another birthday

Two years ago, about a week before my birthday I learned about a quilting convention called Quiltcon. It was going to be the first one, and it was going to be in a week. It wasn't going to work. So I kept an eye out for the next one. That was this year, still in Austin, and with an amazing group of lecturers and teachers--and it was still going to be my birthday week. I went for it and dragged two people along with me!

Like most shows of this kind, it was a mix of vendors, exhibits, lectures, and classes. Four days worth. I settled for one day. Maybe someday I will go back (it's annual now) and take some classes, stretching it out a bit.

While waiting for my first lecture, we checked out the charity quilts pieced together by Modern Quilt Guilds around the country.

Some favorites:

Since I was only going to be there one day, I picked some of the lectures to attend. The classes looked fun but would've taken half or all day. The lectures were varied but were all led by people in the industry. I took a few pictures but they all look like this:

This was Heather Givens, Denyse Schmidt, Mary Fons and Brenda Groelz. Looks like my camera needs glasses.

After that I was ready to go the vendors.

Alexia Marcelle Abegg of Cotton + Steel, making some flair buttons

This was our pile of fabric at lunch.
Which was at

a sweater and sandals--I wear this a lot

very yummy.

Next up, the quilt exhibits. This one was at the edge of a vendor booth, so I'm not sure if it was connected to it or one of the charity quilts.

I thought I was doing a good job of including the quilt tag with the quilt picture, so I could go back and attribute it correctly. But it's a bit blurry and all I can read is that it is part of the Spring Cotton Couture Fabric challenge. Thanks to the magic Instagram though, I found it. It's Totally Spring by Dora Cary.

This was part of a collection of quilts from the 1970s. Yes, this is ALL double knit.

I did better with this one and took a close up of the label. It was made by Dorie Schwarz and I even found a post about it on her blog Tumbling Blocks.

This one is by Sherri Lynn Wood, who has a book out soon about this kind of improv quilting. It was actually released at the show but not sure if it was there the day I was.

This one was part of the exhibit of Do.Good. Stitches quilts. You can read more about them on the founder's page here. Because I can't read the blurry words next to the quilt.

Sunburst Quilt by Tara Faughnan

Can't read the name on the tag nor can I find the info on Instagram. The quilter is from Portland, Oregon.

This was one of the Gee's Bend quilts on exhibit.

At the Kona Cotton booth.

At this point we jumped back into my sister's car. My bag of fabric was hurting my arm and it was dinner time!

This corner was just crazy, with Juiceland: Where Drinks Come True, the dude with the sign telling us "you're perfect" and that the street was adopted by Atheist Longhorns. Wow.