I recently attended the quilt show at the Region 8 Blackthorpe Barn Exhibition and saw some truly amazing quilts, and I hope someday I will be able to make something as good. Some of my favourites are shown in this blog and I have the names of the makers if anyone wants them.
I spent a couple of hours at the show admiring the quilts and managed to spend some money too at all the lovely stalls that were doing a booming trade. Plus the cake selection was fabulous, not to mention delicious!
This got me to thinking about how we do or do not support our quilting shows and events. How far would I be prepared to travel to visit a quilt show, without thinking that this is too far?
From where I live in a little village on the Essex / Hertfordshire borders, I go to all the shows at Duxford as this is only 30 minutes away. The Blackthorpe show took me just over an hour to get to. I have travelled to the FOQ show once and plan on going again this year and that is around 3.5 hours away. Last year I went to the Houston show which took me a day to get to and I am thinking about going to the Tokyo show either next year or 2021.
So how far is too far, to go for a hobby you love?!?!
I must admit I used to love going to the stitching and textile shows in the USA when I was a professional Cross Stitch Designer. I even taught classes at the one I went to in Riverside California, and went twice to Des Moines in Iowa, and a stitching show in New York. All these shows had an element of Quilting too, but that wasn’t my main focus then, so although I enjoyed looking at all the Quilts and booths with supplies, I did not bring suitcases of material back with me. In the UK I used to exhibit at Harrogate, Alexandra Palace, Manchester, Birmingham and Olympia to sell my Cross Stitch Kits and Patterns. My focus is now Quilting, but mobility issues make going to shows difficult both from the point of getting there and also being able to get round the halls, but I still enjoy going to Quilting shops and fabric stores when away on holiday.
I’m glad that you still go to shops and can enjoy browsing the fabrics and cross stitch items, try and enjoy your hobbies for as long as you can, they are one of life’s small pleasures