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. 

Secret Sewing

 Almost all of my sewing time this week was spent making a wall hanging for a swap which will take place next week.  I have spent months ruminating over a design and colours and fabrics.  I am really pleased with the end result and am in the process of adding the hand stitches to the binding and hanging sleeve.  I will show my finished quilt and the quilt that I receive from my swap partner in my next blog post. 

I did a bit of cross stitching this week, adding lots of the variegated purple borders as well as starting the bird motif.  It doesn't look like much yet, but these are the tail feathers.  If you squint, you might see it!!! LOL. 

Finn says he has a nice tail, but no feathers!  This is what happens when his kong goes under the couch. 

This project is nearing completion.  When it is done, I will go back and finish my sunflower picture.  I have taken my spring rabbit cross stitch in to be framed and have been told it will be ready before Easter. 

Finn likes to lie on his quilt and blanket under my daughter's desk while she works from home.  She requires his constant close supervision. 

My husband and I started a new puzzle this week--this was a Christmas gift from Finn and my daughter. I think I would like to visit this shop in person. 

I'm off to work on my binding.  Happy slow stitching Sunday, everyone!  I will link up with Kathy in the morning. 

QuiltCon Together: Class #4 and the Mini Swap

Once I got started on my "Put a Ring On It" quilt (one of my classes at QuiltCon), I just wanted to keep sewing until I finished the quilt top.  I sewed while I listened to panel discussions and some of the lectures.  I have to admit that trying to do two things at once led to a few mistakes which meant my trusty seam ripper saw some action this week...  Here is my finished quilt top.  I need to pick out some backing from my stash and figure out how I am going to quilt this wallhanging. 

 My 4th class was taught by Sarah Bond. My mini swap partner last year was a fan of Sarah Bond and I had not heard of her before then.  I jumped at the opportunity to take her Chainlink Diamond class at QuiltCon. I purchased a jelly roll for this class and used some yellow Hashdots fabric from my stash for this project. I don't usually buy precuts. 

I only had enough of the yellow fabric for a lap sized quilts so I picked out the blue and green strips for my quilt. I will do another lap quilt, likely with the same pattern, with the yellow, orange and white strips and another background fabric. I sewed my strips together and cut these:

Here are the first few blocks. 

More blocks are being sewn and perhaps by next week, there will be a quilt layout to show to you.

Every year, prior to QuiltCon, members of the Modern Quilt Guild are given the opportunity to sign up for a Mini quilt swap.  I have participated in the swap for the last three years.  When signing up, you can give a few ideas to your swap partner about your likes and dislikes.  This year, I asked my swap partner to make something that tells me about where they live.  My swap partner was Molly W from Houston, TX.  She told me that she likes curves. I received some new drunkard's path rulers for Christmas so I decided to use them to make Molly's mini quilt.   I dug through my stash and found some fun fabrics to use. I drew a design out on paper and coloured it in so use as my pattern. 

Next up, cutting all the pieces I would need:

I tried out my original layout after sewing each of the units together, but I did not like it.  

I tried turning the smaller units, but still was not thrilled with the result.  By this time, it was bedtime so I decided to sleep on it. 

At 4am the next morning, I woke up with another idea, and headed down to the sewing room to rearrange my blocks.  I went back to bed and sewed everything together the next day, much happier with the final layout. 

Lucky for me, the inspiration for the quilting came to me as soon as I figured out the design.  I had some 28 wt Aurifil thread in orange and turquoise in my thread drawer --the perfect colours for my walking foot quilting. 

I have wanted to try facing a quilt for a while so this seemed to be a great opportunity to try it out.  I watched a video on YouTube and I was off to the races. 

The corner triangles can be used to hang the quilt with a piece of dowelling.  The white corner is the label as well. 

And here is the finished quilt, just before I put it in the padded envelope to mail it to Molly. 

Here is the quilt that Molly sent to me:

Here is part of what Molly wrote about in her letter to me:

"Houston is the 4th largest city in the country, but because of how Houston was built, the suburbs are very close to the city. Once you get outside the suburbs, there is nothing, just grassland, dirt and livestock... With all of the space between the cities in Texas, it is relatively easy to get outside of the major light pollution and see some beautiful stars.  To represent all of this, I have made you a night time version, looking at Houston from the outside. Beaded constellations shine down on the Houston skyline with a longhorn looking in on the city."

Molly also included some fun facts about Houston, a city I have never visited.   Thanks, Molly, for a wonderful mini quilt and your letter!  I look forward to signing up for next year's swap as well. 

For my slow stitching this week, I worked on Love Birds, finishing the second large blue flower and starting on the leaves for the next stem of flowers. (the picture was taken before the leaves were stitched.) 

My daughter has had a busy week at work so only had a little bit of time for stitching this week.  She added some details to these flowers and some tassel flowers as well. 

Finn, as usual, has been very helpful, closely inspecting her work for any mistakes. (or perhaps there was something good to eat just beyond the computer...)

The weather has warmed up a bit over the last week so the snow is starting to melt.  I caught a few drips in mid-drop this week...

I will link up with Kathy in the morning for the weekly Slow Sunday Stitching catch up.