Layers of t-shirt yarn necklaces

What a lot of fun! We just returned from the Long Beach Quilt Festival.We met so many lovely people during the show and I want to say thank you to all of our new friends! To quote Fillmore in the Cars movie, “there’s a lot of love out there, man.” My mom wins the prize for Best Mom Ever for schlepping and promoting and climbing on chairs to hang stuff. We met so many cool, kind, and talented women including many from the LA Modern Quilt Guild.

Oh, and of course we shopped! I love Sewing Party in Laguna Hills, CA. Cecile has great fabrics and a very discerning eye. Momen+ in Torrence, CA has amazing and affordable Japanese fabrics. I bought some really cool holey felt there. I found incredible recycled silk sari yarn at Leilani Arts. The colors are amazing—can’t wait to make something. In fact, an elegant woman named Alina came into the booth with some of the silk ribbon and we wrapped a bangle bracelet she had with her in the style of our Twist-it T-shirt Yarn Jewelry. I am so inspired to work with this stuff. Overall, my shopping bags look like a trip around the world—African chintz, Indian silk, and Japanese dobby cotton!

Alina’s wrapped silk sari bracelet

By far, our favorite quilt at the quilt exhibition was Kim McLean‘s Roseville Album:

Down the street from the convention center was this incredible installation. I don’t usually go gaga for installation art, but this piece was really beautiful. It was in a rather derelict parking lot. The artists transformed the site with huge crocheted hanging pendants—like the 1970’s doily lampshades seen only in Florida beach houses, except ten feet tall. And the installation included a raised patio/performance area and planter beds. All it said was Urban Lab. I found some info here.

Here are some photos from their site: