QuiltCon Quilts and February Fabric Tracker

Hello quilt-y friends! Thanks so so much great comments on Monday's blog post! My only frustration with your comments is that more than half of you are "anonymous" commenters, meaning I have no clue who you are! So since I couldn't reply to you by email, I replied in the comments of the previous post. 

I love conversing with everyone who reads my blog posts, so please be sure to let me know who you are, and I'll happily reply!

So it's time to look at some QuiltCon quilts. This year, for a number of cumulative reasons, I didn't have enough time to really absorb the quilts, as I have in the past. With 600 quilts to view - 480 were MQG member submissions; the rest were special exhibits - I don't have pictures of all of them. 

Instead, these are photos of some of them that were my most favorite. Whenever possible, I have included the category they appeared in, the maker's name, and MQG chapter affiliation. Unfortunately, for the first time, QuiltCon did not provide quilt dimensions, as they have in the past.

My People's Choice Award went to Piece by Piece made by Jane Grant @gonequiltinginflorida who's a member of Central Florida MQG. Her work is always piecing perfection - meticulously stitched. 

If I wasn't so partial to Jane's work, my second choice for the People's Choice Award would have been Catherine Beemer's Sweet Tea Summer. It was in the Modern Traditionalism category. Catherine is a member of the Charleston MQG. 

I adore the patchiness of the design. It was longarm quilted.

A quilt of similar aesthetic in the Modern Traditionalim category was Retro Jazz by Lenny VanEijk @modernstitchwitch who's a member of the North Jersey MQG.

Lenny longarm quilts.

L.A. Ninepatch in Modern Traditionalism was made by Catherine Butterworth @ccbutterworth of Sydney, Australia. She explained that she worked on this quilt during her daughter's colon cancer diagnosis and treatment that happened during the pandemic. 

The addition of hand embroidery throughout the design was a effective visual element. 

Ripple Effect in Modern Traditionalism was made by Nancy Messuri of the Boise MQG and was based on the Cut Dish block.

Nancy domestic machine quilted it.

Steph Skardal was at it again, using a drawing made by her eight year-old daughter, and Steph's tech knowledge to laser cut fabric to make Banapicklenation in the Modern Traditionalism category.

She referenced the work of Andy Warhol. The little "seeds" in each banana-pickle is a divet cut into the fabric.

Jo Avery of the Edinborough MQG (Scotland) based Watermelon Eyelashes on the New York Beauty quilt block. It sold at QuiltCon for $800.

She longarm quilted it herself, and added hand quilting, which is always a "win" in my book. 

Maria Shell @mariashellart had four quilts in the show. This is Spin Cycle that placed third in Modern Traditionalism. 

I have come to appreciate Maria's skill at "patterned improv."

A white-glove volunteer let me see the back of Spin Cycle, and it's impressive. Maria uses a heavier-weight quilting thread in the bobbin than on top, and quilts every shape twice, so there's no need to bury thread tails. Interesting, isn't it?

Another of Maria's quilts is Tiny Bubbles that appeared in the Piecing category. 

Again, a volunteer let me see the back, which is almost a quilt in itself!

It's difficult to know when to end a blog post when I have many more quilt pictures. Another installment will happen. 

In 2023 I've begun a new habit of keeping track of incoming and outgoing fabric. Because we've begun a new month, it's time to take a look at February results. 

The right side is fabric yardage used; the left side is fabric yardage brought in. My net fabric gain was 9.19 yards.  

Knowing I'd likely do some shopping at QuiltCon, I preemptively sewed early in the month, to use-up as much as I could. Still, the 17+ yards of incoming fabric was more than I expected! Given that I won a QuiltCon giveaway of 18 AMH fat quarters that amounted to 4.75 yards, I'm not holding myself too accountable. 😊

But it's definitely time to get sewing! Linda