QuiltCon Phoenix | The Quilts

It's hard to focus on just a handful of quilts when there were SO MANY gorgeous ones at QuiltCon. So first, I'll share the group quilt in which I had a block. 

You might remember me making blocks for Linda @flourishingpalms' potholder quilt project back in January 2024. My one block that made the final cut is the one in the upper right corner. Linda bound all of the hand-quilted blocks, then hand-stitched them all together. It was great to be able to see the quilt in person AND to meet some of the other makers as we gathered for a group photo. I also overheard several folks examining the quilt, so intrigued by its unique construction.

Standing L: Charlotte @kirkenoll

Kneeling L-R: Sherry @otterbeequitling; Candi @candipursuits; Kathy @kathycookquilts; me

Standing L-R: Linda @flourishingpalms; Patty @elmstreetquilts

From here, I'll just share a few of my favorite quilts from a mix of categories.....

Seriously, that was just the tip of the iceberg. Be sure and check out all the QuiltCon 2025 Winners, and The Works of Tara Faughnan, beautifully captured by Holly Harper @redheadwiththread. It really was a very impressive, inspiring quilt show.

About Those WIPS

It was back in September that I listed out the six quilt works-in-progress that I had going on. Six was A LOT for me! But I've been steadily making progress, and thought I'd report back in about them, probably for the final time. I'll share the last couple, of course, again once they are complete.

1. Summer Sampler 2021 :: Finally, some progress!! I put my blocks back up on the design wall while I considered stash sashing options.

I settled on some choices, and actually have everything cut out to finish the top. Now to start in on piecing! I know I still have a ways to go, but a finish at least feels feasible now.

2. Bee Sewcial fine-line pieced blocks :: You've seen this one finished, and no, it didn't get accepted into QuiltCon like I'd hoped, but it's done, and ready to share another day.

3. House Top blocks :: Housetops is done, and happily it got washed up and was gifted. And I wondered aloud to my daughter recently that I could find no blue scraps in the scrap basket.... Hmm. I wonder why.

4. QuiltCon Artisan Cotton Fabric Challenge :: This one, Striped Much, is also done and was submitted to the challenge it was created for. Since it wasn't accepted into the show, it's ready to find a new home.

5. Bowtie blocks :: Progress here too! I need just a few more hand-pieced blocks for my chosen layout, and those are now prepped. I had to order more Kona Enchanted, which wasn't easy to find! But I have it now, and this one's on the docket for more piecing once my deadline hand-stitching is complete.

6. Seattle MQG Salsa Medallian BOM [aka my own Pantone challenge] :: Also complete, and I'm now looking forward to discovering what fabric is closest to the new Pantone COTY, Very Peri.

So, I feel pretty good about how my WIP list has played out. Of course, other quilts and projects have snuck in, which is fine. But I'll keep plugging along, and definitely will be glad when this list is no more.

Modular Realized

It's taken a while to get this far, and now that I'm here, neither schedule nor weather has allowed for the truly modular photoshoot I had in mind. But that doesn't mean the finish isn't worth celebrating, so I'll call it a day and maybe another time I'll get that photo I'd hoped for.

So my Modular Bee Sewcial finished at 68" x 82". Two of the blocks I'd received plus my own were unique shapes, and the others were all more rectangular. So it ended up that I added to the three unique-shaped ones to square them up a bit. That wasn't my original intent, but it's what seemed to make sense once I'd come up with a layout. One end of Marci/@marci_girl's I did leave angled though, just because I liked the interest it added.

In trying to tie in the orange spots in each block, I used half-inch strips of two orange solids, drawing them all the way to the quilt's edge via matched binding once on each side. Another thing about the binding is that I made it to finish at 1/2" wide to add another connected element to the orange "sashing."



Quilted with a hand-drafted 3 1/2" x 4" tumbler design, execution went really well, though overall it's less dense than I usually quilt. I tried out several tumbler sizes and shapes, though, and the one I went with just seemed to fit the scale of the rest of the blocks. Not sure why the quilt looks wrinkled in these photos, because in person it looks really sharp. In fact I'm super pleased with it. Bee Sewcial quilts are always a special kind of challenge, and I'm glad to have conquered this one. Thanks to Karen/capitolaquilter, M-R/quiltmatters, Leanne/shecanquilt, Stephanie/spontaneousthreads, Ken/thekinglacker, Felicity/felicityquilts, Silvia/astrangerview, Marci/marci_girl for their inspired blocks - exactly the kind of improv with intent I was hoping for.

More about this quilt was shared during its making, so if you'd like to know more, see:

Modular ~ Modular in Multiple ~ Modular Report ~ More Modules

And of course #inspiredbybeesewcial is worth a periodic perusal. 
Lastly, this project was on my 2019 Finish-A-Long Q4 List!
Linking up with 2019 Finish-A-Long Q4 Link Up!

QuiltCon 2019 :: The Quilts

I was disappointed when I got home from QuiltCon and realized how few photos I had taken of quilts in the show. Let me rephrase that. I took lots of photos of certain quilts (such as Baconrific, oops), but not of a wide variety of quilts. I won't say alot about the ones I did take, but will share the placards that hung with them to credit their makers, and so you can read more about them.

The first two, though, are Bee Sewcial quilts, and lo and behold if Leanne/@shecanquilt's "Smile" didn't win Best in Show! A profound and proud moment in time for our bee.

Karen/@capitolaquilter's "Stretch" also hung in the show, and the quilting done by Karen's sister Sharyl/@itssewscottsdale, just elevated it to another level.

Another quilt of special interest to me was made by Hillary/@entropyalwayswins. The design was inspired by a card Hillary had sent me back in 2017, and because of that, she named it, in part, after me. Fun, eh?





Here are just a few more quilts from the show that caught my eye!

  

I just love the variety, don't you?

Everyday Improv & More with Seattle MQG

It had been planned for months - a doubleheader with my own Seattle MQG - and though I was really looking forward to it, I was basically consumed with the anticipation of it all over the past few weeks.

First up was an Everyday Improv workshop! Basically, it was a chance to explore 15 improvisational piecing techniques, all of which are incorporated into my All In quilt. I took it and several other quilts to give my students an idea of ways to either incorporate the improv techniques into their quilts or be the basis of new quilt-making explorations.

What I most hoped to convey was that the techniques were a fun and easier-than-they-look way to include more improv into their sewing day to day - basically show how versatile they can be. And I think that was accomplished!

Of course it was great fun to see what the class came up with and how they made the techniques their own! I look forward to seeing more as they continue to explore.

Then a few days later, at our monthly guild meeting, I shared a trunk show.

I think this made me the most nervous. I showed my very first quilt, which was completely hand-stitched and quilted during a beginning quilt-making class in 1988....

my first improv quilt, made after taking a class with Katie Pedersen in 2012....

Improv Achieved

the first quilt I entered into a show....

Common Affection

and on to more of my more recent quilts.... 25 in all. In a nutshell, it was my quilting journey from the beginning, fraught with 'rules' galore, to the present, where pretty much anything goes. Though thankful for the past, definitely, I'm happy to be right here, creating with plenty of freedom.

Follow the Dots

Whew! All that was exciting and overwhelming all at once! But what a wonderful opportunity it was to share with the group that has meant so much to me and affirmed me over the past five years.

Photo credit at trunk show, Rachel Pascual. Many thanks to Elizabeth Gould and Kathleen Munns for quilt-holding.