Quilt Con-cked Out

Phew!

I'm back from the second QuiltCon. I had not planned on going, but the possibility of meeting quite a few of my favorite quilters tipped the balance in favor of going. My gracious, good friend, QuiltingCyclist, had a shareable room within rock-throwing distance of the Austin Convention Center -- so off to Austin I went.

 Firstly, I had lots of fun!

Secondly (& certainly the cause of Firstly), I made the effort to repress my wallflower nature & boldly approached people I did not know & introduced myself to them. I met Libs Elliot -- an amazing quilter! we chatted about her process & what is upcoming for her. I met Andres (aka Mad Tesla), from my virtual acquaintance with him I knew he is talented & funny, now I know he is also charming & smart. I met Lynn Harris (in fact followed her into the ladies' room like a creepy stalker), we talked about tiny patchwork stars & her soon-to-be-released book. I met Melissa Averinos, she made an amazing face quilt that won Judges' Choice & after we talked, she continued to recognize me & say "hi" when our paths crossed. I met Sherri Lynn Wood & had her sign a copy of her new book -- she gave me some good advice that I hope to apply to my quilt-making & to life in general. I met Tara Faughnan, I've loved her quilts for some time & was delighted to find a spirit similar to mine. I met entropy always wins -- crazy talented, crazy smart & crazy nice! she recently made fabric rose brooches & gave me one! I met bookybookish, an Instagram friend who is now a Real Friend. I did not get to meet armchair quilter, Claudia, it just didn't work out this time, but someday! I did not meet, but enjoyed seeing 2 of Leslie Schmidt's quilts. And I did not get to reconnect with completely cauchy, the poor dear got sick the week before QuiltCon & she finally decided not to come, but I got to see several of her quilts on display.

It was such a pleasure putting faces & voices together with quilters & bloggers that I admire.

Thirdly, I saw lots of fabulous quilts. There were 2 special exhibits, one was a group of Gee's Bend quilts -- a group of the women taught workshops & gave the keynote talk -- the other were quilts from the collection of Bill Volkening, quilts from the 50s, 60s & early 70s -- lots of joyful color & polyester! And the quilts entered to hang, well, here is just a few.

I got a temporary quilty tattoo. Hmmmmm, next time, maybe a real one........?

Plugging & chugging

You would think I would learn, but I never seem to: the problem with having so many on-going projects is that nothing proceeds very quickly. Out of my maaaannnnnnny stacks of parts, I've been working 2 scrap projects & 2 with scrappy-ish flying geese. As you scrap-sewers know, there are no quick methods for scraps, just pulling 2 pieces, sew them together, sew them to another pair & repeat. I've got all of these projects out on my sewing table so that they are all leaders & enders for each other & in spite of proceeding slowly, they are all proceeding.

In between times, I made & quilted something I plan on entering for consideration for a display of modern quilts at the Texas Quilt Museum. The piecing was crazy simple & the quilting was simple but dense & took some time. It is done except for the binding; for the first time, I'm planning on trying a facing-type binding. I'll give you a little peak at this quilt.

Hippo Birdies, Two Ewes

Not hippo birdies, two ewes -- hippo birdies, two ME(s)!