2010 Chicago International Quilt Festival

Last weekend was the 2010 International Quit Festival/Chicago. I did a review article for Craft Critique. Read it HERE. Go to that Craft Critique post to see my photos of some of the winning quilts.

Because I went as a reporter, I had a press pass! Which means all my photos this year are totally kosher. Everyone takes pictures, though.. I am supposed to disable any way that you can steal my photos to use them on items for purchase...okay, readers, please don't do that.

I take nice, but slightly blurry pictures some of the time, but you really have to come and see a quilt show in person. The details are amazing..


"Foxy Sisters" by Ann Horton


"Emerald Treasures" by Barb Forrister


The following photos were from an amazingly detailed quilt from Japan:




This is "My Quilt Room" by Yasuko Ito and Oharibako. Every detail is done by hand including the quilting. The quilt shows their quilt group members enjoying making a quilt in each member's room.

The show has a section of beautiful vintage traditional quilts. I love this graphic one. This is "Sunburst" by Unknown Quiltmaker c. 1800:


I will share more photos in another post later, but you can see my set from the 2010 International Quilt Festival/Chicago on Flickr HERE.

Girl Scouts Craft

I'm having fun being a Girl Scout Co-leader, although the badge requirements are getting more and more complicated. Fortunately, our girls like getting crafty. We meet in the school gym, so baking and cooking are tricky.

I brought supplies to a recent meeting to make felt flowers:







Unfortunately, I get kind of busy running the activity and I always forget to photograph the finished projects. I used the Klutz/Chicken Socks book Paper Flowers for the templates, although I had to make our own from tagboard. My daughter had fun with this book over the Christmas Holidays.

Cuddly Cute Crochet

I am still around, but I guess I'm just blogging less these days. I recently did some very cute crochet projects for a book review on Craft Critique (disclosure). You can read the review HERE.



I used Red Heart Acrylic to crochet this bunny hat and mousie bib. My daughter wants the hat, but it is sized for a toddler, so I'm planning to give it to a sweet toddler of some friends of mine who live nearby.



My daughter's teacher is pregnant with a boy, so she's getting the bib along with a receiving blanket my daughter will sew in boyish fabrics.

Giveaway

Leave a comment on THIS Craft Critique Post to get in on a giveaway!

Become a charter member of Club Creating Keepsakes to receive a whole lot of goodies and membership benefits. Membership to this Club is free, but become a charter member and to receive special benefits including a subscription to Scrapbooking Tips and Tricks magazine.

Go ahead and read about it!

Disclosure

Scarf and Hearts

I saw this project on Craft Hope. It's a part of the Orphan Foundation of America's Red Scarf Project . I'm sharing my scarf late, because it was sent out before Valentines Day. My scarf isn't red, but I am sure I read on the instructions that other collegiate style colors were welcome...

I handstitched a cute little red felt heart tag for my package. It was fun to knit again! I used some of Vanna's Choice Yarn which is a squishy wool/acrylic blend.



I'm also finishing up one of my quilts. I sewed on the binding last week, and my Olympics project is to cuddle up under it and handstitch it down on the backside whle watching various events. We find that we really enjoy curling! Go Canada! I like the Winter Olympics better than the Summer Olympics, because I think the events are more fun to watch. How about you?



Most of the fabrics on this quilt are from the Katie Jump Rope collection by Denyse Schmidt. I liked that little red floral so much I found an etsy seller who still had it in stock and I bought two extra yards to do the binding and to gaze at lovingly.

________________

My friend Sarah Moore, from Craft Critique, is organizing a professional crafters convention taking place here in Chicago this October called CraftyCon

It will be a great opportunity for crafters to network with other crafters, and to get hands on training with industry experts. Sign up to get on the CraftyCon email list or follow them on Facebook or Twitter. Its going to be a great event!

Floral Granny Squares - Wool

I had fun making granny squares with acrylic, but the yarn was so scratchy, I yearned for a more satisfying fiber to work with. I took a trip out to one of the Big JoAnns stores (my local one is one of the small ones, fortunately it is always pretty busy), and I found an endcap of all natural Stitch Nation Yarn. We just saw this yarn debuted at CHA. There is 100 % Peruvian wool, an alpaca/wool blend and a very soft bamboo/ wool blend. Each lovely skein is only $5! Not even the tiniest bit of synthetic fiber is in this yarn, the 100% wool is a squishy singly ply, and I don't have to go to a specialty yarn store or the internet to find it!

Here is my blurry pic of Debbie Stoller with her yarn at the Red Heart booth at CHA:

The colors I selected are my favored bright and higher contrast, but not as bright as the Red Heart Acrylic.

I'm making the squares into a throw pillow by special request from my husband and daughter. The pattern for this very nice granny square is free at Lion Brand HERE.

-----

Today is the Superbowl here in the USA! Go Colts!

Granny Square Explorations - Acrylic

I am inspired to craft again since CHA! Last week I got out my crochet hooks and started crocheting floral granny squares from this pattern at Lion Brand HERE.

First I played with Red Heart Acrylic because I wanted a stack of pretty scrubbers and I have a lot of that scratchy yarn to use up. They are super bright.

I dug up these old ones I made 3 years ago with Caron Simply Soft. That yarn is more like sport weight than worsted so these are much smaller than the Red Heart Acrylic ones. I'm pretty sure I made a few scarves in some nice colorways as gifts one Christmas. I don't always photograph the stuff I make at the holidays:



Tomorrow I'll share the ones I stitched up with some new wool yarn. They are bright too, but oh so nice in a natural fiber!