Sunday Talks

First block in Katie Wilkins' Milestone quilt

Ben age two receiving the quilt flanked by his siblings

Both sides of the temperature quilt.

Katie with completed quilt

The hiking adventures quilt

I watched three and a bit talks on Sunday. First up was Quilts to Mark Milestones by Katie Wilkin.I wasn't quite sure what this meant but it turned out that when their third child, Ben, was born Katie and her husband joked that there would be hardly any pictures of him - third child syndrome. So Katie resolved to make a block a month and to document her progress. So each month she made a log cabin block and take a picture of Ben alongside which would record his development month to month for a year. When Ben received the completed quilt on his second birthday it was clear he regarded it as something special. Katie went on to make a further quilt depicting the weekly hikes she did with other mums and children over the summer holidays. She also showed a temperature quilt made by her friend, Cindy Wiens where different shades represented daily temperatures.
Next up was the wonderful  Judy Gauthier's talk on Strategies for Modern Scrap Quilting. She was very clear to listen to. There was a promotional element for her Bungalow shop and books but also lots of information  about techniques and fabric choices and ways of incorporating older and ugly fabric in a modern looking quilt. She used a camera to aid little demos which appeared on screen. And she showed lots of quilts to illustrate her points. I was impressed! 

Judy and helper with her latest and second book title (which I bought along with the first)

JG Quilt incorporates lots of small scraps

JG Owls

JG: Older scraps transformed by modern
background fabrics.

JG monochromatic palette

JG quilt

JG's personal favourite

I would set these blocks straight
rather than on point

JG quilt

JG quilt

JG quit with blocks as sashing

Final JG quilt here

The third talk went well over time as Sherri Lynn Wood was so passionate about her current preoccupation with Passage Quilts and the Bereavement Process.  Her mother's clothes had been shared out between family members and quilts made from them Hers was on the platform for us to see. She liked to maintain the structure of the clothing in the quilts. She had gone on to make bereavement quilts for others, to work with the bereaved in making their quilt or to enable them to make their own. She found in most cases two years at least would elapse before a bereaved person could make their quilts. Other quilts documented divorce or menopause.
I had to give up on the Panel as I couldn't tell what any of the speakers were saying!

A man's quilt

Sherri's quilt of her mother's clothes draped over the podium table.

Th clothes of Sherri's grandmother with many "housecoats".

Special exhibit: Quilts of the month

Here are  quilts designed by members. Each month an email arrives withpicture and pattern as a MQG member benefit. Here are three of them:

Mary Thomas: Defrag
Created using "generative design"

Paige Alexander: Positively Transparent
Explores transparency in the context of  a modern plus sign

Dians Vandeyar: Oblique
"This quilt is all about colour interaction"

Saturday's doings: talks by Carolyn Friedlander, Teresa Duryea Wong, Lee Chapell Monroe and Chawne Kimber

I was so delighted to see and hear the big names in person but the most lasting influence on my quilting will probably be Lee Chapell Monroe who rattled off (with illustrations on screen) a whole list of tips, many of which were unknown to me. I wrote them down as fast as I could and will write them up when I get home. An example is:" when sewing a decorative stitch set the machine to a slower speed and sew with the foot right down n the pedal".

Carolyn drew this "in school" (High or College?) and she thought it would make a great fabric . . .

Carolyn  (on left)wearing one of her own creations

An early CF quilt showing the fields and trees of her childhood Florida home on a cattle and citrus farm.

Her first stand at Quilt Market

Lee Chapell Monroe's quilts

The subject of Lee Chapell Monroe's talk

Teresa Duryea Wong's talk about the Japanese quilting scene.
The teaching centres around "masters".

The subject of Chawne Kimber's lecture

Chawne Kimber

Presidential portraits featured in CK's talk: Michelle is in a (modern) Patchwork dress!

MODERN TRADITIONALISM

This was the theme for the charity challenge and a category in the show, one where I took quite a few pictures.

Kathy York: Wedding Rings and Crossroads
Kathy is a past Best of Show winner (2015?) and has two or three quilts
in this QuiltCon.

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Christa Watson: HST Remix
I do like an HST and note that some of these are pieced though the flying geese you can
see are part of the fabric print.

Maria Shell: Bliss
She likes the lines of her work too vibrate and feels "Bliss" might manage this too well.

Jen Carlton Baily: Turbine
Made in three days using stash fabric. She has published the pattern.

Staci Meyr: Cape
Modified Drunkard's Path based on the orangle glow on the horizon during the Solar Eclipse

Jeannie Jenkins: Diamond in the Rough
Combines love of hexies and of paper piecing,
Used EQ7 in the design process.

AnnMarie Cowley: Hot Cross Buns

Working out how it was pieced: there are well matched seams.

Sheri Cifaldi Morrill: Sun Salutations
Expresses Hawaii sunrises in solid colour gradations and HST's.

Yvonne Fuchs: Digital Wave

QUILTCON THURSDAY02: Three talks and some quilts

Teresa talked very knowledgeably on "Made in Japan - cotton and idigo"

Teresa Duryea Wong

 the

The quilt we designed along with Latifah onscreen.
Illustrated the ins and outs of process

Latifah Saafir

Mary Fons was a veritable performer

Some categories such as Group Quilts are familiar ones but thers are design based such as "Use of Negative Space". Here are a couple of examples:

Cab you see what it says? The other F word appears in a different quilt in the show

Miriam Coffey: Ms Conceived

Jessica Wahl: Good Luck
Made from found fabric

Detail

Michelle Wilkie: San Francisco Bustle
Inspired by cable car stop and the bustle of surrounding crossroads and crosswalks.