Techniques from QuiltCon '23 (3)

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The Busy Appliqué Aisle

Now let's turn our attention to some interesting techniques.

As in yesterday's post, we'll start with the "Log Cabin Challenge" and take a look at the second place winner, "Not What It Seams" by Marah Light. Here black batting is used under the white quilt top for a very subtle effect. The double white seams contrast well against areas with just one layer of white on the black. This gives the piece more dimension and shows off the pattern better that white against white batting would. 

Several other ribbon winners displayed some noteworthy techniques.
In the "Youth" division, Henry Webb won second for "Maxine," which is hand pieced and machine appliquéd.

First place in "Handwork" went to "Confetti" by Diane Fox, (@hiitsdi5280) who used my personal favorite, the seed stitch, to shadow the solid shapes in this piece.


Second place in the "Handwork" division went to "The Sun Goes Down Alone" by Jennifer Broemel (@jen.broemel). This piece is hand embroidered and machine quilted. It's a gorgeous treatment of the surface which creates multiple layers of color. It also makes the quilt look very stiff. I imagine it's pretty heavy as well. 

In fact, quite a few quilts featured a combination of hand quilting and machine quilting. The best examples of this are in the work of the featured speaker, Chawne Kimber, (@cauchycomplete). Many may be familiar with this piece "Cotton Sophisticate," a wonderful example of Chawne's quilting expertise. 

Another piece by Chawne: "And Miles to go Before I Sleep"

The detail shows how the balance between the hand quilting and the machine quilting enhances the design.

On the subject of thread, this piece in the "Small Quilts" division had something I hadn't seen before. Laura Hartrich, (@laurahartrich) used loose threads to create a texture on "Back in Therapy (Increased Surface Area)." The entire surface was then heavily quilted to keep the threads in place with a technique the artist called "abstract thread painting." Quite a unique effect. 

Pieced detailed images will always draw a crowd and there were several portraits in the show this year. "Mask 3#- The Stoic" by Scott Culley, (@scottculleydesign), combined three portraits in one for this impressively pieced quilt:

The finely pieced line work in "Landing" by Paola Machetta (@thecultofquilt) can be added to the list of possible techniques to try. Yes, those teal lines are pieced!


"Milky Opals" stood out to me because of it's use of old and recycled fabrics. Lorena Uriarte, (@lorena_in_syd), explores the textures of laces and other fabrics in this interesting pattern which looks like a three part circle on top of a tumbling block.

The "Appliqué" category featured both hand and machine appliqué. On "Sky Top 2," Nancy Lambert edged some shapes with machine stitching, giving it a very polished look.

And in the "Community Outreach" category, the Central Oregon MQG submitted this quilt. Strips of fabric are loosely woven and then placed over the quilted top. Their accompanying description explained that they wanted to commemorate their "tightly woven" group with this collaborative effort. Not only is it a cool technique, but it's a great message to take home to our own guilds: "Separately they are wonderful colors but woven together it makes a beautiful full quilt."  


All in all this QuiltCon was another great experience. Every time I go to this show I take in another aspect of what is offered and it helps me grow creatively and personally. 

This year I met more people through a "Meet & Greet" and I went to a lecture for the first time. (Thanks Sam Hunter for the talk, "What's a Quilt Really Worth?"; it was filled with practical, common sense suggestions/advice and words of wisdom.) I had some lovely conversations with cheerful, engaging, and supportive people, took lots of pictures to scroll through for inspiration and brought home several new ideas to contemplate moving forward.

Looking ahead to QuiltCon 2024 now.
  😉

 
Atlanta skyline at night   
                                                                                                                ©Lauren Klementz-Harte



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