QuiltCon Raleigh, Part 1

Attending QuiltCon for the ninth time, I knew what to expect. But it's the people one encounters, and the quilts that make each show special and different. 

As you may know, I hate flying. Though I usually fly a couple times a year, it's always with consternation and uncertainty because I'm afraid. I've learned that it helps immensely to fly with someone I know - someone who can distract me from the odd sounds and turbulence that remind me I'm way up high in the air!

This year I flew with friend Karen who was also my QC roommate. We traveled on Southwest Airlines, on a brand new plane. Given that Southwest now assigns seats, imagine our surprise to learn that three other members of Central Florida Modern Quilt Guild were on our flight, and seated near us! 

L-R: Linda, Karen, Cindy, Donna

Also, you'll note that the plane wasn't even close to being full! None of us could recall flying out of Orlando on a plane that wasn't packed to capacity. 

When in Raleigh on Wednesday evening, a few Central Florida MQG members lined up outdoors in front of the Raleigh Convention Center to check-in and get our QC badges. 

L-R: me, Karen, Donna, Cindy, Mel and Janice

The weather was mostly overcast and occasionally rainy, but the atmosphere was welcoming.

We attended the Wednesday evening awards ceremony. Rather than reshare all the winning quilts, here's a link to them on the MQG website.

From Thursday through Sunday (February 19 through 22) it was quilts, quilts, quilts, and vendors. 

What I appreciate about the Raleigh Convention Center is the ability to view the entire show/vendor floor from above. Quilts are on the left; vendors on the right.

I think Carolyn McKibbin's @quiltergardner Best in Show, Mom's Jeans, deserved to win.

I had a chance to congratulate Carolyn and have a nice chat. Believe it or not, she entered Mom's Jeans into QuiltCon 2025 and it was a QuiltCon REJECT! The lesson in that is to try again!

Carolyn domestic machine quilted.

Another award winning quilt that astounded me was Midnight & Noon by Lauren Klementz-Harte @creativelifesampler who won Best Hand Quilting. This is the quilt front.

This is the quilt back. Basically, she made two quilts and then hand quilted in areas determined by the shapes either on the back or on the front.

A QC volunteer and I spent at least ten minutes trying to work out how Lauren created her quilting designs. We decided she quilted from the back for a while, and then quilted from the front for a while. She quilted the sleeve too! How did she do that? It would have been nice to talk with Lauren about her process. Quite impressive!

I managed to catch a photo of Kelly Spell @kellyspell with her award-winning quilt, Racing Stripes. She won the MQG Excellence Award and deservedly so. Her precision workmanship was evident. Fabrics in this quilt were hand-dyed by Kelly. 

Another Central Florida MQG member's quilt was in the show.

Shown in the Appliqué category, this is In Search of Peace by Jane Grant @gonequiltinginflorida. She also has precision workmanship. Jane big stitch hand quilted peace symbols across the quilt. 

I like to see quilts in their context. On the right is my quilt, Turnabout in the Appliqué category. On the left is Slices of Joy in a Sea of Despair by Karen Duling. That quilt appears in QuiltCon Magazine.

The Turnabout surface is covered with big stitch hand quilting. 

This is Infrastructure in the Modern Traditionalism category. 

It's domestic machine quilted and enhanced with big stitch hand quilting. By the way, Infrastructure was a 2025 QuiltCon reject too. 

The QuiltCon Community Outreach Challenge Quilts were displayed in a separate room (apart from the quilt show area) near the lecture hall. 

 

On the left is Fins, Feathers, and Fronds, our Central Florida MQG submission made by about a dozen members and quilted by Karen (in the photos above) and me. 

Fifteen of our 45 members attended QuiltCon this year.

Each year we give our Community Outreach Challenge Quilt to the church that allows us to meet monthly in their fellowship area. The church then raffles the quilt to raise monies to support Rapha International.

More pictures of quilts in QuiltCon Raleigh, Part 2! Linda