I'm postponing the Motivational Monday post until tomorrow. I haven't been that super productive since I've been away. But today is a travel day and back to work and the routine tomorrow. The nice thing is that I don't think there is anything urgent to work on so that means I get to work on my February UFO - I'm going to be behind again, but that's OK. At least, I'm making progress with stuff, keeping the Task Master happy and it doesn't get any better than that.
I was back at the convention center bright and early yesterday and got to walk through all the quilts. Wow - there were some very spectacular quilts and some that were ho-hum. There were loads of different styles and techniques. There seemed to be a theme of solids this year - lots and lots of solids, but then there was also a lot of very busy prints, but I would say that solids were more dominant. I did take pictures and I hope to download them over the next bit and put some up. Here is a link to all the winning quilts. Sorry - I should have put that up sooner.
As for the quilting, there was a lot of straight line quilting (or variations of straight line quilting) very similar to last year. The beauty of this combination of solids and straight line quilting is that really anyone can make a modern quilt. When you see something quilted with heavy free motion style, it sticks out! Just like last year! Because it's not very common in the modern quilt world.
But what makes an award winning quilt? I don't agree with the judges' choice in all categories, but in others, I wholeheartedly agree. There are multiple quilts by the same person. They received 2000 entries and accepted 300. That's pretty exciting. So how do you get your quilt into QuiltCon? Initially, I would say unique but we saw some quilts that were made from commercial patterns (I don't think they should be here, but that's my personal opinion), we saw quilts that were variations of the same theme or traditional block. Bright contrast? Nope - we saw some pale washed out quilts. I guess it's just a combination of a lot of things - can't even say good workmanship gets you in because - well I won't go there.
You can't even say that good pictures get you into Quiltcon because if you look at the prize-winning pictures, some of them are not that great. Hmm - that is a puzzling question - what does it take to get your quilt in the show????
It was very quiet yesterday afternoon so that meant we had loads of time to wander around. We were tearing down the booth when I realized that I had NOT seen the charity quilts. DUH!!!! How did that happen?
If you scroll to the bottom of that link for the winning quilts, I think you have access to all the episodes of Fresh Quilting which is the PBS show for the Modern Quilt Guild. Check out the sponsor!
I did make a few purchases while I was here and all of it is packed away in the crate so I don't have to carry any of it home. Yeah - travel light!
I'm not having to rush this morning as our flight is at 12:30. But I'm packed and after breakfast, I may just take a walk around for an hour or so. It's not all that warm here and I only have my trusty fleece jacket, but it's enough for here.
My legs are somewhat better this morning, but very painful to stand up and have the blood rush to my feet. Yikes, I don't think I've ever had such a bad reaction to bug bites, but there are many many bug bites. Fortunately, my neck isn't quite as itchy, but the bites are on my hairline, in my hair, my arms, and my ankles which got the brunt of the attack! One of my ankles is swollen because of the darn bites. I need to get some antihistamine but I think I'm over the worst of it.
On that note, I'm out of here and back to reality tomorrow. We had a super time here at QuiltCon. Made new friends, reconnected with some old friends and contacts and generallly had a great time. Of course, I do have a list of things that I'd like to work on both for work and for pleasure. The question now will be to schedule those things into the mix so I can get them done and still work on my UFOs. It's a never ending process, but I'm having fun!
The good news? No trade show in March, but I have a feeling there is a retreat or two happening in there. I'm super excited and I think I've got a couple of great projects lines up and YES - they will fit in that laundry basket!
Oh yes, there is a noise in my hotel room. At first I thought it was an amorous couple in the room next door. Nope it wasn't that. But I have no idea where it's coming from and it's sporadic. It's a squeaking noise - very weird. They do say that Savannah is the most haunted city in the US. Could that be a ghost squeaking? I think it's the pipes or something. Very weird.
Have a super day!!!!
Ciao!!!!
My husband got an 'overdose' of no-see-em bites once when we were travelling in California. He had so much of the stuff in his system that they wouldn't heal and ended up getting infected. Take care.
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