Empire Quilt Show-New York City

A trip to New York City vitalizes you but a trip to New York City for a quilt show is pure heaven. This past weekend a good friend and I took a trip to NY City to the Empire Quilt Guild Quilt Show. My husband and daughter's Christmas gift to me was a trip to NY City to hear Paula Nadelstern, world-renowned quilter, speak and share her quilts and techniques. Paula’s style is to capture in fabric what you would see in a kaleidoscope. Her lecture included information about her technique and process of her creations. Each kaleidoscope block she makes is an unknown creation until it is fully assembled giving the same thrill with each turn of a kaleidoscope – the unknown and beauty of each design. Her process involves looking at each unit and asking questions about the symmetry of each pieced component and the lines it will create in the pie shape before assembly – if up on one side, it will go down on the other. Her goal is to blend the seam lines in each unit so upon assembly of the block, the pieced seams will appear invisible and the contrast of the colors and texture of the fabric will dominate the block design. Here is a photograph of the star struck fan with Paula. She has connections to the State of Maine as her brother lives here. I knew I liked her for a reason. Paula will be showing her work at the Museum of Folk Art in NY City starting in April. If you get a chance, go see her work. She is amazing.

The Empire Quilt Guild’s show showed such diversity in their talent and entries. Here are a few of my favorite quilts from the show.

Thank you to my family for giving me a Christmas gift that created memories. A New York City trip would not be complete without a Broadway show or shows in my case. Linda and I saw Susan Sarandon in Exit the King – incredible. It was Susan’s first Broadway appearance since 1972. The play was a dark comedy with political metaphors that had each actor shining in their roles. We also saw the play, Impressionism with Jeremy Irons and Joan Allen, a mature intelligent love story. Our trip to New York City was full of creative inspiration restoring our souls for many more masterpieces.