Back in February, I was lucky enough to be an instructor at the inaugural QuiltCon in Austin. The Modern Quilt Guild did a spectacular job of putting on this quilt show and fabulous workshops and lectures. I taught a class called "Redwork in Modern Quilting" in which I looked at the tenets of traditional redwork embroidery and aligned them with the tenets of modern quilting to create my take on redwork embroidery in modern quilting. We then got down to the work of basic hand embroidery. It felt so good to be teaching again (that's been one of the things I've missed most about leaving Austin and the Stitch Lab).
I was a little nervous about the subject of the class. It was one that was presented to me, and they let me run with it and teach it as I saw fit. It ended up being great fun to research traditional redwork and see how we could translate that into modern quilting. It also gave me the opportunity to make my second quilt top that I used for the example in my class. It's the Marquee pattern from the Modern Quilt Workshop book. I felt it was a nice modern take on that classic patchwork feel of traditional quilts. Sewing the strips together was dreamy, and it made me want to make one big ole giant striped quilt somewhere down the line. I was able to get a new sewing machine right before Christmas (nothing overly fancy or expensive, but just enough of a step up that it made a huge difference for me), and that puppy was singing while I sewed, sewed, sewed, and cranked the quilt top out in just a couple of afternoons. I had a blast.
The vendor booths were awesome, particularly the Stitch Lab booth. I know, I know, I'm a little biased, but DEEEEEYAM. Those ladies outdid themselves. The fabric was phenomenal, the booth layout was perfect, and it was a smokin' hot hub throughout the entire show. It made me miss them even more!
One of the best parts of QuiltCon was getting to see so many good friends, but even better was getting to hang out with my aunt, Terry, who came down all the way from Santa Fe, New Mexico to take my class and attend QuiltCon. Aunt Terry and I have bonded over quilting, and it's been great fun to connect with her in this way. We've always loved her family, and this gives us even more reasons to stay in touch and have fun together. She became know as, "AUNT TERRY!" as we walked around the show and she met my friends. We had a great time looking at quilts, visiting vendors, and she even got to experience her first photo booth, which was a total riot. I loved having her there!
The quilt show itself left me completely in awe and inspired. I went through it several times, and found new things each time that I did. I took as many pictures as I could, but often found myself so inthralled in the quilts, that I forgot to whip out my phone to snap a picture! I also tried to take a picture of the quilt, followed by a picture of the information about it. I wasn't able to do that every single time, but I did get quite a few. There were several times where I'd fall in love with a quilt, and then read the story behind it, and fall in love in a whole new way. The stories behind the quilts and how they were made were fascinating!
