PG Fiber2Art: World Quilt Show New England

Tuesday, August 18, 2015

World Quilt Show New England

World Quilt Show New England at the Radisson Center of New Hampshire is a Mancuso quilt show that typically takes place in Manchester NH in August of each year. Elizabeth and her mother usually go to view the show. Along with Sue, they both have also been to the Mancuso show that is held in February of each year in Tidewater Virginia, most recently at the Hampton Convention Center. These two Mancuso shows differ greatly from each other as do the reasons we attend.

The Hampton show, called “Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival is four days in a very large venue with dozens of vendors selling everything from old and new sewing machines, to quilting supplies, books, jewelry, and anything else that can be connected to quilting. The winning quilts in the center of the show are spectacular and since it is not a juried show has many entries from beginning quilts to those beauties in the winner’s circle. It also includes many special exhibits from groups and guilds around the state and the country. Lots and lots to see and we typically spend all four days at the show! A large portion of that time is spent at vendors and shopping.

In contrast, the World Quilt show is all about the quilts. They come, as the name suggests from all over the world, so tend to be of exquisite workmanship. Great examples of what the trends in quilting are from countries as diverse as Israel, Japan, Germany, and Australia. There are many examples of fantastic design, color choices, and novel techniques. The show is in two hotel conference rooms so is more intimate than a large convention center and the lighting is better in the hotel than in the convention center. Fewer vendors, but enough to look at and collect any supplies, but truthfully, with all the row by row shopping we were rather spent out and made only a quick pass by the vendors.

Here are some photos from the 2015 show.