The Grand Rapids Quilt Show

August 20-23rd, the American Quilter’s Society put on the 2025 quilt show in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The show featured quilts from all over the world, vendors from all over the United States, and classes and lectures from quilting to embroidery. I signed up for a Victorian Stitches class taught by Judith Baker Montano. Judy was a great teacher and the class was a lot of fun. I’ve done a fair amount of basic embroidery and Judy taught me some stitches I hadn’t done before, including some silk ribbon embroidery. It was great learning new things. I love how those silk roses came out!

The quilts in the show were beautiful. I wasn’t able to see all of them because my feet gave out on me but the ones I saw were stunning.

These were the ones that really called to me. I’m a sucker for color.

The variety and complexity of design was incredible as always. As always, I was impressed at the ideas people come up with and create. And as usual, there were times I wished it had been me.

This quilt wasn’t solid. The black you see is the backdrop behind the quilt. It was almost lace-like. Here’s some detail:

Where did they get that idea? Amazing!

Aside from my class, I’m embarrassed to say the shopping was the next thing I was excited about. I made a list before I left home, of course it was only a guideline.

Fabric, silk embroidery floss and 7mm ribbon, size 8 perle cotton, yet another stitch book, pins, sticky pads to keep needles from stabbing through my finger and wool circles for my embroidery projects.

In addition to embroidery, I’ve been feeling the urge to make some mini quilts. I just don’t have the room in my condo to lay out a full-size quilt, not to mention, what am I going to do with another one. Mini quilts are easier to lay out and they certainly don’t take up much room on the wall. I’ve seen some mini sun quilts on Etsy that have been calling to me. Picked up some yellow fabric for just that reason:

All in all, it was a fun two days spent at the quilt show. It would have been more fun with my sister but I had a pretty good time on my own. I’m already looking forward to next year’s show!