I'm Back From QuiltCon!

I am home from QuiltCon!  My friend, Christine, and I had a wonderful time meeting quilters from all over the world, attending lectures, looking at all of the quilts and shopping!  I have participated in the #makeaminimakeafriend swap at QuiltCon twice in the past and signed up again this year.  This past fall, I was told my swap partner was Katie in Oregon.  I asked her to make something that told me about where she lived and she told me she likes fall colours. I did not pick out fabrics or do any sewing until January but I was spending time before that mulling over a design.  I found some fabric for the background at a quilt store in January and that led me to picking the colours below for the quilt...four greens, four yellow/gold and four orange/red solids from my stash. 

Then, I got busy making a 6.5" churn dash in each colour. 

For the centre, I made a 12.5" churn dash in a churn dash block in two shades of gray. 

I quilted this project with my walking foot, using the background fabric from the front as the backing for the quilt. I did a poll with some Quilty friends regarding the colour of the binding and there were equal votes for gold, orange and green so I had to cast the winning vote for gold. 

All of the swappers met up on Friday night and exchanged their quilts with their partners. Katie and I hit it off right away and both of us were thrilled with the quilts we received from each other.  The quilt that Katie made for me features narrow strips sewn together into the shape of the state of Oregon and a Riley Blake Designs Oregon print on the back. Perfect!

Friendship bracelets were a popular giveaway/trading item at QuiltCon this year.  Katie made me the one on the left and I received the other one from Corinne Sovey. (Corinne is speaking via Zoom at the Oxford Quilter's Guild in March!)

It was a two day drive to Raleigh and lots of stitching was done in the car as we travelled.  I am working on the last motif on my winter/Christmas cross stitch project. Maybe I will get this done by next weekend...

Many modern quilt guilds from around the world participated in the annual Community Outreach quilt project and these quilts were on display at QuiltCon. Each year, there is a palate of colours and a theme to be used in these quilts. You can see the colours below and the theme was Symmetry. As a member of the Toronto MQG, I made four identical checkerboard blocks. Several other members were also given two fabrics to make four identical blocks.  There were no repeats in the blocks and once they were gathered up, a group put them up on a design wall to decide on a layout.  We just happened to be at the quilt when another member of the TMQG was there--Meg.  Christine took this picture of us pointing to our blocks. 

One of the advantages of going to QuiltCon is the weather--it's warmer and we get a taste of spring!  The camellias were in bloom. 

Downtown Raleigh has an oak tree and acorn theme.  

While in line for a lecture the first day, we met these modern quilters from Scotland.  They belong to the Glasgow and Edinburgh Modern Quilt Guilds.  It was fun to chat with them and we saw them several times throughout the show. Their fun sweatshirts and bags caught our eye! When I was in Glasgow several years ago, I saw the actual Duke of Wellington statue with the traffic cone on his head.

We saw our friend, Karen Brown of Just Get it Done Quilts, at the show too.  The three of us sat together at a quilting retreat several years ago and we saw her every month on zoom during the pandemic as members of the Toronto Modern Guild.  

Finn sent us this picture while we were away so we would not forget him!

We had a great time in Raleigh at QuiltCon and now we are inspired to sew!  Christine and I are off to a Guild retreat this weekend.  My bags are packed and I have lots of projects to work on. 

One more quilt--this was made by our friend, Barb.  She hosted several swaps that we participated in a few years ago and she spoke at our guild and led a workshop on pineapple log cabin quilts.  Barb's quilt was at QuiltCon but she wasn't.  Maybe we will get a chance to meet her in person some day!

We drove along part of the Blue Ridge Parkway on the way home.  Beautiful views!

I will link up with Kathy and the Slow Sunday Stitchers on Sunday morning.