Over the past several weeks I have had the privilege of sharing some of my favorite quilts from Quiltcon-2023.
Thank you to everyone who read the posts and especially those who commented on them
There were a few other highlights of the show…..
This stained-glass window was at the end of the walkway that connected my hotel to the show floor……

I wonder how many people stopped to photograph it on their way to the quilts!!
I saw this amazing jacket and asked to take a photo……

Isn’t that a great use of a woven fabric piece!!!
I took two classes and came back with new thoughts from each.
In the first class, we talked about piecing an inset circle. I have done this before but never used liquid glue to hold it in place before piecing….

Previously I used a glue stick, which worked fine, but this glue was SO much better. I learned that it worked even better when ironed in place!!
The second thing that I learned in this class was about using Karen Buckley circle templates. Again, I have used them before but loved the suggestion to wrap the thread around the circle to hold it further in place!!

(the bits of white on the edges are spray sizing)
In the second class, we learned to quilt straight-lines REALLY close together!!
The trick is to start with lines that are 1-inch apart…..

….split the difference until they are 1/2-inch apart…..

….split again and they are 1/4-inch apart……

….and one more time gets 1/8-inch……

I PROBABLY shouldn’t have needed an entire class to learn that!!
I liked the results even more when using a thicker thread!!

We used a walking foot (compensating foot) to complete the process but I will try it on my sit-down longarm and see if I can use rulers to finish the design.
I will say that I was relatively disappointed in my classes. One of the instructors was not in control of the class timing and we didn’t get much done. However, I did meet some very nice people!!
And as I said, I am not sure that I needed a 3-hour class to learn the quilting technique. I would have enjoyed more information about thread sizes and needles!! Having said that, the class ran from 6 to 9pm and it was nice to just sit and mindlessly sew after a full, busy day!!
Overall, my first QuiltCon experience was excellent!! I was fortunate that it was only 1.5-hours from my house and I was able to cram it into my springtime….ie. busy…. work schedule.
If you have joined me on this trek, please subscribe to the blog so that you will see my newest posts. I am planning to continue on my grid-quilting journey and there are lots of quilts from my Guild show which was 2 weeks ago.
As always……

6 thoughts on “Quiltcon2023 Wrap Up”
Frances, I enjoyed the Quilt Con show tour. Thank you so much for sharing it for the people who couldn’t go. It was a lovely journey. I loved the idea of using Roxanne glue to keep the roundness on a circle but I didnt understand the string. The idea on doing one inch lines to accomplish the narrow stitching was a good one. I will cetainly give this a try on my Juki Sit Down and Longarm. I bought my Juki Sitdown to take to Boston when we go for the long cooler summer with my family. I am afraid I will miss it when I go back home for the winter.
Thanks Jodie. I am so glad that you enjoyed the tour. I did learn a lot!!!
I also enjoy your series on QuiltCon. Thank you for showing us so many quilts!
I am so glad that you enjoyed it Andrea. I had a lot of fun re-living each quilt as I wrote about it!!!
It is interesting to see different ways and techniques to use with something you already have. I use those circles a lot, and am interested in how the glue can help. May have to play with that.
And the straight line quilting is a very logical approach.
Thanks for sharing.
I had tried the glue before but hadn’t heat-set it and that is what makes it work. Otherwise, you have to wait for it to dry and that defeats the purpose!!