Thank you Renata and BJ for sharing your experiences at the MPQE. So glad you had a good time and learned from great teachers. Wish I could've been there with you Maybe some day

Thanks Jan! I appreciate that.

Nice job, Betty Jo. Lots of indepth machine quilting. Way to go. Jan

Where would I find this? Is it online on the Mancuso website? Or on TQS' gallery. I'll check there

Hi Jan, My entry is Quilt #: 1021222 in the gallery called "Perspective in Threads"

Thanks, Renata and Betty Jo, The vicarious pleasure of imagining what fun you had is not bad. When and if you finish a piece from your classes send us a pic. Betty Jo I'd love to see your entry. Is it posted on your profile here?

I missed meeting you too, Lois. It's amazing that we really only live a few hours away from each other and can't seem to catch up, but I know that sooner or later, our paths will cross and I look forward to that! I, too, was a little surprised that there was no TQS visibility at this show by members and with the exception of BJ and myself who wore TQS badges in the hope of meeting other members, like Rita said, they were probably there but part of the silent majority. Interestingly, at the Gloria Loughman class, there were three people who live near me, though! Go figure, it took going to Philly to meet neighbors! :shock:

I am disappointed that I did not get to the show to meet both BJ and Renata, but I know there will be another time. Too many things came up that needed tended to instead. Thanks for the review of the show. The thing that surprised me most is that you did not run into any other TQS members. When I went to the Super Seminar in Rochester, NY this summer I was surprised there weren't more TQS members there. I couldn't figure out how all those quilters found out about it without having heard about TQS. They couldn't figure out how I had heard about it without being a member of a guild. I have my eyes open to join such a group. They do exist near me, but they seen to be rather insular with very little in terms of educational programs (perhaps I am judging them too harshly), so continue to work and be challenged by all of you. Thanks for all you share.

I took pictures of some of the quilts on display, especially Gloria Loughman's (although a lot of them were close-up, detail photos that probably turned out fuzzy because I could not keep still enough when not using flash). I probably should have asked for photo with Gloria and Pepper, call me shy... not!, but at the moment it did not seem right to ask so I didn't. Will try to see if any of the photos are post-worthy and then post!

Renata, thanks for the detailed desccription of the show and classes. Both teachers sound wonderful, I really wish I had been there. I guess vendors are the same the world over - it's the gadgets that are different. I am so glad that you and Betty Jo had a good time. And I am surprised that there weren't more TQS members. I think there probably were but they were part of the 'silent majority'. Did you take any pictures?

Thanks for letting us take part in this show and your classes.

Renata & Betty Jo - Thanks for sharing your experiences! Sounds like you had a great time!

Nancy

drj2athome wrote:
I had a terrific time. Renata described it well. I learned a lot and really enjoyed the classes. Gloria was one of the judges on my quilt and she talked to me about it and gave me further feedback from the written feedback I got that was really valuable. Pepper was a delight and I was able to spend about a half hour with her at lunch time when everyone else was out. We found we have a lot in common with similar interests.

While my quilt did not win a ribbon, I got wonderful comments back from the judges. The written comments were:
"Beautifully executed quilt with stunning border; Perspective created in center panel through stitching is amazing; Held up well in tough competition." If I hadn't talked with Gloria I would have been a bit puzzled. She indicated while she could see what I was trying to do with my coloring it didn't have the color impact that it needed. Also, you should see the quilt that won my category...it was like a silver Russian icon of Madonna and child. Amazing quilting, and, of course, it was right next to mine and my quilt didn't show up as well located there as it might have.

I was a little disappointed in the vendors. There seemed to be more craftsy stuff and less serious quilt stuff there than at say, Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festivals I have been to, but I still managed to spend a bundle.

Jan, you asked me about this quilt show in a separate posting but I'll answer it here... This was the first time I went to what is dubbed a quilt show so I don't have much to compare it to. I would divide the experience into four parts: showing of quilts, classes, vendors, and venue.

First, there were some extraordinary quilts at this show. Even the ones, like BJs, that merited formal recognition but did not receive it, were gorgeous. Anything I did not like, it was not for lack of anything but personal preference. So, from that perspective, I am very happy I went. There were several categories of competition, including the World Quilt Competition, the Philadelphia Extravaganza competition itself as well as a display of the non-ribbon exhibitors of the 2012 Hoffman Challenge (The winners' and some of the other Hoffman challenge pieces are probably traveling to other venues at this time). Gloria Loughman, of Luminous Landscapes fame, exhibited several pieces of her work, including her very first competition quilt which won in Yokohama, Japan, several years ago so it was also nice to get a historical perspective on the work of an award winning quilter. It was superb!

This leads me to the second category: the classes. There was something for everyone and the instructors were very well known for their specific techniques. Betty Jo and I decided to take the same classes together but I will let her speak for herself and offer my personal observations. We took, as you know, Gloria Loughman's class and Pepper Cory's Sashiko class.

Gloria Loughman's class was better than I could imagine. While I read parts of the book to get a better feel for what she might do in class, I don't believe anyone, including me, was able to finish the project, albeit no bigger than 20"x26" in size. But she broke down the class time into sections where she would provide introductory remarks about one portion of the technique; then we would get to work and even if we were not finished, she would give us advanced notice as to when she would give the next portion of her lecture. This way, no matter where we were along the way in producing our own quilt, we were able to listen, take notes and ask questions about subsequent steps in the process that we probably would be doing at home. She stayed on the premises during the one-hour lunch break to answer questions and is simply a delightful human being. Her grasp of color and perspective are amazing, I would love to be her student for a long time!

Pepper Cory was also outstanding. Her grasp of the cultural history of Japan in relation to fiber arts and how people during different times of Japanese history used fiber (like sashiko) to solve the problems of daily living, was on the mark! I came to the class with a different agenda because I had learned sashiko from local Japanese women over 20 years ago while living in Japan. But, because life and work took me into a very different direction, I had forgotten a lot and looked to this class as a refresher course. It did that for me and in fact, it was easier than what I had learned because in a one day class the only reasonable way to teach this kind of craft is with pre-marked sashiko cloth. This way you would bring the needle up where the line drawn on the cloth began and put the needle into the fabric where the line ended. Not easy to get regular stitches without practice--this helped a lot of people. I was very fortunate because I had learned sashiko without the marked cloth and had to count threads to get even stitches but the rules also require that each section have a predetermined number of stitches too. Remember, most of the time you will see thick white stitches pop up on indigo fabric so they have to be very regular to look pretty! Pepper was able to get everybody on board in one day and made sure everyone understood the basic underlying principles in doing sashiko. She also stuck around the classroom during the lunch break. It was a very relaxing class--I am ready to do more--it was a great refresher. She is also one super human being like Gloria Loughman.

In sum, I am willing to bet that all of the classes are great!

Vendors--I'm sorry, Rita, I missed Button Tree Farm… I did not have much time to do anything except for a few hour walk up and down the isles… it did not catch my attention when I walked by… so I must have missed it and realized it after we left… too late! The vendors were the same you see from place to place when visiting a local quilt guild run show or the Sewing and Quilt Expo (which I have attended). Let's put it this way… after my third time seeing them (local show and two Sewing and Quilt Expos), I know my favorites by first name and they know mine… nothing earth shattering but a great bunch of folks! I purchased some threads from Superior, Japanese men's yukata fabric and sashiko thread from Maeda Imports, and a few stencils from Full Line Stencil. By the way, they said that if your Pounce rubs off a bit after you lay down a stencil, just use some hairspray to set the pounced line. That's what they said..

Finally, there was the venue. There were lots of people but we tried to get there half an hour before the doors opened and we were always able to park right near the front door. Easy peasy! The building was some kind of old line factory that had been minimally refurbished so my only complaint would be that there was not enough lighting to really see and enjoy the displayed quilts.

So that's it in a nutshell! Aren't you sorry you asked, Jan? I did not mean to get long-winded but I wanted to give my perspective on what I consider a pretty successful outing! The evening of the sashiko class, BJ and I sat by a window in the hotel lobby and did our sashiko blocks while chatting. It was fun! Did not see any TQSrs at the show (and we did wear our badges!). I'm ready for another show!