QuiltCon report PART 1

I'm back from my first QuiltCon. It was such an amazing experience that I guess I needed a bit of time to let it all settle.

My journey began with a train ride to Frankfurt Airport, continued with a stop over in Washington DC to the final destination Savannah. I was traveling with Christiane of the Modern Cologne Quilters, which was very relaxing and fun!

But actually our QuiltCon experience began already at the departure gate at the airport in DC. We could identify the first QuiltCon visitors by their beautiful self made bags already. We got to talk to two lovely ladies from Denver, CO. and we spotted Amanda Jean Nyberg aka Crazy Mom Quilts!! So she got a bit of an entrance from probably 15 excited quilters as she boarded the tiny plane. That's what happens when you meet your first quilting hero!!

Once at Savannah airport we were greeted by this:

We also met our house mates Seven and Derek, who flew in from Dublin, Ireland. So good to see them again after they moved from Germany to Ireland late last year.

DAY 1

Much to my surprise I received a goodie bag filled with loads of quilty goodness for being under the first 1.000 people who registered for QuiltCon. How cool is that?

And this is where it began: The award ceremony starting at 8am with some stats:

Wow, Tammie, and I though we traveled far from Germany!!

I was amazed by all the award winning quilts in all the different categories, but I think the quilt that took my breath away (and I was not the only one in the audience) is this one:

Inspired by a princess cut diamond this is 'Bling' by Catherine Jones won Best in Show - so well deserved!
Here you can see all other award winning quilts! 

Upon entering the show room we heard some very loud cheering coming from the Art Gallery Fabrics booth.  And there they were: Mathew Boudreaux aka Mister Domestic and Pat Bravo having some real fun with giving away gorgeous fabrics that feel so damn good!!!

And will you believe it, I won this awesome fabric bundle! 9 yards of gorgeousness in my favourite colours! 

I also really loved their booth and the stickers on the floor!

That basically was the first impression of my QuiltCon experience: by just the first 15 minutes inside the show room I did feel the difference. There was such a positive and happy energy from just everyone I met. And that feeling continued throughout the entire duration of QuiltCon.

And then there were the quilts. Oh the quilts!

Here are just SOME of the amazing quilts that stood out to me. There is no particular order or category, just simple beauty.

'Made in GDR 26' by Emily Doane

 

 'Making All The Pieces Fit' by Stephanie Skardal

'Bertha' by Melissa Curly

'Min Mid Mod' by Kim Simpson

And then we met Amanda aka Crazy Mom again, who was chatting with loads of people and giving away some of her beautiful pin cushions.

In the background 'Leftovers #4' by Debra Jalbert

I cherish this little pin cushion so much!

Every famous quilter I've seen and even briefly talked to was so approachable. First I was very hesitant to talk to all of my quilting heroes because it felt like stalking rock stars or something, or like I was taking up too much of people's time. But it actually was the complete opposite. Everyone was so happy when you told them that you love their quilts or their fabric design. And also that we came aaaaalll the way from Germany especially to go to QuiltCon. 

That's me and Giuseppe aka Giucy Giuce at the Andover Fabrics booth. I'm a big fan of his work and was probably a little excited hence the shaky photo... :o)

 More quilts! 

'Skewed Symmetry' by Katie Pedersen

Two weeks before QuiltCon my husband got invited to come to Seattle and instruct a McGuire Course. As he said 'I'm going to Seattle, wanna come?' I couldn't contain my excitement, of course I wanted! Before we even booked flights I booked a work shop with Katie of Sew Katie Did where she will be teaching the technique used in her quilt above. I am one lucky girl!!!

'Yay or Nay' by Debbie Jeske

I know Debbie of A Quilter's Table from social media involvement since quite some time now and adore her quilts. It was great to see one of her quilts in person!

'Caged Bird' by Juli Smith

After I've seen the first quilts I calmed down a little. I did not submit a quilt myself because I was afraid and unsure. I haven't seen that many quilts of other people and I had difficulties to judge whether my quilts are good enough for such an amazing show.  But seeing that almost all quilts have little bits which are not perfect I began to understand that perfection is not what I should be aiming for and that I also should not be so overly critical with my own work. All these beautiful quilts brought my own work into a different perspective though. I had difficulties understanding the different categories as well. Now I know where my quilts would maybe fit into.
So QuiltCon West, I'm going to submit a good few quilts, that's for sure. Whether they get selected is another story but at least I am confident now that the quality of my quilts is similar to what I've seen in Savannah.

I had a full lecture pass and went to several very interesting lectures.

But there was also time for getting to know people and enjoy the sun outside.

There were several other German girls attending QuiltCon e.g. my fellow quilting bee Vicky, who I met for the first time in Savannah, how crazy is that? Or Carola, who only lives like 50km away from me. Nico currently lives in the States but was happy to meet some fellow Germans.

All in all a fantastic first day!

Linking to
Modern Cologne Quilters
Let's Bee Social