Houston Quilt Festival 2015

The co driver had her 'Wonky Basket' quilt selected for the Primitive Quilts and Projects sponsored Primitive and Folk Art Quilts Exhibit at the 2015 International Quilt Festival in Houston, Texas.
She won second prize in the original design category.
She was pretty excited at being one of the 22 quilts chosen for exhibition from almost one hundred originally submitted.

The Festival is the world's largest combined quilt show, sale and quilt making academy and draws more than 60,000 attendees from over 35 countries for four and a half days every October at the George R Brown Convention Center in Houston.
This was one of major reasons for our visiting the USA this year.
The convention center is a huge complex with five exhibition halls each averaging around 10,500m2. Three halls accommodated around 600 vendors, the remaining two, the quilts.

I enjoy quilt shows mainly for the art quilts. I have also, under the co driver's tutelage, learnt to appreciate the more traditional ones. I can even pick out mismatched points and puckers!
The work on display ranged from  amazing to stunning.

There were not too many men around the venue but you get to chat to a few who seem to be in perpetual waiting mode. They did have a Husbands Lounge full of comfy chairs and TVs showing sports but its clientele made it look a bit like God's Waiting Room.

Many more guys were on the vendors' stands. I was on assignment to find 'chook' fabric. Eventually finding some I was served by a fellow who had visited Australia with a basketball team in the 70s at the age of 19. He still remembers his time in Sydney, especially Kings Cross which was then a pretty raunchy part of Sydney. 

We swapped a few stories about our experiences in that precinct in a corner of the booth in virtual whispers. He didn't want his wife who was also working the booth to know what he (and his team mates) got up to all those years ago. 
Who says quilt shows aren't entertaining!
I will leave it up to the co driver's blog to give a detailed overview of the show.

But there was one quilt there from a Japanese lady, Ayako Kawakami, who won The Robert S. Cohan Master Award for Traditional Artistry that was amazing.
This quilt was made for her 10 year old daughter for whom she has made five so far. Both were in attendance.
Called My Sweet House with Kirara it is made with hand-applique, hand-embroidery and hand-quilting.
Simply stunning!