Pacific International Quilt Festival

This past Thursday I went to the Pacific International Quilt Festival in Santa Clara. It's a "must go to" event every October. I ended up going alone this year, which is not necessarily a bad thing. I managed to miss most of the commuter traffic on the two hour trip from my house and got there just in time for the doors to open. When you are by yourself at something like this you can pace yourself like you want, miss the vendors who are selling items that are not your style and you get finished a lot sooner than if you are with a group. Not to say I don't enjoy going with other people. Most years my friend and I get a room at the hotel that is connected to the convention hall. We have lots of fun shopping, going back to our room for a quick nap, room service and doing it all over again the next day. There are many, many vendors to see and the show is extraordinary.

This young lady is Sherry Reynolds. She won a first place blue ribbon for her "Christmas All Around" quilt. I couldn't get a full picture of it as there were so many people oohing and aahing at it. Sherry is such a sweet and humble gal and was really taken aback by all the attention. Hopefully if you enlarge the picture you can see some of the extraordinary detail and workmanship she put into this work of art. I chatted with her for a few minutes and found out that she did the design, the piecing and the quilting all on her own. Plus she has been quilting for only five years!!!!! Amazing!!!!! It should have won best in show (no offense to the person who did).

As always, lots of vendors and lots of shoppers.

This was a shop copy of a pattern that I purchased. I hope to duplicate the colors.

Below are pictures of some of the many, many quilts that were displayed. I noticed that there was quite a bit of applique which seems to be a trend. I like the more traditional quilt designs rather than the "art quilts" but to each his own. Regardless of the style, the workmanship is amazing. Can you guess my favorite from the following pictures?

We're lucky here in California to have three great quilt shows. Road To California in January is in Southern California, The International Quilt Show in Long Beach is in July and Pacific International is in October! So many quilts, so little time!!!

Have a great weekend.