The worst part about this show was probably the title. There is just no easy way to say "Albuquerque Quilt, Craft & Sewing Festival" and in the past 5 mins, I cannot think of a better way to say it or describe the shindig. Textile Art Show? ...No, the festival was more about working with fabric, primarily quilting fabric, than the creation of the fabric. "Quilter's Creation" might work as a title but then you would loose out on the non-quilting booths.
These days, I admire quilters and quilts but am more inspired to create wearable art of the clothing persuasion. This is what I was hoping to see as part of the "sewing" aspect of the Festival. Sadly, there was not a lot that could be classified as part the fashion aspect of sewing. What modicum was there consisted of two large booths of trims and part on another booth that had vintage patterns 40s-60s for $2 each!
Once again, though, I am getting ahead of myself in the story.
Since my Mother and I are on a limited budget and the cost of admission covered all three days of the Festival, it was decided that I would go Thursday, figure out the bus and walking route to the fair ground venue, whilst my Mother would use the same ticket on Friday. I had just enough money to go to the Fair and an all day bus pass. I got there super early, being the fifth person in line about an hour before the doors opened. Perhaps it was also the green dress I had just made that brought me luck for the Door Buster Giveaway. This being the first year for the Albuquerque Quilt, Craft & Sewing Festival, if you arrived before 9:45 AM (doors opening at 10 AM), you got a ticket for one of the $500 cash prizes. To cut a long story short, the prizes were $100 (1), $50 (4), $20 (5), $10 (10), and I got a ticket with a green star = $50 cash! And they gave away $500 in cash all three days so I took my Mom the next day with me and she won $50 on Friday!
Now I could actually enjoy the show and not just look at booths I thought my Mother would like. There were tons of other prize drawings at individual booths and show prizes every day, none of which I won. Some of the exhibitors had "Make 'n Take Workshops" that were reasonably priced and still others had free hour-long seminars. With close to 60 exhibitors and all the seminars, it was well worth more than a single day's outing for the over 50 crowd. ...No, I was not the youngest person there but I was one of the few 30-somethings.
Of all the free little gifts and creative ideas on display, I was most inspired by the Less Than Traditional Quilting Charlie's Way which is a quick and easy way of making mock Cathedral Window and circular quilts without the fuse; see Charlie's Demo Here. I have a nice stock pile of "Dia de Los Muertos" and Japanese art inspired quilting fabric that has been in want of a project for quite some time. And isn't finding a use for your stock pile of fabric nearly as good as getting free spending money?! ...In retrospect, it might have been better to use some of that cash for the quilt batting.
Here are some of the items I got with my $50.
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| The 9:30 AM crowd on the "slowest" day of the festival, Friday. |
Once again, though, I am getting ahead of myself in the story.
Since my Mother and I are on a limited budget and the cost of admission covered all three days of the Festival, it was decided that I would go Thursday, figure out the bus and walking route to the fair ground venue, whilst my Mother would use the same ticket on Friday. I had just enough money to go to the Fair and an all day bus pass. I got there super early, being the fifth person in line about an hour before the doors opened. Perhaps it was also the green dress I had just made that brought me luck for the Door Buster Giveaway. This being the first year for the Albuquerque Quilt, Craft & Sewing Festival, if you arrived before 9:45 AM (doors opening at 10 AM), you got a ticket for one of the $500 cash prizes. To cut a long story short, the prizes were $100 (1), $50 (4), $20 (5), $10 (10), and I got a ticket with a green star = $50 cash! And they gave away $500 in cash all three days so I took my Mom the next day with me and she won $50 on Friday!
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| Some of the free items I got on the first day, Thursday. |
Of all the free little gifts and creative ideas on display, I was most inspired by the Less Than Traditional Quilting Charlie's Way which is a quick and easy way of making mock Cathedral Window and circular quilts without the fuse; see Charlie's Demo Here. I have a nice stock pile of "Dia de Los Muertos" and Japanese art inspired quilting fabric that has been in want of a project for quite some time. And isn't finding a use for your stock pile of fabric nearly as good as getting free spending money?! ...In retrospect, it might have been better to use some of that cash for the quilt batting.
Here are some of the items I got with my $50.
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| All of these patterns were only $2 each! |
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| I only wish they had had more patterns from the 1940s. |
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