Simply the Best of QuiltWeek 2015

“Simply the Best,” by Barbara Lacey

As we were heading out of our house on vacation last week, my husband casually commented to me, “Oh! Did you hear there’s some quilt show happening not too far from where we’ll be staying? I just heard a story about it. It’s called Quilt… something?” The happening he was referring to was the American Quilter’s Society’s annual QuiltWeek event and its 2015 stop in Grand Rapids, Michigan. As a quilter, hitting up the show on our way home was a must-do and was quickly added to our vacation schedule.

Grand Rapids was just one of the stops for QuiltWeek 2015, with the show also visiting Albuquerque, N.M., Lancaster, Penn., Paducah, Ky., and Syracuse, N.Y., so far this summer and Chattanooga, Tenn. and Des Moines, Iowa up next on the schedule. Open to the public and members of the society, the show offers lectures, workshops and a vast collection of vendors representing companies both big and small from across the country.

As someone who defines herself as a modern quilter, I was very curious to see what the show had to offer to other quilters like myself. While the show was set up to please a variety of quilting tastes, with the biggest being that of traditional quilters, the modern mindset was definitely represented on the show floor.

While I wasn’t able to take any workshops this time around, the Grand Rapids stop did offer modern quilters classes in improv piecing, working with curved designs and even contemporary crazy quilting. With just a few hours to explore the show, I focused my attention on the show floor. For my fellow modern quilters out there, here are some of my show favorites and noted trends from Grand Rapids. If you’ve been to QuiltWeek this year and enjoy modern quilting, what were some of your favorite takeaways?

Text on Fabric
I was excited to see Debbie Dominy, of Elkhorn Quilt Company in Mesa, Ariz., set up as a shop at QuiltWeek. I first met Debbie earlier this year at QuiltCon and really appreciated her mix of contemporary fabrics up for grabs. I asked Debbie what had been a big seller this week and she said she couldn’t stock fabric printed with text fast enough. Almost every vendor I visited offered fabrics with text on them and shoppers were happy to snatch it all up.

Collage Quilts
Art quilts have never caught my eye so much! Laura Heine of Fiberworks, located in Billings, Mont., creates beautiful collage-style quilts as kits or individual patterns. This approach to quilting is a genius way to use up your scraps and let your eye for color and design take over. Her whimsical booth was packed during our visit.

Faces Front and Center
For those following the news coming out of QuiltCon this year, you know that Melissa Averinos’ Face #1 was a huge hit with attendees. Ever since then I’ve started seeing face-themed quilts everywhere and QuiltWeek was no different. Deborah S. Hyde’s “Sam in Sunlight” won Best Use of Color at the show and had a long line of attendees snapping pictures from all angles.

 

There was even an entire guild challenge dedicated to “Famous Female Faces,” too.

DIY Fabrics
Tucked in the front corner of the show floor was Wendy Paskus of Stipples Etc. and her rich assortment of hand-dyed fabrics. Wendy has been dying her own fabric for 20 years and just started selling her work a few years back. Her colors are bold and striking. While she offers yardage of her colors, she sold small test strips for just a few dollars, a perfect addition to any quilter’s stash.

Fabrics for a Cause
Northcott was one of the biggest companies on the floor and was proudly sharing information about their Artisan Spirit Sandscapes collection. Looking at the fabric up close, the designs remind you of beautiful marbled papers, and that’s on purpose. The line is in honor of the work of the women of Prokritee, a fair trade company in Dhaka, Bangladesh. This Northcott line was inspired by their handmade papers, so a portion of the fabrics’ sales are donated back to the company. On the QuiltWeek show floor Northcott paired swatches of the fabric with images of the women, catching the eyes of all who walked by.

Best in Show
A quilt show isn’t complete without some wonderful quilts on exhibit! QuiltWeek had several rows of quilts dedicated to modern designs and the results were fantastic. Above are a few of my favorites. What was my No. 1 favorite quilt at QuiltWeek? I thought it might be hard to pick a favorite, but as soon as I saw Barbara Lacey’s Tina Turner quilt, titled “Simply the Best” and pictured up top of the post, the choice was obvious.

Curious to see what’s next for QuiltWeek in 2015? If you live by the last two cities featured in this year’s showcase, the Chattanooga stop takes place Sept. 16-19 and Des Moines is Sept. 30 through Oct. 3.