SewCanShe’s QuiltCon East 2017 Report!
Two years ago I had a quilt accepted into QuiltCon 2015 in Austin, Texas. I booked a hotel, a plane ticket, and classes. I told everyone I was coming. I was so excited! And then something came up – a family event. Something I simply couldn’t miss. It was heartbreaking. I had to cancel everything. I promised myself that the next time I had a chance to attend QuiltCon I would.
So this year when they scheduled it for the beautiful city of Savannah, Georgia, I went! I didn’t have a quilt in the show, but I still had a fabulous time.
Since I know what it’s like to really want to attend QuiltCon and not be able to, I thought I would try to share the experience a little bit here on my blog. It’s for everyone who wanted to come but couldn’t. ๐
What would you rather hear about… the fabulous quilts, the amazing classes and lectures, or the fun little things that were going on all the time???
The quilt above (don’t mistake it for a giant diamond!) was awarded best in show. This gorgeous paper pieced quilt is called ‘bling’ and was sewn and quilted by Katherine Jones. I’m sure you’ve seen it all over the quilty blogosphere by now.
Another one of my favorite quilts was this one called ‘Go North’ by Maritza Soto. It’s so bold and energetic. I simply had to walk by it again and again. Oh, and this one won the Free Spirit award for Quilting Excellence.
Can you see the clever way that they hung the prize winning quilts? There was no curtain behind the quilts so attendees could walk all around the quilts and see them from every angle.
Visit my SewCanShe instagram account to see lots more quilts from the QuiltCon 2017 quilt show.
One of my favorite events was a panel discussion about Tapping into Your Creativity with Jen Carlton Bailey, Lisa Ruble, Nina McVeigh, Kate Spain, Heather Givens, and Erin Schlosser (pictured in that order from left to right).
It was so encouraging to hear how everyone (even these successful artists) suffers from creative block sometimes. Among other things, they spoke specifically about ‘social media block’ that happens when we compare our work to the work of others that we see on the internet. It’s so destructive. In short: don’t do it!
Another one of my favorite lectures was A Brief History of the American Quilt by Mary Fons. She is loud, funny, and so endearing. Her lecture was impeccably prepared and presented and contained a wealth of information. I kept wishing that my kids and husband were there too so they could hear it!
I also attended two half day workshops that were off-the-charts amazing. They deserve their own blog posts, though. Read about my experience long-arm quilting in Rulers and Geometrics with Angela Walters here and Designing Modern Quilts with Christa Watson here.
Besides the lectures and workshops, there were almost continual demonstrations every day by lots of quilty celebrities! Anna Maria Horner taught how to sew reverse applique, Melissa Mortensen showed how to make polaroid quilt blocks, and Melody Miller showed us the new Cotton + Steel Bernina sewing machines.
You can’t tell from the picture above, but these demos were set up in such a way that you could grab food from the concessions area and watch while you ate. No time lost eating, yay!
Besides the quilt show and the demos, lectures and workshops, there was a ton of fun stuff to do. Some booths had fabric projects to sew, including Cotton + Steel and Free Spirit.
The Michael Miller booth had fun little cards to design blocks with using fabric pieces. Plus the chance to sign up to receive free fabric if you make a quilt block to help them with charity quilts. Northcott and Art Gallery were also giving away free fabric samples. Plus I got a charm pack from Windham with Heather Given’s demonstration. Yes, lots of fabric was given away all over the place!
And, of course, there were lots of opportunities to buy fabric, notions, and sewing machines too!
Hmmm… it seems like rather than making you feel better for not being there I may have made you wish you had come even more! Well, just promise you’ll come to QuiltCon 2018 and meet me there!
xoxo,
Disclosure: some of my posts contain affiliate links. If you purchase something through one of those links I may receive a small commission, so thank you for supporting SewCanShe when you shop! All of the opinions are my own and I only suggest products that I actually use. ๐