Quilt Show

I took a quick trip to Columbus, Ohio, last week to go to a quilt show. (I told you when I dive into something I really am totally in it!) I got a non-stop flight with frequent flyer miles, and stayed one night at the convention center hotel at a (relatively) cheap conference rate. The Columbus airport was twelve minutes and a $20 Uber ride from the convention center.  The whole trip was easy-peasy and not too costly, and I wanted to see more of the world of quilts! 

I figured if the quilt show was a bust, I could walk around Columbus, which I had last visited 40 years ago when I lived in Ohio. A favorite young blogger I follow, Athena Scalzi, lives in rural Ohio and has blogged several times about trips to Columbus and places there she has visited. I took notes from her blog along with me. As it turns out, the convention center was in one of the neighborhoods she frequents. I walked around and saw several spots she mentions, but didn't actually eat in any of them. Instead, I found a food hall a couple of blocks away and visited that for a couple of meals (Turkish rice bowl, and then bao buns), very satisfying. Forty years ago, in my not-so-distant part of Ohio, zucchini was found in the foreign vegetable section of the supermarket, and at a restaurant when I asked for a rare steak, they said they didn't know how to do that. I appreciate modern life!

Many variations on traditional forms

The quilt show was anything but a bust! There were a couple of hundred displayed quilts, between several themed competitions and those displayed in vendor booths. This was the main reason I wanted to go. I'm trying to refine my tastes and also understand the possibilities, as I start to make my own quilts. I took many photos, standing back to get a sense of the designs, and close up to understand the fabric piecing and the quilting approach. I'm only just now beginning to understand how the quilting itself (the visible top-stitching through the layers) contributes to the overall design - it's not all about the colors and shapes of the fabric of the quilt top, though that was what first drew me to the art form.

This very painterly quilt is a masterpiece!

A detail from the bridge above.
Each square is about a half an inch
Note how the quilting helps define the design

The range of the displays was amazing! There were many many variations of traditional forms, most prominently the stars. But there were also pointillist/pixelated renditions of photos, people and landscapes, abstract colors and shapes, cutesy animals, baby activity blankets, and many many smaller things twee and kitsch. There were also many different types of vendor booths, with giant computerized sewing machines and many workaday models. There were lots of gadgets ("notions" in sewing lingo). My local quilting store is lovely but tiny, and there were things I had seen on-line that I hadn't seen in real life, and I was anxious to seek them out. I went with a list. There was also lots and lots of fabric available there, which I expected, but also whole booths dedicated to thread, which I hadn't expected. With visible quilting stitching such a big part of a quilt, that makes sense. Fabric is sold in specialty fabric stores by the yard from big bolts on a shelf, but often for a quilt project you only need a small amount each of several different colors or designs. Sometimes an on-line vendor bundles a bunch of smaller pieces into a curated collection selected for a color and/or theme story. But at this show, there were also individual small pieces available to put together your own designs. I knew to expect that - I also found prices were roughly the same as on-line, not a great deal. But seeing the colors in real life, picking exactly what I want, is very satisfying.

Some more modern designs

I was quite taken with this guy
detail from a much bigger piece
I love the piecing and quilting 

It took a couple of hours to get the lay of the land, and I was glad I had decided to stay long enough and close enough that I could make several separate forays into the exhibit hall. The hall was as far away from my hotel room as it was possible to be while staying inside the giant convention complex. It took me almost 15 minutes to walk there! Also holding events in the same convention center were a mid-west bitcoin organization, an Ohio cannabis group, and some large industrial group that I think was something to do with HVAC. While waiting for the elevator in the hotel, a young man in a company-logo polo shirt and chinos wearing some meeting badge around his neck asked me, with mid-western politeness, "Are you enjoying the quilt show?". I laughed out loud, acknowledging how squarely I fit into the demographic! If anything, I was on the younger end of quilters. (Actually, TBH, upon reflection, I wasn't any younger. I just felt like I must be younger, always wondering at being in the middle of a crowd of old people.)

This is a "long-arm quilter". 
The quilt is attached to the machine,
and the computerized head moves and sews the programmed design

One of many thread vendors
Between display quilts, fabrics, and thread, 
I felt totally drunk with color.

The convention center complex was at the edge of a newly gentrifying area of Columbus, the Short North. I walked around and enjoyed the vibe, as the sun came out and I could finally shed my sweater. It was restaurants and art galleries, some thrift shops. The buildings were older, two and three stories high. The 'hood was clearly established, as they were just finishing up a project to put in new curbs and curb cuts at intersections - it's been my observation that usually lags the raising up of property values. But they plopped the convention center into a corner made by many expressways. Whoever the Robert Moses of Columbus was, he was very unkind to this part of the city. The convention center was soundproofed to highway noise, so not a bad choice to put it there, but the streets surrounding it vibrated with traffic and noise. I don't think the original design contemplated integrating convention visitors into the cityscape, but rather keeping them in the enclosed complex (including three attached hotels with a range of restaurants).

View from a hotel window, 20th floor edition

My hotel room was on the top 20th floor of the hotel, with a view of flat roofed industrial buildings and several highway interchanges. I marveled at the flatness of the landscape, as far as the horizon. The large window faced northeast, and I left the curtains open as there was no way anyone could see in. I don't need to worry about room darkening at night, as I sleep with an eye mask. I woke just before sunrise, and took my eye mask off to be treated to a glowing ruby, then pink, horizon across the whole view, that gradually turned yellow and finally faded into white as the sun came up. Quite a show, across an otherwise uninspiring landscape. 

What I bought

The whole trip was really worthwhile. I learned so much, and I'm firming up my intentions for my future quilting projects.

Girl with a pearl onion earring
(and a slice of pizza)