I'm Going to Meet the Ladies of Gee's Bend!!!!!

Today was the day for members of the Modern Quilt Guild to register for the 2015 QuiltCon.  I am so excited!  Next year's QuiltCon will feature the women of Gee's Bend and their wonderful quilts.  I feel so lucky to have gotten a slot in one of the classes they will be teaching.  I also plan to be sitting on the front row during their keynote address.

More to come on this topic, but please excuse me now as I go do my happy dance.

Overwhelmed

Lately, I find myself completely overwhelmed by quilty goodness.  Two days ago, I asked y'all to make some blocks for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society quilt I'm working on and already I've seen pictures of blocks I should be getting in the mail soon.  I'm so excited  about the response I've gotten so far.  I hope it keeps growing.  Thank y'all so much!

I'm also a bit overwhelmed about all the projects I want/need to make this year.  Last July, my sister got married.  I was supposed to gift her a quilt for their bed.  It's not finished yet.  The horrible part about it is that it's a really simple design, but for some unknown reason, I just haven't been able to pick it up again and finish it. 

It's a row of string blocks like this one across a black background.  I think I've about finished all of the blocks.  Now all I have to do is buy the black fabric, cut and piece the background and figure out the back.  Just can't seem to get it together.  And now my sister is pregnant and due at the beginning of June.  Of course that means a quilt for my new nephew, JC, but have I designed it yet?  Not really.  Do I have fabrics for it yet?  Nope.  I've gotta get on the good foot!

I also want to finally make a quilt for my bed.  I've had the sketch for awhile and I finally cut into the fabric in January.  Last night, I started piecing the string blocks. (Can you tell I love string blocks?)

I'm hoping to finish this by the end of the summer.  I think that's a pretty conservative timeline considering the rest of my list for the year.

Every year, my best friend and her daughter, Little Miss, get quilts from me for Christmas.  For some reason, I always wait til the last minute on these.  This year, I decided that I would make a block each month for my best friend's quilt.  Here is January's block.

I'm still toying with February's block.  No telling what March's block will look like.  I have no idea what I'm doing for Little Miss' quilt yet.

Remember the Cherrywood fabrics I bought at QuiltCon?  The design for that is called "Share the Same Cover" and it features some curved piecing.  I've never done curved piecing before and it scares the crap out of me.  Gotta overcome that fear because I'd like to see that quilt before another year goes by.

I also have a design called "Individual Couple" that should be done this year.  I've worked out the measurements and have the fabric I want to use.  I just need to cut and sew.

Then there's "I Believe in Miracles" which was supposed to be a Christmas present for my mother a few years ago but I hit some serious snags along the way.  Now I'm not crazy about what I produced back then and need to just start all over (especially since I can't find enough fabric to complete what I started).

So many designs in my notebook that I can't wait to see come to life, and for some reason I feel that I need to get them all done this year. *deep breath*  We'll see what happens.

Thanks for stopping by!  Join me next time for "What's my style, anyway?".

QuiltCon: Quilty Goodness

There was no shortage of beautiful quilts at QuiltCon.  There was something there to fit everyone's tastes.

What I learned while taking in all of this quilty goodness was that I tend to gravitate towards designs that either gives a nod toward traditional quilting or are very scrappy.  Here are my favorites from the show.

Best in show went to "Double Edged Love" by Victoria Findlay Wolfe of the NYC Modern Quilt Guild.  This is a very interesting take on the Double Wedding Ring pattern.  The quilting on this is phenomenal.

 "Modern Mirage" by Lee Heinrich of the Milwaukee Modern Quilt Guild and "Flutterby" by Andrea Fox.  Both of these quilts have very traditional elements, but have been given a modern twist.

This is me and my favorite Denyse Schmidt quilt, "Works Special Edition tangerine/poppy".  Orange is one of my favortie colors and I love the simplicity of this quilt. 

 My other favorite by Denyse is "Single Girl" because...well...I love circles and it wouldn't make much sense for me to have a double wedding ring quilt in my house at this point in my life.  :)

My absolute favorite in the show was RGB Modern by Sherri Lynn Wood.  Her work is amazing to me.  I love the movement of this quilt, not to mention the scrappiness of it.  Love the hand quilting.

But of all the quilts that were displayed in Austin, the vintage quilts from the personal collection of  Roderick Kiracofe spoke to me the most.  All of these quilts are featured in his latest book, simply entitled "Quilts". 

Scrappy, lovey, folksy, quilty goodness.  For me, this is what quilts are supposed to be.  I aspire to create works that look and feel like this.

Well, so as not to bore you all with yet another post about QuiltCon, I believe this will be the last one, although I reserve the right to refer to it as often as necessary.

Join me on Wednesday, as I try to prioritize all of my pending projects.

QuiltCon: Unexpected Encounter

QuiltCon was full of interesting and fun people.  I met a woman from Canada who had been hit by a car while riding her bicycle just a few months ago.  She made the journey to QuiltCon alone and fought through some painful days of walking and sitting just to enjoy the experience of this inaugural event.  I can't remember her name and I regret not getting her contact information.  (If any of you out there know of whom I'm speaking, please forward this post to her.  Thanks!)

I was also very impressed by Casey York.  Casey and I were in a lot of the same lectures and I had occasion to hear her conversations as groups of us stood around talking in between lectures.  There's definitely something special about Casey and I believe she's one to watch.

Then there was Amanda of The Cozy Pumpkin.  I met her in the lecture hall on Saturday.  She made my insides giggle.  She was so full of energy and made everything seem bright and shiny.  It was Amanda that encouraged me to spread the word about my blog and said that she would be bugging me via email if I wasn't posting on a regular basis.  I sure hope I don't disappoint Miss Amanda.  :)

Now, on to one of the biggest and most unexpected highlights of my trip.  I met Jacquie Gering of Tallgrass Prairie Studio. 

Jacquie's blog was one of the first that I found when I started quilting.  Her quilt entitled "Tin Roof" was part of the inspiration for the design of my "Affirmation".  Jacquie was also the first blogger that actually responded to a question I asked.  When I contacted her back then, I had no idea that she was one of the giants of the industry.  I just knew that I liked her work.  She was so thoughtful and encouraging in her response to me.  It's something I'll never forget.

Jacquie was the speaker right before Denyse Schmidt's keynote address.  She spoke for an hour and made us cry no less than four times.  She spoke so lovingly of her family and how they influence her work.  She was real and spoke in terms that I could relate to.  She impressed my soul.

I was thrilled that I was able to have a brief conversation with her after her speech to tell her how meaningful her response to me was back then.  She was gracious and kind and allowed me to snap a few pictures.  If you're interested in hearing Jacquie's speech, you can watched it for free on Craftsy.

The experience of QuiltCon has left an indelible mark on me.  I am hoping that what I gained while there will last until the next convention in two years.

My next (and possibly last) QuiltCon post will be about the quilts that were on display that inspired me.

Hope you all have a fabulous weekend!

QuiltCon Checklist

I went to QuiltCon last week with two purposes; to buy some Cherrywood Fabric and to gain some insight from Denyse Schmidt. I am happy to report I was able to accomplish both.

I fell in love with Cherrywood Fabrics a few years ago without ever seeing it in person. Even from their website I could see that the muted hand dyed colors would work perfectly with a few designs I had in mind. When I read that they would have a booth at QuiltCon, I was so excited. Karla Overland, the owner of Cherrywood Fabrics, gave a great talk about her hand dying process and how she works with the color wheel to come up with gradations of color. She was kind enough to help me pick out this group for a project that's been rolling around in my head.

Don't you just love the suede looking texture of this cotton?!

For those of you that don't know, I love Denyse Schmidt. I like her work, but I love her story. I also think her company is an interesting business model. She is an inspiration to me for reasons that are difficult to articulate. Somewhere in me, I believe that a conversation with her will answer that one question I didn't know I needed answered and will make the path that I'm on much clearer and a bit easier to travel. When I read that she was giving the keynote address at QuiltCon, I was on a mission to connect with her.

And connect I did! We had a brief conversation while she was signing my book and arranged to have a longer conversation in the near future.

Three days after returning from Austin, I am completely elated and am still coming down from my QuiltCon high. I'll save the story of my unexpected encounter with another Modern Quilting giant for my next post.