QuiltCon 2020

I’m home from a whirlwind 4 days in Austin for QuiltCon 2020 and wow, where do I begin? This was my third QuiltCon and every year it is SO much fun. I love talking to and hanging out with new and old friends. I love oohing and aahing at all the amazing quilts on display. I enjoy checking out the vendor booths, learning new skills in classes, and learning new things in lectures. It’s wall-to-wall quilting and community immersion and I am HERE FOR IT.

I arrived on Wednesday evening and after checking in to my hotel, I headed straight to the awards ceremony, where several online friends and acquaintances won prizes for their work! Afterward, I had a really nice dinner with Angela and her husband; Angela literally saw me walking down the street and invited me to join them! I loved getting to know them better and it was a fun way to kick off my QuiltCon.

I was excited to get my first look at the show on Thursday morning, and was happy to spend a couple hours hanging out with Bobbie including a quick lunch before afternoon classes and lectures. I had my first class that afternoon — paper piecing design with Sarah Sharp! I’ve done some paper piecing design but Sarah’s work is really intricate and complicated, and it was fun to learn a few new tips and tricks from her. The images I brought were pretty ambitious, but maybe I’ll have a Curiosity rover pattern ready to go soon…

On Thursday night, I had a ticket to Jacquie Gehring’s book launch party for Walk 2.0. The first Walk book is my #1 favorite quilting book, so I am really excited about the sequel. I met up with Elizabeth (my swap partner from last year), Cassie, and some of my guildmates for dinner, and then Elizabeth and I headed to the party which was great. At the party, I also go to see/meet/chat with Steph, Marisa, Tricia, Tina, Jessica, and more. It was fun and inspiring.

Friday was my most “free” day. I walked the show floor, had lunch with Jenn after she arrived from Houston, and did a little browsing (but not much buying). I met up with my swap partner Linda at 5:00 to exchange mini quilts and I love the little houses and tree she made for me! (I made this for her.) From there, I ran over to the GCMQG charity quilt for a group photo, then upstairs for the QuiltCon volunteers photo, and finally back downstairs to meet up with Audrey and her Indigo Radial tester group.

I had my second class on Saturday morning — Modern Quilt Design with Heather Black. I’ve been an admirer of Heather’s work for a while, and her class was both fun and really educational and thought-provoking. Heather gave great insight into her design process and I’m excited to put a few of the principles she discussed to use in my own designs.

I went straight from Heather’s class to the keynote lecture by Victoria Findlay Wolfe, which was really wonderful. I loved how she talked about playing in her work, and how she doesn’t want to make the same quilt twice or even have the same “look” to all her quilts. I’ve been giving some thought in recent months to my own work, and whether I should work harder to find a consistent look or feel. But I like making all kinds of things! I feel like Victoria gave me permission to just keep on doing whatever I feel like doing. I needed that.

Late Saturday afternoon, I had my first volunteer shift. I was assigned to the coat and bag check, which was actually super fun as I got to see and chat with all kinds of people as they came to drop off and pick up their stuff. I had never volunteered at QuiltCon before, and it gave me great insight into what it really takes to make the show run! (Hint: it’s a LOT of work.)

On Sunday morning, I had a ticket for the pre-opening show tour with Mary Fons. Mary is a “sew-lebrity” who is essentially a quilt researcher and scholar these days, and I really enjoyed hearing her talk about a few of the quilts in depth.

After that, I worked my second and final volunteer shift behind the scenes helping get things ready for show teardown later that day. I dropped Steph off at the airport on my way out of town, and then made a pit stop at the Texas Quilt Museum in LaGrange. It was small but cute, and had two exhibits, one from SAQA and one of previous QuiltCon winners.

I got home around 5:30 and was mobbed by two very excited girls. Back to real life!