QuiltCon Raleigh - Part 3

A week ago today I was riding home from Raleigh with my friend, Courtney. Among other conversations, we talked about QuiltCon - our impressions, and favorite quilts. 

Most of you know that I'm a fan of Paola Machetta @cultofquilts improv quilts, but I'm also interested in quilts entered in the Handwork category, and those with an abundance of hand-stitching.

Through seven in-person QuiltCons, I've been watching several hand-stitchers. A couple of them re-appear each year.

One is Jennifer Broemel @jen.broemel. On first glance, Borrowed Blue looks pretty enough. 

On closer inspection, you realize that this 45" X 45" packs a whole lot of stitching! It seems that she pieces a quilt top, covers it with netting/tulle, machine grid quilts it, and then fills each gridded square with a hand stitch. 

It's pretty amazing. I asked a volunteer to show me the back, and wasn't too surprised to see that Jen leaves thread tails hanging too. Such an interesting way to create a hand-made quilt... err, work of art (who would EVER use this as a quilt?!) wouldn't you agree? 

Beginnings to See is 30" X 30" and also made by Jen. 

Again, you can see how she likes to hand stitch on a grid.

Also in the Handwork category was this 65" X 65" quilt called Why Knot 2 by Simone Symonds @salty.plum. 

It's 12,800 ties and 25,600 knots! Basically a shag rug! This might be a nice one to snuggle under.

Julie Reuben @b_plus_q is another maker whose handwork I admire. This 42" X 30" Shine on Me quilt is three pieced fabrics that have been densely hand stitched. 

She used many perle cotton colors very effectively. 

Choosing Calm is another of Julie's beauties measuring 39" X 40". 

It's a whole cloth quilt that's entirely fly-stitched! Color gradations appear because Julie used seven shades of perle cotton. I asked Julie how much thread she used: "14 full balls, and several partial balls." Wow! 

I had to tease Julie when she posted an Instagram picture of her handwork as she was flying back home. "Fly-stitching while flying." Seems appropriate. 

Julie also made Iridescence that was in the Modern Traditionalism category. 

It's not until you see the quilt close-up that you can appreciate all the handwork in this 42" x 42" quilt. It's something else, isn't it? 

In the Small Quilts category was 36 Days of Quilt Type, a 24" X 24" quilt made by Kaitlin Rim @freetime fibers. 

It was domestic machine quilted, and then hand-stitched. 

Likewise, Stardust, a 30" X 21" Small Quilt by Betsy Balog @b_log was domestic machine quilted. 

But look how she enhanced machine quilting with chain stitches! Love it! 

Rainy Heliconia was domestic machine quilted too. In the Small Quilts category, it's 17" X 25" and was made by Eva Saunders @gingerlyquiltco 

Her addition of long stitches really gives the impression that of rain falling.

This Small Quilt is Walter, a 13" X 13" Bauhaus-inspired "concrete landscape" made by Sarah Hibbert @quiltscornerstone. 

Lotsa linene in this one, and it was entirely hand quilted. 

I can guarantee you that more quilts than these included hand-stitching, but these were some of the stand-out ones to me. 

Quite honestly, when I left QuiltCon I was sure I had seen all 600 quilts in the show, yet I was shocked to see the quilt that won the "People's Choice" award. I never saw it! This is the picture I took from an Instagram screen-shot. 

White Bubbles is a 74" X 81" quilt made by Irina Timofeeva @irinatimofeeva_quilts. It was in the Piecing category. The artist's statement indicates it was machine pieced - made entirely of circles - and longarm quilted. 

Since coming home, I've been in a muddle about which project to work on next! I already had several things going, including domestic machine quilting my Prudence EPP quilt, but came home with two new WIPs from the workshops I attended. 

Jo Avery's Improv Tiny Piecing quilt

Jo's workshop called Improv Tiny Piecing was delightful. No doubt it's because Jo and I have a nice friendship. We were on the MQG's Temperature Quilt webinar panel together, and she's the designer of the Patchwork Pony pattern that Big Cypress Quilters made for the Children's Home Society of Florida.

In any case, her workshop was fun. 

These are all the pieces students made during the workshop. 

I had made these by the end of the three-hour workhop.

This 8" X 27" row is what I've put together since coming home. The orange print door was made with one of Jo's scraps. I've designated it as "Jo's Door." Her private entrance into a quilt studio? 

But for now, I'm finishing ruler-quilting Prudence, though I can't wait to work on something else. 

QuiltCon was inspiring and motivational! Linda