QuiltCon 2015 - a quick review

 
I can't believe how quickly QuiltCon 2015 flew by!  Many people brought pins to exchange.  I decided to join in and found it was a great way to meet people.  There were people at QuiltCon from all over the world, including 2 women from India.  I think they also said that every state was represented.  In any case, there were a lot of people at this second QuiltCon.

I had a very difficult time with registration, so I only had 1 full day class and 1 half day class (the half day class was cancelled) - so then I was down to 1 class and lectures and demos.  But, the class with Weeks Ringle was excellent.  I had a number of lectures that were quite good and went to several demos also.  The free time I had allowed me to wander the vendor area as well as look at the quilts several times.  There were some amazing quilts in the show.

I took some time to test drive long arm machines.  I tried out Juki, APQS, Gammill, Handi Quilter and Innova.  Quite a variety of prices and options.  My LQS is selling the new Bernina long arm, so I didn't try it out on the vendor floor.  Looking at price point and options, right now, Handi Quilter is my top pick.  Thanks to Leona for working me through the various long arms so that I understood what they did and didn't do. 

Here are a couple of mosaics and photos of my QuitCon experience. 

 (#1 hundreds and hundreds of spools of thread, #2 Elizabeth Hartman's demo, #3 a photo with Weeks after her class on Thursday)

 (These 4 quilts are some of my favorites at the show.)

 

(Speaks for itself!)

 

Of course Austin is a great food town, so many yummie meals were had:

Four of us shared a condo that was across from the convention center.  Great location, great group of roomies, and a very comfortable space for sleeping and coffee in the morning.  Ashley is from San Francisco, Jenny is from Bend, Oregon and Leona is from Pleasant Hill.  Hope to see them again, possibly in Pasadena in 2016!

I left Austin as the big winter storm was about to hit.  Made it to Las Vegas for my next leg onto Reno, where yet another storm was about to hit.  Both cities got snow, sleet, etc (as did most of Texas) and I know that many people were delayed.  My flight was late but we took off and bounced pretty badly for the first 15 minutes - then magically, we were out of the storm and the rest of the flight was fairly smooth.  But those first 15 minutes were really unpleasant!  I'm an anxious flyer at best.  I'd prefer to be teleported to my destination and avoid flying all together!

Aaaaanyway, that's it from the Robertson household.  

P.S.  It's snowing on the valley floor here in Reno even though its 37 degrees!  Big beautiful flakes with nothing sticking on the sidewalks or roads.  We have had very little rain or snow this winter.  It was 60 degrees on Thursday and about 55 on Friday.  Hopefully there's alot of snow accumulating in the mountains - snow pack was at 19% of normal a few weeks ago.  

 

Roof Top Quilt is finished!

I am pleased to report that I finished my Roof Top quilt after letting it sit unfinished for quite some time.  Here she is:

I love the way this quilt has such a three dimensional look to it - very visual.  The original quilt is in Gee's Bend The Architecture of the Quilt book.  A typical Roof Top quilt would only have 9 blocks.  Each of the blocks would have been much bigger.  I decided to make more blocks and make them smaller so that I could keep the strip piecing straighter.  I have "issues" with long strip piecing - can't seem to keep it straight!  So, I went for shorter strips that were easier for me to handle.  

I also finished my part of my friend Jaye's Round Robin quilt top.  I was quite late in getting my portion done.  My move put me way behind - first completing the move and then second getting my sewing room set up.  Anyway, it is done and returned to her.  I can't wait to see what the next round looks like!

 
I also am happy to report that we have finally gotten some rain here in Reno.  And lots of snow in the mountains!  Plus an amazing wind storm that knocked fences down all over the neighborhood.  I was lucky to avoid any fence loss, but big winds seem to be a winter regularity.  More rain coming our way, which is good news for all of us living in the rain shadow of the Sierras.

Aaaanyway, that's it from the Robertson household.