today because I wasn't feeling too hot and the place was so crowded. I did see a lot of gorgeous quilts of course, and my favorite display has to be the kid quilts exhibit. There were kids as young as 5, making quilts, and doing beautifully!

I already have a longarm and don't feel the need to upgrade right now, but that doesn't mean I'm not still curious to try other longarms. Back in April when I was longarm shopping, I tried a bunch of machines and some of the longarms felt so heavy and clunky. I wasn't sure how much of that was due to the fact that I didn't know what I was doing. So now, I wanted to see if they would feel any different. Well ... I'm more sure than ever that I made a great choice in my APQS Lenni! Some machines still felt like I was driving a truck, but the APQS machines were by far the smoothest machines I tried today.

I stopped for a demonstration of a fabric weaving method using a tool called WEFTY. In fact, the person who demonstrated it was none other than Tara, who invented it! As she told me about how she started doing it by printing it on her 3D printer, I was utterly amazed. The fabric panel she created is so beautiful, unique, and has a great texture. I picked up a WEFTY and I'm curious to give it a try sometime!

I used to go crazy at quilt shows, but recently, I'm starting to spend less and less money. That's probably because I already have all the tools and notions, and I've already seen most of the fabric online. But I was happy to pick up a few kits and of course, WEFTY!

The next show I'll attend will probably be the Original Sewing & Quilting Expo in Schaumburg. It's small, but it's a mere 15 minutes from my house. Hopefully I'll get to take some photographs of the quilts in that show, and have more room to move around!

6 comments:

  1. Welty is an intriguing little design. I look forward to seeing your project with this. I too buy less and less, probably as the stash is pretty full at this point!

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  2. This is funny, I just saw the Wefty which was featured in one of the magazines I was reading and thinking of buying one. I do like the fabric kit and roll you bought; I can already see the quilting you'll be doing. And this is going to be fun, we don't live too far away from each other.

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  3. Japanese quilters have been doing that kind of fabric weaving for years. I have a cosmetic bag that a friend wove and gave to me 20 years ago or so. I don't remember what kind of weaving tool they were using. The Wefty tool seems super affordable. Thanks for sharing. I had wanted to go, too, but this weekend just ended up being a bit too busy.

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  4. Great fabrics and patterns! I am looking forward to seeing what you make with the Wefty.

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  5. I was at Expo Thursday and Friday, it was soooo crowded, but a fantastic show!!

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  6. You'll love the Wefty! I've woven several times. Love the texture it creates!

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