QuiltCon recap

This past weekend in Austin was quite amazing. It was a visual feast. A buffet for the senses. A collection of quilting genius. The inaugural QuiltCon. Paul asked me what I learned, it’s hard to say. I mean, I learned a lot and I absorbed a lot. I heard some awesome speakers, people I admire – Amy Butler, David Butler, Anna Maria Horner, Heather Ross, and Denyse Schmidt. I took a class with Angela Walters, and that was amazing. I took a class with someone else that was less amazing. There were tangible takeaways and physical takeaways and lots and lots of fabric. LOTS. And there were quilts. Beautiful quilts. Amazing quilts. There was even some arts and crafts. And, of course, there were cocktails and chips and margaritas and crepes.

I feel like my creativity and my imagination were set free. I feel like in seeing quilts made by the Modern Quilt guild that in some ways I was set free, given permission to bend the rules. They may not seem like much but sometimes not everything should be done by the book. By a pattern. Angela Walters showed us a quilt, something she’d made as a sampler, that was a bit of an awakening for me. It wasn’t even about the quilting but about the quilt design. It was beautiful. It was eye-opening.

Sorry about the images, there are a ton. But it was all so beautiful and overwhelming and fabulous.

This quilt is tiny. It’s AMAZING. AMAZING!

This painting is by Anna Maria, I love it. I mean, LOVE. I want. The interaction between a mother and daughter. A moment in time. A touch. The love.

Look at that adorable quilting detail!

Angela Walters and I from my Quilting Negative Space class. This “amazing” quilting is what I did with a long arm. Don’t you think I need one?

Sometimes the things we learn that help us grow and advance, the things that ignite and fuel ones creativity, aren’t tangible. But I really feel like I’m ready to get busy and create. If only my machine weren’t in the shop!