International Quilt Festival

My sister and I were privileged to attend the 2015 International Quilt Festival in Houston, Texas this last weekend. What an experience!  We came home with our brains bursting with inspiration and ideas!

Among my favorite vendors was Isabelle Biche of L'atelier D'Isabelle. 

Isabelle Biche of L'Atelier D'Isabelle

Her gorgeous, beautifully worked samples were very popular among shoppers. She uses linen and wool for charming little projects in colors that are light and cheerful. I bought the kit for the little "Poules Mouillees" in the center of the photo. (It is 30cm x 45cm or a little smaller than 12" x 18")

Isabelle graciously gave me permission to take a photo of her and of the little projects here.)

 She had some Christmas projects that were really gorgeous, but she had sold out there at the show. 

(I don't even pretend to speak French, but I tried to find the translations of the words around the border of the stitchery. It reads, "Pied de poule - lait de poule - chair de poule - poule mouillee - poule au pot - mere poule." Now I knew that "poule" was chicken because that is close to the Spanish "pollo" for chicken. The more literal translation of the words is  "chicken feet", "eggnog", "goosebumps", "wet hen or sissy chicken"(?), "chicken pie", "mother hen". Now I know some of you (I have a couple in mind!) are probably laughing at my attempt at translation! Is this a children's song? Just a play on words? It really doesn't matter to me because I think it's adorable! 

Check out some of her projects on her website here. 

We spent two days at the show and didn't have near enough time to really take it all in. 

Besides antique and traditional quilts, were

 the whimsical,

You Are My Sunshine by Bodil Gardner of Lystrup, Denmark

the pictorial,

Napa Valley Vineyard with Red Barn by Cathie Hoover

  and even the abstract!

The Patriots of Boston by Loris Bogue (this is actually a map of Boston showing the Freedom walk!)

 There were also dolls!

"Pinwheel" by Angela Jarecki

 There were so many, many more items that I would love to have shown you, but many could not be photographed and there were too many to show here! 

 This was a huge building, but there were nice places to rest.

I wonder how many of you I passed while walking along the aisles?