Original Sewing and Quilt Expo, Ralegh NC: A little taste of Day 1

I survived day 1! All 14 hours!


lol @ Sir Walter Raleigh!

Wow! What a day 1! I've tried my hand at free motion, made a hip bag, and attended great lectures on techniques and products. I have a fair amount to say with actual pictures of the hands-on projects. I'm tired though... almost too tired to write without being dangerously punchy. I'll tell you about all the classes and what it feels like to use a 10,000 dollar machine in upcoming days. For now, you'll just have to deal some eye candy!

I saw the most amazing quilt, likely one of my favorites ever. I so wish my cell phone took better pictures because I can't even see the beauty of it here when I assure you, in real life, this thing will knock your socks off!


Quilts like these make me want to toss the dining room table right outside and put a big old long arm machine in there! The artist's name "Koi" is Dustin Farrell. It didn't list an associated website, but I suspect this is him.

There are scores of beautiful quilts, every one of them special in their own way. I promised myself I wouldn't post a million pictures. I limited myself to SIX, that's right, just SIX. I went for pieces that really stood out for a technique or something special I had never seen before.

Here's a fantastic use of denim from Lisa (omg I can't see her last name in the picture. Will find it and update soon!). All of these square are little pieces of denim. Some with seams, some without out. They are top stitched on with the red thread and it is just stunning.

This is an art quilt from Susan Bleiweiss. I love all the bright colors mixed with the stained glass technique. Certainly something I'd be willing to try myself.

There were 10 artist listed for this art quilt and I just couldn't help but smile at it. It really stands out as something different and fun.

Lisa Ellis has really mastered these grapes in "Abide"! I took a picture from the side to try to really show you how well she's made me them pop with thicker batting. I love how dimensional this piece is

Karen Marchetti's The Choice grabbed my attention because of the amazing use of quilting to create texture. It looks like she has used all solids and created the bricks, floor, and door using FMQ. Seriously? Unreal.

This is another one from Dustin Farrell. It's intention to show off the long arm quilting, which is amazing, but what really caught my eye and put this on over the top was the use of mirrors and 3D flying geese like border.

That's it for me. I'm hitting the hay to get a little rest before beginning again tomorrow! Just so you know - I put in a zipper today and it wasn't a total disaster. Look out world - here comes Suedre!