I was lucky enough to be able to attend the International Quilt Festival in Cincinnati, Ohio this weekend. The show is very inspiring and humbling. I say humbling because all the quilts on exhibit are truly works of art. The amount of creativity and craftsmanship on display is mind blowing. Many of the quilts are not the traditional type of quilt, but employ mixed media, hand-painted or printed textiles, innovative piecing techniques to only mention a few of the construction methods.  I know I will probably never "go there" with my fiber creations, but as an artist of paint and canvas, I appreciate and marvel at the amount of work and talent that goes into these wonderful pieces. Photography was not allowed in some areas of the show, but I did take many, many photos of the quilts on display. Like last years International Quilt Festival show in Cincinnati, I will post some of the quilts I took pictures of -- just a little sample of the show.

Note: The images of the quilts from the International Quilt Festival are not to be used on any goods or ordered for images from items that may be purchased. Please respect the copyrights of these artists.

To make sure I represent each artist and their quilt properly, I have taken a photo of the accompanying write up for the quilt. Sometimes the lighting at the show casts shadows on the quilts and or write up, please excuse these distortions. I have made every attempt to represent these quilt  and artists as accurately as possible.

In alphabetical order:

And those were only 18 of the hundreds of quilts on display! It was a very inspiring show.

After we looked at all the competition quilts on display, we went and strolled through all the vendors booths. Again, hundreds! I have to say I was a bit over stimulated by then and not having a particular project in mind, really at loss for what to buy. I was very, very restraind, and could have gone crazy if I was looking for specific fabrics, saw plenty of fabrics that would have been great for the quilt I am currently working on and nearly finished with! Don't you just hate that!?!

Here are my meager purchases.

I really was scoping out some of the larger ticket items for my "want/need" list down the line, maybe next year.

I did have the pleasure of finding two vendors I would like to showcase that I "discovered" at the show plus a local shop that I just love that is not new to me, but one you may not know.

Check out OliveGraceStudios.com, you will find a talented young lady with loads of fun, fresh ideas. Her booth was just as adorable as she was. I bought this Jot ipad stylus pen there that a family member of hers developed and markets. I was looking for just the right stylus and have already played with it on my ipad, it is terrific. To find this product and more information on it go to: http://adonit.net/product/jot/

Another vendor that had a lovely booth filled with fresh, fun and eye-catching fabrics, books and merchandise was Craft Nectar. You will enjoy her website along with her modern take on quilts.

Then, to plug a local shop that was at the show, Sew-A-Lot Creative Sewing Centers not only has loads of quilting fabric that is a little retro, a little mod and a lot of terrific, they also carry PFAFF and Viking sewing machines. They have an online site you can check out: http://www.sewalotonline.com/

So, now my big inscentive is to finish the quilt that is currently up on my design wall so I can put some of this creative inspiration I just got from this weekends visit to the International Quilt Festival to work!