The Greater Chicago Quilt Exposition

Virginia O'Donnell

I went to the Greater Chicago Quilt Exposition in Schaumburg over the weekend. The show features the "World Quilt Competition" and many smaller exhibits. Mom & I went to this show two years ago and enjoyed it a lot. The previous weekend was the big Fine Art of Fiber show put on by various Chicago area guilds, which I have never been to. We could only go to one of the two and ended up choosing the Exposition because it was a more convenient weekend and easier to drive to. Did anyone go to the Fine Art of Fiber?

Well anyway, it was a good show. I didn't feel quite as "wowed" by it as I did two years ago, but it's hard to say if that's a change in the show or me. But I still thought it was worth driving two hours for. (I've never really felt that way about the Chicago IQF, which I haven't been back to since the first year.) I also feel a little sad that I left the vendor section empty handed. Half the fun of big quilt shows is coming away with something amazing and unexpected or some unbelievable deal. Nothing spoke to me, however. Again, maybe it's me?

I didn't take tons of pictures because I was running out of space on my memory card, but here's a few of my favs, and you can see the rest in my flickr set.

"My English Garden" by Susan Jensen, from the Canada section:



"Little South African Picture quilt by Gina Niederhumer of South Africa:



"North to Alaska" by Anne Joule of New Zealand:



Oh, one notable thing I saw in this show - a hand quilted all over meander. True story.