100 degrees in KC!

I am currently sitting in the Kansas City Airport waiting for a plane back to Cleveland and hopefully cooler weather…below 100 degrees that is. Last Monday my fellow quilting ladies and I flew to Kansas City, Missouri for Primitives of the Midwest. A quilting extravaganza…filled with 3 days of classes, parties, and of course shopping and antiquing! The week started off with a wool appliqué class with Maggie Bonanomi an amazing artist who specializes in WOOL! She surprised us with the project to the right…the pattern was only designed for our class …you know exclusive! Maggie has a new book coming out this fall and I am really excited to see what she has come up with. I am hoping that she will come to the shop next year and teach classes! Oh and the coolest thing she loves to use your average sewing thread for her perfectly even stitches…what an idea! I love it...it turns out beautiful on your work.

My second class was with the AMAZING and very popular Jo Morton. I took her Lamoyne Stars hand piecing class. For those of you who don’t know what hand piecing it is the“old school” way of putting patches together! That means cutting it out and sewing with NO MACHINE…how about that. I thought it was really neat when Jo talked about her reasoning for teaching classes...she teaches hand piecing to keep the art alive. Us “young” patch workers really need remember that is where it all started. My patch is made with Jo’s, Joel’s and Amy’s fabric. My idea was to bring new and old patterns together. I need to get the other blocks cut out and put together. Oh and the fabric seen is a sneak peak of what will be in my shop this fall.

Last but not least “Red Clover” with Sue Spargo was on Thursday. A small wall quilt made of wool, cottons, taffeta and other yummy textiles and trimmings. I am so glad I got to take one of Sue’s classes… she is an inspiration. I think it is because of her color use and patience in teaching new techniques. Plus all of her amazing notions and textiles that she offers from her travels around the world! I so wish I could be taking her class in Sisters, Oregon in a couple weeks….Magnolia it is amazing. I forgot to tell you Renee Plains was in our class and of course the work she did was amazing! I have to remember to order some more patterns from her for the opening!

After this awesome week I honestly have fallen in love with working with wool… it’s very forgiving. Although, my mom pointed this out… why exactly are we working in WOOL when its 100 degrees (literally) out…well mom I guess that is why they call us crazy quilters! The last few days have been visiting near by neighborhoods of Kansas City. We visited a few quilt shops for inspiration, an art festival downtown and antique shops. The antiques are amazing out here and sooooo affordable. I wish I had a truck to take all the ones I wanted home.
If you are ever in the KC area check out a couple of shops...
Quilters Station in Lee’s Summit, MO http://www.quiltersstation.com/ and
Urban Arts & Crafts in Kansas City, MO http://www.urbanartsandcrafts.com/!
Those were my two favorite places along the way. What an incredible week of meeting new people and spending it with inspiring women from all over the country.

P.S. Unfortunately on this sewing trip we didn’t get anymore quilt patch tattoos but maybe next time…(oh and when my mom read this she told me to add that is was way to painful for her to do again but at least one thing is off her bucket list)!