QuiltCon... it's never too late to blog!
This week my wonderful friend Katie of
was in town to lecture for the
and to teach a class over at
. Katie has a prolific collection of amazing quilt work and I loved seeing many of her quilts and hearing her story. I of course, did not take a single photo so you'll have to pop over to her blog to see her work.
While she was here, she mentioned my blog is a little (ahem) outdated. I have been neglecting you, my dear readers. It is true. It did light a fire under my behind and here I am. Where I hope to be regularly. I've been
in the mean time and I'd love it if you wanted to see what I'm up to over there!
So, let's get caught up, shall we?
I went to QuiltCon! QuiltCon was held in Austin, TX in February of this year. I went FOR FUN. Yep. There was a little tiny bit of work involved as the Madrona Road Challenge winners chosen by Michael Miller Fabrics had their projects showcased in the Michael Miller booth, but that was all their amazing work, not mine. I loved seeing them in person and meeting some of the quilters. If you want to check out some of the lectures,
you can watch them here on Craftsy.
I had the pleasure of taking two classes, one from the extremely entertaining
. You may know Jay as the winner of the very first season of Project Runway or as the designer behind some
really great fabric collections
. I particularly love Habitat and Center City. I made this awesome Kitchen Sink Patchwork Skirt in his class... that still needs a hem and the lining sewn in. Procrastination is my middle name.
I also took a quick little class with
. Lotta is also a designer of some gorgeous modern minimalist
.
On my last day at QuiltCon I was a full day class volunteer for my amazingly talented friend,
. I had no idea going into my day who I would be volunteering for, but let me tell you... I hit the jackpot. Lizzy is an amazing teacher. From the thoughtfulness of her curriculum at the very beginning of her class, the thoroughness which she knows her craft inside and out presented throughout the day, to the final retrospection of work at the end of the course, I was in awe of Miss Lizzy. If you ever have the chance, take her classes. You will learn something.
Now, have I mentioned I was there for FUN? I had the most amazing opportunity to travel with some of my closest friends... and not have to WORK during it!!! Yeah, yeah, I was a super volunteer which meant that I volunteered like 16 hours or something like that, but it didn't feel like work. It felt like I was helping out my friends with their big project... and I was SO proud of what the MQG put together, it really felt like an honor to volunteer there and be a part of it. Some of these ladies I get to travel with for Quilt Market or other fabric/quilting/sewing shows, etc, but this trip we got to let loose and well... get tattoos. I think we counted fourteen women who went and got themselves mostly-crafty tattoos during the course of the week. Here is mine:
I also got to meet up with one of my dearest childhood friends, Mandy. When we were very young, we played school and tried to beat up the neighborhood boys, including her two brothers. Her mom made the best homemade caramel I've ever had in my life. We shared a love of Nintendo for hours after school and on weekends in their basement. My second oldest scar above my eye comes from a Nintendo Duck Hunt gun accident on their couch. We were amazing at pulling skateboards with rope behind bicycles or Hot Wheels. Hot Wheels RULED our cul-de-sac well into years that we were MUCH too old to still be riding them... and their wheels, which were mostly shreds of plastic by then, showed it. We built ramps and forts and ran up and down and around the block. It was the best. I only have one blurry photo, but I REALLY hope we get to spend more time in 2015 when I go back to Austin for the next round of QuiltCon!
We are standing in the Michael Miller booth in front of one of the great challenge quilts.
You can see all of the challenge winners here.
xoxo,
Violet