QuiltCon is a huge 4 day event hosted by the Modern Quilt Guild that brings 10,000+ quilters together from around the globe. Of course there are lots and I mean LOTS of quilts to enjoy but that's not all. There are incredible lectures, classes, demonstrations, and a huge vendor hall with all sorts of demos and events going on there too.
This year's QuiltCon was so incredible and my favorite part was the people. I attended with my long time quilting friend Ashley, pictured here. She's a big reason why Snapdragon Quilting exists. About 15 years ago, she came to me and said, "Jen we need to write a quilt pattern book." The book got started but never finished as she was in the Air Force and was transferred and I was a young mom trying to balance parenthood with working as a nurse and longarm quilting for others. The seed was planted though and I could never let the idea of quilt pattern writing go. I love Ashley for pushing me out of my comfort zone and letting me know that my ideas are worth sharing but also for being the kind of friend that's always there no matter how far apart we are living. Although we hadn't actually seen eachother in over a decade, it didn't feel that way. I'm so lucky to call her my friend and I loved spending this time with her. I even got to go to her house to meet her three kids!
You may have noticed the flood of hype around QuiltCon on social media platforms and that contagious energy started in real life before I even arrived in Raleigh. Upon boarding the airplane, Rachel Moffett @call.me.susie cheerfully asked, "Who's going to QuiltCon?" then gave me the perfect homemade bracelet which I happily wore alllll weekend! This bracelet summed me up well... yep Quilt AF. Thanks Rachel!
Another person I truly enjoyed at QuiltCon was Melissa of Cut & Sew in Philadelphia. She uses her quilt shop and studio to teach people of all ages how to sew and quilt. She has an amazing set-up for teaching kids. They come weekly for lessons, like they would for music lessons or sports. She also offers her youth sewing lessons for homeschooling and summer camps. Two of her students even had quilts in the show! (see them here) I was blown away by what she's doing because as I've traveled to guilds to vend at their shows and teach, I've seen a common question being asked, "How do we get younger quilters involved in our guild?" My thoughts have always been that meetings and events need to be held when quilters who are working and/or moms can attend and that a lot of young quilters may not even know what a quilt guild is so more directed marketing needs to happen. Melissa's methods take this to a whole new level. Wouldn't it be amazing for guilds to do something like Melissa is doing?!? Not only would this help create the next generation of quilters but also get their parents hooked all while promoting the guild.
Susan Eiseman (on the right in the photo below) @paintermom63 reached out to me back in May through Instagram wanting to be a pattern tester and I'm so glad that she did! She has played such an integral role in making sure my patterns make sense and I finally got to meet her in real life at QuiltCon!!!
My quilty heros are the people behind the scenes bringing quilting to the community, whether this be through their fabrics, patterns, notions, or quilt shops and I got to talk to so many! This is me with Nathania Apple of Cherrywood Hand Dyed Fabrics. To all my solid lovers out there.... if you haven't played with Cherrywood fabrics yet, you're missing out because they bring such a unique texture and warmth to a quilt. They start with unbleached muslin which creates the appearance of solids with subtle complexities from flecks and variations in color. I can't even begin to talk about
We can't talk about QuiltCon without talking about some of the quilts. There are way too many to mention here but here are some that made me stop in my tracks.
Photo 1: Interplay by Bobbie Gentili @geekybobbin This quilt makes me smile because of the bold colors and because the layering makes it feel 3 dimensional. The geometry loving part of my brain immediately pondered it's construction methods.
Photo 2: Feelin' Groovy by Linda Hungerford @FlourishingPalms The improv style quilts are not my favorite as I crave balance but the brilliant use of striped fabrics with dots made of dot fabrics in this one gave me all the feels. No I didn't touch it but I wanted to.
Photos 3 & 4: Fantastic Plastic by Catherine Butterworth @ccbutterworth. Ummm.. a quilt made of plastic materials that's all hand stitched because plastic is not self healing and melts? Meaning Jack (the Ripper) and irons are not invited to this party... MIND BLOWN. The second photo is taken with a flash to see the reflective materials change. Catherine is a quilt coat next because this is amazing and I want to stop traffic?!?
Photo 5: Warm Days and Cool Nights by Jenn Burt @jenngeorgeburt. From a distance, this quilt looks very angular but closer up, the big stitch circular quilting changes it. Amazing.
Photo 6: Dazzle Camouflage by Gretchen Carder @goodquiltco. This quilt is made with custom screen printed fabric by Alyssa Salomon @Blue_Skies_Workroom and took me straight back to my childhood when my little brother was obsessed with orange. My poor mother had to wash his favorite orange shirt every night so he could wear it day after day, pick your battles situation there. I particularly enjoyed that some of the blocks used the same fabrics right next to each other, sometimes changing the direction, sometimes not. Such a rebel! Love it! And this quilt is amazing under black lights...see it on Gretchen's page.
Photo 7: It's a Trap! by Melissa de Leon Mason @quiltallthethings_ The photo of this darling quilt was taken with the flash on because all those cute eyeballs and flies are invisibile otherwise! I was lucky to take Melissa's class about embellishing bags and jackets by hand, see what I made below.
Photo 8: Cotton Candy by Amy Pabst @amymakesquilts Yes this quilt is real and that is my hand to give it scale. Amy you are out of this world talented!
Photo 9: Tentacle by Mary Arter @merry_otter. Who doesn't love a 3-D octopus quilt?!? Enough said.
Photo 10: Outside To Play by Sara Brown @sarabquilts. Yes, I'm still a child at heart and loved this one.
Photo 11: Interstitial no.2 by Robert Bosscher @rjbosscher & his mom Gayle Bosscher, 3rd place winner in the minimalism category! I loved the creative use of neon thread in this quilt, it appears fainter under the white fabric in the seams then bright on top where it stitches down the applique.
Since my time at QuiltCon was limited to two of the four days, I was only able to attend one class but I'm so glad that I got at least one in. I took Lonely Blocks taught by Melissa de Leon Mason @quiltallthethings_ where we hand stitched a premade block to a jacket or bag. This was a nice change of pace where most of the class was sitting stitching and chatting. Hand stitching has never been my forte and Melissa taught me that if you're trying to embroider a line of stitches, put as many on your needle at once as possible and they will be straighter. I also learned that when turning a corner with needle turn applique not to put a stitch through the point of the corner as it will lay flatter and straighter with a stitch on each side of the point instead.
I took one of my Nuts About You blocks to the class and needle turned appliqued it to the back of a dark denim jacket, I'm thinking some embroidered nuts on the front and back are next. What do you think it needs? Nuts? Squirrels?
QuiltCon was all imagined it to be and more. Not only did I see inspiring quilts, learn some hand stitching tricks, and meet amazing people, I also found the spool of thread I was looking for! Now if I can just figure out where I can plug that iron in! I can't wait for next year, where I may be teaching (fingers crossed) or vending. Hope to see you in Phoenix at QuiltCon 2025!
What was your favorite thing about this year's or any year's QuiltCon? Let me know in the comments below.
Happy Quilting!
