Wow was my grandson's first word and so far it's the only word I've heard him say. Wow pretty much sums up my life for the last two weeks. First of all there was Quilt Con East and all the excitement, fun and craziness of that experience. If you haven't read Patti of Elm Street Quilts blog post about it I suggest you read her excellent summary. I'll share some Canadiana around Quilt Con a little later in the post.
I got home on Monday night , went to work on Tuesday, then came home from work to my husband telling me that our daughter in law was in the hospital and that we were babysitting our grandson for a couple of days. My daughter in law has an autoimmune condition and is expecting their second baby. Things were pretty intense for a couple of days but we are over the immediate crisis for now and hoping things will settle down so that she can return home. In the mean time I am very grateful to both my place of employment and to Dwight's for being so accommodating with giving us time off with essentially no notice.
So now back to Quilt Con. I had a wonderful time. The quilts were amazing and so inspiring. I'm sure you've seen many of them on instagram by now but I'm going to show you a couple that are from people in my region. This first one is by Linda Hutchinson (@artfultoo) who is a member of the Toronto Modern Guild. I'm sure she made this for Canada's 150th birthday and I'm thinking it will be at Quilt Canada in the Spring. It was in the hand quilting section. She did an amazing job on the hand quilting of the red lines that you can see somewhat in this picture.
The next quilt came in first in the Minimalism category. It's by Susan Kyle of Toronto. She's not in the guild but she and Karen became fast friends as they were stuck in an air travel nightmare together. Susan missed the awards ceremony but Karen worked hard on her behalf behind the scenes to make sure Susan got her own awards ceremony later in the show. The background fabric of this quilt is made from the muslin that's used when they wax your eyebrows.
The next one by Marilyn Farquhar of the Grand River Modern Guild won first in the piecing category. I know Marilyn (@marylinjfarquhar) because she used to be a member of my local guild. She lives near by and it was great to see her there. It's so beautiful with its low volume and pops of colour.
This next one is by Marilyn as well. It's a fun little number with organic shapes and an interesting use of fabrics. I am happy to see some colour in this quilt as the three above are all pretty low volume...I guess they go with the land of snow we come from. It snowed again last night but hey, it's March we'll be getting spring soon. And don't get me wrong I love low volume as much as the next person. I just think it's interesting that so many quilts from my area were low volume.
And speaking of colour look at this beauty made by Jeannie Jenkins (@itchn2stitch) of the Toronto Modern Guild. This beautiful quilt won the 2nd place prize in the Modern Traditionalism category.
When I decided to go to Quilt Con this year I thought it would probably be the only one I would make it to, but I enjoyed it so much that now I'm thinking of setting up a special savings account to save up for Nashville in two years. I'll be sharing this post with Beth of Cooking up Quilts for Main Crush Monday and with Lorna of Sew Fresh Quilts for Let's Bee Social.
13 comments:
I am so glad to hear that your daughter in law is out of the woods and hopefully she will be home soon. My family had a medical scare too - my brother hurt his back quite badly and in fact had surgery today for it (he is also doing well and already recovering at home, thankfully). I am so glad you go to enjoy the show, and it was an absolutely delight to meet you in person!
That sounds like so much fun you make me tempted to write Quiltcon 2019 into my calendar. It's lovely to see the quilts in their entirety, I think too often as a maker I am looking too closely at details and what I perceive as imperfections. I will be at quilt Canada this year.
Wow is a great first word. I hope your daughter in law can get home soon. Glad you had a wonderful time at QuiltCon.
I hadn't seen any of these quilts already, so thanks for sharing. It's an interesting idea that our physical location might impact on the quilts we make - I shall be looking out for examples of it from now on! Wow is such a great first word - clever boy. I hope things improve for your daughter-in-law.
Wow is a great word. Thanks for sharing some Canadian quilts, sounds like you had a Wow time.
Hi Lisa, thanks for giving us some of the Canadian aspects of QuiltCon. It's on my bucket list! I hope you don't mind if I link to your post next time I write about Celebrating Canada's 150. I'd like to share Susan Kyle's quilt.
I'm sorry to hear your DIL has been ill, I hope sh continues to improve and has no further problems in her pregnancy. It's lovely for you to share these quilts they are all so lovely. Marilyn's would have to be my favourites, they just seem to speak to me somehow. I can't see myself getting to quilt con, it's a little far for me unfortunately. If I did get across the pond I think my priority would have to be travelling around and meeting up with the lovely quilters I have 'met' in the USA and Canada. Although I love the quilts I just get so much pleasure from knowing the people behind them.
That's scary to hear about your daughter in law but I'm glad that she's doing better. Glad you enjoyed yourself at the convention and hoping to meet you the next time around.
Lisa, I hope your DIL is doing much better! Glad you and your husband were able to help out with your grandson. I've been enjoying reading about everyone's adventures at Quilt Con and seeing all the pictures. Maybe I should start saving for 2019 too :)
I think saving for Nashville is a fantastic idea, and I'll join in! I was crushed I didn't get to go this year, especially as it was so close to me. Those quilts you shared are amazing. Do you know if those oval shapes in Marilyn's quilt are appliqued? I would love to see that one in person, it's so interesting. Thanks so much for sharing your pics Lisa!
It was so nice to meet you, too, Lisa! 'Wow' pretty much sums it up for me as well. Hope you DIL is better!
What an up and down time! Glad the family is doing well, and glad too you had a great trip. Thanks for sharing some Canadian quilts with us.
Hi Beth, I'll jump in and reply since I'm reading Lisa's blog. Yes, the ovals are hand appliqued. With an organic pebbling and straight line stitching with no regard to the shape of the ovals, it make the oval shapes appear like it's printed fabric--but of course we knew it wasn't.
marilynjfarquhar@gmail.com
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