Category Archives: Events

As you know from last week’s blog, I went to the AQS show in Des Moines, Iowa. It was much like going to the show in Paducah. Of course there were a few things lacking, such as Hancocks of Paducah and the Quilt Museum, both standard stops when I go to Paducah. On the plus side, the quilts that were hanging were wonderful.

There was a special exhibit of Judy Martin’s quilts. The quilts are featured in her books that have been published throughout her career. I found her log cabin quilts of particular interest. I hadn’t realized how many ways you could turn a log cabin block and come up with a different design. I had my camera along, and many times I missed the overall effect of the design until I looked through the camera’s lens. (I’d love to put up a photo gallery, but AQS has a policy that says I can’t do that without their and the quilt maker’s permission.)

AQS offered many classes with nationally known teachers Jan Patek shows people how to do needle-turn applique.such as Eleanor Burns, Karen Stone, Cynthia England and Mark Lipinski, to name a very few. It seems they offered a class to suit just about anyone, whether you were looking for long-arm classes, piecing, or appliqué.
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Wednesday I went to Des Moines, Iowa, to the American Quilter’s Society Quilt Show to take a day-long class with Mark Lipinski — you know, the Quilter’s Home, guy. I’ve met him a few times before. He is a wonderful designer and an all-around funny guy whose company I really enjoy. He’s a very good speaker, and I was eager to see what he had to offer as a teacher.

The name of the class was Simple Simon. He had us make a very easy block using two fabrics of different values so one would end up with a quilt that has a positive and negative effect. The blocks are strip-pieced and go together very quickly.

After everyone had their blocks made, Mark showed a Mark Lipinski arranges blocks as students look on.myriad of ways one could put them together. Then, to the oohs and ahhs of the students, he began folding the blocks to show how they would look if one cut the original blocks apart and re-sewed them into half-square triangles or quarter-squares triangles. Each student could create a quilt that was different from anyone else’s in the class, even though each had started out with the same block.
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It’s that time of year again. All the planning, working, quilting, committee meetings, sign-up sheets, and challenges have come to fruition.

It’s quilt show time again. The guild I belong to is The Quilter’s Guild of Greater Kansas City and our yearly show hangs for two weeks at Crown Center in Kansas City. Yes, that IS a long time for a show to go on for a guild. We used to have our show for 10 days but the folks at Crown Center asked that we extend the time to two weeks.

Crown Center, located at 2450 Grand Blvd in Kansas City, Missouri, is a wonderful indoor area of shops and restaurants next to the headquarters for Hallmark Cards. It’s also within walking distance of recently restored Union Station.

There has been a great working relationship between Crown Center and the guild for the past 32 years. The guild members provide the workers, the quilters and the quilts, but Crown Center employees hang the quilts for us and do an exquisite job of lighting them so they will show off to their best advantage.
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