February | 2013 | Inspirations… Stitch by Stitch

QuiltCon, the first conference of the Modern Quilt Guild, was a blast! Austin, TX is such a cool place and all the conference leaders and volunteers went out of their way to make this a spectacular event.

There were exhibitors…

Andover Fabrics booth and Vickie Anderson and Carol Zentgraf at the Modern Quilting Unlimited booth. MQU was one of the sponsors

There were wonderful lectures and workshops….

I was fortunate to get into a class with Japanese artist Yoshiko Jinzenji – quilting with sheer fabrics

Foundation Piecing with Penny Layton. I learned how to piece curves and Y-seams and I designed a fish with floppy fins.

And then there were the quilts……!!

Including this stunner by Thomas Knauer – In Defence of Hnadmade. It’s a large scale reproduction of the UPC code of a Martha Stewart quilt for Macy’s.

And Best of Show – Double Edged Love by Victoria Findlay Wolfe

I am so happy that I was able to attend QuiltCon. A big thank you to everyone who worked so hard to make the event happen. A job well done. It will be hard to wait those two years until the next QuiltCon, but I understand there will be some regional “Sewdowns” happening around the country next year.

I am so excited about going to QuiltCon in Austin. I signed up so long ago and can’t believe it’s just around the corner. Texas….here I come.

In anticipation of meeting everyone, the Modern Quilt Guild has invited all attendees to a Linky party and suggested we post five things about ourselves that people might not know about us. So here goes:

1. I have an irrational fear of birds, especially pigeons. Is that weird? Are there lots of birds in Austin?

2. I won the “Crisco” award in middle school for best home economics student. My dad called me his “Crisco Kid”. Guess I’ve always like to cook and sew.

3. I do not really like to drive. I live in the country and the grocery store is 7 miles away, so I have to drive a lot. But I am a city girl at heart. Give me a train or a plane or a bus and a project to sew or knit, and I’m a happy camper.

4. I owe 7 machines that sew (some better than others) – including one that my husband noticed uses no thread. That’s my needle felting machine – kinda like the story of the Emperor’s New Clothes….you do know you are sewing without any thread, right?

5. I’ve never called myself a “quilter”. I’ve only made one bed size quilt, and that was many years ago when we were first married. Looking back at it, I guess it does looks a bit “modern”. It certainly was improvisational. I sewed together all types of dress making fabrics and then learned that combining loosely woven fabrics with more firmly woven fabrics will not hold up well to repeated washing. That quilt bit the dust in very little time. After that, I turned my interest in sewing to wearables and other non-quilt projects. I used to love wearing this skirt. Made this long one and a short version too. Check out those fabric prints from the 1970’s..My love of sewing led me to a career in design and crafts, so I have made a few quilts for my clients. But mostly they are small wall pieces, such as this Kaffe Fassett ribbon and fabric quilt I designed for Renaissance Ribbons.
I do love combining fabrics and colors and piecing them together, especially in an improvisational way. But I have a lot to learn about quilting, and I know that I will improve my skills and get lots of inspiration while I am at QuiltCon.