Quilt festival in Hampton expected to draw thousands

[Blue_Tires]

If you're wondering where the center of the quilting world is this weekend, look no farther than Hampton.

More than 10,000 quilting enthusiasts are expected to descend on the Hampton Roads Convention Center this weekend for Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival XXI, which organizers David and Peter Mancuso describe as "the largest quilt festival on the Eastern Seaboard" and the third largest in the country.

Quilts, quilts and more quilts make up the festival's main attraction — and they range from the entries in a large national competition of traditional and innovative styles to numerous smaller shows of work by local and Virginia guilds as well as internationally and nationally prominent quilters.

Then there are the endless aisles of busy vendor booths — more than 250 all told — where quilters can find not only virtually every kind of fabric but also the scissors, cutting tables, quilting frames and long-arm sewing machines needed to transform that cloth into works of utility, affection and art.

"For a lot of people, the world of quilting is kind of in the shadows," says vendor Nancy Ambersley of Nancy's Calico Patch in Newport News. "But it's a $4 billion industry."

http://www.dailypress.com/entertainment/things-to-do/dp-tkt_quiltadvance_0226feb26,0,7293131.story