QuiltCon Charity Quilts Part 1

Posted on March 2, 2015 by Plaid Portico

Well, I am back from QuiltCon with enough shots of quilts to last for weeks, and weeks it will take to process them and load them up. So hang on for a fun and inspiring ride. QuiltCon was great–REALLY enjoyed it personally and thought it was very well done and well organized. The excitement was palpable. This IS a movement.

If you don’t know what QuiltCon is, this was the second conference put on by the national Modern Quilt Guild, which included workshops, lectures, a huge exhibition and events, all for the modern quilter. The first two, this year and 2013, years ago were in Austin, Texas. Next year it will be in Pasadena, California, and 2017 will be in Savannah, Georgia.

Normally I curate exhibitions and only take photos of the quilts that really speak to me. In this case I took photos of all the quilts, partly because the majority of them I did like, and partly because I really think the modern quilt movement needs to be documented.

The first thing we all saw were the QuiltCon Charity quilts which were lining the ballrooms that were the site of all the keynotes and lectures throughout the conference. The charity quilt challenge required “Modern Quilt Guilds to work collaboratively to create quilts using a pre-determined color palette and alternate grid design work.” The quilts were twin size and were sewn entirely by each guild from design through finish quilting, and will be donated by each guild to a children’s shelter in their area. The challenge was sponsored and fabric provided by Cherrywood, Pink Castle Fabrics, Rock Paper Scissors, Sew Modern and The Intrepid Thread.

The quilts were hanging uncredited which I do think is in the spirit of a charity challenge, but for this venue I am glad to credit the guild who created them. So if anyone contacts me or comments with the guild info, I would be glad to add the credit information. Inquiring minds might want to know! And please forgive some of the photos. It was hard to get an unobstructed view of some quilts to take a whole quilt shot and some photos turn out better than others. But rest assured all the quilts could be viewed quite well in person!

Over the next 4-6 weeks I will be posting all the rest of the quilts in the exhibition by category, so stay tuned!

QuiltCon charity quilt

QuiltCon charity quilt by Central Jersey Modern Quilt Guild. To be donated to the annual fundraising for SAVE, a local animal shelter.

QuiltCon charity quilt

“Silly Goose, Catch Me if You Can” a QuiltCon charity quilt and collaborative effort by the Jacksonville Modern Quilt Guild. Will be donated to a children’s charity to be auctioned off to raise the most money possible for the charity.

QuiltCon charity quilt

QuiltCon charity quilt by the South Bay Area Modern Quilt Guild in California.

QuiltCon charity quilt

QuiltCon charity quilt by The Lake Superior Modern Quilt Guild in Duluth, Minnesota. Bridge motif inspired by Duluth’s iconic Aerial Lift Bridge, and is also a replica of the guild’s logo designed by their president Deb Westerberg.

QuiltCon charity quilt by The Lake Superior Modern Quilt Guild

QuiltCon charity quilt

QuiltCon charity quilt by the Silicon Valley Modern Quilt Guild

QuiltCon charity quilt

Duo of Jacquie Gering Workshops

Posted on August 27, 2014 by Plaid Portico

How lucky am I that I got to do two Jacquie Gering workshops in a weekend. VERY, let me tell you! They were organized by the Bay Area Modern Quilt Guild (thank you!) and took place in the Quiltworks space (excellent–nice big design walls) Afterwards this blog went on a bit of a vacation as did I, and then we both decided to take more of the summer off to complete other things, but it’s about time now to get back so here we are.

First off, if you get a chance to take a workshop with Jacquie Gering, please do! It’s not just working on a project. Her workshops are packed with fantastic techniques and tips and she really works the room helping everyone out with their project, with both technical and aesthetic concerns. And she carries on which charisma and aplomb. There is a reason she’s made such a name for herself. She’s got “it”.

I took both the “Stitch N Flip” and the “Building Bridges” workshops and no, I cannot show you the quilts I did in the workshops…yet. I promise I will finish them, but you will have to wait. MUCH more interesting though, I have some pics of Jacquie’s block samples and quilts from the workshop to give you a taste.

If she won’t be coming out your way or you can’t wait and you don’t already have it, her and Katie Pedersen‘s book, Quilting Modern, covers a lot of these techniques. You will laugh in her workshops, and you will chuckle at some of the notes in the book. If you are interested at all in modern quilting, this is an absolute must have.

Jacquie Gering

from Jacquie Gering Stitch N Flip workshop

Stitch N Flip technique by Jacquie Gering

Blind Co-Pilot technique quilt by Jacquie Gering

Stitch N Flip Blocks by Jacquie Gering

by Jacquie Gering

A little preview of my efforts. I’ll make something out of it soon I promise!

Day 2! Building Bridges Workshop.

Jacquie Gering

by Jacquie Gering

A version of her Shattered Quilt by Jacquie Gering

by Jacquie Gering

The start of my Day 2 quilt…stay tuned…

Quilt Market Houston 2013

Posted on October 30, 2013 by Plaid Portico

Phew! That was a fun ride, but I am just a little exhausted. It was my fourth time at Houston Quilt Market, and some of the fun in going back is that I get to see people that I have met before, or collaborated with on fabric/project trades, AND meet new people. Well, and you just notice new things every time. Of course there ARE many new things every time, as every exhibit is different market to market.

It all started out with the Quilt Market sign-up catalog..and what is that on the cover? Hey that’s Tara‘s quilt! I know her! How did her quilt get on the cover? She submitted it to the exhibit. It was accepted and the powers that be chose it for the quilt image of the show for all their materials. Pretty exciting. It was part of the “Modern Quilt Guild Showcase 2013”. A fabric designer by day working directly for Michael Miller Fabrics, Tara‘s avocation has long been quilting. She started quilting when none of her peers were. These days she primarily uses solids and is known for her original designs and modern yet detailed compositions, and use of metallic threads.

Tara Faughnan and her Fireworks Quilt

So what were the trends this year? I remember last year seeing such a large amount of white everywhere. This year everyone was touting their color ranges. There are so many companies now with new lines of solids, blenders, tonals and batiks and there were swatch installations everywhere showing the ranges in colors in these lines.

There were also a couple big splashes made at Quilt Market. One was at schoolhouse with the Andover Fabrics Downton Abbey presentation. More on that later on this blog. The other thing was the debut of Cotton + Steel, a new division of RJR Fabrics. From a small corner booth the 5 women making this happen made a surprise intro into the market –their collections will debut at spring Quilt Market. The big intro to their company is this absolutely stunning video. You MUST see it. Nothing like it in this industry. It is… dreamy. Everyone from the designer community is excited for them and looking to see what comes next. Cotton + Steel video

The designers of Cotton + Steel: Kim Kight, Rashida Coleman-Hale and Melody Miller. Not shown: Sarah Watts and Alexia Abegg

What was fun for me this year is having friends at the show to meet up with in between our respective events and tasks. Fabric designers Kim Andersson and Caitley Symons were running the gauntlet meeting with fabric companies to discuss licensing opportunities. They both do great work, and I look forward to seeing their designs on fabric in the future.

Kim Andersson, Tara Faughnan and Caitley Symons

And then I find Becky from Patchwork Posse and Heather from The Sewing Loft. Yahoo! I met these two in Salt Lake City at The Creative Connection Event in 2011 and then again at The Sewing Summit in 2012. They both have great blogs and sew fantastic original projects, and its been fun doing some collaborations with them. And in the middle is Caroline from SEWCANSHE, another great blog and I can’t wait to collaborate with her too.

Becky from Patchwork Posse, Caroline from SEWCANSHE, and Heather from The Sewing Loft

Oh, oh, oh, and there I see Diana McClun and Laura Nownes new edition of Quilts, Quilts, Quilts, hot off the press! I met Diana in my class at fabric design school and she has become a friend and mentor. Commonly known as “The Quilting Bible”, the previous versions of the book have sold a quarter of a million copies and they continued to write several more books. Breckling Press worked with them to create a new edition using more modern fabrics and palettes, so they redid the entire book with new quilts. I got to see most of the quilts in person and they are stunning. (Those are a couple of them on the table)

Ok, so this is a little about my personal experience at Quilt Market, but I have is a TON of photos and will be posting photos of cool booths, fabric designer booths and lots of photos of the quilts from the exhibits. It will be just the facts ma’am from now on with Quilt Market Houston 2013 coverage. So stay tuned…

sore feet….

Quilt Market #12: Alison Glass

Posted on November 26, 2012 by Plaid Portico

Well, amongst all the visual stimulation at Quilt Market one does stumble upon certain things that stand out. For me this year there were a couple designers out with their first fabric collections that I was very attracted to. One was Alison Glass with Andover Fabrics, Inc.

I saw projects made out of her new collection “Lucky Penny” at an Andover meeting before Quilt Market even started and I made a beeline right over there. I was entranced. It was different, with a unique palette and quality of linework. Totally appealing. Then I had the pleasure of meeting her and was delighted. By the end of Quilt Market, it still stood out for me, and so here are some shots of some projects using Lucky Penny by Alison Glass with Andover Fabrics, Inc.

: Lucky Penny by Alison Glass for Andover Fabrics

: Lucky Penny by Alison Glass for Andover Fabrics

: Lucky Penny by Alison Glass for Andover Fabrics

: Lucky Penny by Alison Glass for Andover Fabrics; Oh, and then there was …”the quilt”. Alison designed the quilt and Lisa Sipes did the machine quilting. Amazing! It made its way all over market. We all got a close look at it at the Andover sales meeting.