Mancuso Pennsylvania Quilt Extravaganza

[Renata L.]

I was looking at the list of vendors for this show https://secure7.actionhosting.ca/qui...ail.asp?id=167 , listed by state, in alphabetical order (or so it appeared)... until... I got to Iowa... and there, sandwiched between Iowa and Kansas was Ireland??? When did that happen? :lol:

In any event, the vendor from Ireland is Button Tree Farm – Irish Wool. Anyone know a little more about this company?

Looks like Rita might not need a passport anymore...

[Rita C.]

:lol: :lol: :lol: - no green card needed then! Button Tree Farm is an Irish company based in Waterford. They have a website where you can buy Irish wool fabric in 5" squares or bundles or by the yard I think? There are not a lot of products on their website so I would be curious to know if they have expanded their range for the show. A lot of Irish companies don't bother to keep their websites updated as it's such a small market here.

[Renata L.]

I'll let you know what I see there, Rita. Thanks for the background info! I went to the website this morning and there was little in their product line, but look forward to visiting their booth in Philadelphia. I'm really looking forward to this quilt show since I've never been to one before (with the exception of our local yearly guild-sponsored show).

[Betty J.]

OK, What I want to know is who is going to be at this show besides Renata, myself, and Teri Lucas? Lois, are you coming? Anyone else?

[Rita C.]

Me! :mrgreen: Ok, not me! But I wish I was because you get to go to classes with Pepper Cory and Gloria Loughman, sigh. :?

[Renata L.]

Wish you were here too! But we'll tell you all about it!

[Rita C.]

[Betty J.]

Rita, we'll get you over here some day. Sigh, I just found out Teri Lucas and friend will not be coming to the show. :cry: But she sent me a note telling me what a great show these are (she's been before). :wink:

[Nancy R.]

I'll only be joining you in spirit. But I, too, will be waiting to hear all about it! 8)

Nancy

[Betty J.]

Ok, I'm SURE that there must be other TQS members out there going to this show. :shock: I'd love to meet you or at least know to look for you especially on Saturday. Hope you wear your TQS badge.

[Betty J.]

We will be leaving in about an hour for this show. If any of you are coming and would like to meet with us while we are there, send me an email through the TQS profile and I'll get it tonight when I log on. Have a wonderful rest of the week and weekend. I'll try to let you know what the show is like as soon as I can. Cheers.

[Betty J.]

Betty Jo, did you have a great time. Would love to hear. I was thinking of going but it was 6 hours away from home. Close to relatives though, so maybe next year. I could stay with them and go down for a day. It's a 2 hour drive from them though. So it might make sense to stay there. It's a pipe dream for next year. When Mancuso comes back to New England I should really take classes and spend a few days there. Jan

[Renata L.]

Jan, you asked me about this quilt show in a separate posting but I'll answer it here... This was the first time I went to what is dubbed a quilt show so I don't have much to compare it to. I would divide the experience into four parts: showing of quilts, classes, vendors, and venue.

First, there were some extraordinary quilts at this show. Even the ones, like BJs, that merited formal recognition but did not receive it, were gorgeous. Anything I did not like, it was not for lack of anything but personal preference. So, from that perspective, I am very happy I went. There were several categories of competition, including the World Quilt Competition, the Philadelphia Extravaganza competition itself as well as a display of the non-ribbon exhibitors of the 2012 Hoffman Challenge (The winners' and some of the other Hoffman challenge pieces are probably traveling to other venues at this time). Gloria Loughman, of Luminous Landscapes fame, exhibited several pieces of her work, including her very first competition quilt which won in Yokohama, Japan, several years ago so it was also nice to get a historical perspective on the work of an award winning quilter. It was superb!

This leads me to the second category: the classes. There was something for everyone and the instructors were very well known for their specific techniques. Betty Jo and I decided to take the same classes together but I will let her speak for herself and offer my personal observations. We took, as you know, Gloria Loughman's class and Pepper Cory's Sashiko class.

Gloria Loughman's class was better than I could imagine. While I read parts of the book to get a better feel for what she might do in class, I don't believe anyone, including me, was able to finish the project, albeit no bigger than 20"x26" in size. But she broke down the class time into sections where she would provide introductory remarks about one portion of the technique; then we would get to work and even if we were not finished, she would give us advanced notice as to when she would give the next portion of her lecture. This way, no matter where we were along the way in producing our own quilt, we were able to listen, take notes and ask questions about subsequent steps in the process that we probably would be doing at home. She stayed on the premises during the one-hour lunch break to answer questions and is simply a delightful human being. Her grasp of color and perspective are amazing, I would love to be her student for a long time!

Pepper Cory was also outstanding. Her grasp of the cultural history of Japan in relation to fiber arts and how people during different times of Japanese history used fiber (like sashiko) to solve the problems of daily living, was on the mark! I came to the class with a different agenda because I had learned sashiko from local Japanese women over 20 years ago while living in Japan. But, because life and work took me into a very different direction, I had forgotten a lot and looked to this class as a refresher course. It did that for me and in fact, it was easier than what I had learned because in a one day class the only reasonable way to teach this kind of craft is with pre-marked sashiko cloth. This way you would bring the needle up where the line drawn on the cloth began and put the needle into the fabric where the line ended. Not easy to get regular stitches without practice--this helped a lot of people. I was very fortunate because I had learned sashiko without the marked cloth and had to count threads to get even stitches but the rules also require that each section have a predetermined number of stitches too. Remember, most of the time you will see thick white stitches pop up on indigo fabric so they have to be very regular to look pretty! Pepper was able to get everybody on board in one day and made sure everyone understood the basic underlying principles in doing sashiko. She also stuck around the classroom during the lunch break. It was a very relaxing class--I am ready to do more--it was a great refresher. She is also one super human being like Gloria Loughman.

In sum, I am willing to bet that all of the classes are great!

Vendors--I'm sorry, Rita, I missed Button Tree Farm… I did not have much time to do anything except for a few hour walk up and down the isles… it did not catch my attention when I walked by… so I must have missed it and realized it after we left… too late! The vendors were the same you see from place to place when visiting a local quilt guild run show or the Sewing and Quilt Expo (which I have attended). Let's put it this way… after my third time seeing them (local show and two Sewing and Quilt Expos), I know my favorites by first name and they know mine… nothing earth shattering but a great bunch of folks! I purchased some threads from Superior, Japanese men's yukata fabric and sashiko thread from Maeda Imports, and a few stencils from Full Line Stencil. By the way, they said that if your Pounce rubs off a bit after you lay down a stencil, just use some hairspray to set the pounced line. That's what they said..

Finally, there was the venue. There were lots of people but we tried to get there half an hour before the doors opened and we were always able to park right near the front door. Easy peasy! The building was some kind of old line factory that had been minimally refurbished so my only complaint would be that there was not enough lighting to really see and enjoy the displayed quilts.

So that's it in a nutshell! Aren't you sorry you asked, Jan? I did not mean to get long-winded but I wanted to give my perspective on what I consider a pretty successful outing! The evening of the sashiko class, BJ and I sat by a window in the hotel lobby and did our sashiko blocks while chatting. It was fun! Did not see any TQSrs at the show (and we did wear our badges!). I'm ready for another show!

[Betty J.]

Betty Jo, did you have a great time. Would love to hear. I was thinking of going but it was 6 hours away from home. Close to relatives though, so maybe next year. I could stay with them and go down for a day. It's a 2 hour drive from them though. So it might make sense to stay there. It's a pipe dream for next year. When Mancuso comes back to New England I should really take classes and spend a few days there. Jan

I had a terrific time. Renata described it well. I learned a lot and really enjoyed the classes. Gloria was one of the judges on my quilt and she talked to me about it and gave me further feedback from the written feedback I got that was really valuable. Pepper was a delight and I was able to spend about a half hour with her at lunch time when everyone else was out. We found we have a lot in common with similar interests.

While my quilt did not win a ribbon, I got wonderful comments back from the judges. The written comments were:
"Beautifully executed quilt with stunning border; Perspective created in center panel through stitching is amazing; Held up well in tough competition." If I hadn't talked with Gloria I would have been a bit puzzled. She indicated while she could see what I was trying to do with my coloring it didn't have the color impact that it needed. Also, you should see the quilt that won my category...it was like a silver Russian icon of Madonna and child. Amazing quilting, and, of course, it was right next to mine and my quilt didn't show up as well located there as it might have.

I was a little disappointed in the vendors. There seemed to be more craftsy stuff and less serious quilt stuff there than at say, Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festivals I have been to, but I still managed to spend a bundle. :lol: :lol: :lol:

[Nancy R.]

Renata & Betty Jo - Thanks for sharing your experiences! Sounds like you had a great time!

Nancy