QuiltCon Raleigh - Part 1

I've been home from QuiltCon, in Raleigh, North Carolina, for two days now. I continue to mentally process everything I saw there. From the opening of the event - the Awards Ceremony (which MQG members could watch via livestream) to my last workshop that ended at 9 PM Saturday evening, it was another incredible QuiltCon.

Here are a few interesting statistics about the MQG and QuiltCon. 

And, at the Awards Ceremony it was announced that more than 10,000 attendees were expected during the four days of the show. 

After seeing long lines - like a quarter-mile? - every morning before the show opened at 10 AM, my guess is that QuiltCon attendance surpassed 10,000.  

Once inside the Exhibit Hall, before descending on the escalator (or stairs), there was a panoramic view of the whole floor. Vendors were on the right; quilts were on the left. 

Vendors on the right

Quilts on the left

One of the most exciting moments was being present when the award for first place in the "American Patchwork and Quilting Super Scrappy Challenge" was announced. Our own Central Florida MQG member, Beth Shutty @blue_dragonfly5 won! We're so proud and happy for her!

Those members who were available (21 of our 56 members attended QuiltCon) met at Beth's quilt for pictures. 

And in case you don't know which person Beth is, we're pointing her out to you!

If you see QuiltCon magazine on the newsstand, you'll see Beth's quilt inside. 

In upcoming blog posts I'm planning to share quilt pictures of non-award-winning quilts, so if you'd like to see the winners, go to the QuiltCon website HERE. 

People

Besides quilts, it's the people that QuiltCon is about - those I enjoyed seeing again, and for the first time.

It was delightful to reconnect with dear friend Di @darlingdi from Sydney, Australia who was here in 2017 when we attended QuiltCon Savannah together. This is one of a half-dozen blog posts about her time here.

This is the second time I've met-up with Clara Stoikow @bimbambuki_blog, a lovely lady originally from Germany who currently lives in Manhattan. She made this quilt Scrappy Manhattan that won "Judge's Choice" from Stacey A. Watson.

(Left) Jo Avery @joaverystitch from Scotland was at QC again. I took her Improv Tiny Piecing workshop on Friday evening (more on that later). She and I swapped gifts. 

(Right) For the first time, I met Paola Machetta @cultofquilt of Italy, whose improv work I have admired since first seeing her Sealights quilt at QuiltCon Phoenix in 2022. 

While in a QuiltCon lecture by David Owen Hastings, I learned the he bought Paola's Sealights quilt!

Sealights by Paola Machete

Here's Paola with this year's Nightlights quilt. Doesn't it just glow?

Paola wanted a picture of us with my quilt, Feelin' Groovy made for the Maximalism Exhibit. I'm honored that she asked.

It was also fun to watch people as they looked at Feelin' Groovy.

Some of these sweet friend brought gifts for me.

From Di I received the key fob; from Jo I received the cute little stitchery; from Clara I received the adorable hand-stitched hexagon necklace fob; and the "I (heart) EPP" is from Tina Craig @seasidestitches (no picture). Gosh, it's difficult to remember to take pictures with friends! When you're in the moment, you're just enjoying their company, and not paying attention to making photo keepsakes. 

Such is the case with Candi Lennox @candipursuits of St. Augustine, Florida. Here's she's with a group quilt she made, inspired by a piece of Kaffe Fassett fabric!

Candi and I hung out together looking at quilts and vendor-shopping, and had lunch together... and never thought to take a picture of us together. Sheesh. I'm happy to say she has an eyeglass case and a fold-up shopping bag I gifted her. 

This is Debra Jalbert @madeofhonorquilts formerly of Clermont, Florida, who now lives in Tennessee. Debra made Big Stitch which hung in the Minimalist Category. I wish I had a close-up of this quilt so you could see that she pieced tiny blue and orange strips that she inset as skinny pieces. Impressive work!

I finally got to meet Tara Glastonbury @stitchandyarn who lives in Australia. At QuiltCon 2020, Tara bought my quilt L Cabin, which is now hanging in her Sydney studio. Tara recently wrote a great blog post Modern V Contemporary that I highly recommend reading. She makes a great case for understanding what modern is, and is not. 

Here is Tara with Multifarious Me, her entry in the "American Patchwork and Quilting Super Scrappy Challenge." Tara's quilt came in second place behind Beth's. 

After several Zoom workshops/meetings last year with Irene Roderick @hixsonir I finally got to meet her in person... and tell her exactly what I thought! That she's a very special instructor whose ability to educate me about how to do improv afforded me a big leap toward success. She's the person who helped me finally accept that I can do improv - albeit carefully, and not always successfully. I owe her a lot!

Also along improv lines, I met (L) Lenny van Eijk @modernstitchwitch, and (R) Annie Hudnut @anniehudnut, both of whom had multiple quilts in the show.

Lenny van Eijk made Alien Jungle (63" X 79") for the Piecing category.

Lenny made Summer Journey #1 (39" X 39") for the Use of Negative Space category. 

And Lenny made Summer Journey #3 (39" X 39") for the Use of Negative Space category.

Annie Hudnut made Spin (74" X 75") for the Modern Traditionalism category. 

And, Summer Cherries (64" X 57') in the Use of Negative Space category.

I could certainly keep going, but will share more in a future post. Linda

Catch-Up

Last week was hectic... but it really wasn't. It just felt hectic because QuiltCon was happening for four days in Pasadena (Thursday through Sunday), and the Olympic games were wrapping up.

Even though I didn't attend QuiltCon, I followed along very closely via Instagram. Lots of quilt pictures were posted, and even more quilters I know were in attendance and meeting up with friends.

My Australian friend, Di, who spent a month with me last year (her arrival on February 2, 2017) was able to attend QuiltCon, but shortly after the show began she was felled by the flu!

Here's Di on the first day of the show, doing her volunteer shift and posing in front of one of her two gorgeous entries into QuiltCon. This quilt is "Shining Through." Last November, it received 2nd place in the Modern Traditional category in the Modern Quilt Show Australia.

As lovely as Di looks here, it was just as this volunteer shift ended that she was laid low with the flu! The poor dear! She retreated to her hotel room, started taking Tamiflu, and slept. Though she was weakly back on her feet by Saturday afternoon, I can't imagine how disappointing it was for her to anticipate such a fabulous event and then be sick. She's a trooper, for sure. She let me know she still enjoyed herself... seeing the show, visiting the vendors, and connecting with other quilters. I'm so glad.

To participate in QuiltCon myself, I joined in #quiltconfromhome, posting a few pictures of what I was working on during those four days. I started something new using Christina Cameli's new book "Wedge Quilt Workshop," stashed solids, and a long-unused 9-degree ruler.

While piecing lots of these wedges, in between I sewed leaders and enders. My pile of 16-patch blocks (4" X 4" finished) has passed 90 now!

Last Saturday was our Central Florida MQG Sew-In at the Belleview Public Library. Though our group was small, we had a great time! Not only were each of us able to work on whatever we wanted (I was hand-sewing binding on two quilts), we had fun with a fat quarter swap of solid fabrics. I'm ever-grateful for quilting friends.

L-R: Karen T., Beth, Linda T., Karen E., Ruth, Dee, Edith, and me

As for the Olympics, watching the final of men's curling was by far the most fun sporting event I've watched in a long time. These guys made quite a comeback after several failures early-on in the round robin games.

It's the first time the US has won gold in curling!

During many hours of watching, we got acquainted with these fellas. Matt Hamilton of McFarland, Wisconsin (third from the left) was estimated to have played on the Olympic ice for slightly more than 40 hours. John Shuster, the skip (far right) from Duluth, Minnesota is given much credit for the team comeback, and his own high accuracy rock-delivery. Such a Cinderella story. Ahhh. It's great to be an American! I can't imagine what a wonderful homecoming it was for all these guys.

This morning, my neighbor-quilter-friend, accompanied me on a photoshoot to take pictures of a couple finished quilts. I encouraged her to bring along one of her own quilts for a photo. We headed to Brownwood, one of the three squares in The Villages. In Paddock Square there's a statue of a cowboy. Since Becky's quilt is small, we thought he would make a good backdrop.

Turns out, every cowboy needs a little quilt! 

The statute has a smooth finish, so there wasn't any way to get the quilt to stay laying across his lap. So Becky put the quilt through his arm, hung on, and stood behind him. Perfect, isn't it? I think Mr. Cowboy may be modeling more quilts in the future!

By the way, if you like that little quilt, it's a design by Missouri Star Quilt Company called "Trail Blaze." How ironic that it's a name that suits a cowboy?! Find the tutorial for a larger version of it here.

This picture of a long line of parked golf carts was also taken at Brownwood, last Saturday morning when we went to Farmer's Market. It's definitely snowbird season!

But when the weather's gorgeous like it's been, with the sun shining and the temps in the mid-80s during the day and 60s overnight, it's tough to begrudge anyone else wanting to enjoy it as much as we do.

The AQS (American Quilter's Society) show opened today, through Saturday, in Daytona Beach. I'm boarding a bus - one of three buses of Quilting Guild of The Villages quilters - early tomorrow morning to spend the day.

"Florida" 3rd place, Quilting Guild of The Villages, January 2017

My Florida quilt is in the show.

It didn't win anything, but I get free admission to the show! I'm looking forward to spending the day with quilt-y friends. Linda

Singin', Spacin', and Springin'

Continuing to share the things Di and I did...

Di went twice to the Ukulele Players Club. We went early so she could take a group beginner lesson using a loaner soprano ukulele. Basically, if you know the C, C7, F, and G7 chords, you can play a lot of tunes. This is what a playing session is like, usually with at least 100 people playing and singing.

These get-togethers remind me of going to Shakey's Pizza with my family. Anyone else have memories of eating pizza, and singing along to a bouncing ball on a word screen? I have always enjoyed the old songs, and I love to harmonize. Our Ukulele Players Club does "Waltzing Matilda" too.

When Di and I were in The Villages, these are some things we did:

• Farmer's Market twice
• worshipped twice
• attended two Bible studies
• visited Eisenhower Rec Center with its rooms of war memorabilia
• visited Manatee Rec Center to see the manatee mural 
• went to two squares for shopping, ate at World of Beer, and enjoyed evening live music and dancing. Di to line dance the Electric Slide!

She also made a second visit to Big Cypress Quilters. A few of the quilters brought along the pin cushions they'd finished after taking Di's lesson.

Here's Di wearing her adorable selvage skirt, in front of our could-grow-larger-than-we-imagine Bismarck palm.

On Monday, March 6, Dan, Di and I went to the Kennedy Space Center.

It had been decades since Dan and I had been there, so we were very impressed to see nice changes. It's a little more Disneyesque than it once was, but in a good way. 

We took the bus tour out to the Saturn V Center.

As before, we could see the launch pads...

... crawlers (to move the rockets)...

... and the buildings where the aerospace technology happens.

The IMAX documentary-type movies shown in two different theaters, are interesting and educational.

I was thoroughly amazed to learn that plans are being made to send a four to six person crew to Mars in the 2030s! It's estimated it will take a year for the astronauts to arrive on Mars, and that they will be gone for 3-1/2 years. I cannot imagine...  

On Wednesday, March 8, Di and I visited two quilt shops - the new Quilting Palette in Lady Lake; and Tomorrow's Treasures in Ocala. 

Then at my insistence, for a touch of old-timey nostalgia, we went to Silver Springs. As a child I remember my family vacationing (driving from Ohio) to Daytona Beach, and making side trips to other places, like Silver Springs and the glass bottom boats. Now the state of Florida owns Silver Springs, but it's still a pleasant place to pass a half day, for only $4 admission.  

 

Di and I did ride the glass-bottom boat.  

This wraps up only some of the things we did during the 30 days Di and I spent together - from February 11 through March 10. She's been blogging about our travels too, so don't miss her perspective on what we've done. You'll enjoy her humorous writing style, and fabulous photos. Believe it or not, most of the pictures were taken with her iPhone 7.

All the foods!
Biltmore Estate, Asheville, North Carolina
Charleston, South Carolina

And more to come. Linda