QuiltCon West 2016 Report

The Modern Quilt Guild’s international conference and show, QuiltCon, was a few weeks ago and the members of the South Bay Area Modern Quilt Guild could not have been more excited to participate! QuiltCon happens every February in various locations and this year it was just a 6-7 hour road trip away, in Pasadena, CA, which made it easy for many of our members to attend. The MQG prepares for QuiltCon all year and all the hard work results in an amazing four-day event that we really look forward to.

People come to QuiltCon from all over the world to immerse themselves in the very best in modern quilting. We attend workshops and lectures by well-known instructors. We view hundreds of beautiful and unique quilts that have been carefully selected for the show. There are excellent prizes in various categories of quilting and there are fun quilting challenges. There are special exhibits of quilts made by legendary artists and a huge collection of charity quilts made by Modern Quilt Guild chapters around the world. Many of us are able to volunteer at the show and it is really fun to be a part of the action. We enjoy spending time with old and new friends and meeting up with acquaintances from social media.

Trading buttons is another fun part of QuiltCon. Here, a happy quilter shows the beginning of a superb button collection!

For the SBAMQG, the best part of the show was the fact that we had such a strong presence. A large contingent of our members was able to be there, several of whom had quilts in the show (including prize winners), and our charity quilt “Dovetailed” could not be missed.

Here is our charity quilt displayed on the lecture hall stage and modeled by SBAMQG members Mickey Beebe and Karen Foster.

We were also very excited to see that Mickey’s quilt, “Eichler Homes,” won first place in the EZ Quilting Triangle Challenge category.

As if that was not enough, “Eichler Homes” was also pictured in a QuiltCon banner outside the Pasadena Convention Center during the show! We are so proud of Mickey!

Other SBAMQG members had quilts in the show too:

Pam Rocco shows her “House Plan” quilt which is, yes, a floor plan of her house.

Anne Sullivan had a few quilts in the show, including “Mountain Sunrise” and “Transcendence.”

Here are Tami Levin’s Amish-inspired “Songs of a Distant Lancaster” and “Putting on the Glitz,” which was made for the Michael Miller Glitz fabric challenge. It is also important to mention that Tami long-arm quilted a few other quilts in the show, including “Eichler Homes” and “Mountain Sunrise,” (both shown above.)

For many members, the socializing is as important as the quilts themselves. Here are just a few of our members who managed to pop into a photo or two: