Come see me in Chicago at the International Quilt Fesitval

So if you are in Chicago during April 11-13, skip on over to the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center (actually located in Rosemont, just outside of Chicago), and come visit me. I'll be in the middle of the convention floor along with several other artists stitching away on some art quilts.

I am really excited to announce that I am one of the artists who will be working in the Open Studios for Cloth Paper Scissors' Make It University! I got the invitation about a week ago and I was going to wait to blog about it until I knew what my time slots are but Patricia Bolton just announced the lineup in her latest blog post so the cat is out of the bag!

I'm going to be working on art quilts that are designed around embellishments, which is what my article in Quilting Arts was about. To say that being invited to participate in the Open Studios makes my year is a major understatement. Lesley Riley has talked about "refilling the well" on her blog and I realized that that's what I've been doing. The toll of several major events in my life left me feeling kind of...well...empty. There just wasn't the energy to create but its slowly been creeping back in and participating in the Open Studios is going to give it a major jump start.

If you've not been to the International Quilt Festival before, you really need to go. There is so much fiber art flying at you from all directions its like falling into a quilt tornado. Not to mention hundreds of vendors from around the world and let's face it, even though the internet let's us shop with these people all year, there's nothing like seeing it in person. Its insane, in a totally good way!

And the setup that Quilting Arts/Cloth Paper Scissors is a little mixed media mecca. They have a big section smack in the middle of the convention floor and there are classes going on, vendors selling just the coolest stuff, exhibits from the magazine's challenges as well as the Open Studios. There's a buzz, particularly in that spot, that just doesn't compare to anything else in the world. You'll walk away from that space twitching (also in a totally good way) and ready to go to work. I'm really very honored to be a part of it.

Once I know what my times are I'll post about it and I really hope to see you there!