Bee Sewcial at International Quilt Festival

In a word? Priceless. The whole experience of having 26 of Bee Sewcial's quilts displayed as a special exhibit at International Quilt Festival in Houston was exciting. The opportunity to join my bee mates there to see the exhibit and to share it with others was deeply meaningful. 

From the airport on Wednesday, we went straight to Preview Night, and walked through The Quilts of Bee Sewcial exhibit, reminiscing over blocks we'd each made, admiring how they'd all come together, mulling over the challenges and joys. Considering the quilts span the eight years we've been creating together, some of the memories were fuzzy and that just added to the fun.

And then Thursday was a full first day at Festival. We spent most of the day together, hanging around the exhibit. The highlight was our gallery talk where Leanne @shecanquilt gave a brief history of our bee, and then folks walked with us through the whole exhibit, as we each shared briefly about our quilts, and answered questions. It was fun to see the excitement over the quilts and the curiosity about working virtually, creating with only solids, the prompts, and of course improv itself.

That morning, I wandered off to meet my online friend, Carolina, @carolina_oneto, and see her own special exhibit.

Bee mate Karen @capitolaquilter and I also ran into friends Allie @exhaustedoctopus, Sarah @saroy, and Jessica @maeberrysquare, which was such a delight. All three I had met online during the pandemic, so being able to meet in person was so so good.

Stephanie Hackney of Hobbs Batting found us, so we were able to thank her for their support and sponsorship of our exhibit.

On Friday, in addition to another gallery talk, Bee Sewcial stopped by the Aurifil booth to say thank you to Brad Mitchell @aurifilbrad and the team for their sponsorship of our special exhibit!

As fellow Aurifil Artisans, my Bee Sewcial mate, Karen @capitolaquilter, and I were happy to visit the Aurifil booth and get an appropriate photo together.

Then Saturday was my last day in Houston. Bee mate Marci @marci_girl and I met up with Ellyn @ellynz and her hubby for breakfast at Phoenicia (love that place!). What fun to catch up a bit before walking over to the show. 

And of course, Marci and I had to get a selfie in front of our two quilts, Efflorescent Midnight and Rings, hanging side by side.

By early afternoon, I was on my flight back to Seattle. It was a full few days, but the kind of wonderful you don't forget about for a long long time.