Visiting the Chicago MOQ

The Special Event was awesome***** I will write more about that in another post.  This time I want to focus on going to Chicago.  First of all, I forgot how cold minus cold can be...especially when you are in Chicago.  Luckily I had thermals, gloves (leather gloves look good but are not warm at all), a heavy coat and heavy jacket so parts of me did manage to stay warm.  One of the highlights (besides spending time with Dan the Man's family, was going to a meeting of the Chicago Modern Quilt Guild.  Talk about inspiration!!!  It just so happened, in lieu of a normal meeting, they had a mini trunk show and had some members showcase their quilts.  Thank you Jen Bryan (club President) for the warm welcome.  I also wanted to thank Emily(one of the showcase members but I lost her card. Anyway, here is some inspiration!!!

All of these women brought their first quilt to show.  You could see the pride they had letting us see where they were and where they are now.  One has only been quilting a couple years to another who has been quilting for over 15.  Materials ranged from cottons to corduroy, dupioni silks.  Emily majored in art and print design and convinced her instructors to let her print her own design on fabric and make it a quilt (the garden quilt with veggies).  I loved the bird bag which is made out of vintage tea towels.  An repeated comment was that thrift shops were their best friends.  One woman suggested using the front of shirts as a pillow back (what a great idea!) and said it just made her life infinitely easier.  Interestingly enough there are not a lot of quilt shops in Chicago; many just buy online or at various shows.  I was impressed with the guild calendar and am waiting for mine to arrive in the mail.  Well, I could go on and on but I do need to get some sleep. Many many thanks to Chicago MOQ for the hospitality!  Oh, by the way, they just joined the Mothership too!