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NQA in Columbus, Ohio

In June I had the great good fortune to be invited to teach at the National Quilt Association show in Columbus, Ohio.  What FUN!  I had never been to the show, tho last year had a quilt in a special exhibit and won an  Honorable Mention for my Bijagos Warrior quilt.  So this year was an all-new experience for me.  I thoroughly enjoyed the show… it had top level quilts (entry is first-come gets in, not juried! the  only show I think at the national level that isn’t juried), great vendors, but was not so  huge that you felt overwhelmed.  I knew Marjorie Hallowell, owner of my local Maine-ly Sewing shop would be vending, but didn’t expect to meet anyone I knew other than two ladies from the Janome 6500/6600/7700 list who were to be in my classes.  Imagine my surprise then when I went into the hall on set-up day to take something to Marge, when I hear “Sarah Smith!  What are you doing here!” and turn to see Judi Yakab, hand-dyer extraordinaire and owner of Mamaw’s Hand-dyes.

Sarah and Judi Yakab

Judi and I met in a Carol Soderlund dyeing workshop a few years back held at ProChem in Fall River, Mass.  It’s wonderful to see how her business has taken off!  An aisle away I found Marge, then while strolling along a tall woman pops into the aisle (I was nearly asleep at this point) and shouts “Sarah Ann Smith”!  And there were mom and daughter team Jan and Kirsten from Fiber on a Whim!  A couple days later, I met Nancy Z. who runs Maine Quilts and was there with her sister and mom…. AND, remember that trip to teach for the Arizona Quilt Guild?  Well I think about 80 percent of that guild’s leadership is ALSO part of the leadership of the NQA, and everywhere I turned were familiar faces…what FUN!

Here are some of my favorite quilts, and I will confess… I committed the cardinal sin and forgot to get pics of the makers.  If any of you know who they are, please tell me and I’ll add the info:

This one made me stop and gasp!... GORGEOUS!


Diane Rusin Doran made the orange and yellow quilt with the ribbon–way to go Diane!

Oh my! Another beauty!

My quilt, Be Inspired No. 1, is on the right; Gloria Hansen's Blushing Triangles is on the left and...yeah! won a ribbon. Gloria is co-designer of my website, too!

From the Trees exhibit...this is paper pieced!!!!!!!

Another one that stops you in your tracks!

And the last morning….the sunrise sky wasn’t quite that lavender in real life, but it was beautiful:

And a close up:

Sunrise, the day I headed home

I’ll have some pictures of my classes…alas I was so busy in two of them that I forgot to take many pictures!

2 Responses to “NQA in Columbus, Ohio”

  1. Linda Moran Says:

    Quilts are gorgeous! Thanks for the pictures. Maybe next year…..

  2. Maggie Szafranski Says:

    NQA is on my list for next year. One of my guild members got an honorable mention for one of her quilts. I didn’t realize that it wasn’t a juried show.