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I am a wife, mama and grandmama getting through life by hanging on to a needle and thread.

Saturday, March 27, 2010

AQS Quilt Show, Lancaster, PA

The AQS Quilt Show was everything it promised to be and more...a beautiful new venue, hundreds and hundreds of beautiful quilts, famous quilters, vendors representing every quilting related item that can be purchased and then some, but unfortunately all of these wonderful things brought bigger crowds. People were shoulder to shoulder in the aisles and standing four and five deep to view the quilts for most of the day, but by late afternoon the crowds started to thin which made for a better view of the quilts. Another unfortunate part of the AQS Quilt Show is their photography policy which states, "Photographs of quilts may be taken for your own personal use. Quilt photographs must not be used for any commercial purpose or displayed on the Internet (websites or blogs) without permission of the quiltmaker and American Quilter's Society." I have certain issues with this policy, but I will abide by their rules. Because gaining permission from the quiltmakers and AQS would be a time consuming (if not impossible) task, I won't be sharing quilt photos of the show on my blog. Despite my complaints of the crowds and photography policy, I had a wonderful time at the show, but I have to admit that I am a bigger fan of the smaller locally sponsored quilt shows.

19 comments:

Rafael's Mum said...

Oh what a pity about the photography and the quilts! Being in the UK and not being able to go I have been waiting for someone to come back and show me what I missed!!

I can see your point though....oh well... One day ! :-)

I hope you had a fabulous time !!

Marina said...

It is a pitty about the photos, there are so many people who are on the other side of the world who will never have the chance to attend a show like this and sometimes the copyright issue is taken a bit too far IMHO. Hope you had a great time!

Marie Rayner said...

What a shame about the photos. I am bettin gthat must have been the best Quilt show ever! Lancaster, PA is quilt country!

Joan said...

I fully appreciate that photography policy - quilters are entitled to protect their work, just as artists (think oil paintings) and museums are, too. It's not the use, it's the abuse, and unfortunately with the quality of digital photography, there are many violations of copyright. In an ideal world, we'd all be respectful, but too many people are not. I have seen people take pictures with their cell phones after they have been TOLD that photography is prohibited. It's a sad comment on the state of the world, no? I, too, would have loved to see the quilts - but I'm standing by AQS and their policy!

Joan said...

PS - you have the same policy on your blog website!

Susan said...

*PLEASE NOTE*

I said that I had certain issues with the AQS photography policy, not that I completely disagreed with it. The policy clearly states that photos of the quilts may be published online with the permission of the quiltmakers and AQS. I said that it would be too time consuming for me to try and find contact information of the makers of the quilts that I took photos of, so I would not be posting photos of quilts from the show on my blog.

Dora, the Quilter said...

I understand and appreciate the need of artists to protect their work. However, the pictures AQS does publish of winning quilts are such poor quality that the millions of us who can not visit the show in person--or could but can't tolerate the crowds--don't get more than an inkling of what the quilts look like. Sad.

Jackie's Stitches said...

I'm glad you had a great time. The crowds tend to drive me a bit batty when it gets a half dozen people deep everywhere. It makes it difficult to do much of anything. On the other hand, I'm happy to see so many people attend such a wonderful event. Quilting is a luxury and with the state of the economy, quilt shops are closing all over (including one of my favorites here). I'm glad to see such businesses are being supported.

Barb said...

WOW that looks like quite the maze to work your way thru. I hope you had fun, did you shop til you dropped? Thank you for sharing what you can from the show, I appreciate the glimpse thru your camera! Have a restful weekend, rest those tired feet!

Anne at Film and Thread said...

Too bad about the photography. That policy might offer some kind of protection, but it sure deprives the quilt artists of a much wider audience to enjoy their work and learn about them. I wonder if the policy is more from the AQS than the quilters?

It sure looks like you had fun, though!

Anya said...

I'm still too tired to even blog about the show! It was fun. So are you planning our next trip?

Deb said...

OMGoodness, its huge Susan, Such a shame about the photos though. So what did you buy????? Lots?????
You can show us photos of that. I bet you had a wonderful time, so pleased you managed to make it.
hugs Deb

Anonymous said...

It is a true shame that quilts cannot be photographed and displayed on blogs for those of us who were less fortunate and didn't get to see them up close and personal.

Rene' said...

I'm glad you enjoyed yourself. Never having been to one of these shows, it is interesting to hear all about it. Too bad about the crowds and the photo policy.

Nanbon44 said...

I am so homesick now, you are in my beautiful city and I am in Florida. Hope you are having fun enjoying all that Lancaster has to offer.

Janet said...

Sadly we have the same rules here. Sorry about the crowds which I wouldn't like but glad you got to see some wonderful quilts. I'm going over the the website to see if there are any photos there.

Anonymous said...

Oh wow Susan! It looks so huge! What a shame about the photo policy and too many people. I would be so frustrated that I had spent money to go somewhere but not been able to see things properly. I've heard of some quilt shows staggering entrance times so people can get proper a proper look. It only feels fair to the exhibitors after all.

So many places in England have a no photo policy- expecially inside stately homes. It's such a shame as it's only a minority of people who can get to go in person and so few places offer virtal tours even if they have websites.

Thank you so much for the birthday wishes.

Jocelyn said...

Wow looks like a very big show. Glad that you enjoyed it. Sorry about the pictures.

Pat said...

I abided by their policy, too (from when I went to the Lancaster show) but now I see some of the quilt designers are showing quilts that are NOT theirs and yet they are putting them on their blogs. I would hope AQS doesn't make exceptions to the rule because of WHO someone is...because that wouldn't be fair!

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