End of February

It's time to take a look at my fabric-tracking spreadsheet to see how February turned out. Though I'm still determine to use more than buy in 2025, February found me falling short on the use more/incoming side.

I'll blame spending time quilting my Party Time! improv quilt for not using more fabric than I did. Since finishing Party Time! quilting, I made and attached binding that I'm currently hand sewing. 

In February I also hand-pieced 26 more Inner City blocks. I've made 114 blocks toward my goal of 218. While flying to and from Phoenix for QuiltCon, I pieced these 12 blocks that I haven't yet taken time to press.

The sum-total of fabric used-up in February is 1.2 yards, while incoming fabric was 8 yards. I needed more color options to audition "one added color" for my Paint Chip Challenge quilt which must be purple/lavender and pink/mauve.

While at QuiltCon, my friend Candi @candipursuits convinced me to select a more bold (than oyster) color to go with purple and pink. A purchase from String and Story, a QuiltCon vendor that sells all colors of Painter's Palette solids, was where I found Painter's Palette Lemon Ice. and Frolic. I auditioned both colors and have settled on Lemon Ice as the color that will give purple and pink the pizazz I'm looking for. 

February fabric-tracking numbers are 8 yards in, and 1.2 yards out, for a net gain of 6.8 yards. 

Yep, I'm in the red, but I'll rectify that in short order. In March I'll be hustling to make the Paint Chip Challenge quilt (approximately 72" X 72") by the April 15 deadline. Linda

QuiltCon in Review: 2

With so many quilts displayed at QuiltCon and the fact that I took photos of quilts in 11 different categories! - it's difficult to determine which ones to share here on my blog. However, since handwork is one of my favorite pastimes, when not piecing or machine-quilting, what you'll see next are some handwork quilt that captured my attention.

You can always depend on Jen Broemel @jen.broemel (Indianapolis MQG) to make a showing at QuiltCon. Three of her quilts were displayed in the handwork category!

This is Follow Soft the Sun, and it's 48" X 48".

Several of us discussed her construction method, and weren't quite able to figure it out. There's always a layer of netting (tulle, or mesh) under the hand stitches.

Even from the back, it's not easy to determine her process. Her signature style is to leave lots of dangling, knotted and uncut threads on the back.

Still Blood Boils is 72" X 48".

Fire's Breath is 72" X 72".

Seen from the back, it's apparent Jen used the same construction method for all three quilts. 

Marla Varner @pennylanequilts created Vote that's 62" X 51. She happened to be white-gloving in the area, so I captured a picture of her with her quilt. 

Quattro is 72" X 72" and was made by Simone Symonds @salty.plum a member of the Melbourne MQG, Australia. 

This is, perhaps, my favorite quilt in the handwork category. City Limits is 58" X 58" and was made by Tanya Tanti @tanya_tanti_artist who's also from the Melbourne MQG, Australia. 

She used a combination of domestic machine quilting and hand quilting. 

Last, but not least, is the work of Julie Rueben @b_plus_q whose creativity I follow on Instagram. This is Arches, measuring 54" X 45" that won first place in handwork. 

Her dense quilting with perle cotton, is always impressive. 

I'm pretty sure the Wonderfil thread company loves her to bits!

I very much enjoy handwork myself, and shopped QuiltCon vendors to buy five more balls of #8 Wonderfil Eleganza, and I treated myself to a boxed collection of Jo Avery's favorite Aurifil Wool. I'm not loyal to a thread brand; I just know which ones are the "good stuff." Linda

Book Scores

Being the end of February, it’s time to jump in, between posts about QuiltCon, to share, score and rate eight audiobooks I read in February. In score order, those titles are:

With Old Girls Behaving Badly, I found myself empathizing with 71 year-old Gina who becomes a week-long carer for a 79 year-old woman who wants to recover a stolen piece of art. The parts about setting off on a new life course and being a sleuth were the fun stuff of imagination.

Walking the Albaravon is one I wanted to like because our son, a fan of science fiction, enjoyed and recommended to me... but I didn't. If you’re into a somewhat humorous (British), albeit gory story about an astronaut lost on a far-away planet who acquires powers that enable him to overpower and eat space creatures, this story is for you!

These are covers of the titles I have given a score of 4.0 and higher.

• 4.5 - How to Read a Book, Monica Wood
• 4.4 - The God of the Woods, Liz Moore
• 4.3 - Old Girls Behaving Badly, Kate Galley
• 4.2 - Tell No Lies (#2, Quinn and Costa series), Allison Brennan
• 4.2 - A Slow Fire Burning, Paula Hawkins
• 4.1 - The Wife, Alafair Burke
• 4.1 - Oath of Honor (#1, Blue Justice series), Lynette Eason

I hope you find a few of these as good as I did. Linda

QuiltCon in Review: 1

There's just something about QuiltCon.

What can I say but, "It was another fabulous event!" For someone who's never attended a QuiltCon, it's difficult to explain how and why it's so much different -  better - than other quilt shows.

QuiltCon displays more modern, artistic quilts. . 

It's also a much more social event than other shows, and inevitable that you'll run into people you already know.

L-R: Cheryl Ash, me, Cindy Grisdella @cindygrisdellaquilts

It's inevitable you'll meet quilters with whom you have something in common; and that you'll make new friends.

Esther Frenzel @ipatchandquilt of the Netherlands

And you'll find yourself hugging more quilters than you do family members! 

L-R: Anne @anne.gould.35; Candi @candipursuits; me

There's just something about QuiltCon.

Quilts displayed are much more than simply quilts. Designs are always original and unique; visually stimulating; thought-provoking; and often prompt questions like "How did they do that?"

I'd love to share all of the more than 500 photos I took at QuiltCon, so in my next few posts I'll do my best.

Award-winning quilts can be seen here, on the QuiltCon website. Mostly, I'll focus on those that didn't win awards... like mine.

Below are my two QuiltCon-accepted quilts, numbers 16 and 17 in eight QuiltCons. 

Benched appeared in the Transparency Challenge category. Truth be told, it's not a favorite, but I am honored it was accepted. 

I especially enjoy seeing people perusing it and taking photos. That warms my heart.

 

Pot Luck appeared in the Group Quilt category. Blocks for Pot Luck came from 16 contributors, seven of whom were at QuiltCon for this group photo. 

Standing L: Charlotte @kirkenoll
Kneeling L-R: Sherry @otterbeequitling; Candi @candipursuits;
Kathy @kathycookquilts; Debbie @aquilterstable
Standing L-R: me, and Patty @elmstreetquiilts

Our group quilt (left) was displayed near the third place-winning group quilt Paloma (right), made by several friends in the South Florida MQG.

Their process for making this quilt was intriguing.

L: Charlotte @kirkenoll; R: Debby S.

Each person was tasked with making 11 components for a face. For example, one person would make a hair section; a right eye section; a left eye section; lips section, and such, to total 11 sections. That person would NOT sew together the sections. Rather, she mailed the sections to one person who collected them all, and then laid them out for assembly.

Cathy @cwi1sOncot put the blocks together, and Charlotte @kirkenoll hand-quilted the whole quilt. Isn't that a creative way to approach a group quilt? 

The Best in Show quilt, Dignity, was made by Veruschka Zarate and deserved the $10,000 prize money. With permission from the original artist of this design, Veruschka spent three years making it using the foundation paper piecing technique.

Not only was it stunning from the front, but look at the back! 

Incredible. I overheard her say it was challenging to align the front and back on her longarm. 

Speaking with the Modern Quilt Guild director, Karen Cooper, I kiddingly told her that I hoped this winning quilt wouldn't set a new standard for judged modern quilts - quilts that must include a backing as stunning as the front! I could never measure-up!

I attended QuiltCon Phoenix in 2022. What wasn't in Phoenix in 2022 was this mode of transportation - Waymo - a driverless service.

Though I didn't ride in one, it was fascinating to see them in action.

Watching a driverless car at a stop light, wait for pedestrians in the crosswalk before turning... it was a bit disconcerting. Though I learned from friends who rode in one, it's also disconcerting as a passenger! 

Good Morning Mom! appeared in the minimalist category. Doesn't it make you smile? This quilt was my vote for People's Choice, though it didn't receive it. Good Morning Mom! is 56 " x 63" and was made by Canadian Cristina De Miranda @shipsandviolins.

There's just something about QuiltCon. Linda

Among Other Things, QuiltCon Prep

I don't know how a week managed to get away from me, but it sure did! I've had my eyes on the looming date of Quiltcon, figuring out which projects to can get organized, and which ones I can make a little progress on.

A paint chip quilt challenge, organized by Big Cypress Quilters, a chapter of Quilting Guild of The Villages is due April 15. After selecting two paint chip cards (no swapping allowed) we can make anything we want. I wasn't overly pleased with my color combination, but I'm giving it a go anyway. 

My inspiration was this design, found online when I Googled "mid-century modern." I like the deep, narrow curves. But how to create those echoing shapes on a quilt is challenging. That's the point, isn't it? 

I weighed my options - piece those narrow curves? Impossible. Or make bias tape to appliqué by machine or by hand?

I decided to go with Misty Fuse appliqué. I'll apply two to three layers of Misty Fuse to the back of fabric, cut the skinny curves, and then fuse those curves to a background. To prepare, I've drawn (erased, re-drawn, erased and re-drawn) deep curves on a piece of freezer paper. 

I'll wait to being fusing. I'll tackle this approximately 62" X 72", attention-consuming project until after QuiltCon. My design wall will wait. 

I've progressed on quilting Party Time! The 43" square improv-pieced center is filled with half-inch wide straight-line triangles.

Now I'm free motion quilting every confetti dot on the four 13-wide sides, and giving each corner some custom-quilting. The top thread color matches each fabric, so I've had a few thread color changes. All are 50-weight Aurifil.  

In random places, I'm taping a square of masking tape (on the right) to the quilt top, and quilting around it twice to make ghost "confetti" (left).

When not quilting, I'm making Inner City blocks. Mostly from my shoeboxes of solid scraps (I've gotten into stash to give me a few more color combinations) I've cut out more shapes to continue hand-piecing. This little stack, to be added to the other big pile, means I've now made more than 100 blocks - 100+ more needed.

I will take this 5" X 7" pouch of supplies along to QuiltCon, for airport and down-time piecing. 

I've been distracted by Instagram this week, looking at quilters' posts about past QuiltCons, the quilts they've had in those shows, and sharing my own quilts. I was surprised to count and realize I've had a total of 17 quilts appear in 8 QuiltCons. None have earned an award. I think I'm understanding a little of how Susan Lucci felt for so many years.

😊 Are you familiar with my reference to her? 🤣

I've also arranged a few QuiltCon meet-ups with people I see only at this (extremely social) event, and have dinner plans for two evenings. Also, I'm part of two group quilts. Photos will be taken alongside quilts made by: 1) Central Florida MQG members, for the QuiltCon Charity Challenge; and, 2) 16 of us who made Pot Luck. Of the 16 of us, 8 will attend QuiltCon.

Saturday afternoon and evening I'll be taking my six hour QuiltCon workshop - Chaos With a Twist with Libs Elliott (90 minute break for dinner). Lib's supply list includes colored pencils, a couple rulers, rotary tools, and fabric - 8 to 12 fat quarters. Having at least a yard of all these colors, and not wanting to chop yardage into fat quarters, I selected and cut eight half-yard pieces to take along. I'm documenting them here, for future reference because...

...you know I won't be satisfied making a small quilt! I'll return home to make it bigger.

Speaking of "bigger," have you noticed that I enlarged the font on these blog posts? My vision has gotten worse in the past year. Bigger is better. This past week, I finally saw (ha, ha) an ophthalmologist (after cancelling my January appointment due to contracting COVID). I learned that my eyeglass prescription is incorrect. And - not really a surprise - I am a candidate for cataract surgery. For months, I've been seeing a glare when in bright sunshine, and in buildings with overhead lights. An April consultation is when I'll learn more about the procedure. Honestly though, many of my friends have already gone through this, so I have an insider's understanding as to what happens, and what can be problematic. I began wearing glasses in third grade, then wore contacts for 48 years, and then returned to glasses for the past eight years. I am looking forward to experiencing what it's like to not needing vision correction, except in particular situations. Happy days ahead!

Happy QuiltCon ahead! 😄 Linda