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QuiltCon Recap: Part 2

While I was at QuiltCon I took two workshops, on Thursday I took an all day FMQ workshop with Elizabeth Hartman. Elizabeth's first book Practical Guide to Patchwork was one of the first books that taught me to quilt. Back about 6 months ago at registration I barely new any FMQ so this class was one of my top picks. Fast forward a few months and FMQ has quickly become my favorite step in the quilting process, and I really want to teach others to do. And hence the reason for Skill Builder BOM. Moving forward I was really excited to see a different perspective on FMQ from Elizabeth, and that was exactly what made this class so helpful for me.

Even with the knowledge I have gained on the technique over the last months, I felt like a complete newbie in the class, haha. The classroom was setup with a ton of the top of the line ($4500+) Janome machines, but since I am so used to my Juki, I could not seem to get comfortable on the machine and felt like I was almost learning all over again. Frankly the machine made me really really glad I bought my Juki :)

During the first part of the day we basted whole cloth quilts that we then practice multiple different all over quilting patterns on. Elizabeth taught us each design and then we would work on them for 30mins or so.

These were to two gals I was sitting next to Kitty on the left was a brand new free motion quilter, and she had some frustrations with the machine and getting of the learning hump, but by the end of class she was on a roll doing really really well and I can bet she is getting really good. Rachel from Stitched in Color on the right, Rachel was one of my room mates so we had quite a bit of time together.

For the second half of the day we worked on 10 x 10 quilting samples. Robert Kaufman donated Kona Cotton squares to everyone for their samples. All in the Quilt Con colors. It was our choice to choose which quilting patterns to use. Elizabeth's final sample book was fantastic (wish I would have gotten a picture), she bound each square then added grommets and a ring so you could flip through each quilting pattern. 

Elizabeth's methods are basically the complete opposite of me. This gave me a chance to try a whole new way of doing things so I could see a broader picture of the FMQ world. Elizabeth quilts without gloves, I quilt with them, she quilts by grabbing and gripping the entire quilt, I work with my hands in one spot, she starts in the bottom right corner, I start in the top left, and so on. During class I really challenged myself to try her methods, which felt very awkward, but I think was super super helpful. Overall the class was great, as a Craftsy teacher I bet Elizabeth will do something like this in the future and I would definitely suggest it!

The next class that I took was half day on Friday. I took Textile Printing with Lotta Jansdotter (which I learned is pronounced yansdotter). Lotta is one of my favorite fabric designers, she is from Sweden and lives in New York. She was an absolutely fantastic teacher, and was so open to any questions and had such a fun personality. After a whole day of tense FMQ quilting this class was so relaxing! 

First we started off by making our own stamp blocks. She taught us about the different supplies and how to carve our blocks. When I was working on my block I got a little carve crazy and my design didn't turn out too good, but I can really see how this could be addicting. (and cheap!) We stamped them on paper first to test our designs, then we stamped them with fabric ink on muslin. Lotta had brought a bunch of her stamps ones from collections like Bella and Echo.

Next we moved onto stenciling. We were given clear overhead paper which we turned into stencils. When using a stencil you can get a much more saturated design, which I really like. But, coming up with a stencil design that doesn't have something that falls out of the center is really hard, believe me I had to think hard haha. I ended making cathedral windows.

One of the things I really appreciated from the class was how open Lotta was in sharing about her fabric printing process, her designs, her business structure, and even personal things. You could tell she has a strong desire to teach others. This class was definitely one of the highlights of QuiltCon for me. I definitely plan to take the methods I learn and make more blocks and stencils, I would even like to make this a project for my daughter as well.

After a few days I got to walk around the booth's, there weren't a ton of them, but considering how many lectures, workshops there were and the huge show I feel like the booths were just enough! I ran into my good friend Cristy from Purple Daisies, she is a Pile O' Fabric sponsor and is a local quilting friend. Here she is showing off the Juki and Quilt Halo's which I love so much!

I also stopped by the Marmalade Fabric's booth quite a few times. Tammy is also a Pile O' Fabric sponsor, and made this absolutely beautiful quilt herself! Her booth looked so good!! They were always jam packed with customers, so I think they did very well!

In the Robert Kaufman booth they had a little project for everyone using the new precut Kona Hexies they asked anyone who stopped by to make a personal hexie which they plan to sew into a commemorative quilt. I decided to make them a little Pile O' Fabric, but totally hate my handwriting.

I did a little shopping :) and picked up a Ellen Luckett Baker print in linen I LOVE, and a wonderful neutral's bundle from Marmalade, I even scored a new Marmalade necklace.

This was about it for Workshops, and Booths for me, tomorrow I will be back to share about the Quilt Show and Lectures.

Alyssa

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Creator of Pile O' Fabric

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