My First QuiltCon

I’m back from QuiltCon, and after a few days of catching up, I’m ready to tell you all about it.

First off, QuiltCon is super overwhelming. It’s big. 400 quilts in the competition, vendor booths loaded with quilts, and a whole lot of charity quilts on display. I didn’t count, but I would be surprised if there were less than 100 charity quilts. Pile on top of that world class teachers, and the excitement of meeting up with everyone I usually interact with only on the internet. It’s intense.

I found the charity quilt I participated in with the Jersey Shore Modern Quilt Guild. The charity quilts were displayed all around the show. It was a great display.

These were my two favorites from the display. I really like how the other groups interpreted the Small Piecing theme.

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Tia Curtis gave a great class on Welsh Quilting, with a focus on border designs. Class was a combination of lecture, sketching, and longarm practice. The class machines were Juki’s and I have to tell you, they were not a good advertisement. The ruler bases did not fit properly, the ruler foot didn’t allow for 360 degrees of motion, and it was skipping stitches all over the place. After 5 minutes of struggling with the machine, I decided to work on sketches rather than be frustrated. I feel demanding, but come on, man. It was not just bad stitching, a ruler base that doesn’t fit properly for a ruler work class is dangerous.

Friday was a day for walking around the show and meeting people. I traveled with Ivete, one of the owners of Gotham Quilts. If you have the opportunity, I highly recommend traveling with your own sewlebrity. Seriously. Ivete knows everyone, and has introduced me to so many awesome quilters.

Walking the show and looking at all of the quilts was totally overwhelming. First off, it was packed. It is great to have so many folks so excited about modern quilts, but being in crowds makes me anxious. Also, you can’t see the quilt and absorb it when you are jostling for position. I didn’t take a ton of photos, but don’t worry, everyone else did. If you go on instagram and search #quiltcon and #quiltcon2019 you will be able to see all of them.

Here are some of my favorites.

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A big theme for the show this year was social justice. There were lots of quilts which forced me to think about social issues that I usually try to avoid. Feminism and racial inequality are hard topics. I spent way more time thinking than I really like to do. Combined with the fact that we are watching The Handmaid’s Tale at home, and I’m feeling really edgy. I have some serious thoughts. When I have them written up coherently I might post them.

Ivette and I took a quick trip to Craft South on Friday. That is Anna Maria Horner’s quilt shop. It is very cute. I didn’t meet the woman herself, as she was working at QuiltCon. I did pick up a fab pair of scissors and an adorable dachshund yarn gauge.

I took two more classes on Saturday. The first was with Tara Faughnan, and was great. I learned how to do foundation paper piecing using freezer paper. The best part is that you fold back the template and sew along the line, rather than through the paper. Templates are re-useable, and there is no tearing of the paper. I used the bundle of basics that came in my ambassador box, along with a few basics left from last year. This is how far I got in class. I plan to put this together in a throw size and use it for one of the monthly challenges.

My second class was Fingerprint Improv Curves with Melanie Tuazon. This was right up my alley. You know I’m loving improv curves, and Melanie had us working with skinny strips. Curves with tiny pieces? Yes, please! This was a short class, only 3 hours, so I only managed these two blocks. I chose a group of solids in hot colors for this one. I plan to make a small sampler of the different designs Melanie showed us during class. It is a really fun technique. She’s teaching at my guild in November!

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I also met up with some of my fellow Island Batik Ambassadors. I missed a few, too – it isn’t easy finding everyone in such a big crowd! It is always so much fun meeting up with people you have an online relationship with. How can I be so close to someone, but not know their face?

Okay, well, I’m off on another adventure now. I’ll be sharing more next week!