The
FreeSpirit team is back from QuiltCon 2015 and since we’ve just finished digging
out of our inboxes we thought you might like an update on what we saw at
QuiltCon in sunny and warm Austin, Texas.
We
were so pleased with the attendance at this show and hope it will get better
every year. This year there were attendees from 48 states, 15 countries and 109
modern quilt guilds – amazing! If you know someone from North Dakota and
Wyoming tell them about QuiltCon 2016 so that all 50 states can show us what
modern quilting means to them!
The
show kicked off with the award ceremony honoring 1st, 2nd,
and 3rd place winners in 16 categories ranging from Applique to Improvisation
(sponsored by FreeSpirit), and Group quilts to Youth quilts. Each winner had
their quilt marked with beautiful handmade ribbons.
First place in Improvisation went to Nydia
Kehnle from Monroe, New York with The Rabbit Hole by Nydia Kehnle. Her quilt started as a writer’s block
exercise but once she saw the blocks on the wall she loved how beautiful they
all looked together and then proceeded into “The Rabbit Hole.” Nydia was at the
show and we just loved getting the chance to congratulate her in person for her
amazing quilt. Just look at all the great texture that her matchstick quilting
gives it!
Second
place in Improvisation went to Serena Brooks from Los Angeles, California with Aleph Bet.
Third
place in Improvisation was awarded to Tricia Royal from Chicago, Illinois with This Way.
The
Quilting Excellence award, sponsored by Make it Coats was presented to Marla
Varner from Sequim, Washington with Coral
Reef. Varner says, “The vibrant colors of this bicolor quilt were the
perfect canvas for dense hand quilting. The quilting is improvisational, with
each block inviting me to play with unique designs featuring multiple thread
weights and colors.”
After
the awards ceremony it was off to peruse the show floor, attend panels, and
participate in workshops and demonstrations. It’s obvious to us that the
quilting community is hungry to learn more because each panel, workshop,
lecture and demonstration that we saw was packed. We even had a chance to catch
up with a few of our FreeSpirit designers in attendance including Anna Maria
Horner and Denyse Schmidt!
Denyse
was spreading her modern goodness by visiting with you, true FreeSpirits, in
some of our retailers’ booths. And Anna Maria Horner kept busy with her
creative workshops – spreading the love of quilting.
Our
own Nancy Jewell hosted a demonstration about using contemporary fabrics in
modern quilts and had plenty of examples on hand for the audience to see up
close and in person. You can check out an overview of her full presentation here. One of our favorite points in her presentation was that while
there are rules that define “modern quilting” you shouldn’t be afraid to do
what feels good to you – and that prints (both large and small) have a place in
modern quilting, too.
We
also took the opportunity to sneak away from the show for a bit to visit some
local shops (when in Rome, right?). Shout out to Valli & Kim
in Dripping Springs and to Stitch
Lab in Austin for humoring us while we poked
around for the afternoon. Both shops have so much character and absolutely
beautiful fabrics.
QuiltCon
really energized our spirit to create - we had a great time and hope you did
too. We loved meeting everyone and hope that in 2016 we’ll get to meet even
more of you! If you’re hungry to see all of the winners and find out more about
the show you can find a full list on the Modern
Quilt Guild blog.
Now,
tell us – did you go to QuiltCon? If not, are you thinking about attending in
2016 or 2017? What is your favorite modern quilt?
