003 QuiltCon 2025

This year I was able to go to QuiltCon!  It was my first time attending this impressive event.  Four days was not long enough to see everything.  It was wonderful to be in a space that large with so many people all focused on creating beauty out of fabric.  There were four parts: the quilt show, the vendor hall, lectures, and classes.  

Quilt Show

Almost half of the giant exhibition hall was devoted to rows and rows of quilts on display.  I wandered each day through the aisles and still did not see every one.  I was really taken with the small pieces.  “Work small” became a theme for me to explore.  I plan to work small on a few projects this year to try out new techniques and to play with color and quilting designs.  I found I was naturally drawn to the crisp modern designs using traditional gridded block settings.  I was also drawn to the heavily textured hand quilted and artfully embellished quilts.  I was delighted to see the combinations of machine quilting and big stitch quilting in many pieces.  I was surprised to see that many of the quilts used dense straight line quilting, rather than fancy looping patterns.  I had expected to see fancy longarm patterns on “modern” quilts.   I could do this type of quilting on my regular machine.  These insights made the world of quilting, and modern quilting specifically, feel so much more accessible.

Vendor Hall

The other side of the giant room was devoted to the vendors who displayed their latest lines, demonstrated their tools, and some even offered interactive projects.  It felt much more like a learning experience than a shopping excursion. On the first day, I started walking slowly through the rows at a methodical pace, planning to only look and catalog things I might want to purchase later.  Some vendors had fun giveaways like fabric samples, bags, and pencils. Everyone was excited to be there and connect with like-minded creative people.  After that first pass, I wrote down a list of all the things I saw that I wanted and a list of the things I wanted but did not see, in order to keep an eye out and help me prioritize my purchases.

A quilt caught my eye in the Stitch Supply Company booth, Every Last Piece by Lynn Carson Harris.  I love the idea of using ALL the fabric I buy.  It is so expensive and beautiful, I just don’t want to throw any away.  The star block quilt on the wall was so lovely.  I wrote down the book, but it was sold out when I came back.  

“If you want it, buy it now.  Things sell out here,” one of my travel companions said.  So I went around to the booths for high priority items.  Following the “work small” theme, I purchased the tiny template sets from Jen Carlton Bailey.  Then I went on a scavenger hunt for an 18mm rotary cutter.  I’m so excited to make tiny curvy blocks for tiny quilts.  I will share my progress in a future post.

Lectures

The lectures were a wonderful part of the convention experience.  Each speaker had prepared slides and stories on a topic.  I selected a variety: on finishing, on improv quilt history, on techniques, and on color.  I ended up seeing two of Carolina Oneto’s lectures on color theory and quilt design.  I am really excited to use her structure to play with color combinations and color proportions for future quilts.  I was also blown away by Anna Maria Parry’s quilts (also a print lover!) and how she categorized her quilts designs, highlighting the building blocks for each pattern type.  I purchased her book, Blueprint Quilting, and I’m excited to think about my own work with a similar scheme in mind.

Classes

I was so lucky to get registered in a class with Jen Kingwell!  These sessions were in high demand.  I took the “fussy cutting” class.  When I registered last summer, I was not sure how useful it would be, but this fall I started English Paper Piecing (EPP), so now it is quite relevant.  I’m looking forward to fussy cutting a big EPP project.  I also took a hand piecing class with Lorena Uriarte.  I’ve handsewn for years, but mostly for finishing garments or quit bindings.  Both classes shared helpful guidance for piecing by hand.  I’m now confident that constructing a quilt by hand would be a beautiful and relaxing experience.

Overall, the QuiltCon experience was a fantastic one.  I’m exhausted, for sure, but also inspired to explore creatively and take my art/craft in new directions.