QuiltCon Abbreviated

Right off, I'll just say QuiltCon was nonstop, overflowing, overwhelming, and absolutely amazing. Every day, we hit the ground running, and we fell into bed late at night filled to the brim and exhausted. It's hard to even know where to start when it comes to sharing the experience, and knowing so many of us have shared extensively on Instagram, now that I'm home, I'll just share some highlights. It could take a few posts, but I certainly don't want to forget.

One of the things I was most looking forward to was the Emphasis class with Carolyn Friedlander. Honestly, when I registered for the class, I thought it was topical - about adding emphasis to a quilt. In actuality, it was a paper-piecing class making the pattern Emphasis, from Carolyn's book, Savor Each Stitch: Studio Quilting with Mindful Design. I was eager enough to meet and learn from Carolyn that I took the class anyway, even though you know paper-piecing isn't necessarily my favorite. BUT, I learned several new techniques in the class that made the actual paper-piecing in the class easier, so I'm really pleased I took it, and am excited to finish the project I've started.

Getting started

 Rachel/Snippets of Sweetness, me, and Carolyn

 My project so far - half of a  "Stripe" table runner

Carolyn and all of our projects on the design wall

The other class I took was Basic Improv Quiltmaking with the Quilters of Gee's Bend. It was definitely an honor to be in class with them, and touching to have them begin class with a song and a prayer. After that, though, there was no instruction other than "start sewing." So we did. After working on my piece for a while, one of them caught me mulling over what to do next. I was told, "your heart will tell you."

 Getting started - 1 shirt, some linen & voile scraps, and a stack of modern scraps 

My project so far

The Quilters of Gee's Bend - China Pettway, Mary Ann Pettway,

Lucy Lee Witherspoon, Gloria Hobbins - and me

After making a Cargo Duffle specifically to take to QuiltCon, I couldn't resist joining in on the Noodlehead bag meet up, though I know there were way more Noodlehead bags there!

And another fun thing to do was to take the Test Your Kona IQ challenge! You got 2 1/2 minutes to try and identify 30 colors, and I came away with a score of 200 (out of 300). Not bad! Made me realize I really need to see all of those newest colors though.

Well that's enough for now. More to come . . .