quilters take manhattan: my take.

This weekend I hopped on the Long Island Railroad (or as we call in in these parts, the L.I.R.R.) with my mom, and we headed over to F.I.T. to attend The Quilt Alliance’s annual fundraiser Quilters Take Manhattan. Neither of us had attended before, and we weren’t really sure of what to expect — so we went into the day with an open mind and just enjoying the chance to hang out together and see how it went! And now, I’m gonna give you the lowdown on the event using my scientifically-developed rating system of: “Meh” vs. “Awesome”. Lucky. You! As we walked in the door, we were given the opportunity to buy raffle tickets (see my hand) for prizes that I can honestly say I would have loved to have won (spoiler alert: I didn’t). People won ginormous baskets of fabrics of all sorts — solids, Amy Butler prints, moda prints — there was a sewing machine, an AccuQuilt Go, every type of ruler you could imagine, a Rowenta iron. . . definitely some great loot. Alas, my mom and I left with nothing but the swag bag. But it was fun, nonetheless. The takeaway: Prizes from the event – Awesome. Then as we made our way to our seats, I literally bumped into Amy Butler. She is every bit as amazing and lovely in person as I would have imagined her to be! She was the keynote speaker, and was seriously so inspiring! I can honestly say that my mind is still marinating all of the pieces of information that it took in from her lecture. Instead of her just telling her story of how she went from an art student named Amy Butler to being . . .AMY BUTLER household name and quilt fabric designer extraordinare, she relayed her struggles to maintain her inspiration for what she does AND gave us the tools she used to overcome our own mental blocks and fears. Her speech was very generous in the details that it gave, and her honesty in telling it made me even more of a fan. The takeaway: Keynote Speaker – Awesome. The next speaker was Mark Dunn, the founder of Moda Fabrics. His lecture focused on the antique quilts that he collects and from which he then creates some of Moda’s reproduction fabric lines. The proceeds from these “Collections for a Cause” fabric lines are then used to support various charities. I fell in love with this quilt, which used a cheddar-colored sashing to separate the Ohio stars. What I loved most about it is the unfinished sash on either end. Whether it was intentional or not (maybe the quilter ran out of the chrome fabric?),  it seemed modern and fresh. The takeaway: I didn’t expect to enjoy this part of the show as much as I did. While not Awesome, way better than a Meh. The afternoon was less organized than the earlier half of the program. We walked around viewing the quilts that had been made as part of a contest sponsored by Quilt Alliance and Cherrywood Fabrics (have you seen these fabrics? they’re hand-dyed and feel like suede!) and previewing the cottons and voiles in Amy Butler’s new line “Glow”. I had a hand at the City Quilter’s long arm machine – a HandiQuilter HQ Sweet Sixteen — and it was probably the best thing I’ve ever done. I am truly in love with that long arm machine. I think I had a dream about it last night. The takeaway for me: I need a long arm machine ASAP. There was also an introduction to the Quilt Alliance’s new initiative Quilters’ S.O.S., in which hundreds of quilt-makers are interviewed in a two-minute video which is then transcribed  and uploaded with a photo of the quilt to a digital archive. The intention is to create an oral history surrounding the quilts that we make to have for future reference and research. The takeaway: we should all be doing this. I’m not particularly comfortable with myself on camera, so, You go first. I’ll follow. (ps – I snapped this photo while Melanie Testa was giving her oral history. Unfortunately she didn’t make it into the picture. She hand-dyed all or most of those fabrics. Amazing, right??) A few quilters then participated in a speed-quilt building contest, during which the raffle winners were announced. The takeaway: Speed Contest – Meh. I didn’t really see the point. Although Mark Lipinski’s emcee-ing of the event was Awesome. My Conclusion: we only attended the main event at F.I.T. — though there were many add on events throughout the weekend that we could have enjoyed – if I didn’t have a house full of kids to get back to! There was a cocktail party at Victoria Findlay Wolfe’s loft (how cool is that?), tours of the fabric district with Mark Lipinski, and workshops at the City Quilter. I don’t know if the event is quite where it needs to be that I would recommend traveling from afar to attend, but it is only in its fourth year of existence, and from what I have heard, it’s getting better every year. I’d say it’s definitely worth checking out, and in a few more years, I’m sure it will be a hot ticket to get!