PowersThatBeeQuilting: Ideas and More Ideas

The International Quilt Festival was held in Cincinnati this past weekend. Several classes intrigued me so I took advantage of the proximity to attend.

The first class I took was Beth Wheeler's Digital Collage Mixed Media class. She had wonderful examples to share and talked about the different techniques to incorporate images, sayings or words on twill tape (who knew you could run twill tape through a printer - double sided tape is the answer), paint and other stuff on collages. A fun day of experimentation.

Here's one of my classmates with her mixed media collage close to completion. Lots of different paints and colors on the sample.

Printed words on twill tape. This student also used some stencils to get additional design elements, like that in the lower right corner, on the quilty. The aeroplane was clip art selected along with a background that was printed on photo fabric.

Here's Beth...

giving a student...

a round of applause.

I used the flutter setting on my camera...

that I learned how to use in Cambria.

Here's one of Beth's samples - gorgeous and very unique in its execution.

On Friday, I took two different classes. One of the classes was taught by Mary Ellen Kranz, who did a superb job teaching the class about different ways to use EQ7 despite the fact that several students didn't have their computer. It was a trial to see how it went as the Cincy venue was not sure of the electrical load should all of the students plug in with their laptops. I have to admit I appreciated having my laptop and software with me as I was able to click on icons, figure out where I went wrong on an earlier click, and work on actual photos.

This is one of Mary Ellen Kranz's quilts that incorporates digital photography. What impresses me about her work is how the photo is blended with fabrics so that they are difficult to tell apart.

Mary Ellen, left, telling her Alex Anderson story. Too funny!

If you use EQ7 and are anywhere near a class given by Mary Ellen, TAKE IT! She's a wonderful teacher.

The third class I took was Out on a Limb - Textural Trees from Wendy Butler Berns, another excellent teacher. This was a 3 hour class so we were really working through lots of different techniques and I didn't have time for many pictures. She was extremely organized and incorporated several different techniques for creating a landscape quilt. As I've got a landscape scene in my head, this was a helpful class on different techniques to execute my vision. Stay tuned...but don't hold your breath. I came away with lots of ideas so it will take awhile to work on them.

Marilyn, left, was in the Textural Trees class. Marilyn's a long time friend of Sue, president of our local quilt guild!

With those classes, there wasn't much time to look at the several quilt exhibits at the show. I had planned to spend Friday night there so I could check out the displays and the vendors on Saturday morning. That actually worked out quite well. I had strolled through the Baltimore Album Quilt Display Thursday evening and walked through some of the other exhibits. But I found an interesting exhibit on Architectural Elements in Quilts that I had missed so was glad I had an opportunity to look at that exhibit.

As the show didn't open until 10 a.m., I had time for a stroll to Fountain Square to view the art on display that used recycled materials. Graeter's, an ice cream emporium, also had my favorite tea and a donut that hit the spot for breakfast. Eating while listening to the morning sounds and the fountain, watching parents with their children enjoying the play area and reflecting on what I had seen and learned was a great way to start off the day.