2011 Sewing & Stitchery Expo

Comfortable shoes—check. Shopping bag that can expand as needed—check. Sack lunch—check. Water bottle—check. Seminar tickets—check. Cash and charge cards—check. I was ready to tackle the 2011 Sewing & Stitchery Expo.

            My friend Carol had clicked online as soon as the registration website opened, and registered us for our seminars. None of the seven classes I took disappointed. Eleanor Burns won my award for Best Showmanship. She had the audience singing Old Macdonald Had a Farm to introduce her seminar “Quilt Blocks on American Barns.” 

Laura Stark and Carol Kain meet Eleanor Burns, quilting great.

            In other seminars I learned about quilting with big, bold prints; creating landscape quilts; and making jewelry from fabric scraps. On the free stage we watched Linda McPhee’s slinky fashion show, and laughed our way through Glorianne Cubbage’s talk: A Girlfriend’s Guide to Thread. We’ve made it a point to see her since the first time we saw her three years ago in a classroom in the Milking Parlor.

            In between seminars, Carol, Margie, and I became ruthless shoppers, stalking fabric, patterns, books, and quilting tools with speed and agility. Then we’d meet back up to oooh and ahhh over each others’ quarry.

            For me, the highlight of this year’s expo was managing to get a ticket for an hour and a half seminar by Ricky Tims. In 2002, he was named one of The Thirty Most Distinguished Quilters in the World. It was a stroke of luck that when I checked on Thursday, his seminar wasn’t sold out.

So early this morning, the last day of the Sewing Expo, I ran through the Blue Gate of the fairgrounds and up to the second floor of the Pavilion to listen to this extraordinary quilt designer, and renowned pianist, conductor, composer, arranger, and music producer tell us how to make his award-winning quilts.

His Convergence quilts are based on a simple concept, take little time, yet result in quilts with a strong, modern impact. To think that he started a whole new type of quilt as a result of cleaning his sewing room is an inspiration to me, a quilter whose sewing room has stacks of fabric piled so high we may have to raise the ceiling.

Bohemian Rhapsody by Ricky Tims.

Tims’ Rhapsody quilts have a symmetrical medallion in the center. Intricate designs in brilliant colors continue in curving symmetry out to the borders.  In a sea of quilts, they will grab your attention and not let go.

Laura Stark and Ricky Tims at Sew Expo, Puyallup, WA.

            Afterwards, I raced over to the Showplex to Ricky Tims’ booth, snatched up one of his books and some hand-dyed fabric. I was so fast, I was third in line! As the line snaked around the back of the booth, I asked the Texan who wears a cowboy hat for his autograph and a photo.

            Strolling out of the fairgrounds with my tote bag refilled once again, I couldn’t resist grabbing a scone. I raised it up toward Washington’s gray skies as a toast to another Sewing Expo well done before I took a big bite.

Laura Keolanui Stark is storing her Expo goodies and planning future projects. She can be reached at stark.laura.k@gmail.com.