The Quilt, Craft, & Sewing Festival came to Cal Expo in Sacramento over three days in late March, featuring vendors selling supplies to quilt, craft or sew.
The event was packed with attendees, who ranged in age. Vendors were open for people to walk by and browse fabric and sewing supplies. Some vendors sold sewing machines and had sections set up to have people test out their machines. One of these vendors was Cali Quilt Co., which was owned by Joe Singer and Tayva Singer.
“[We want] to show more people to learn about our shop, to learn about Cali Quilt Co., we’re selling machines so they can see the amazing machines [and] what they can do and look at the fabric we have,” Joe Singer said.
Doane Yawger and Katie Yawger, a couple who attended the festival, shared their thoughts.
Doane Yawger adds, “She’s [Katie] been a quilter for decades. This is just heaven on earth as far as finding things. The amount of stuff that’s here is just staggering.”
The Quilt, Craft and Sewing Festival had a variety of fabrics for sale. One of these vendors was All About Color Quilting, run by Lori Allison, who talked about her specialty in selling Kaffe Fassett Collective fabrics.
“I only sell one particular designer named Kaffe Fassett Collective, and that’s the only fabric that I carry,” Allison said.
Another vendor was Maendeleo, run by Mary Ogwel, who specializes in hand-dyed fabrics. The fabrics she sells are in African themes based on the safari environment.
“Every one of them is done individually, and they’re done by women groups. So this is a women’s artist in Tanzania,” Ogwel said.
Attendees seemed to enjoy their time at the festival. One attendee named Juanita Savageboyd, said, “I enjoy coming every year because you see new things and also you see many things that you do not find in a regular fabric store, and I’m looking for unique different fabrics, trims, ideas and that’s what I find here.”
Vendor Oroville Piecemakers Quilt Guild came to the Festival to sell raffle tickets to win opportunity quilts. Their goal is to raise money for charity quilts to donate.
“Money goes towards supporting or getting supplies for charity quilts which are given to dialysis patients, chemotherapy patients, newborns at the hospital, fire victims which we have our fair share of, and foster children who are aging out or people who are aging out of the foster program,” Nancy Clayton, a member of the guild, said.
