QuiltCon West 2016 - Pasadena

I signed up for QuiltCon West 2016 last June.  It seemed so far away at the time.  And here I am, home, and feeling like it passed by in a blur.  

I tried to take advantage of as much of the event as I could while I was there.  I went to lectures, demos, and classes.  I walked the show (twice) and of course, I shopped.  But I also connected with SO many other quilters.  Made new friends, and had lunch one friend I hadn't seen in something like 5 years.  It.was.awesome.

I am going to do a separate post about the classes I took, but the show was amazing.  These photos are not nearly all of them, and I realize that ones I took of Melissa Averinos' "Best in Show" quilt, are on my phone, so those will have to come another time as well.

This is intended to be eye-candy for those who couldn't attend.  I'm sure you've seen lots of them already on Instagram or Twitter, but these are the ones that called to me to have their pictures taken.

Enjoy!

Amazing hexy quilt by Nicole Daksiewicz - of Modern Handcraft fame

2nd place winner - Double Wedding Ring - Tara Faughnah

First place winner - Handwork - Places Unfold by Heidi Parkes

Amazing Carolyn Friedlander "Everglade"

BRAND NEW Jungle Abstractions quilt by Violet Craft - elephant

Jungle Abstractions Quilt by Violet Craft - giraffe - this is on my "must make" list

Jungle Abstractions by Violet Craft - Lion, in a very cool alternative color-way

MY FAVORITE FOR THE WHOLE SHOW - the colors, the plaid, it's perfect

Amazing mermaid dress in the Michael Miller booth

Entry in the Charity Quilt challenge

Entry in the Charity Quilt challenge

Entry in the Charity Quilt challenge - Love this one, structured, but obviously improv

Better Together by Laura West Kong, won a judges choice award and 3rd in the Michael Miller challenge

EZ Triangle Challenge - 1st Place winner - Mickey Beebe

EZ Triangle challenge - 2nd place "Catnado" (the tornado is all cats!) - Karen Duling

Sheri Cifaldi-Morrill's (Whole Circle Studio - she had FIVE quilts in the show!) entry in the Michael Miller challenge

3rd place - Pieceing - Diamonds #2 - Tara Faughnan

Piecing - 2nd Place - Pointed Statement by Amy Friend

One of the smaller number of quilts with a strong color (not black or white) background

Piecing - 1st place -Under the Radar by Corinne Sovey

My absolutel favorite palatte!  Navy, orange and grey!

Forest Abstractions by Violet Craft

1st Place - Modern Traditionalism - Whimsical Logs - Letitia Chung

Kim Kight taking a photo of a quilt using her Scorecard Fabric from her Lucky Strike line

Berry Hunt by Elisa Sims Albury - this is the modern bear paw quilt in Michele Muska's Quilting the New Classics

Version of a scrappy trip-a-along

SO LOVE the use of Alison Glass' Handcrafted line in this quilt

Not a lot of bright yellow in the show so this really stood out

EZ Quilting Tool Mini Quilt Challenge & Kate Spain Canyon Fabric

This is my entry for our the Southern CT Modern Quilt Guild's EZ Quilting Kate Spain mini-quilt Challenge.  We were each allowed to choose a tool when Michele Muska came to do the trunk show at our meeting this spring.

My chosen tool

I chose the mini Fat Cat.  Then we got samples of Kate Spain's new fabric line with Moda "Canyon" to use to make a 16" square mini quilt.  So.Much.Fun.  The quilts will be hung somewhere at Quilt Market (the Simplicity Creative Group's booth?), so if you go to market and can take a picture I would be THRILLED.

Mini Fat Cat Tool Kate Spain Challenge

I am wildly embarrassed to say that this is the first quilt I've ever made that I put a written label on.  I feel quilt shame.  Michelle Muska told our quilt guild about the importance of labels and how meaningful they are.

I realized after I handed my quilt in that I didn't put a name on it.  It's actually called Musical Chairs.  The two floating fat cats are supposed to look like they are going into the open background color spots.  It made sense when I drew it on paper, but I'm not sure how well it translated in my actual design.

Back of my Mini Quilt Challenge

My guild's president snapped this pic of Kate Spain herself at a LQS shop hop stop when she saw all of the challenge quilts made with her newest line...I think she looks pretty excited, don't you?

Photo credit M. Lieberson

Saddle Pad for my CHSA finalist and Show Jumper (Suitability #7158)

My daughter's been riding horses a full four years now.  She's been showing in rated shows for three.  At the end of last year, she fell during a show as she was trying to move up to her first jumping class.  It was a rough few months as her confidence was shaken.

This spring she was still not confident enough to show in a jumping class.  Funny thing is, she jumps during every lesson she has.  She's good at it.  But she was afraid to do it in a show after her fall.  After some encouragement from the older girls at her barn, she showed in a jumping class this April.  Every time she did it, she was super nervous, but she dug deep, faced her fears, and continued to show in what's called Short Stirrup (cantering over cross-rails on a course) all spring and summer.  She racked up enough points to qualify for the finals, which happened this weekend.  She took 6th place out of the 12 riders.

I learn so much from her.  I couldn't be more proud of how she handled herself this year.  She matured so much.  She got to be a much stronger rider.  She is proud of herself, and I know this season taught her so many good things, that she'll take with her into the rest of her life.

6th place in Short Stirrup Hunter, CHSA Finals 2015

She got this great horse fabric, Wild Horses, by Exclusively Quilters at our local quilt shop's annual clearance this winter.  She's been begging me to make her a new saddle pad for her ever since.  After her performance this weekend, how could I not???

I've made this pattern once before, it's by Suitability #7158.  The hardest part was finding a good binding to use for the edges.  They take a lot of wear and washing.

Cover of Suitability #7158

Here's her finished saddle pad.  It's regular quilter's cotton, so it won't last more than one season with the abuse it'll take.  But it makes my daughter feel special to have something made just for her.  It's super easy to put together, with basic diamond quilting and normal cotton batting in between.  I found a 1 1/2" woven black binding on Etsy.  It looks great, but isn't super strong and it actually wore out on the first one before the fabric did.

Saddle Pad made with Wild Horses by Exclusively Quilters

The back I used because it's called Horse Blanket (seriously, what ELSE would I use?) and the colors looked great with the front to me.

Back made with Horse Blanket by Joel Dewberry

If you've ever made one of these, I'd love to hear about it, and I'd love to know where you got your binding.

My First COVER and Some Summer Catch Up

The lazy days of summer. They are wonderful aren’t they? It’s light out earlier in the morning AND later in the evening, and still, I realize things are getting scratched off my to-do list more slowly.

I’ve had some pretty exciting things happen though, during July and August. I’ve plastered them all over Instagram, but I decided it was important to memorialize them here.

My first published quilt pattern was published in the British magazine Quilt Now, in it’s June 2015 issue, number 12. The quilt is an oversized version of a single block. I absolutely love the look of bold, large scale designs like this. It’s made with Petal & Plume fabrics, by designer Bari J. of Art Gallery Fabrics. I also made a matching pillow, and called the two projects a “nap set”.

The editor Katy Jones had told me which issue the projects would be in, but it was a complete surprise to find them on the cover of the issue! I was scrolling through Facebook, and there they were…

That's my quilt, ON THE COVER

I didn’t find a copy of the magazine until around July 1st here in the US. It was a wonderful, fun day for me. 

As if that wasn’t enough, Michele Muska invited my quilt guild (Southern CT MQG) to come to the Simplicity creative offices in NYC in early August. I took a day off from work and spent a gorgeous sunny Wenesday travelling to the city to meet 6 of my fellow guild members for the day.

Me, Michelle our hostess, and my guild members

Michele took us around the office, and introduced us to lots of the people who work in the pattern making part of the business. It was so much fun to hear about what each person did, how the process worked, and get to see garments actually being made up.

Then we met with some of the folks from other areas of the business to talk social media, sewing tools, and the future of quilting. It was fantastic.

Michele lives in CT and had done a wonderful trunk show for our guild in March with the quilts from her book Quilting the New Classics. The quilts were just amazing in person and it was a treat to see them all at once. The book is beautiful, and full of color and inspiration.

Michelle's Wonderful Book, hyperlink above

August and September will be filled with making t-shirt quilts for customers, a Kate Spain/Simplicity mini-tool challenge, and my swap gift for my partner at Glamp Stitch-a-lot. I’d better get back to work!