Quiltcon 2013: The Workshops

Can I just tell you that last week at Quitcon was such an amazing experience! I don't think I have ever really traveled by myself or gone to a conference that wasn't work related. It felt so selfish, but I now realize how important that can be. I get so overwhelmed with the day to day things that I forget to just enjoy life. Quiltcon was a time for me to be selfish on purpose, to focus on things I wanted to do and not be distracted by the little things. By far the biggest influence on me at Quiltcon was the opportunity to take workshops!

I have never been a take workshops person (from an educator this is hysterical I know). I just have never been interested in any of the classes at my local quilt shop. One of the main reasons I actually wanted to attend Quiltcon was because of the amazing Workshops.

I took an all day class on Thursday with Elizabeth Hartman of Oh Franson on Free Motion Quilting on your home machine. I love every aspect of the quilting process, but I had never taken a class. Elizabeth showed us some great techniques for quilting on a home machine, including quilting in quadrants and pulling not pushing your quilt. It was also great to just spend some time perfecting my techniques and trying some new patterns out. I don't often get time to just practice! And look at the fabulous free motion quilting swatches I made!

On Friday I took a morning class with Lotta Jansdotter on Textile printing. This was an incredibly creative and inspiring class. I really had the opportunity to create something new and fell in love with carving my own stamps and designing my own stencils. Lotta's design aesthetic (I feel so Project Runway saying that) is so clean and simple and translates well to block and stencil printing. I can't wait to carve some more stamps and get my son involved in the process.

Overall, these workshops alone were worth the trip to Quiltcon. I hope to continue blogging more about the experience and blogging in general about my crafts. I forget how important it is!