Back from Hiatus and Quiltcon 2015

Hello blog readers out in blogland.  I have been on an unintentional hiatus since February.  

In February, I attended Quiltcon 2015 and there was much preparation that went into getting ready to go and getting everything to fit into my suitcases.  Then once I came home, I was exhausted.  And since then, I've been having a lovely flare (sarcasm) with my Lupus and Fibromyalgia.  Also, somewhere in there, I switched meds again for my Lupus.  I'm now on an immunosuppresive which basically just knocks out your immune system that way your body can't fight itself.  The theory being that the Lupus can no longer damage your body.  So yay!  Of course, you could get the flu and it could kill you so there you go.

Anyhoo, lets talk about something more fun.  I'm going to share some of the things that I liked best about Quiltcon but I won't be showing a lot of quilt pictures.

I've seen lots of pics on the internet of the quilts at Quiltcon and different things but I have not seen any of the Riley Blake booth.  This dress was made out of paper butterflies.  I asked before I took the picture.

Last year the Modern Quilt Guild did a Michael Miller Couture Cotton challenge with all pastel fabrics.  I didn't participate because I couldn't imagine a quilt with all pastels that wasn't a baby quilt.  They had a few of the winners in a display at Quiltcon and I have to say, my mind is changed.  You can make a pastel quilt that is not for a baby but you have to be very mindful of what you are doing.

 The name of this quilt was "Pastels Aren't My Favorite" by Janet McWorkman from Anchorage Alaska - an individual member.  It was my favorite of the pastels though I took several pictures of others.  Some would have looked like baby blankets if they had been larger so I think you have to be very careful when working with only pastels.

This is the Gypsy Wife quilt.  I have the pattern for this quilt and it's something that I've been wanting to make for some time.  The fabrics used in the pattern are so busy that it makes the quilt look more complicated than it is.  When I saw this version, I was so excited because it makes the quilt seem doable.  This was made by Catherine Mosely from Australia - an individual member.  

These lovely handmade ribbons were made by Elizabeth Hartman and are the ribbons that are placed on the winning quilts.  Our local guild spends so much money each year on these big fancy, really expensive ribbons for our local quilt show but I found the smaller handmade ribbons to mean so much more.  I would be ten times more excited to win a handmade ribbon from Quiltcon than to win a fancy purchased ribbon from my local guild.

 This was my all time favorite quilt at the show.  It didn't win any ribbons but it was still my favorite.

And now my thoughts and feelings on Quiltcon 2015.  
It was a wonderful show.  The classes I took were a lot of fun and I got to meet some of my favorite quilting bloggers (Elizabeth Dackson from Don't Call Me Betsy - squeeeee).  I did schedule time to look at the quilts and to shop the vendors but some of the vendors were always so busy that I didn't get to look in their booths.  The vendors were definitely more modern than the ones at the Houston Quilt Festival.  I enjoyed meeting them and I now have some new favorite online stores.  The atmosphere at Quiltcon was so inspiring and just overall happy.  Everyone I met was so encouraging and helpful.  I had 2 lectures with Angela Walters and I think I may be in love.

There is definitely a difference in the atmosphere of a modern quilt show compared to my very traditional local show or even the Houston show.  Modern quilters seem to respect each others aesthetic and skill level more than traditional quilters.
I would definitely go again and I hope I can in the future.

Here is what I didn't like about it. 
For some reason, Quiltcon only used about 1/3 the space in the Austin Convention Center.  If they had used more of the space, they could have had accepted more quilts into the show, had more vendors and more classes.  It was confusing to me.  Maybe they already had it planned and didn't realize how quickly classes would fill or how many quilts would be entered?

And here is my BIG complaint:
I found it more than a little ODD that the quilts that were entered in the juried section of the show were mostly quilts that had either been published as patterns, or in books or were in books that were about to be released by StashBooks or C&T publishing which was a large sponsor of the show.  In fact, the soon to be released books were released the weekend of Quiltcon so that the authors could be there for signings.   There were multiple quilts from each book that were in the show.  For example, the new book Modern Rainbow by Rebecca Bryan - which I purchased there and it has some great quilts in it.  Lots of them were at Quiltcon. 
Maybe it was just a coincidence and those were really the best quilts entered?
Is that possible?  Really?
Out of all the thousands of quilts entered by regular people who don't have book deals, these quilts were still the best?
Some modern quilters have years and years of experience having started first in traditional quilting or another area.
Maybe I'm just paranoid but I buy a lot of quilting books and I look at them.  And I got to look at the quilts in person at Quiltcon many of which won ribbons.  They are all beautiful quilts and I loved looking at them.
Did anyone else notice this?  Some of the quilt bloggers had 3-4 quilts in the show all from 1 book.  Why is it that those were the ones that caught the judges eye?  Is it because they were all familiar to the judges having seen them so many times in books and internet patterns?

I'll stop ranting now.  I just noticed this right away and it really bothered me.  It made me feel that no matter what I create, I won't get juried into Quiltcon unless I get a book deal from C & T publishing.

February's ALYOF Goal

My finish goal for February for A Lovely Year of Finishes is one of the many UFO's that I have on my ever growing list of UFO's.  I know my pictures are lacking but it was a very dark day when I took them and is very dark today as well.

 This was one of my first quilting projects.  Being the young naive quilter that I was, I thought that a charm pack which had 42 whole squares in it! was enough to make a whole quilt.  Well, it is, sort of.  If you add in some solid squares, you have enough to make a baby quilt.  So, once I figured out my mistake, that's what I did.  Of course, I don't have a baby nor do I know anyone who has a baby but hopefully I can donate it to my guild's charity.

I made this quilt before I had taken any kind of classes or anything.  I don't think most of the fabric is cut all that straight and I tried to make a border of the blue and white fabric but it just looks like I messed up my cornerstones.  I wasn't trying to make cornerstones and actually didn't know what they were at the time.

It is pieced, back made, sandwiched and halfway quilted.  My goal for February is to finish the quilting and bind it.  I'm going to give it a good pressing and just start the quilting where I left off. It is straight line quilting on either sides of the stitch lines.  Pretty simple.

Quiltcon is happening this month in only about 2 weeks or so. I'm looking forward to that as it will be my first and probably only Quiltcon since they are moving it to the west and east coasts after this year.  Also, because of costs, I think I'm going to lay off traveling for big ol' quilt shows for awhile.
I'm looking forward to meeting some of my favorite bloggers, Elizabeth Dackson - I got into her FMQ class!, Penny Layman - learn how to make paper piecing patterns!, lots of great lectures and I'm going to the Moda party!  Really looking forward to that.

This month is definitely busier than February's usually are and there is no slowing down in sight.

**Linking up to Fiber of All Sorts for ALYOF February goal.
**Linking up to My Quilt Infatuation with Kelly.

Small FInishes for January

Like most quilters, I seem to always be working on a million projects at one time!  And also like most quilters, I also have a life and other responsibilities that prevent me from sewing 24/7.

I mentioned in a previous post that we are building a new house (my husband's idea) and it is taking up lots of my time.  There are phone calls to make, emails to send, websites to look at, choices to make.  It's exhausting.  And we haven't even broken ground yet.  Great huh?  Once things get moving, I do plan to post about it, if for no other reason than to keep a record of it. 

But I did get some sewing time in January and was able to complete a few small finishes.

My son got me the book A Flock of Feathered Stars by Carolyn McCormick for Christmas and I used one of the patterns to make a challenge block for my local guild's quilt show that is coming up in March.  I committed to 2 blocks.  We purchase the fabric kits from the guild for $2 and we have to use the black fabric for the background and the multi colored fabric somewhere in the block.  Here's number one!

 And for number 2, I made the December block from Aurifil's 2014 BOM.  I made my own pattern to paper piece my geese and the block looks a bit wonky to me but it came out the right measurement.

 

I'm also working on a small quilt for donation at the quilt show's silent auction.  Here's a sneak peak!

(Pattern designed by Kristy of Quiet Play)

Also in the works is a Valentine's challenge mini quilt for my modern quilting group but as it's a secret, I'll have to wait until after our next meeting to show it.

And lastly, one more sneak peak.  I took a quilting color class at my local quilt show which was awesome!  We used Prismacolor pencils to color our picture, sandwiched it and now I need to quilt it.  I think I'll also do some thread painting - or at least try.  We'll see how it comes out.

February starts tomorrow.  Fingers crossed I can get more accomplished.

ALYOF - Goal Accomplished!

It's January 31st!  Where has January gone?

My goal for A Lovely Year of Finishes for January was to get the quilting on my "My Modern Voice" quilt finished.  Mission accomplished!  

I still need to trim it and bind it and of course put the sleeve on it so that I can have it ready for our local quilt show in March.  But I'm glad the quilting is done.  If you look really close, you can probably still see some marking lines that I haven't removed yet.

I used the serpentine stitch on my Brother sewing machine and basically made lots of straight lines.  I used tape and also Frixion pens to mark my lines and they came out pretty good.  They are not all the same distance apart.  I varied the distance to keep it interesting.
The quilt looks puckered in this picture but it isn't.  I think it just needed ironing.  Sorry for the crummy pics this time.

And here is the back of the quilt.  

Linking up with Shanna from Fiber of All Sorts.

A Lovely Year of Finishes - January Goal

Last fall I started a quilt that I designed based on a quilt that inspired me in the book "Quilting Modern" by Jacquie Gering and Katie Pedersen.  You can see the blog post and design here.

I don't remember when I finish the quilt top but it was sometime in October.  I've been quilting it with a serpentine stitch on my Brother machine.  But I've been doing it slowly as in only working on it in spurts.  I had hoped to get it finished in time to enter it in Quiltcon's juried show but didn't finish it in time.  I did enter 2 quilts in Quiltcon but they were both rejected as were all my friends quilts who entered.  I know that's been a big deal on instagram and facebook so I'm not going to talk about it here.  Quiltcon and the MQG is still growing and changing and I think it's going to take them some time to catch up with their audience.

So anyway, my goal for January's A Lovely Year of Finishes is to finish quilting this quilt which I'm going to call "My Modern Voice".  This is one of my many UFO's in my big ol' box.

Hopefully, I can also finish the binding in January but I'm not going to make that part of my goal because I don't want to jinx myself with too many goals :)

A Brand New Year 2015

I have been missing from my blog since October.  How did that happen?  I left to go to the Houston International Quilt Festival and when I got back, I was too exhausted to post anything for a couple of weeks.  

Then November happened and then December.  And now we're here.  Should I do a recap of pics since October?  No, those are boring.

How about we just start fresh now with a blank slate and eager for a whole new year!
 
 
I will be participating, once again in A Lovely Year of Finishes ran by the lovely ladies at Fiber of All Sorts and Sew Bittersweet Designs.  
Let's be honest here.  Last year I did a miserable job at it.  I think I finished my goal only about 3 months out of all last year.  But this year I have bigger plans.  I plan to dig into my UFO box and finish some of that stuff.  Of course, I have a list of new projects I want to get started on too but I've got to do something with those UFO's.  Most of my ALYOF goals this year will revolve around those.

I do have a couple of pics to show you guys from Christmas.
This is my MIL wearing the infinity scarf I made her for Christmas.  It just happened to match her shirt that day.  This was my only handmade gift.

That is my son with the unwashed and uncombed hair.  You can't tell from this angle but he also had a weeks worth of whiskers.  Ah teenage boys.  

And this is a picture of what I got for Christmas.  I've wanted it for at least 2 years now.  It's taking me some time to get use to it but I'm so excited to have it.  

It came with so many feet!  And about 20 bobbins!  This last picture is with the Juki sitting on a table with my Janome DC2010.  See how much bigger it is.  It's like a giant next to my little Janome.

FYI:  We are currently in the process of building a new home and getting our current home ready to sell.  My husband has taken all my tables over to the storage room so I don't have a place to put my Juki.  But I'm planning my space in the new house with a great big area for my Juki.

I'll be back in the next couple of days with my ALYOF goal for January.  I have to look in my giant pile of UFO's and decide.  Also, I plan to do a detailed review of my new Juki in  a couple of months when I've had time to play with it. 

And one last thing, my Modern Quilting group that I started back in July of last year, now has a Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tyler-Modern-Quilting-Group/761637307205061?sk=timeline
We have lots of photos posted from our meetings so you can see what we're doing and my dear friend Robyn is making us up a really cool logo.  Please like our page so that you can keep up with what our small but excited group will be up to.

Homecoming Week and the MUM

Homecoming week at my son's school was September 29 - October 4th.  It's a lot of fun for the kids because each day is a theme day and they get to dress up (and not wear their uniforms!)  Then of course Friday afternoon is the big pep rally and then the football game that night - which we won!!  YAY Go Cru!


So, the reason I didn't get any blogging done the last 2 weeks of September was because for about a week I was working on my son's Homecoming date's mum.  Then I had to take a few days to rest from all that work.  LOL  These mums are seriously important to the kids.  So that means they are also important to the moms.  They are time consuming to make - unless you're the lady at Hobby Lobby who can pop out 3-4 a day - and they are actually very expensive.  All the little bits and bobs that you have to buy end up being pricey and for some reason I always overbuy and end up with a box of stuff for next year.  You can end up spending anywhere from $70 to several hundreds of dollars.  So as you can see, this is a HUGE crafting project.
For anyone who isn't aware of the Texas Homecoming Mum traditions, you can read last years blog post here.

I have lots of pictures to show of this years mum so I'll just get to it.

 My son's date's name is Hailey and that is a music note in the center of the mum flower.  Hailey plays clarinet in the band so I had several band themed doodads.

 Fuzzy picture :(

 The following pictures are of the mum that Hailey game my son Ben.  Yes, in Texas the boys wear mums too.  They are attached to garters which are worn on the arm.

 This is a seriously good mum.  See the little Crusaders in the flower.  That is so cool.  I'm going to copy some of the ideas from this mum next year.

Btw, their football team is now 6 and 0 which is so great!  I've got my finger's crossed that they make it to the playoffs.
Thanks for reading my super long, picture heavy Homecoming mum blog post.  And now for your viewing pleasure, a picture of Hailey and Ben before departing for the dance.

Look at her gorgeous hair!  She looked like a princess.