Category: 2016

As I said the other day, we attended lectures almost almost all day on Saturday. I am not sure why I signed up for such a marathon, but with one exception they were all very good.

Victoria Findlay Wolfe

My new hero. Have I said I want to be her new BFF? Actually I want to be her: tall, gorgeous, funny, kind and makes 14-20 quilt tops a week.

VFW’s lecture was called Creativity & Play/Process. This was a new lecture for her, so we were getting the unpracticed version. It wasn’t that she didn’t do a  good job; she did. She just wasn’t as familiar with the flow of the words. Any of you who speak frequently in front of a crowd know how it is to work out the kinks on a new lecture.

To her, process and play are the same. Process should not stifle your creativity or imagination. We are often trained out of using our intuition, which means that we don’t know how to use intuition in our work. She encouraged us to think about and document how we work, think about the colors we always buy then rip the process apart and see what comes from changing it up.

She encouraged the audience to put a story into the quilt in order to make a connection with the quilt.

Having an idea in our heads doesn’t mean that the quilt will end up that way, which means we have to be open minded in our quiltmaking. You can always make them into something else by cutting them up or appliqueing on top or….?

Making creative decisions means you are an artist (NO arguing with me or her about that!), which, further, means we are all artists.

The next section of the talk was interesting. She discussed types of creative people. Her types were:

• Creative Self Doubter
• The Creative Starter Junkie
• The Creative Rule Abider
• The Creative Free Spirit

One of the things she asked after describing these creative types was which one we thought we were. As she described the types I kept thinking I was this one or that one, then I realized I had elements of all of them in me. I panicked a little until she said she had elements of all in her, too.

Some of the overarching themes I gleaned when she described the types were:

• let go, there is always more fabric
• If you aren’t having fun, find a new passion. Life is too short and we are all just doing our best.
• Making mistakes is a learning experience.
• We are all perfect in our imperfections.
• Stand up and show your quilt at your guild meeting. That is the only way to find your tribe
• Play like children play. They don’t know where the story is going, but they start playing anyway
• Chaos and creating go together
• Not all great ideas are great, but why not explore them?
• Quilts don’t always happen on your timetable.
• The more you work on a project and come back to it, the more it tightens up
• Surround yourself with creative people
• consider the following strategy for people who give unsolicited opinions:
  • You hear it
  • You decide if its accurate
  • Let it go
• The more quilts you make the better you get at making them
• Slow down. Sit with the pattern or your sketchbook awhile longer. Sitting in the process awhile longer helps you make more connections
• Look for opportunities to learn
• Repeat techniques you learn so you can really master it
• think about what else you can do with a technique – something different than the teacher taught
• Make time; break it down into little morsels of time
• Every quilt is awesome. Your life will not end if the quilt isn’t awesome. Cut it up, change it, add something to it

I liked her advice and thinking about what she was saying. I realized that I did cut up a quilt once: the Renewed Jelly Roll Race. It was horrible and now it is actually a quilt I am not embarrassed to show people.

Gwen Marston

If you haven’t seen her speak, get there NOW! If you haven’t taken a workshop from her, do whatever it takes to get into her class. She is awesome.

You might remember that I took a 2 day workshop from her around 2003. I made the Women’s Work quilt, which is still part of a series that I haven’t worked on any further. I will do it; I just haven’t yet.

Gwen Marston is a funny, confident speaker. She engages with the audience very well. I felt mesmerized and riveted by her talk.

She will have a book out in August, A Common Thread, which will be retrospective of her work. [Pre-order now and support the blog by clicking on the title.]

She started making quilts when she saw a quilt show at a Mennonite church in Oregon.  After that she went to the quilt group every week the whole year her family spent in Oregon. She only stopped going after er husband;s sabbatical was over and they returned to Michigan. She left with the knowledge to make quilts.

After that she got together with Mary Schafer. They both liked the irregularity of antique quilts and thought newer quilts seemed too coordinated and matchy-matchy. Antique quilts seemed spontaneous. She decided to model her quilts after vintage quilts.

Gwen wants spontaneity in her quilts. She embraced possibilities. She thinks good technique is important, but that an overabundance of concern about precision stifles creativity. She wants her quilts to be square with no ruffly edges.

When she makes a new quilt, she thinks about it as making up a new recipe – she gives herself parameters. She works a lot in solids, but also works with prints.

Gwen also talked about ghost blocks. These are blocks, or pieces of fabric that have no value change, so they disappear. Also, this concept is related to fabrics running together. When fabrics in different blocks run together, because they are the same or have the similar colors and values,they can merge into a block or piece next to them, changing the shape. Add bits and pieces to add interest and create new shapes

She kind of rocked my world about bindings. First, Gwen talked about Amish bindings. Amish bindings are on the straight of the grain. They put the sides on first and then the top and bottom. They do not miter the corners. I have never heard of this and have not checked it out. I also can’t imagine how they would finish the ends of the top and bottoms. Something to contemplate.

Then, she talked about how she uses single fold straight of the grain binding. I have always used a double fold bias binding. That was how I learned and I was always told they wear better. I was justified because I have never had a binding wear out. Gwen’s point was that if the binding wears out aren’t you going to replace the whole binding anyway? <—- Hhmmm

Gwen’s words of wisdom:

• Do your own work and don’t worry about what other people are doing
• Different sized blocks in one quilt add interest
• If you try stuff, some of it will not work. That is part of the game/process. Take a chance!
• Think about the practical or smart way to do something not the ‘right’ way.

I think I have a couple of more posts in me about random QuiltCon things, so stay tuned for those.

On Saturday, I think, we attended lectures almost all day. I am not sure why I signed up for such a marathon, but with one exception they were all very good.

Mary Fons

First off, we were 5 minutes late for Mary Fons. The lecture started at 9am and I could have used a lie in that morning. They started, apparently, right on time, thus we were late. I thought she did a good job talking about quilt history. It wasn’t a perfect lecture, but she did a good job discussing most of the history of the modern quilt revival such as the Whitney exhibit and the effect of the Bicentennial. Included was mention of a variety of cultural issues/discussion that are relevant to quiltmaking such as gender in quiltmaking (do men get more attention in a female dominated environment), how feminism relates to quiltmaking (it’s ok to put a casserole in the freezer and go to a retreat) while giving a brief overview of the resurgence of quiltmaking. The late 1980s and the 1990s, a huge time for art quiltmaking, rise of shows, guilds and tools was not discussed as much.  There was a discussion of the increase in TV shows, especially on PBS such as the groundbreaking Georgia Bonesteel show, Sewing with Nancy and, of course Fons & Porter.

She threw out some statistics,w hich I have heard before, but continue to floor me:

• 78% of US quiltmakers have at least a college education
• 21 million quiltmakers in the US
• $4 billion industry. FOUR BILLION!!!
• The major companies in the industry are dominated by men

In general, throughout the lectures, there was a repeated suggestion for modern quiltmakers to look to the traditional quiltmakers (who are finding their way to modern guilds) and to learn from them. There was a constant reminder that the fabric used doesn’t impact the skill set. I heard it at this lecture first, but then throughout the conference as well. I thought that was very nice and speaks to some of my concerns about the exclusionary nature of the modern quilt movement.

Libs Elliot

Libs Elliott was not on my radar until I heard about her from Kathleen and found out that LE is teaching at the Make It Modern Event in Reno in June. I didn’t know what to make of her. I am really excited about her now.

Libs Elliot is an excellent speaker. She started off her talk with some comments about her family, telling us she is Canadian and grew up outside of Toronto. I got the impression she still lives near there. Her parents are antique dealers which provided a nice segue into her thoughts about objects, including quilts, having secret lives, they all have stories. She also said that when we make something, we are leaving our own marks and should feel a sense of pride.

As an aside, thinking about the ‘lives’ of objects is an interesting concept to me. I like thinking about what the objects have seen and whether they absorb the history of where they have been. Kind of like Ashakic Records, but for objects.

For her the past is calm and the future is exciting. Ms. Elliott likes clear simple lines. She enjoys using new tools and thinking about ways to use technology. She is particularly interested in the intersection of technology and traditional craft.

Creating designs using a computer code generator is an interesting concept to me. Some might think it takes all the work of the artist out of it, but there are still a lot of decisions to make: color, design modifications, size, fabrics.

Elliott explained the process very well, incorporating that into the trajectory of her quilt career. Her lecture clearly showed how she was moving forward within the space of creating quilt designs with code.

The message I got was “never be afraid to ask”.

Scrap Management Panel

The good thing about this lecture was that it was a panel and we got to hear about the different ways people deal with their scraps. I wasn’t able to appreciate the people who have one bookshelf full of fabric. I may have too much fabric, but they don’t have enough. JMO, of course. The members of the panel were Mary Fons, Christa Watson and Judy Gauthier. It was moderated by Rossie Hutchinson.

You can see a picture of the panel on Christa’s site.

Another good thing about this lecture was that I found Bungalow Quilting and Yarn. The owner, Judy Gauthier,  was a fireball, a great marketer and an inveterate scrap quilt maker. She has a new book, Quilts for Scrap Lovers out by C&T. She has written a number of quilt books and guides. I was only able to take a quick peek at the new book. Go and buy it anyway. She was awesome.

As you can imagine, methods of dealing with scraps run the gamut. Mary does not usually use whole lines. She stores in scraps by color in an old, but refurbished dry goods cabinet and a large rattan basket. She also advises not to buy what you think you should buy, She encouraged the audience to love what you buy.

Mary also talked about the ‘precious fabric problem’. If you have fabrics that you love and pet and don’t want to cut into, put them on the back of a quilt for you. You will be able to enjoy them more. She encouraged the audience to enjoy your fabrics by using them.

Christa is a minimalist. Her philosophy is Know It, Use It, Love It. I can appreciate that sentiment since I buy fabric to use. She cleared out her fabric sometime in the recent past and has one large cabinet for fabric storage. Christa buys and uses a lot of tone-on-tones. She also buys pre-cuts because she can use them up quickly and get a scrappy look easily.

Judy’s philosophy is buy as much as you can and keep as much as you can. She stores her scraps by color. She does believe that the fabric should move you.

Rossie put her two cents in as well and says she destashes scraps. She encouraged people to let go of fabric with which you are finished. She said to buy what you use and don’t be influenced by trends and formulas. Her theme was ‘admire don’t acquire’.

There was a discussion of pre-washing with a mini poll during the lecture. Pre-washers like me are definitely in the minority. Mary led this short segment and said she now pre-washes everything. She reminded us that there are good reasons for pre-washing and also for not pre-washing. We were also reminded that pre-washing=pre-shrinking and if you wash some fabrics for a quilt you should wash them all so they don’t shrink differently.

Christa pre-washes, though she doesn’t pre-wash her pre-cuts. She loves to iron yardage and enjoys touching her fabric.

The panel also discussed caring for your fabric:

• keep fabric out of the sun. Sun is the enemy
• wood ‘leaks’ oils and will discolor/damage your fabric
• use acid free paper to protect fabric from sun and wood

There was also a discussing of building a stash. Judy reminded people to buy colors that make you feel good and makes you happy. Be selfish and buy fabric that speaks to you physically. Also, buy the best fabric you can afford. One great tip was to figure out what YOUR basics are and keep those in stock. As part of this discussion there was a thread about using fabric.

• Take a photo in black and white to check contrast
• Offset prints with solids (or tone-on-tones)
• Contrast is relative: white makes buttercream yellow look dark.
• Contrast can be a problem even when colors and patterns are great.

The panel left us with the admonition to USE OUR FABRIC!!

See part 2 of my report on the lectures.

I can’t really say that this post is about Day 4 of QuiltCon, because we spent day 4 driving home. We spent little pockets of time having some fun in the vendor hall and the various rooms full of quilts, however. Some of the fun was discussed in a previous post.

I won a fat quarter pack from Timeless Treasures. The ladies at the booth were very sweet and I was sad not to be able to spend time making a donation block with them. I may see if I can make one and send it along now that I am home.

We got soft tacos at the convention center for lunch one day. They were very good. While waiting in line, I saw this hilarious sign. Do you think it means you will start weird projects if you drink and sew? Or that injuries might be involved?

I mentioned that we saw the BAM donation quilt. Michelle, the BAM organizer, wanted to see how it looked with some of the other donation quilts.

Do you know that song about how nobody walks in LA? Julie pointed out a number of these young men walking exercise bikes down the street.

I was finally able to meet up with the fabulous and unbelievably kind Annie Smith (Frances’ best friend).

I am still on the fence about some of the quilts on exhibit, but I have to say that looking at them made me look at things a little differently. I am looking at scenes and shapes and scenery with an eye towards incorporating some of the lines into future quilts. With my newfound bias binding skills, lines are easier to contemplate.

I really liked the big star quilt at the Northcott booth. One of the things I like about it is that it is a big block on a field of negative space,b ut the negative space is softened a bit by the smaller stars sprinkled around the negative space. Those smaller stars are concentrated more heavily around the large block. This whole layout is much more interesting than it would be with just that big block.

Food was a little bit of an issue for me during the conference. One of the last days, I demanded Mexican food and there was a mexican place across the street from the convention center that appeared on my GF app. We were able to spend some time with Susan, the History Quilter, and Zina, @zanymouse, who were stuffed and only wanted a drink (not food). Regardless, we were able to catch up and I was able to get to know Zina better.

I also was a little bit ridiculous at the Northcott booth.

I was sad that my dress didn’t cause a sensation in the Free Spirit booth. I think the print was a few years old and the girls at the booth were glued to their phones. Oh well, it caused a sensation everywhere else. 😉

Another quick post to keep you in the QuiltCon loop.

Today was our day to look at the rest of the quilts and vendors. There weren’t a ton of vendors (PIQF has more), but the vendors did have interesting stuff and there was lots of free stuff – fat quarters and charm squares. It was kind of fun, but also somewhat overwhelming.

First, we looked at quilts. As usual there was a lack of understanding of what the judges were thinking.

One I liked was Phoenix by Anne Sullivan of Gaithersburg, Maryland (@playcrafts). Anne gave a lecture to BAMQG at some point in the not too distant past about color.

Colorfall by Timna Tarr of South Hadley, MA (@timnatarr) was very interesting. I really liked the quilting on this piece. It did not distract from the overall design and fit in very well.

Drip by Suzy Williams, Chicago, IL, (@suzyquilts) was one of my favorites. I think it was because of the colors. I saw it from across the room and it caught my attention. I am dying to make a quilt that invokes such a sense of calm.

Falling by Kathy York of Austin, TX and the Austin Modern Quilt Guild (@kakiyark) was another favorite. The balance is good. The colors work well together. The design isn’t too fussy or complicated. There is also repetition with variety. That little bit of handwork adds something, but not a lot. I love it and am inspired to make something just as fantastic.

I also really liked Cog by Emily Cier (@cpatchwork). I have always wanted to make a Jack’s Chain quilt. This is the same pattern except in Jack’s Chain the squares are replaced by 9 patches.

I love the addition of the trees in Putting on the Glitz by Tami Levin of Sunnyvale, Calif. (@lemontreetami). The colors used to imply the trees are perfect on top of the Michael Miller challenge quilts.

There were some quilts I wondered about, but there were many, many more quilts that wee really interesting in some way. I did wonder about the size of some of the quilts. I thought modern quilts were supposed to be utilitarian? The small quilts, unless they were large mug rugs, did not seem to be utilitarian to me.

One of the good things about the show is that it wasn’t just about looking at quilts and buying stuff. There were manufacturers there who were not there to sell, but to market their newest lines and concepts. A couple of the manufacturers were also working with attendees to make donation quilts.

Kona’s new Color of the Year, Highlight, was the theme of the booth. In addition to all the Highlight quilts being shown, they had a color activity where you could design your own palette around Kona’s new Color of the Year. Julie created her own palette and we both received FQs for her trouble. 😉 It might be interesting to work with.

Timeless Treasures was making a donation quilt in their Dear Stella booth. We didn’t have a chance to stop and make a block, but we did take some time to post a selfie so we could possibly win a pack of FQs. I posted the goofy selfie above!

Victoria Findlay Wolfe told us about the donation quilt that Marcus Fabrics was making to provide additional funds for ALS research. We needed to sit down for a minute, so we stopped there and made some blocks. We met a fellow class member from yesterday and chatted with her about her guild, the Omaha Modern Quilt Guild.

I made two blocks and we have some pieces from the class that we can use to make more. The blocks are hand pieced and I have stuff to make more with me. I hope to find the time to do it. You know how much I support efforts make donation quilts. The fabric is the new Victoria Findlay Wolfe Manor House line. Julie and I bought a layer cake and will share it.

Finally we took some time to look at the vendors. There weren’t as many vendors as I expected, though others have said that there are twice as many vendors as last year. I loved seeing new and interesting fabrics (not the old stuff vendors bring to PIQF) and fun prints. I was also pleased to see Sizzix, Accuquilt, several machine manufacturers and small fabric stores like Crimson Tate.

I was thrilled when Coral messaged me asking to meet up. We met at the Marcus booth, because we were still working on our donation blocks. She was a sport in that she was willing to meet us there so we could finish. Coral is a lovely person who is a Bay Area native, but now lives in Canberra. We chatted for a few minutes, then she needed coffee and we needed to get back to our vendors.

It is fun to meet people I know from Instagram and Twitter.

I decided to look for some fabrics that I could mix in with my Timeless Treasures background for the VFW quilt. I won’t have enough of the original background and I want to make the design more interesting and the quilt larger. I took a piece of my fabric with me and compared it to various solids that were available. The above were some of the good choices. I also want to take a look at Moda Bella Seafoam and Moda Bella Big Chill. They look like they will work. I want the solids to blend, though, and not to stick out too much. It is a difficult problem because the TT fabric I used has a lighter fabric overlaid with a darker fabric.

All in all we had a fun time, met some nice people, saw some great products and quilts.