I entered three quilts in Quilt Con this year, for the upcoming show in Raleigh, in February. This was a BIG first for me! I've been aware of Quilt Con for many years now. In fact, I would say that's the main reason I pursue modern quilting! Seeing other people's work each year, from the show, has had a tremendous impact on me.

I've meant to enter in the past years, but just didn't get around to it. But this year, I said, I'm doing it! And I'm so glad I did. But alas, my entries did not make it in.

I think Quilt Con is probably the biggest quilt show in existence. At least in the United States. I really should look up these stats, but I think it probably supercedes the Wisconsin and Houston shows for volume. It certainly is the largest collection of modern work shown in the field.

I love that The Modern Quilt Guild is furthering the art and craft of quilting, and especially making it appealing to a younger demographic. We need younger people to take up the hobby if we're going to prevent this art from dying out. Mamas, teach your children! Grandmas, teach your grandchildren! Aunties and Uncles, teach your nieces and nephews! Quilting is an important textile art.

So the deadline was looming, October 31st, and I was nervous about getting good pictures to submit. The weather hadn't been great for getting shots outside. And then on the 30th, it was cloudy and windy. I said, forget it. I laid a sheet on my living room floor near my south-facing windows and opened up the blinds to let in as much light as possible. Cloudy is perfect for that so that you don't get harsh sunlight and shadows.

I then took several pictures with my phone camera, trying to make sure they were as straight on as possible. This year, The MQG had new requirements for photos. One overall shot, one close-up detail shot, and one that showed the binding to show that it was indeed made of layers stitched together (the technical definition of a quilt).

I cleaned up the full-shot photos in Procreate on my iPad, removing all the surrounding detail of the sheet or carpet. I could have cropped it close (and they do require that a bare minimum of background is showing), but I wanted it as clean as possible.

The submission process wasn't very difficult, which was encouraging. So I completed my three submissions one day ahead of the deadline. Then the wait begins. The results don't come in until the beginning of December.

I really didn't expect to get in. I really just wanted to make myself take that leap. And as expected, my submissions did not get in. But again, I'm really glad I pushed myself.

The statistics this year are that The MQG received 2041 quilts submitted. Of those, they were able to choose 470 to hang in North Carolina next year. So about a 23% acceptance rate. I don't take the rejection as any sign that my work is not up to snuff. I'm very happy with the pieces I submitted. In fact, as I was preparing my submission forms and pictures, I felt even more confident in these three pieces than I have in the past. It's funny how time can change your perspective of your own art.

Here are the pieces I submitted, with a little detail about each. I hope you enjoy this little showing that will not be in Raleigh in February. Haha!

 

Missing Piece

 

Missing Piece measures 17 x 17 inches. This was a fun improv project that was born from off cuttings of a previous improv piece. With the fair amount of negative space, I decided to densely quilt it to give it lots of texture. I repeated the quilting in the upper-right "missing piece" to give the perception of a piece. I faced this one instead of traditional quilt binding.

 

 

Close-up shot showing detail.

 

 

Facing.

 

Stretched

 

Stretched measures 32 x 32 inches. This one was a fun one! I named it Stretched because I felt I had really stretched my quilting skills, plus the pieces looked stretched across the blocks. I drew this one out on the computer, but failed to build it as separate blocks. Instead I built it as just one single block. I was really just playing around, but I liked the design so much, I wanted to make this quilt a reality. But as it was just one block in my design software, printing paper patterns for it was crazy. So I ended up redrawing it on paper, then cutting it into blocks and running copies at 800% on 11 x 14 paper. That was a bit of a brain buster. But it worked! I love it so much! And I'm planning on reworking the pattern and releasing it for sale next year.

 

 

Close-up detail.

 

 

Binding.

 

Sunrise

 

Sunrise measures 49 x 42 inches. This began as a fun improv exercise to clear my palette and just play with fabric. I don't know about you, but sometimes I get locked up between projects, trying to decide what to do next. So I learned when that happens, it's best just to play. I kept being drawn to these colors in my stash, and I started making some specific motifs. I decided to repeat those motifs four times each to end up with variations on a theme. Inserting some prints here and there, and the cream fabric with text on it, gave it the interest I was looking for. I separated the blocks into four columns to give some definition to the variations. I quilted this with three colors of thread: bright pink, orange, and yellow. That decision was actually formed by thread quanties. I started with one color, and then ran out and moved on to another. I went with a match-stick-style. Quilting lines are the width of my walking foot. Basically, as I progessed through the project, I set certain parameters for myself. That is a common theme in my improv work. Finally, I felt that this piece called for facing. The colors and motifs both said sunrise to me so the name came easily.

 

Close-up detail.

 

 

Facing.

 

So in summary, I'm very glad I entered Quilt Con, and I have no hard feelings for being "rejected." All three pieces were designed, pieced, quilted, and bound by me.

Have you entered Quilt Con? How was your experience? Let me know in the comments!

 

 

 

 

 

Cover photo credit: Photo by Sherise Van Dyk on Unsplash

 

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