Pat Sloan Quilters are the same.. only different

The WHOLE reason I was in South Africa was to teach at the International Quilt Conference Africa.

My fellow International teachers were (links to their bios at the show site)

• Me and My Sister (USA)
• Cynthia England (USA)
• Pat Sloan (USA) ME!
• Jodi Barrows (USA)
• Dena Crain (USA / Kenya)
• Susan Brubaker Knapp (USA)

And the amazing South African Teacher roster was

• Suzen Bornman and Wendy Burtenshaw
• Sue Prins
  
• Wilna de Beer
• Telene Jeffrey

I was lucky enough to meet ALL these teachers and I interveiwed a few of them for an upcoming radio show.. Yeah!

So what WAS the show like?

There was a vendor area which had Many South African vendors and International Vendors. Including Show sponsors Moda, Aurifil Thread, American Patchwork & Quilting, Handi Quilter,  and Clothworks. Sewing machine, longarm companies, Quiltmania and many local South African quilt designers and Quilt stores were there.

I found that quilters are quilters are quilters.

• Excited to have a show to attend
• Excited to SHOP for fabric, ribbons and trims
• Excited to Take classes and learn new things.

Most of the quilters in my class enjoy the SAME fabrics we do.  One of the show organizers is the Quilt Distributor for South Africa and he told me that there is as wide a variety of quilt styles here as anywhere.. and I agree after meeting hundreds of quilters over four days!

 

American Patchwork & Quilting sponsored the lecture room Where there were 4 to 6 lectures per day.  Very well attended and the quilters loved learning new things!

Kim Brunner actually did longarm quilting demos that were projected up onto the screen. So there was a machine in the lecture hall the entire show.

The show was all on one floor, but in 2 different segments.

These Wonderful Direction signs were posted in the middle area so you could find your way around.

Lovely quilts decorated the halls from Moda and Clothworks.

Each classroom had a beautiful banner out front (Mine had my photo.. but you KNOW what I look like.. wink!)

Students had their classes listed on their name tags.. many took classes all three days! It was good they had the classes listed as we had a few end up in the wrong rooms.. but the Quilt Angels that worked with us took care of getting them to the right place.. my Angels were amazing.. thank you ladies!

and inside each class it was spacious

I believe this was the classroom for the Wilna and Dena... but I could be wrong on that.. it might be Wendy and Suzens.

The South African Quilter's Guild had a booth

http://www.quiltsouthafrica.co.za/

Don't you LOVE this quilt?

And she was giving out info on all the local guilds plus the state guild.

Don't you feel RIGHT AT HOME seeing all this? 

Watch the video it's super..

and come back tomorrow for another post with my classroom, my buys.. and more!

Comments

[Sharon]

So pleased to hear that for a 3rd world country we still managed to host a 1st world event. Thanks Pat for travelling so far and for the positive feedback, it's good to hear that we compare favourably with the rest of the world.

[DianeP]

Thank you, Pat, for sharing the great pictures and interesting video of the quilt show from Africa! It looks wonderful!

When I first looked at the pictures, I thought, "This could be any quilt show." and then realized that's what is so great about quilting. We can go anywhere and be at home immediately at a quilt show! We all talk Quiltspeak!

Looking forward to more pictures and the interviews!!

[Shirley in Canada]

Outstanding!!!

[Sarah in Houston]

Video was great! Knitting yarn!!!!

[Sandi]

Your photos tell that this was a great, well-organized show. That direction sign is the best feature. Many a quilt show or any large conference could take a tip from that one!