QuiltCon 2019 Report

I can’t believe it is already two weeks since I was in Nashville! Since I got back I’ve been busy catching up with quilt deadlines and being ill with what I suspect was a ‘plane lurgy’, so it has taken me longer than I expected to write up my 2019 QuiltCon report post.

The photo above is yours truly beside my Modern Love quilt which was hanging in the show as part of the MQG Quilt of the Month exhibit (thanks to Jenni for taking the photo!). This quilt was January 2018’s QOM and the pattern is still available for all MQG members.  It  was placed in a great location, hanging at the end of one of the rows facing the C & T Publishing stand (who just happen to be the publishers of my forthcoming book!) and I loved seeing people standing staring at it every time I walked past!

One of the lovely things about this trip (my third QuiltCon) was how many pals from the UK were travelling with me. These girls were all on the plane with me, from left to right Sarah, me, Pam, Karen, Kay and Jenni. We arrived on the Tuesday evening and this photo was taken on the Wednesday morning after we finished helping Karen set up her classroom ready for classes to start the next day. But the next day Karen was feeling really ill…

The rubbish thing about us all travelling together was that most of us got ill at some point during the trip. Not me, I saved mine till I got home, but Karen was very unwell and yet still managed to teach each of her 5 printing classes – she is an absolute hero!

But before the lurgy started we had a lovely visit to the Tennessee State Museum to see their exhibition of Antique quilts from the state. They were absolutely stunning! Here are some of my favourites.  I took so many photos of quilts that I have made a few mosaics of these or we really would be here all day!

While we were viewing the quilts we bumped into a group of Aussie quilters, some of whom I’d met before or knew from Instagram. Then a group of Danish quilters that we’d hung out with in Savannah arrived. It got very noisy in that gallery! But how lovely to have an impromptu international quilters meeting!

Afterwards we all went to a nearby Food Market and spent a happy couple of hours at a wine tasting 😉

On Thursday the quilt show opened and, even more than in previous years, the quilts just blew me away.  So many incredible quilts!  I took loads of photos but I can only show a few here. Let’s start with some of the winners. This is ‘Burst’ by Marge Tucker which won best frameless machine quilting . I went back on many occasions to stare at the quilting.

This incredible maximalist improv quilt won Best in Show and it is just amazing! It is by an old friend from Canada, Leanne Chahley @shecanquilt and her ‘Beesocial’ group.

This is ‘Separated’ by Valerie Luberecki which won People’s Choice. All of those many squares (2342) represent children separated from their families at the USA/Mexico border between April and June last year. There were quite a few other moving quilts with serious messages at the show but this one particularly resonated and is so beautiful.

Here are some of my other favourite quilts from the Competition, these are by two of my favourite quilters, on the left Stephanie Ruyle  and on the right Tara Faughnan.

 

The quilt on the left is actually a mini quilt by Betsy Vinegrad and the one on the right is by a UK quilter, Lynne Hanson, of Oxfordshire MQG, those are all needle turn applique circles (which as regular readers will know are a special favourite of mine!).

And speaking of UK quilters I was extremely chuffed and proud that so many of our UK modern quilters (and IRL pals of mine) won ribbons for their amazing quilts! Jenny Haynes @pappersaxsten had 3 quilts in the show and 2 of them won ribbons!! That’s one of her gorgeous quilts at the top left above. Below that is another prize winner by Rebecca Bell @greenandbell which one 2nd place in use of negative space.

And my Edinburgh friend (who teaches at myBearpaw) Lucy Engels was one of the contributors of the first prize winning quilt in the Group Category along with the rest of the Improv Bee (quilt made by Alisa @astitchinbetween).  Lastly I have included my friend Charlie’s (@sydneyrosedesigns) incredible monochrome quilt which didn’t actually win anything but got a lot of much deserved attention from everyone that saw it!

Oh I could go on and on showing you stunning jaw-dropping quilts!  Here’s a round up of some other favourites – top row from left, Kari Vojtechovsky @quiltsforthemaking, Tanya Murray, Jessica Levitt. Middle row from left, Timna tarr, Marla Varner @pennylanequilts, Ginny Robinson@minnowpeck. Bottom row from left, Scott Murkin, Kathy York, Connie Griner.

Apart from all the hundreds of competition quilts there was also an amazing display of Charity Challenge quilts from all the groups.  This stunner was made by my own Edinburgh MQG group!! I had absolutely nothing to do with this at all (I was very busy last year!) so I can claim no credit whatsoever, but I totally adore it! It was amazingly quilted by Kelly Orr and it’s called Snow Wonky  – best said with a Scottish accent 😉

And then there were the special exhibits! This year the MQG celebrated the quilts of Sherri Lynn Wood. I was absolutely knocked out by these, and especially how old some of them were (she has been making incredible quilts for decades).  Here is a small selection, I would love it if this display came to FOQ one day soon!

On Friday I attended a full day workshop with Timna Tarr on making map quilts. Timna showed us a number of beautiful examples of her map quilts, these two just took my breath away in person.  There were a number of different methods we could use to create our maps but I decided to go for hand applique and take a really long time to make mine (obvs!).

This is how much I got done in the class. I expect this to be a  few years in the making! My lovely friend Dolores took the workshop with me and chose the quicker applique method, look how much she got done on her map of Harper’s Ferry! I can’t wait to see this beauty finished Dee!

On Saturday I attended a workshop with Kim Kight about using Adobe Illustrator to design fabrics.  I learnt so much at this class and was super pleased that I actually kept up with the other students.  This is my little doodle turned into a fabric repeat – such fun to do! But very time consuming, and I have really no time to play with this at the moment so don’t hold your breath for a fabric collection from me any time soon!

And then there was the ‘apres quiltcon’! Nashville is a very busy party town with live music and amazing margaritas at every bar! We did some fine dining, some line dancing and finally Karaoke live on stage in front of an audience!  Or at least I did!

Yes I LOVE karaoke but usually I only do it in a room with a bunch of friends at Super Cube in Edinburgh, but I jumped at the chance to get on that stage at Wanna B’s and belt out Valerie (Amy Winehouse version). What can I say? I am a total extrovert!

Here I am doing some serious emoting by the look of it!

You might also like to check out this fun video from Aurifil, they interviewed lots of their designers and artisans at the show and asked them 5 important questions – look out for my revealing chat near the end!

And then there was the shopping!

The must have item this year was a pincushion from Fish Museum.  The lovely Deborah Fish can only make so many of these adorable and individual ceramic pieces and everyone wanted one! I queued for an hour and a quarter to get my hands on this cutie – now christened Spike – but it was totally worth it! Plus I met some wonderful folks in the line and it was such a crazy adventure!

I did also buy a little fabric… and some other pretty wee notions like those scissors and the magnetic pin holder. Plus a gorgeous tea towel, and I also got loads of badges to add to my collection.

And I was also gifted two beautiful mini quilts!

One was made by my dear pal Dolores.

She is one of my oldest blogging friends who lives in Virginia and one of the best things about going to QuiltCon is that Dolores comes too (and brings her lovely hubby Don, an extra bonus for all!) and we get to hang out! Dolores made this quilt as an entry for Curated Quilts Curves Challenge and it is so very ‘me’ that I could have made it myself!

I took a class on Tiny Piecing with Chawne Kimber at QuiltCon in Savannah two years ago and sat next to a lovely lady called Debra (@madeofhonor) we stayed in touch and talked about a mini quilt swap and a meet-up at this year’s show. However some missed communication and a lack of time on my part meant I put off making one. I thought Debra had too but she surprised me with this beautiful orange mini complete with her trademark tiny improv piecing!  

Both mini’s are gorgeous and I feel so lucky to have them, thank you friends! And next year I will take a quilt out to Austin for Debra.

Yes I will definitely be back at QuiltCon in 2020!  I wouldn’t miss it for the world, will you be joining me?!