Convention, market, festival – whatever the name, I love quilt cons. The shopping, the like-minded people, and the excitement are all irresistible. 

But my favorite part is the booths. 

These 10x10-foot spaces are blank canvases. A well-designed booth isn’t just a display of fabrics and quilts – it’s a window into a lifestyle. As I walk down the endless aisles, the scenes change like pictures in a slideshow, and I’m transported from world to world.

The real allure of these booths is that I don’t have to be a visitor to these lifestyles – I can have them. All I have to do is make a new quilt for my couch at home, and the living room is transformed. A new bed quilt and some throw pillows, or a new wall quilt above the dresser, and I’ve created for myself an exotic new lifestyle. 

Of course, as a quilter I can add my own touch; the small details that make something simultaneously foreign and familiar. And when I do this, I take someone else’s vision and adapt it. This is true art – a living and breathing feeling, moving from person to person, expressing differently each time, transforming lives and drawing communities together.