International Quilt Festival Day

Friday I took a day off from Happy Acres and boarded a Lifestyle Tour Bus to attend the International Quilt Festival in Cincinnati, Ohio. Before I tell you more, our tour guide Shelley and our driver Sherrie were wonderful making that trip so enjoyable!

My friend Kathy emailed me a couple months ago asking if I’d be interested in going to this show. I’ve not been to a quilt show since I was in the guild back in the 90s, and I’ve never been to an International Quilt Festival. It sounded like a great way to spend the day.

I met the bus for pickup at 6 am. After a stop in Ferdinand to pick up a half bus load and a potty break, before we knew it, we were at the front doors!

International Quilt Festival
International Quilt Festival
At the Quilt Festival
Julia, Kathy and me at the festival

Julia, a friend of Kathy’s and now my new friend, Kathy and I spent the five hours looking at the beautiful quilts and checking out all of the vendors.

I couldn’t take a picture of every quilt and some we weren’t allowed to photograph, but I will share some of my favorites. Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to write all of the names of the quilts or the artists so I’ve left them blank, but they were all beautiful.

Flower with pipe cleaners!

Sure wish we could get these to grow in our garden!
Love trees and how these pop off of the quilt

The beading on these black-eyed susans was unbelievable!
Marianne Wiliamson's  Turquoise Pond
Marianne Williamson's Turquoise Pond

Marianne had several quilts in this show –  Turquoise Pond was one of my favorites.

Love the trees

After quilt overload, we headed to the vendors before we went back for more inspiration.

Festival vendor area
Festival vendor area

There were so many great vendors here. Some were demonstrating their products. I dropped by the Havel booth hoping to find Terry White. She wasn’t there, but I ended up buying a rotary cutter. Love their stuff!

The vendor displays were so colorful but this one, Handbehg Felts,  we ended up coming back three times and I just had to take pictures!

Handbehg Felts
Handbehg Felts
Handbehg Felts
Felt and more felt balls

On the last visit, we spoke again to Tami, the owner, who was wearing one of her necklaces which she sells as a kit. We all decided we had to have one! Here is mine completed. Looking forward to wearing it. I hear Kathy got a lot of compliments on hers.

Felt ball necklace
Felt ball necklace

There were lots of traditional quilts, but our focus was on the art quilts. And, there was just not enough time to see everything. What a fun day and it gave me lots of inspiration.