Dear Friends@Festival

After a bit of a layoff, we are back to brighten up your email InBox! A little bit of joy and celebration of love and creativity and art nestled amongst the spam, missives from high school friends you’d rather avoid, political fund solicitations, and dire warnings that your computer is about to implode…unless you click on this link right now…

Our next Festival will be held in Long Beach, California, July 6-8, and all four articles in this edition have a direct link to the show in that their subjects will be in the special exhibits area, vendor rows, or classrooms!

We’ve got the lowdown on a very special and unique class for students at Washington’s Onalaska Middle School and how these amazing beginner quilters (under the direction of two equally amazing administrators) will have their work on display in both Long Beach and Houston.

Next, ring around the room with The Quilt Skipper herself, Jenny Lyon. She talks about her quilting journey, previews her four Long Beach classes, and answers the Burning Question…just what the heck is “plactice?”

They say that quilters and sewists are the ultimate recyclers and repurposers. And that can apply to quilt businesses as well! Meet Catherine Esera and Bronwen Burton, two longtime friends who’ve gone into business together with Lucky DeLuxe Fabrics, an online business that has now opened a brick-and-mortar location.

And finally, many of you will remember the combination of excitement and fear you felt first moving into an apartment or dorm as a college freshman. And how important it was that you made the space “your own.” Zakiyah Pierce knows that, and that’s why she started Cozy Quilts for Scholars to match deserving incoming students with a specially-made quilt to sleep under. And what could be more comforting than that… between studying Calculus, Biology, and The Novels of Dostoyevsky?

We certainly hope you enjoy this issue. Comments, feedback, and story ideas are always welcome, and you can reach us at friendsatfestival@quilts.com. Now, it’s off to spray outside for those bloodsucking mosquitoes again—surely a sign that warmer weather has come to Texas!