David and I had a busy day yesterday. After sitting the gallery for the Textures show during the Temecula Outdoor Quilt show we sprinted out of town with Gail to beat feet to the Palm Springs QuiltFest show put on by Mancuso. We had a great time and saw some fabulous quilts. There was an exhibit of international quilts from different countries (Australia, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, South Africa, Israel, Japan, and New Zealand) of which this was the most memorable for me.

I took lots of photos of many fabulous quilts, some for color usage, some for stitch work and some just because they were incredible. For a first show this was a great start. I talked to a few of the vendors about attendance and sales. We were there on the last day and for a Saturday it seemed light for attendance, but there was a lot of competition of events this weekend.

David, Gail and I all got distracted by the wonderful hand dyed fabrics at two of the vendors. We left a little coin at both booths 413 Always Unique Hand Dyed Fabric and 203 Dragonfly Dyeworks. Check out my Facebook post to see what I got from Dragonfly.

I hope that Mancuso continues this venue. We had a lot of fun at the show and then headed into downtown Palm Springs for a late lunch before heading back to Temecula. 

After strolling a couple of blocks we decided on a restaurant. Totally enjoyed our food at Lulu's California Bistro where David, Gail and myself all got the 3 course special. Pick a soup or salad, main course and dessert for a great price. We were even there for the early bird special. Had great service from all the wait staff who were funny and entertaining. Great choices for meat eaters, gluten free and vegetarian. Thanks Lulu's for an enjoyable and relaxed meal and a place to rest our feet.

Did you go to this show? What was your favorite quilt or vendor?

Just got the exciting news from Amanda with IQF that "La Femme" will not be coming home to me. My quilt has been purchased while it was with the special exhibit "Black and White with a Twist" at the International Quilt Festival in Houston. The show goes until November 4th, 2012. It is very humbling to know that someone likes a piece of art enough to want to take it home.

This is also a good reminder to me (and to other artists) that you must be sure to have good photographs of your work before they go to an exhibit. There may not be any opportunities to document your work later.

I really enjoyed creating this quilt. Not only was it interesting to work with mostly black and white, but I had a lot of fun working with the Wordle program, selecting the font and getting the text arranged in a way that I felt was pleasing. I used several computer programs in designing this quilt both on the internet (Wordle) and on my personal computer (Corel Draw). Corel Draw made the task so easy in getting the text to follow the exact curves of the figure. I was able to move each word independently.

This quilt was first displayed at IQF Long Beach, then traveled to QuiltFest Pennsylvania and from there on to IQF Houston. David and I were able to go back to PA to on vacation to see the show and while visiting friends. I am glad I got to see it one more time before it sold.