Long Beach International Quilt Festival

Early on July 25th I headed out for the show in Long Beach. The drive was good, the traffic wasn't bad either. As I drove past the LB Convention Center, I was amazed at the line of quilters waiting to get into the show. It was already past 10:30, but the line extended from the front doors all the way over the pedestrian crossing the spans the multi-lane road. I went and checked into my hotel, left the car and walked to the show.

It almost seemed like the Convention Center had no clue what to expect. I heard from some reliable sources that the Quilts, Inc people kept trying to prepare them for us quilters, but kept getting told that they (the Convention Center) knew how to deal with crowds. Clearly they didn't. On Saturday they ran out of food. People stood in line for an hour and a half waiting to get something. I talked to a couple of ladies during my lunch break (no standing in that line for me) that had driven around for over an hour just to find a place to park. I was glad that I walked. Plus it seemed foolish for me to since I was staying so close.

The show was so much fun. And the vendors ... OH MY!! Friday was vendor day for me. Saturday was for viewing the quilts.

I saw so many people that I know too. I almost did as much visiting as I did shopping. LOL

The quilts on display were interesting. Seems I didn't need all of Saturday for viewing them. They were, for the most part, all Art Quilts. And, as I mentioned in my first entry, Art Quilts are not my forte. I ended up spending just half of Saturday viewing the quilts and then it was back to ... you guessed it ... the vendors.

In all it was a great weekend. And I will be back next year, curious to see what Quilts, Inc has in store for the 2009 show.