Quiltcon 2023 is in the books and, as always, it was an amazing experience! The quilt show itself was so inspiring, but there were also interesting lectures on varied subjects and workshops with something for everyone to learn. The guest speaker this year was Chawne Kimber; her keynote inspired and moved a room full of people. And the special exhibit of her quilts attracted many, who were awed by her tiny piecing and precise quilting. Did you know it took her two years to make “Cotton Sophisticate”, one year for the patchwork and then another year to quilt it?

But we have our own celebrities in the guild 🙂 This year, there were FIVE Silicon Valley MQG members who had quilts hanging at Quiltcon! They put their work out there, entered their quilts into the biggest modern quilting show and they got juried in! The quilts were in different categories and showcased the range of beautiful work our members do. What an inspiration! I might try to enter my work in quilt shows too this year…

What Dianne said about this quilt: “This quilt is named after Amphritrite, Greek Goddess of the Sea. I hope she likes what I have done. I tried to capture the motion and energy of the ocean for her while also embodying the ocean’s swirling beauty. This quilt is made entirely of solid fabrics that were sewn into improvised panels that were subsequently cut up and pieced into giant nested curves. Have fun following the rolling curves and swirl along with Amphritrite.”

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What Darla said about this quilt: “X-treme was an opportunity for me to explore bias tape applique as well as whole cloth quilting. In celebration of Quiltcon’s ten years, I wanted to offer a piece that exemplifies all the tenants of modern quilting. Happy Birthday Quiltcon!”

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What Michelle said about this quilt: “This quilt was inspired by a quilt I saw at PIQF in 2019 that stayed with me. It was made for my husband’s office and he helped pick the fabrics. Monterey Kelp is my first exploration of the improv piecing technique. After piecing the quilt top, the alternating pieced wedges and navy wedges resembled light filtering down through a thick kelp forest to me. To accentuate this, I chose to quilt the improv wedges with straight lines so they would remain smooth like blades of bull kelp, while I quilted a curved motif in the navy wedges resembling bubbles rising through the deep water.”

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What Mary Kay said about this quilt: “This quilt was originally created for “Quiltmaker” magazine. They were looking for new takes on old patterns. I chose a very very vibrant color palette to move away from the more traditional colors, including a pop of bright yellow for the central home/hearth red theme usually associated with the pattern. I also wanted to create something of an optical illusion by changing the shapes and sizes of the cabins. It is supposed to appear as if you are looking down on the town , and as such, the magazine ended up calling it “Bird’s Eye View”. Either title works for me.”

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What Rhonda said about this quilt: “This is my first quilt ever accepted by Quiltcon. Each year I design a quilt for the Quiltcon fabric challenge. I try to get inspiration from the fabrics that have been chosen. This year, the Ruby+Bee colors that Chawne Kimber selected immediately made me think of villages along the Mediterranean… stucco buildings with red tile roofs surrounded by the beautiful blue sea and sky. This quilt of geometric shapes is inspired from that vision. Once designed, figuring out how to piece the top, including y-seams was a real challenge. The quilting was designed to give the quilt a 3d effect dimension.”

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Even with our busy schedule, we found the time to visit to our guild’s Community Outreach quilt:

It was so great to see it in person! The design was striking and the execution impeccable.The quilt really stood out in its category. Of course we had to get silly too:

Finally I asked our members who attended the show what was their favorite part about the experience:

Judi “Loved the unique creativity. Was awed by what the kids did, especially the 3rd grade classroom that illustrated all their faces. And the vendors were amazing!  Such a wonderful collection. Now I have to find time to actual transform what I bought into something magical. It was also gratifying to see our members taking part in something on the other side of the country.”

Lynn “My favorite parts were 1) seeing all of the beautiful quilts—the creativity is astounding, 2) Chawne Kimber’s keynote and her quilts “

Lisa “My highlights from QuiltCon were seeing Chawne Kimber’s quilts in person–the skill of her tiny piecing and her beautiful hand quilting make in-person viewing so much better than Instagram–and also spending time with other guild members in person and seeing their quilts hanging in the show.  I have about a million more highlights but I assume you don’t want the whole laundry list :-)”

Michelle “How friendly everyone was! I had some amazing conversations with people I just met!”

My favorite part was meeting so many famous quilters whose work I admire on Instagram and having casual conversations with them at lectures, in elevators or while volunteering… I love how accessible our community is!

I hope you all enjoyed Quiltcon, either in Atlanta or online. We hope to see you all next year in Raleigh, NC!