It’s hard to believe that it’s already been a month since QuiltCon! This was my 7th QuiltCon (6 in person and 1 virtual) and I feel pretty confident saying this event will continue to be a staple on my calendar for many years to come.
This year’s show was in Raleigh, NC and it was great to return to my home state. That also meant that my mom was able to drive up from Charlotte and join me for about 24 hours at the show! She is not a quilter and had never been to a quilt show, so it was great fun to show her my quilts and introduce her to a LOT of quilty friends.
This was my third straight year as a member of the QuiltCon faculty, and I had my heaviest teaching load to date — especially on the front end. On Thursday, the first day of the show, I gave a lecture at 11:30, co-taught a seminar for guild leaders with my friend Elizabeth at 2:00, and then taught a workshop at 6:00. And then I was right back at it with a second session of the leader seminar on Friday morning at 9. Whew! That was a lot! I then had a bit of a break — which fortunately coincided with my mom’s visit — before teaching a second session of my workshop on Saturday evening.
Overall my teaching went well, although I know there are things I can improve on for the future. I haven’t received the official feedback from QuiltCon yet, but I got mixed informal reviews about my workshop — a few people told me they loved it, but a couple others gave me some constructive criticism. I tried hard to set expectations, both for what I would cover and for what students should bring to work on. It was a non-sewing design-based workshop, and both sessions were in the evening which can be a rough time for students who are tired from spending the whole day at the show. I’m interested to see what the official feedback shows, and at the end of the day, I recognize that sometimes a student just might not vibe with what I’m teaching, and that is ok.
The seminar that Elizabeth and I taught for guild leaders was similarly both well-received and open to suggestions. We were asked by the MQG to teach these two sessions, and weren’t entirely sure what to expect. As it turned out, our biggest issue was time management — we underestimated just how much there would be to talk about when a group of local guild leaders gets together!!
My lecture went well and I got good feedback from both in-person attendees and a few who watched the online live-stream. Yay!
As always, I enjoy teaching and interacting with students but overall this year was a lot. My teaching load + my mom’s visit + my obligations as an MQG board member made for a very busy — TOO busy — show. I did apply to teach next year, but only submitted 1 lecture topic for consideration. So I’ll be teaching very little or not at all in Phoenix, which I think will be really nice. (And I might have time to actually be a student instead! I haven’t taken a workshop since 2020.)
But onward! With two of my workshops in the evening and one night committed to the board dinner, I only had 2 nights for dinners with friends — but fortunately I managed to snag some time with many of my far-flung friends during the day! I enjoyed being able to walk the show floor with people, and then sneak away for lunches and coffee breaks. Two of my best college friends were also at the show this year — Carter is a quilter, and Kent is his “quilt helper,” ha — and it was great to spend some time with them as well. (They knew me 15+ years before I was a quilter!)
All in all, 2024 was another great year at QuiltCon. Looking forward to 2025!
I agree that teaching in the evening slot at 6pm is challenging, especially the Saturday evening workshop slot after folks have been there a while and are starting to tire out from it all. I hope we can sneak in more time together next year at Phoenix!