photo: QuiltCon Souvenir Embroidery Sampler by French General
Were you at QuiltCon?
If so, I hope we said hello! If we didn’t, it’s easy to understand why we didn’t see each other — so many people and things to do!
For those of you who couldn’t attend QuiltCon or didn’t see everything, I’ll be giving you my perspective of QuiltCon over the next few blog posts. There’s a lot jammed packed into 4 days: workshops, lectures, things to buy, friends from around the world, great food and of course quilts. TONS of quilts! In upcoming posts, I’ll be showing you lots of photos of quilts (with descriptions). It’ll take me a while to type those up, but I love sharing that information. For me, the descriptions are one of the most interesting things about the quilt show. I love learning about the backstories and inspiration for the quilts. It gives me a whole new appreciation for the quilts and allows me to see things I may have otherwise missed. Check back for lots of photos and descriptions of quilts.
In the meantime, here are some of my big highlights from QuiltCon 2018:
Here are some highlights from my Hawaiian Applique Made Modern workshop from Day 1 of QuiltCon. This lovely group of ladies learned how to make my Big Island Blossom block, a modern interpretation of traditional Hawaiian quilts. We prepared the applique (including folding, cutting and basting) and applied the motif using needle-turn applique techniques. I also shared with them how I designed the block and reviewed how they could design their own Hawaiian-inspired blocks in the future. I can’t wait to see all of their finished mini-quilts!
The next day, I taught Intermediate Foundation Paper Piecing using my Shutter Snap patttern to this group of talented quilters. All of my students were rockstars and with my tips and tricks conquered tricky angles and shapes, despite the class being at night after a loooooong day full of QuiltCon goodness.
I had so much fun teaching at QuiltCon. Thank you to everyone who registered for my workshops!
Not only did I teach, but I also got to take a class. I was on information overload (in a really good way) after taking Advanced Quilt Photography with Michelle Bartholomew and Kitty Wilkin. If you’re interested in taking better photos of your quilts and quilt props, definitely take a workshop with them. They covered so much in 3 hours (and distributed great handouts so we would remember everything) and we had a chance to use our own camera.
One of my favorite parts of QuiltCon was the book party celebrating the release of Modern Quilts: Designs of the New Century. Everyone brought their book and passed them around for quilters who had quilts in the book to sign. It totally felt like the last days of high school signing yearbooks! The strange part was meeting quilters in person that I knew only by their quilt or Instagram name. It was a super fun community event. Want to learn more about the book? Check out my previous blog post here.
My friends at Paintbrush Palette hosted my new Kona Sunset quilt in their booth. It was so much fun seeing it pop up on social media. I also got a kick out of it being super close to the Best in Show winner!
My friends at superbuzzy, a quilt shop in Ventura, California with a wonderful selection of fabric borrowed some of my quilt samples. It was fun to see them displayed in their booth along with my patterns!
I was also fortunate to have four quilts juried into the show.
Will I see you next year at QuiltCon 2019 in Nashville, Tennessee or perhaps QuiltCon 2020 in Austin, Texas?
Stay tuned for more on the blog — next time it will be ALL quilts! Are there any questions or things you’d like to know more about from QuiltCon 2018? Please comment below!
