QuiltCon2015 - Quilts and Vendors

QuiltCon2015 - Quilts and Vendors

QuiltCon2015 - from the Press Room

First a note about some of my favorite quilts.  These are just a FEW of the very many that I loved at the show.  I don't know why I selected these to take photos of, but I did.  If you would like to see more, you can find them on the Modern Quilt Guild website, here, or perhaps on Luana Rubin's Flickr page, here.  And many of them have been on both FB and Instagram, so please explore!  It will be worth your while if you didn't get to the show!

This one is subtle, but it draws me in.  I love it, I love the fabrics, and the quilting.  All good!

I love Amanda's work, every time I see it.  The joy of piecing curves (which I have not found yet)!  Look at all the quilting lines!  Wonderful!!

I absolutely love the pattern and colors.  This quilt sings in person.  And it is really large.  LOVE IT!

A detail of the wonderful quilting!  Love!!

Love this one.  Love the colors, but also all the wonderful modern fabrics, and the play with shapes.  Well done!

I was surprised to see the hand quilting with this.  It works wonderfully!  Good addition to an already wonderful quilt!

Love the colors and shapes!  I could stare at this one a long time!

Love the play of brights with neutrals.  Very pleasurable! See Terry's website here.

Ah, one from the wonderful tuning fork series.  Heather, you knock my socks off! Thanks for the inspiration!

Next, some of my favorite vendors.  We couldn't do all this without you!!!

To Mistyfuse, I love you!  You make my dreams come true.  I iron a bit of Mistyfuse to fabric and cut out the shape I want, and presto, it becomes real as I iron to another piece of fabric.  Magic!  This is the best stuff, ever!

To Malka Dubrawsky, my teacher and owner of Stitch N Dye, I am profoundly happy that I have found artistic expression through batik and dyeing.  Your class changed my life.  Thank you!!

To Juki and Superior Threads, you make it all come together!  You maximize many fond hours of sewing joy!

 To Havel's scissors, proud sponsors of Dinner@Eight exhibits, you make some seriously great scissors!! The newist to my collection, a pair of snippets!  Thank you!  I look forward to using them.  

Ah another favorite, friendly and welcoming, Michele Muska at ez Quilting, just like the tools she carries.  Fun booth, many great tools and inspiration for quilters!

To Soak, a new addition to my list of favorites.  I look forward to giving this one a try!  It will fill a much needed niche in the cycle of creation and caring for my creations!

After the show was over, I volunteered, along with a few new and old friends, to take down the quilts.  Here we are, hamming it up a bit! 

i Quilt - Best in Show!!!

i Quilt - Best in Show!!!

The judges selected my quilt for Best in Show!  I still can hardly believe it.  With tears in my eyes, and a knot the size of Mt. Olympus in my stomach, I approached the stage on wobbly legs to shake Jacquie Gering's hand, get a big hug and accept the award!  What a tremendous honor!!

It's like going from zero to 80 in a nanosecond....or as the little pig says, "Pure Adrenaline"! Ha!
It is a bit overwhelming, but in a very good way.

I met the sponsors of the prize, Gammill Quilting Machines, to whom I owe a great thanks!  And, truthfully, I am still floating on air.

My quilt was also featured in an interview about QuiltCon on Houzz.com, which showed many of the quilts, a fantastic story!  It is an honor to be included in such an esteemed group of quilt makers!

One of my favorite photos of the experience:

photo by Rebecca Maples

Thanks for stopping by!

Big Blue

Big Blue
83" x 83"

Should I make it bigger?  It already feels rather largish!! Here's a drawing for scale.

...and especially when I consider having to quilt it?  Imagine pushing this little gem under your home sewing machine...Happy, happy!

Meanwhile, though I LOVE how this looks, I am disappointed that it used so little of my stash.  This is the after picture.

This box is crammed packed on the right side.  (Scroll down to see the before picture or click here). The left over cut strips are on the left side.  I used less than half the box to make this quilt.  On the bright side, at least there will be enough fabric to make a back for it!  I really look forward to that part of it.  I love making design decisions and just letting the creativity flow!!

Now if I multiply this project by the number of boxes of fabric I have, and then consider the time it took to make this top, I see at least a year of work, without the quilting part thrown in.  True confessions of a quilter....

Blue

Blue
45" and growing...

I have decided to do some stash busting!  I have been collecting fabric for over 20 years, and it is time to do some cleaning out again.  I have given fabric away before, but this time I decided to use it up in the form of making quick quilts to either sell or donate....not sure about that part yet.  All I know is that I am currently interested in learning more about modern quilts and design, so hopefully this could be quite the interesting little project and also useful to me to clean out the studio, and potentially useful to the person or persons who acquire these quilts! 

I have about 14 containers like this from the Container store.  They are packed to the gills.  It partly explains why I typically buy fat quarters, because they fit in my boxes more easily!  And though it looks like an overwhelming amount of fabric, I would just like to say that for the most part, each piece was purchased with a specific project in mind.  I rarely shop for fabric just to own it and cherish it.  Not that there is anything wrong with that!
Meanwhile, this fabric could be having a useful life, instead of being locked away in these boxes waiting for an audition that may never come....
Strip piecing seemed like it would level the playing field and let all the fabrics come together.  Here was my work session at the beginning of the week.

It begins with the cutting.  I selected 5 arbitrary widths and then just started cutting one piece at a time.  Whatever didn't fit into a strip got tossed away. I am planning largish sized quilts, so this one isn't quite done yet.  It is currently at 65" x 65" after just 4 days of sewing.  I am amazed at how quickly it comes together.  Obviously it may be a different story when it comes to finishing it up.  And, I don't have a stash of large fabric for the back, so I may end up just putting two tops together.  Wish me luck!