Houston In’tl Quilt Festival 2023 – The experience

 

There is nothing like teaching at the world’s largest quilt festival! It is exciting, challenging and just plain FUN!

It was a LOT more crowded this year, a very good thing! There is such a buzz and excitement of being on the show/vendor floor. For many, if not most attendees, the Houston show is a Bucket List item, long anticipated and planned for. You can find photos of quilts Part 1, Part 2 and interesting products from Market here.

We are an aging demographic and there were lots of scooters!

I usually get 20,000+ steps/day at Houston and this year was no exception. All that walking takes a well-thought out inventory of comfort shoes.

It was an expensive choice, but I chose to stay at the adjoining Hilton. It makes it so convenient to pop in my room for lunch and to regroup as well as retrieve things I forgot. It does enhance my Festival experience and yes, I do pay well for the privilege. I love to see the shadows hit my quilts.

My room faced east and I caught the sunrise each morning as I did my yoga. What I never seemed to be able to catch a photo of was the huge flocks of birds that moved from west to east every morning. It was quite a spectacle.

I don’t usually post food photos, but dang, this Salmon dinner was delicious, with 3 sides, for $14! I knew I was NOT in California. I ate 4 of my dinners at Phoenicia, a Middle Eastern premium grocer just a few blocks away. Love that place!

Literally 10 different kinds of Feta. This is my kind of food.

I taught 3 SOLD OUT classes – wahoo! At my various events, there were attendees from New Zealand, Australia, England, France, Japan and Hawaii. It truly is an international Festival. I call it the world’s crossroads of the quilting world.

Class photos:

I was so PROUD of my students! They dug in, shed their fear of free motion quilting and had a blast. Oh I love to convince my students that they CAN free motion quilt! There is so much joy in being able to finish your own quilts!

I don’t know why I forgot to take photos for both of these classes. My feathers students made some GORGEOUS feathers! I want to feather the world and my students are on their way to adding feathers to their own quilts.

For some reason I took photos in this class. As far as I could tell, EVERY student had fun in this class. It is such a whimsical, loose and happy project, all in 3 hours. I got a lot of smiles in this class!

Here are their projects. Please note that I took these before class was over:

Aren’t those fun? I had several brand spankin’ new free motion quilters!

Once my classes were over I had 3 Open Studio/demo events, 2 lectures and I led the Machine Quilting Forum.

I neglected to take a photo at my station, but here is the SOLD OUT crowd gathered for the Machine Quilting Forum:

Six teachers each demo/taught a subject of relevance to machine quilters. I demo’d Sloppy Woppy Free Motion Quilting; quilting does not always have to be perfect to be beautiful! It is one of my favorite events!

I also demo’d straight line ruler work using the amazing Line Tamer Ruler at the Friday Sampler. Twenty two teachers demo’d their subject as attendees freely circulated around the room.

It is a GREAT way to get a taste of a subject to see if you want to learn more. It is a rich source of tips and tricks. This is the only photo I got, of attendees taking photos of my work.

I did three different demo’s at the Open Studio. Attendees can come and go as they please. I covered Straight Line Ruler Work, Free Motion Cutwork and Gridwork:

And then there 2 lectures. The first, My Tippy Top Tips for Free Motion Quilting drew a fabulous crowd of around 120 paid; I was thrilled!

My second lecture was Saturday, late in the day and there were very few people at Festival, let alone at my lecture:

I received so many kind comments from students, specific comments about the class or lecture, how I teach, how much they learned or the joy they felt. Many experienced an “aha” moment. I treasure those!!! Thank you if you were one of them.

I was going to make yet another post about the people I met, but I think I’m done. Suffice it to say that I have 30 selfies of me with people that I had a deep or significant conversation with.

THAT is what Festival is all about, the people. Quilting is a wonderful industry, a great hobby, populated by The Best People. I love quilting and I love attending Festival.

You need to go next year. It is the 50th anniversary. I hope I see you there!