I'm living in the glow of QuiltCon and I have a feeling I will for awhile. I'm so proud of the work that Heather and Alissa (our fearless leaders) and the staff and volunteers did to make it happen. We're not a giant company, we're a dedicated group of quilters, we're a non-profit, we're a guild, and we made QuiltCon a success.
There were lectures from many of the leaders in the modern quilting movement.
Guilds made quilts for the Austin Children's shelter from the blocks that were made as part of the QuiltCon block challenge. Many of them were displayed in the lecture hall. They made a beautiful backdrop.
We had vendors who sold lots of fabric, notions, sewing machines and supported the show. This is the team from Marmalade Fabrics.
We had a juried quilt show. Victoria Findlay Wolfe was the Best in Show winner with her quilt, Double Edged Love. Simply stunning!
Karen Anderson Abraham won the Coats and Clark Award which was their choice of best quilt in the show for her quilt, Sing It Out Loud.
Carolyn Friedlander won Best Machine Quilting for her quilt, the local quilt. Another stunning quilt!
Energy and enthusiasm in the convention center was everywhere. I met so many people I can't name them all because I'll leave someone out. It was so great to put names to faces and meet so many new people as well. Be sure to check out pictures from the 80's dance party. I don't have any to share, but quilters took Austin and fully embraced the big hair, neon colors and tacky clothes of the 80's.
We had an exhibit of Denyse Schmidt's quilts. I had the honor of hanging these quilts. (and with a group of volunteers, making and pinning sleeves on them so they could hang.) Ask me how it felt pinning through Denyse's quilts.
This one has been my favorite for a long time. Simple is beautiful.
I met the woman who works with Denyse on the quilting of her quilts. We had such an interesting conversation.
We had another special exhibit of historical quilts from the collection of Roderick Kiracofe. It was the Modern Quilt Guild's nod to tradition. It was so much fun to note the elements of these quilts that appeared in the modern quilts in the show.
This is String with Broken Grid by Sally Adams.
On the show floor there were demos every half hour. It gave folks with a show pass the opportunity to take mini classes all day long. Katie and I did a demo together. Didn't get any pictures of that. Dang.
We had an amazing staff. Amy and Gina worked the registration desk. Awesome!!!
Jen was the face of the Modern Quilt Guild. She welcomed everyone to the show and was cheerful and helpful despite having swollen ankles. This girl always has a smile for everyone.
There were classes, classes and more classes! I taught on Thursday and Sunday. I had three sets of great students. It was a blast!
I could do a post a day for a couple of weeks, but I'm sure blogland is filled with memories and reflections from QuiltCon. It wasn't your mother's quilt show and conference. It was fun and it was modern. It had a little controversy, just enough to keep it interesting. It was a little edgy, and it spurred a bunch of quilters to embrace the "keep Austin weird" vibe and get tattoos. I almost joined in, but honestly I couldn't think of what to get. Now I've got two years to think about it. When I see you in person ask me about the offshoot of the event, affectionately called "BoobCon". I was the Queen of that event.
While the 10 days I spent in Austin was exhausting and I didn't have much time to enjoy the event, the best part for me was the people I met and worked with. The staff, pictured below, are the hardest workers and most dedicated members of the Modern Quilt Guild. It was my pleasure to spend 10 long, hard days with them. Best days I've had in a long time.
Mary Ann was one of those amazing volunteers. She told me to tell you that when modern quilters die, QuiltCon will be our heaven. It was that good!
18 comments:
My quilt went without me but following #quiltcon on instagram I felt like I was there!
Amazing recap I wish I would have attended. Thanks for including the Charity quilts photo - it was the first full picture of the one our MQG made that I have seen.
Everything about QuiltCon was awesome and well thought out. I can't express enough my appreciation to everyone who devoted endless hours of hard work to make this event special and enjoyable for all who attended. Meeting you again and learning from you was the icing on the cake. Thank you for sharing your creativity and expertise. Kudos to you, the planning committee, organizers, and volunteers. What a great time in Austin!
I had a great time and I thank you and all the staff and volunteers for all the work and smiles and laughs!
What a great tribute to the planners and participants and everyone in between. I loved the behind-the-scenes (under-the-quilts?) perspective.
It was great seeing you again, Jacquie! I had such a great time - thank you for a wonderful event!
I enjoyed seeing all the quilts in blogposts and on flickr, reading some posts and trying to understand what modern and or contemporary quilting is about. I hope when I tell quilters in Holland about it, that they will get a better understanding about it. I hope we will be able to organize some kind of Quiltcon in Europe... one day!
it was so wonderful to meet you and play a tiny part by volunteering. I had such a wonderful time - definitely worth coming all the way from London!
good morning Jaquie! Apart from your beautiful work which always inspires me, always!! How can I get one of those awesome MQG tumblers????
Wow, I wish i could have been there, maybe next year?! Well done to everyone who helped - every person photographed had the widest smile on their faces and its contagious - its even cheered up a grey Thursday in england!
QuiltCon was really, really, really, really, really awesome. I was sad when the curtain came down and it was time to head home again. Thanks to you and all the volunteers for your hard work at making the event a success!
QuiltCon was a dream come true for me and I thank you and the amazing team for making it so exceptional! I'm happy I had a chance to meet you and attend your inspiring lecture. See you in 2015!
It truly was an amazing event - probably the best quilting experience of my life!
Looks like it was over the top successful, imagine how great the next one is going to be! Thanks for sharing the pics.
It was so wonderful! I am going to submit a quilt next time- I was so inspired by everything! Loved meeting you and thank you for all the hard work involved in putting this together! I just gave it a 5 on my survey! xox,
calamity k
I am so thrilled it was a success, but I never doubted for a minute that it wouldn't be! I need to hear all about your big adventures. Especially interested to hear about the DS quilting and maybe a few other things that were alluded to, LOL
Best ten days I've had in a really, really long time as well! Was amazing and you're the absolute best. I'm still buzzing from it all! XOXO
Congratulations on putting on something so amazing! I just watched your lecture on Craftsy - thanks for having it on there, it was great to see some of the lectures from half a world away. I loved it, I found it really inspiring, I loved hearing you speak about your quilts and your family and what it all means to you.
Post a Comment