This quilt was my favorite. It hits close to home with being a military family for 20 years. By Cindy Garcia
She really caught the sadness in the girls eyes. I teared up.
I had a lot of fun at Bloomington’s IHQS! I always love looking at quilts! Quilters are not only VERY creative, they are fun, and so friendly. I chatted away the day as I went. I saw lots of Indy QGI friends, booth sat at the SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates) booth where we had wonderful conversations, ate lunch with some local quilters, and then made some purchases before heading back home.
I had two pieces in the show. Il Ponte alla Carraia and Thistles and Bee. First time I showed there. Next year SAQA will have a special exhibit, so that will be nice and they allowed us to have an informational booth. Kate Lenkowsky was wonderful to run it for 3 days with just some breaks! I really enjoyed chatting about art with her, albeit continually interrupted, lol. I can’t wait to see what her submissions for the SAQA Indiana exhibit at the Indianapolis Museum of Art will be. She showed me a very rough sketch of one of her ideas.
I have to share my quilt show pet peeve. It has become common at shows to put up plastic ropes that criss cross through the booth. I get that it keeps people further away from the quilts and keeps most people from being tempted to touch. But then you can’t get close to the quilts to see the details. Which is the biggest best part of going to a show, in my opinion! I will be less likely to go that far away when I know I can’t do what I like most. It also makes it impossible to get good pictures of the quilts on the sides. So not many pictures. Ba humbug!
I don’t usually get all that excited about the shopping. As a dyer, I usually use my own fabrics and I don’t like to fight the crowds looking at the latest quilt gadgets. But I knew that Breezy Manor Farm would be there with her hand dyed wool. Yummy. I bought a bag of silk/wool roving and a bag of wool.
I found Heather Givens creator of Crimson Tate, her alter ego cartoon character who is out to rule the world. I love her enthusiasm for all things creative and finally got to tell her congrats on her new fabric line! I stopped in the store in Indy last month but she was out, but I got a sneak peek at the succulents fabric. I bought her “baby toes” t shirt. Love it! She gave me a couple of pins from the Houston pin swap and a huge hug. Love her!
So the fabric line hasn’t hit the market, but she had some at Houston and said she couldn’t let it be sold at Houston without letting us buy some back home. So, I bought a fat quarter pack of the fabric. She told me to let her know if I might want to make a quilt for the next line she is working on. So I pondered that on the drive home. Go, Heather!
I thought I was all done spending. My two temptations I couldn’t pass up. But no! Out of the corner of my eye I saw the SAQA Urban Textures line, which was designed by SAQA members. Ugh. I had to get some of that and now I might “have” to do the quilt challenge now. I was trying to not get sucked into another project. So again, thinking I’m done, I got sucked into some more fat quarters: Marcia Derse and Nature’s Treasures by Laura Van Horne which reminds me of my hail photos. So much for not spending much. 
The cat had to hop up and smell the wool and was annoyed when I made her go.
Then she decided to help me out, which she does occasionally when I’m photographing by holding up some fabric for me for a backdrop.
