NQA Show

I went to the National Quilt Association annual show in Columbus. If you are a member, you can buy a pass for all three days for the same price as a one day admission. I bought a three day pass, thinking I could pace myself and spend some time everyday instead of wearing myself out in one day.

I charged up my camera battery and went prepared on Thursday. I was there before it opened, which gave me time to buy the ticket. I looked at quilts - took pictures of them - well most of them anyway. I wanted to get around to seeing everything, so I didn't take too much time at any one quilt, figuring I could look at the pictures later. I wound up taking 452 pictures! I won't show them all to you, because you probably don't have the bandwidth and don't want to see them all. The theme was red and white. The new quilting trend this year - it isn't new, but what was noticeable to me, was the shininess of a lot of quilts. People used shiny thread to quilt, and glued crystals on their quilt. They also had lots of small quilts - not just at the small quilt auction, but throughout the show.

I also went to see the vendors, lots and lots of them. I bought some more African fabric. I bought some last year as well. I really need to get around to using them! I also bought some fat quarters that were $1 each, even though I really don't need more fabric. My plan was to buy things I couldn't get easily. I also bought some crazy quilting do-dads. I wanted lots of other things but I resisted the temptation.

I had lunch at the food court. It was crowded, and I decided to sit with someone. I like to do that when I am alone - find someone to sit with. I think it is great to meet new people that way. Turns out, the person I sat with, Betty New, has a quilt at the show. She is a seventh grade teacher, and since I am in the education field as well, we had plenty to talk about.


On Friday morning, there was a thunderstorm, and we lost our electricity, so I couldn't unload my pictures. I did try to recharge my battery in between power outages. Turns out my memory card had plenty of room, and the battery lasted just fine as well. I went back to the show with my mother and my sister. They took more time to look at the individual quilts, and spent lots of time at individual vendor booths. This was a group project. Different quilters from different guilds were given the same blue fabric, and the specs on the width of the river on the left and the right. What an awesome project!

My sister chose some fabric for a quilt my mother is going to make her. I think this makes her third or fourth set of fabric for the same quilt. She wants a dahlia quilt, or a lone star. Remember, the only quilts my mother has made so far are trip around the world quilts, made out of individual squares.

Saturday morning, I trekked off alone. I had signed up to take a lecture on photographing quilts. Jennifer McCann was doing a demonstration going on about bindings, so I stayed to look. After talking about bindings, she started talking about mitering corners for borders. I have a quilt that needs miters, and maybe I should try again to see how I do. I figure if I can do a couple of miters a year, I might be able to get the quilt finished in my lifetime.

I looked around some more - looked at the details on the quilts I passed by earlier. I really recommend taking pictures of all the quilts you like - not just so you can see them again at a later time. There were several quilts whose details weren't obvious until I took their photo. The rainbow on this quilt wasn't nearly as obvious in real life as it is in the photo. Each of the blocks in this quilt are different, and all are made up of four patches made up of half square triangles.

I also went back and bought those things that I had resisted earlier - more crazy quilting do-dads, and a bungle packet of hand painted fabric. I didn't have lunch with anyone because I didn't think I had as much time, but I ate too quickly, and had time to spare before my lecture. There was a pride parade going on outside so I took some pictures of that before heading back in to the lecture. The lecture covered basic information, and since I've read photography books, I didn't learn anything new. I went back to the show and took a final look around before that long walk back to the car.

I wasn't there from open to close every day, but I spent a lot of time at the show. I really enjoyed it. Everyday was a new day, and different things interested me on different days. It was crowded, but going three days, I got a chance to see different things. Saturday afternoon, there wasn't a crowd at the quilts, because they were at the vendors.