Quilt Con Day 3

Since I've gone to a number of quilt conferences over the years, I was very curious what this inaugural Quilt Con would be like. Here are a few of my impressions:

A large group gathered for a demo about fabric design by  Heather Ross

The crowds are definitely here. I've bumped into many familiar faces from the Kansas City area. Crowds on Friday were easily twice the size of the Thursday crowds. Today - Saturday - it's sunny and warm in Austin, I expect it will be even more crowded in the exhibit/vendor hall. There is great enthusiasm, marveling at the spectacular work - as there so often is at regular quilt shows.

There is a large exhibit of modern quilts from all over the world. Along with the modern quilts shown below, one aisle is flanked on both sides with quilts by Denyse Schmidt (tonight's keynote speaker). We've all admired them online - to see them in person is spectacular! (Keep watching, those pics will be posted soon ...)

The rock stars of the modern world are here - lecturing, demoing techniques, signing books - just like regular quilt shows. The lectures have been interesting and well attended, helping us all gain insights about what modern is. And the success of modern is obvious by the number of vendors in attendance. The men in suits are here, a signal there is a healthy financial side to all this. That said, many of the businesses present are run by women, another healthy sign.

The crowd demographics fascinate me. There are fewer gray heads here than there are at most quilting events ( although statistics show modern quilters are spread pretty evenly from age 21-60+). You can see occasional wild colored hair (but we are in Austin). Many of us are celebrating this new turn for the quilting world, and the enthusiasm for our passion that signals a healthy future.

So! I'm off to the show today. My daughter Betsy will be a quilt angel/white glove rover in the hall this afternoon (Kate was there with me Thursday). More pics and stories to come ...

Gotta post one more quilt - there are SO MANY I am fired up about.

Another quilt from the Kiracofe collection. Historical Modern!

Quilt Con Day 2

Wow! Finding this quilt nearly made me jump for joy! There are many, many wonderful quilts in the Quilt Show at Quilt Con. But this one drew the strongest reaction from me. It is a wool quilt by Sherri Lynn Wood of Oakland, California. Wood calls it an improvisational riff off the Log Cabin pattern. It is made entirely of vintage Pendleton wool shirts, skirts, suits and pants - a repurposed wonder. The backing below is 100% linen, as is the binding. The quilting is a very simple pattern, done with the big stitch.

A nice touch to the quilt show is a section of "Modern Historical Quilts" from the collection of Rod Kiracofe. It's featured in Kiracofe's book .Quilts, now available as an ebook on blurb.com. This one looks familiar to us, doesn't it? A sign with the exhibit notes the similarities between the modern quilt movement of today as well as the modern and contemporary art movements. Kiracofe's quilts were made by largely anonymous quiltmakers.

QuiltCon Day 1!

I'm at QuiltCon in Austin, Texas. The level of enthusiasm is HIGH. People are excited about the quilts, excited about the lectures, and excited to be part of the inaugural QuiltCon.

There are so many wonderful quilts on display, it is hard to pick only a few to show. I love this one because of the pattern and the wild diversity of fabrics included.

Here's a detail shot. This quilt was made by Lotje Meijknecht of the Dutch Modern Quilt Guild.













How about this Ron Swanson quilt by Monica Solorio-Snow of the Portland Modern Guild. It won first place in the piecing division! There are several quilts here based on pixilated images.

There are also vendors galore and fun photo booths. My friend Sammie bought so much she had to take it back to the hotel room (in the first 2 hours the show was open). If you're in the Austin area, don't miss it - the show runs through Sunday. You can buy a day pass for $10 to view the quilts and visit the vendors.

15 Minutes Play

A recent treat was the purchase of a new book, 15 Minutes Play by Victoria Findlay Wolfe.

If you love scraps, as I do so much, this is the book for you. I tend to piece stuff together rather aimlessly. Victoria calls that made-fabric. She had the good sense to wrangle it all into designs, setting it all into traditional quilt designs! Of course, with her mad-wonderful color sense, the quilts turn out to be anything but traditional.

I had a good deal of work to do recently and not much time to sew. But I tried Victoria's method and just gave myself 15 minutes to play. Ah! That was a lifesaver during a busy time.

I'm piecing a red/white/black scrap quilt (with a few liberties as you will note - a little blue, etc.). Here is a peek ...I nearly have two 1 yard square pieces together! I'm calling my sewing time this week Pt. Petalabooma East, thinking of my friends sewing together in California without me ... Yachi should know this is ALL SCRAPS! 

Oh Happy Day

Well! Any day that I get to hear my favorite Yellow Dog Democrat (his words) sing America the Beautiful at the presidential inauguration is a happy happy day for me.

I follow politics. I have my favorites. It is good to have leaders you admire.I grew up in a family that paid attention to politics, that talked about current events around the dinner table. Imagine my delight to realize (as a grownup) that my paternal grandmother Anna Schrader Gehlbach had a similar outlook. She actually gave her youngest child the middle name FRANKLIN in 1933 in honor of a favorite leader of hers.

I was reminded of that today by a photo sent by my favorite quilt historian, it's a quilt that features states that elected FDR, courtesy of the NC Quilt Project and the Quilt Index. Thank you, BB.


And I will reveal a guilty pleasure: I regularly check this blog that features the fashions worn by Michelle Obama. Today will be a happy, busy day, keeping up with that!

Severe Book Withdrawal in Lawrence, KS

There are many things my beloved hometown of Lawrence, Kansas is known for.

We are a Civil War destination town, since Southern sympathizers burned our town to the ground in 1863. That's history.

We are a basketball town, known as the home of James Naismith and a continually HOT basketball team. Here is my current favorite player on this year's team, Kevin Young. I love his enthusiasm almost as much as I love his FRO. (Kevin is on right below, photo courtesy of our shriveling local newspaper, the Lawrence Journal-World.)

What you may not know is that is a town of book lovers! Really! This is something I've long suspected BUT with the closing of our public library for the past 2 weeks as it moves to temporary quarters (while our new, improved library will be built in the next 2 years on the just vacated current downtown site), let me just say the library lovers are in a total frenzy. WITHDRAWAL tremors were detected at a luncheon last Thursday. I actually overheard this statement, "Yes, I have 10 books checked out but I've already read them ALL!! What time is that university library open?"

Then yesterday we stopped in Half-Price Books and the place was JAMMED! People needing a book fix on a January day were crammed in the place!

Tuesday. if we can just last until Tuesday, we can visit our beloved library in it's temporary headquarters, either ironically or fittingly in the old Borders store site downtown. Surely we can wait a few more days, right?

Fabulous Sherry Kent dress

Here's my favorite holiday gift, from someone who knows fabric is the best gift.


It's a vintage dress. My friend Linda said she found it at a thrift shop for very few $$.










Since my new fascination is all things Modern era, I was blown away. And so delighted to see a rip in the front, which makes it easier to cut up and repurpose.

I promise to do some research and see what I can learn about Sherry Kent dresses.
and the exact age of this beauty...Here's a close-up shot  of one of the pockets:

Parental discretion advisory, warning, warning, read only if you are immune to shock and naughty words, thanks to raising kids regularly dragging them through thrift shops:
There is a new song out about Thrift Shops! My daughters heard it first, and now I am hooked. I listen to it when I want a good chuckle. It includes lyrics like: I'll wear your grandpa's clothes!  I'm gonna pop some tags, Only got twenty dollars in my pocket...check it out on you tube.