Hello, I'm Deanna Springer live at the Great Wisconsin Quilt
Show with insights to this year's event, and I am joined
by Amanda Balistreri. Welcome, Amanda. Thank you for talking
with me right now. Oh, it's so great to talk with you. And
you're the events manager for this entire show with your help.
Right. Yes, I help make sure everything's going on, and we
work on it all year long. All year long. So what is your role
on site here? Yeah, so I am as the manager. I kind of just
make sure that everything is going on. Do tickets have what
they need? Do I support people who help vendors? Do you have
everything you need? Education. Just kind of making sure that
everything keeps rolling, keep it all running and that the
guests are having a great time. Right. And the guests are
having an amazing time. It's day two. It's it's it's Friday.
So we're open. We're open Thursday, Friday and Saturday
this weekend at the exhibition hall at the Alliant Energy
Center in Madison. And what have you been able to take in
and see at the show this year? So day one was pretty, was was
packed. I'm excited for another busy day too. But I think what
I love the most is just the artistry of all of the
different quilts. It. This show has completely changed my
perception of what quilts could be. I am not a quilter myself.
You did point out. Not yet, not yet. Embroidery is starting to
catch my eye, but just the the artistry, the craft. It takes
so many other art forms and you can put it into a quilt. Put it
all together. Absolutely amazing. Right. You mentioned
you were at Laura Wasilowski evening event last night. It
was fantastic. Yes. And the her hand stitching her big stitches
with embroidery thread that she hand dyes. I know she sharing
that inspired you. I think the other thing that's so amazing
particularly you know about hers, but what a lot of people
do is kind of that it's not all just squares or circles or
hexagons, the shapes. Her houses are a little bent
sometimes, or things, you know, just the compositions are
amazing and really could look like paintings like surrealist
or, yes, amazing. And there's a special exhibit of Laura
Wasilowski work here. And we were also talking this morning
about another exhibit you saw Madai Delgado? Yes. It's just
amazing. Like the whole concept of upcycling different fabrics.
And you would not be able to tell and just, again, the
composition of it, it's it completely changes the mind of
what is possible with quilting. And it doesn't have to be the
traditional piece, you know, the artistry that's in the
quilt exhibit. And we're starting to see more of those
recycled quilts in there, too. Have you made it into the
central Quilt exhibit? Not yet. Just the first three rows.
Absolutely amazing, I always love I will say I try to do
that on Saturday off and just kind of as a show because we're
working, we're working, but we take it in and take a different
aisle wherever we're headed so that we can see more of the
show. It's actually very therapeutic. I also like a just
kind of a maze that you can go through and, and calm down.
It's so well organized and everything is so well laid out.
Congratulations. Thank you. Congratulations to you it. We'r.
We did it. How many years have you been working with us? This
is my fourth show. 21st year. Yes. So it's so great to have
you on board. It's great to be here. Thank you, I love it.
Wonderful. Keep up the great work. Thank you. And this
evening's event is Chris Lynn Kirsch with her quilt Tales. So
we have another evening event tonight. We have lots going on,
15 quilt exhibits, thousands of quilts here. If you include the
vendors. We're standing in the vendor mall right now, and you
can see all of the quilts that we're surrounded by. Just so
much inspiration to take in here, whether you're a quilter
or just artist, not just here to enjoy something for everyone.
Truly. Yes. We welcome you to attend. Well, thank you for
joining me, Amanda. Thanks so much for having me. You're
welcome. And thank you for tuning in. And to learn more
about this year's event and next year's event, head over to
quilt Show.com. [MUSIC]
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