Working and Playing at IQF

Many of you have mentioned volunteering at IQF. It is a lot of work. When I was recruited that was the first thing that I was told! Work comes first!! (right Barb?)There are a lot of volunteer opportunities during the show in a variety of capacities.  I volunteer  in the education department and the entire team has jobs that help make your experience at classes, lectures, bus tours, and special events run smoothly.  (As a teacher or student, we are there for you!)

Last year I helped with bus tours, this year, Jill, on the right, trained me on the first day  and then let me go after that. My roommate, Sue, was working bus tours too and I think we made a great team. We had the early bird shift (6AM to gather everything we needed) which was difficult coming from the west coast and pacific time zone.

Lack of sleep and we could all get a bit rummy! These aprons are so darn adorable too!! <not!> But they are a great visual for folks looking for the bus tour departure area.

Here is our 6:15 office in the Hilton parking garage.

 Lest you think it is super glamorous, here I am marking new irons with the bright yellow tape and a Q. That way we know they belong to Quilts inc ed office.

Here we are sprucing up the education office with quilts. This one made by Barbara Black.

While checking in a lecture, can I please staple these coupons on? Of course I can! 

Irons in- that means going around the 3rd floor and collecting irons we have set up in the hallways. Irons in, Irons out..... yes, it gets done all week long! (not necessarily by me or just one person) 

With the George Brown Convention Ctr spanning 11 blocks and 1,900,000 square feet sometimes trying to use the stairs to get you where you are going leads you to some odd spaces... 

Along with my tour I also took a 3 hour class with Maria Shell. Quilts inc is a for-profit business so we pay for any classes or tours we take. (we work but can take up to 1 1/2 days of classes)  Maria's quilts are very recognizable.

click to enlarge

The class was, "Color; Its Relative" It was her first time teaching it and it needs a bit of work. There is a wide variety of quilters (beginner to advanced) in the class and it is a hard topic. Unfortunately it was the student with the "art degree" that brought her down the rabbit hole asking asinine questions and made the class not as good as it could have been. I think a good teacher can control that a bit more, and do it in a nice way. What do you all see in the photo above? Looks like houses to me... nope! They are chairs. maybe that's why I don't "do" art quilts! LOL 

She shared with us her way of choosing fabric for her quilts. She uses the red plastic thing you look through and the black and white feature on her phone to make sure she has enough contrast. Her way was tedious and I think so much depends on what you are making the quilt for.

If you are making quilts for a book to support your livelihood than that is so much different than why the general population quilts.  It would completely take the enjoyment out of it if I had to compare every fabric in every block to make sure there was enough contrast, make sure the fabric isn't "dead" (her terminology- dead and alive fabric) Maybe that is why our scraps seems to multiply overnight! LOL LOL 

I'm obviously intrigued by her work because I bought her book! 

One other lecture I worked and enjoyed quite a bit was with Cindy Grisdela. 

Look at this quilting- a different quilt pattern in each color/section.

So interesting!!

I bought her book too! 

I'm pretty sure you won't find me making any art quilts soon, but I can always learn something from them!

So you can see, we worked hard....

 And played hard (within reason because we had to get up so early!)

Our hotel was always a welcome sight, knowing a hot shower and  my bed was waiting for me!

BTW, This is the Embassy Suites. 

Such a welcoming room! That is my bag on the right including my clothes and all my purchases and my roommates bag on the left! Her extra suitcase she brought!! 

Thanks for tagging along with me! Friday I'll finish up with more quilts from the show although I'm sure you've seen plenty online.

I hope ya'll are having a terrific week!