International Quilt Festival!

This weekend was the 2011 Long Beach International Quilt Festival. I went to the preview night on Thursday, and spent a good part of the day there yesterday (Saturday). It was incredibly inspiring, I managed to get some pretty good stuff and I had a lot of fun with my quilty friends! We had lots of talks about what was and wasn't a "modern" quilt, which ones weren't actually quilts at all, the projects we only dream of being able to accomplish and those we'd like to try and make our own. I am quite inspired to try hand quilting, and have pinned down what I want to do for some projects that have been floating around in my mind. I met the wonderful Carrie of Such Designs who was so incredibly friendly! She was kind enough to give me the pattern for her Wonky Little Houses pillow, the perfect pillow to use my treasured Tufted Tweets!  I got the chance to hear Jake Finch of the fantastic new Generation Q Magazine talk about what she's seen in the quilting world in the last few years and what she thinks "modern" quilting is all about. She had some great quilts to show as examples of some of the main characteristics. There's just such a wonderful energy when a lot of people who love their craft get together to celebrate it, and now I just want to hop on my machine and create! I'll leave you with some photos... ciao!