Friday, February 26, 2021

QuiltCon Together Highlights

QuiltCon Together, a virtual QuiltCon, is now over.  The MQG did an amazing job offering a quilt show, lectures, workshops, and a vendor floor virtually.  

When viewing the quilts themselves, you had the ability to zoom in and look at all the quilting details plus hear an audio recording from the maker.  Listening to the audio component was a wonderful addition.

I was really excited to have 4 quilts in the show - 3 were juried in plus one quilt was quilt part of the MQG quilt of the month exhibit.  Just like in a real show, my first stop was to find my quilts!


Can you spot them?
Top row:  Boomerang and Carnival;  Bottom row: Cartwheel and Astro (Astro is not in that screen shot above.)

Another thrill for me was Boomerang was featured in the QuiltCon magazine - the pattern is included so you can make your own!


Lectures at QuiltCon Together were presented live and then a recording was available to watch afterwards.  I attend 4 lectures and enjoyed everyone - my favorite being one on color theory.


I also took a match-stick quilting class from Cassandra Beaver.  I love Cassandra's work and I really enjoyed my project.  I used a collection of thread weights - 50, 40 and 28 wt - and really enjoy all the texture in my finished piece. 

While there was an option to download a sample from Spoonflower complete with key stitching lines, I choose to draw out my own.  I used my hera marker to initially mark the lines and then wrote P, B or W on the edges to help me remember which color when where!


Since I wasn't sure how easy it would be to see my marked lines once I started stitching, the first thing I did was to stitch over the lines to form my grid and then I went back to start filling things in.  The straightness of my lines got better as I went but I still need to find some natural marking on my walking foot to help me in the future.  Or perhaps ease up on the pedal a bit.  Or maybe both!  :-)

With the class, you had the option of signing up for an 'enhanced session' which gave you the chance to meet with the instructor in a small group to discuss your projects.  While I enjoyed the hour, it wasn't really what I had expected.

I know the virtual experience gave so many people the chance to participate that would otherwise had not been able to attend.  I enjoyed myself but really missed the chance to see other people and talk quilts non-stop.  My family - gotta love them - really did not want to discuss what I liked and didn't like about some of the quilts in the show!  My guild held a few virtual happy hours so it was nice to connect with other people that way!

QuiltCon 2022 is in Phoenix - hopefully I'll be there!

Did you attend QuiltCon Together?  What did you think of the event?






Have a wonderful day! Patty

7 comments:

  1. Hi Patty, those Q&A sessions were very interesting from an instructor perspective, too. Do you mind telling me what you were expecting? Congratulations on having 4 beautiful quilts in the show, and I'm really hoping they can keep the audio component for the in person event somehow!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Firstly, congratulations on getting 4 quilts juried in! That’s amazing! I also love the quilting you did in class

    ReplyDelete
  3. Congratulations on having your quilts in the show!
    Modern quilts aren't really my thing and I'm "zoomed out" from working online most of the time these days, but I have taken an online quilt class from Sujata Shah and loved it!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sounds like you had a good experience with QCT. I'm happy for you to have taken four workshops. Wow! The one with Cassandra was surely good. She was our guest speaker at Saturday's South Florida MQG (Zoom) meeting. I'll be taking her inset circles workshop, virtually, in April. Though I've been making lots of them already, I expect I'll learn something new. It's great that you had so many quilts accepted into the show. That's something I can only dream about. I love modern, but really have a difficult time creating them myself. Congratulations on your great showing online and in the magazine! Well done.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I loved seeing your quilts in the show, Patty! Having a virtual happy hour just for your local chapter was a great idea. I wish my Charlotte Modern Quilt Guild chapter had done something like that! I had difficulty trying to be mentally "at QuiltCon" while I was physically at home with piles of paperwork leering at me from all sides of my computer monitor, a 100-pound puppy trying to climb into my lap, my husband walking into my lecture or workshop and wanting to talk about what we should have for dinner tonight... I ended up completely missing two of the lectures I paid for and I did not actually DO any of the workshop I was in -- just watched the video and jotted down a few notes for future reference. I'm glad I didn't pay for any more virtual workshops; I've learned that they just don't work for me. Getting out of my home environment and leaving distractions behind is a crucial element for me to be fully present and participating in a class!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I love QuiltCon Together and honestly might be more inclined to attend that way in the future. I took the time off work but was still able to be at home, and I meal planned to do minimal cooking! I liked having all my supplies and fabric in my sewing space. Traveling plus hotels and meals are just so expensive! I took 3 classes (all enhanced) and went to 4 lectures, plus the awards ceremony and closing ceremonies. I pretty much lived and breathed the event for the 5 days, but could still sleep in my own bed.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I attended QCT and enjoyed the lectures. I didn't get to fully explore the site and wished it had been open a little longer (our scheduled downsize move changed so I was occupied)I think they did well and always hope for a remote version. I'd love to go to Phoenix and right now I would say I am in - but it is much further away then the others I have attended.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for visiting Elm Street Quilts. Looking forward to hearing from you!