Hey there, fellow quilters!

I’m still basking in the afterglow of an amazing experience Jason and I had at QuiltCon 2024 in Raleigh, NC. It was a whirlwind of joy, inspiration, and  connections! If you were part of the crowd and stopped by our booth, shared a quilt, or made a purchase (or couldn’t be there but cheered us on from social media), I want to THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart. Your support keeps me going — designing beautiful and useful patterns, kits, and products — and I’m so grateful.

QuiltCon 2024 was extraordinary, with rumors buzzing about record-breaking attendance. The four days were a non-stop celebration of creativity, and my face is still recovering from the constant smiling and chatting. Your stories, your quilts, your enthusiasm – it’s what fuels my inspiration, and I really can’t thank you enough.

I want to share a bit behind the scenes and highlights from QuiltCon 2024 with you:

Behind the Scenes: Crafting the Booth

Last fall, the planning began with the design of our booth. We dove into floorplans, wall elevations, and even a 3-D rendering – all to ensure we were creating an inviting and accessible space. Every detail was planned to ensure our booth reflected the values of Whole Circle Studio.

If only loading the truck were as quick as sketching out plans! Picture this: two freezing days in Connecticut (12 degrees, to be precise), as we loaded up the truck with booth furnishings, quilts, flooring, patterns, kits, and more.

We arrived at the Convention Center in Raleigh to our blank space, ready to be filled with our truck load of “stuff”.

After nine hours of load-in and installation, we saw our booth come to life. From the first piece of flooring laid to the final product hung, the transformation was a labor of love. Check out the action in this quick video:

   

Before the general public came in…

In the video below, take a stroll with me (before the show floor was open to the general public), to Whole Circle Studio’s booth. Get a bird’s eye view of the vendor/exhibit hall along with a peek of the quilt show. You’ll also see some of other vendor’s booths before getting a tour of Booth 527 — Whole Circle Studio’s booth offering modern quilt patterns, embroidery kits, stitching projects and more!

Check out the full booth tour here:

The booth was hopping with quilters for FOUR full days!

Jason and I had so much fun chatting non-stop with quilters. We knew it would be busy, but I will be totally honest that we didn’t expect just how many people would stop by the booth. Thank you to all my friends who stopped by and those who snapped some photos of us in action! It is so much fun to go back and see all of the action.

Why we do what we do…

As soon as I committed to having a booth at QuiltCon, I knew I wanted to highlight and celebrate projects that quilters from around the world have been making with Whole Circle Studio patterns. I wish I could bring and show all their actual quilts. The next best thing is a display with all the photos I’ve been collecting for years. Front and center, at the corner of the booth, was a Community Quilt Display. I was honored that a number of quilters who had their quilts featured in the display were able to be in Raleigh and came by the booth to sign their quilt. Stay tuned for another blog post in the next couple of weeks featuring these amazing makers. 

Visits from Colleagues & Friends

After not seeing that many colleagues and friends since before the pandemic, it was really good to have SO many friends stop by the booth. If you’re not familiar with these talented designers and makers, be sure to check out their work in the links.

Stay tuned for MUCH more from QuiltCon 2024!

In the coming weeks, I’ll be sharing much more from QuiltCon 2024, including highlights of some of my favorite quilts from the juried show along with friends of Whole Circle Studio that stopped by to show off their quilts. We had so many show and tells happening in the booth— seeing your quilts in person was SO much fun! I’m also working on figuring out a way to share all of the quilts online that were in the Community Display. There’s so much more coming. Be sure you’re subscribed to the newsletter to be alerted when new posts go live.

Thank you for being part of this incredible journey.

Your support, stories, and shared passion allows us to keep doing what we do.
xo,
Sheri