QuiltCon 2015: Post One

QuiltCon 2015 was in Austin, Texas, at the convention center, from Thursday, February 19 through Sunday, February 22. I attended three of those four days, getting to commute downtown on Thursday and Friday with our son.

I'm still on such a QuiltCon high that I don't know when reality might set in again! Of all the national quilt shows I've ever attended, and there have been many:

• American Quilter's Society, Paducah and Des Moines
• International Quilt Festival, Houston and Chicago
• Original Sewing and Quilt Expo, Lakeland, Florida and Overland Park, Kansas
• Home Machine Quilter's Showcase, Kansas
• European Patchwork Meeting, France

...none compares to QuiltCon, Austin! 

Whether it was the abundance of modern quilts or the quilters I finally had the pleasure of meeting, QuiltCon was the most quilting-related fun I've ever had!

Because there's so much to say about the show itself, the experience of it, and the people I met, I'll have to write several posts! However, with 400 quilts on display (I'm pretty sure that number includes the 1970's quilts shown by Bill Volkening, and some Gee's Bend quilts) I'm unable to show everything.

That's why I recommend that you visit Houzz to see the QuiltCon overview, with links to all the ribbon winners (ribbons awarded for first, second and third places; no honorable mentions were given). This Houzz write-up about QuiltCon is a good place to start because the photos are excellent.  And as you're looking, note the design and style of the quilting. Do you see all the straight line quilted quilts that won ribbons?

First, let me show the winners in the same category as Lora and I found our "Ad Libbing" quilt - "Negative Space." QuiltCon determined the category in which to place Ad Libbing, and negative space is a good choice. Here we are with our quilt. We were wearing the right colors, weren't we?!

These are the winning quilts in our category.

1st place, negative space

2nd place, negative space

3rd place, negative space

I'm sorry to say that my photos are too blurry to read who each winner is, nor was there a show catalog to refer to, so please be sure to visit the link above for the names and locations of winners.

Lora and I sat together during the poorly orchestrated awards ceremony. Beside the fact that the awards presentation computer and microphone equipment weren't working so no quilts winning quilts were shown on the big screen, and MC Jacquie Gering had to yell to be heard - the whole thing ran an hour behind schedule - we didn't win a ribbon. Even the judges' comments were less than helpful. There was no score sheet or rating system. Just these platitudes.

While elaborate quilting wasn't rewarded at QuiltCon, that isn't deterring Lora and me from entering Ad Libbing in other shows. Even now, we're waiting to hear if it's been accepted into MQX.

A happy surprise was seeing "Ad Libbing," and a bit of myself on Austin's Saturday morning FOX News show "Good Day Austin." Here's the link to that news segment where you'll briefly see the quilt, and me in my aqua volunteer shirt and selvages skirt talking to a quilter.

As for my entry in the Panasonic Bias Tape Appliqué Challenge... You may remember, "Shapes," the quilt that gave me all the problems with the smeared grease on white Kona. Shapes didn't win anything either.

Here are the winners in the Panasonic Bias Tape Appliqué Challenge.

1st place, bias tape challenge "CPU" by Katherine Jones

2nd place, bias tape challenge 

3rd place, bias tape challenge

 And one other bias tape non-ribbon winner I particularly liked because of all the color.

Just to give you a sense of the show, and in no particular order, these are some of the other non-ribbon-winning modern quilts.

 

It seems that the more elaborate the quilting, the less chance there was of winning a ribbon.

Love this one by Lee Heinrichs (FreshlyPieced) of Wisconsin.

"Diamond Chains" by Charlotte Noll, Fort Lauderdale, Florida

The entry below is by blogger/IG friend Anne Deister, SpringLeafStudios of Colorado. She quilted straight lines and feathers.

Isn't this an eye-catching quilt? It's by Sheri Lyn Woods, and appears to be made of old bed sheets. 

Her "big stitch" hand quilting, in black, was very effective.

I have lots more quilt pictures. In fact, I shared so many of them on Instagram that I had to leave the show hall a couple times to plug-in and recharge!

The evening of the first day, I met-up with Mid-Century Modern Bee friends, six of whom I met for the first time! We swapped pins and a few gifts. They're the dearest quilters you'd ever want to meet. Our evening together was much too short.

L-R: Cindy of LiveAColorfulLife; Elizabeth of PiecefulLife; Debbie of AQuiltersTable; me; Leisa, friend of Elizabeth E.; René of ReneCreates; Elizabeth E. of OccasionalPiece; Anne of SpringLeafStudios; and Michele of Frustrated Quilter.

The pin swap was fun too, but wish I'd swapped more! My favorite is the QuiltCon pin in the lower left - "My quilt is in the show." I wore it proudly. More pictures tomorrow. Linda