The Festival, which attracts 70,000 quilters in Houston and Chicago annually, is making its West Coast debut at the Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center this July 25-27 to cater to quilters in all corners of the country. The Long Beach show, sale, and quiltmaking academy features more than 1,000 quilts, textiles, and wearable art on display; more than 90 hands-on classes, lectures, and special events; and shopping in hundreds of booths selling quilts, fabrics, books, notions, crafts, patterns, machines, and sewing supplies. Covering all quilting styles and skill levels, classes will also offer attendees the opportunity to explore quilting with other art media. Festival gives quilters the chance to not only exhibit their works and participate in classes to learn new tricks of trade, but it also allows them to share in the creativity and inspiration amongst friends, old and new. The real draw, of course, are all the quilts on display, more than 1,000 in Long Beach, luring quilters to stop in awe and chat with the artists. In fact, quilting has grown in popularity among all age groups thanks to technological trends and advancements, and according to the most recent Quilting in America(TM) survey, 17 percent of all U.

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