My Quilts and a Few From Quilt Con

I finished a quilt! The first of 2026. 

I had a very simple quilting design and my first day quilting was great. The next day my machine didn't want to stitch from bottom to top without skipping stitches. That launched me into lots of starting and stopping for a couple of days until I finally worked it out...which is all still a mystery to me. 

This is a very simple pattern by Villa Rosa, "2M." It takes 13 fat quarters. It is pretty big, 80 x 80-inches. My husband wants this quilt to take on his summer job in remote western Alaska. The fabrics are a line from Free Spirit a few years ago by Tim Holtz.

I had a quilt retreat the first week of February. I decided to start a kit I had patiently waiting in my stash...everything was cut out and ready to stitch. I got all of the blocks made during the 3-day retreat. The setting pieces were added a day here or there throughout the rest of the month. I finished the outer borders this morning.

This quilt is, "Heartfelt," a design from the Fat Quarter Shop that is free with a request to give a donation to the Make a Wish foundation. The finished size is 76 1/2 x 84 1/2-inches.

I made trip to Atlanta to visit a very good friend. I timed my trip so I could jaunt up to Raleigh for the Quilt Con Modern Quilt Show. I have mixed feelings about my experience with this quilt show. There were many wonderful and inspirational quilts. There were also many political quilts and they all went in one direction. Some had the F-word...I felt like I was being screamed at when I looked at these quilts. I suppose that was the intent of the artists but I just found them very offensive.

I was expecting quilts that celebrated our 250th anniversary. There was not one quilt that seemed to appreciated anything about our country. Nor did I see anything at the vendor booths that was geared to our country's anniversary. 

I did talk with some lovely quilters and one of them said I should check out quilts in a separate ball room. It was a wonderful exhibit and I'm glad I didn't miss it. The quilts were a community outreach for quilt guilds or groups around the world with a few criteria. First was a medallion style and second they had to use one of two prescribed palettes. I'll just share a few that were from places I have been to so could easily relate to their designs.

New York Splendor by the Rochester Modern Quilt Guild.

Portland to Coast by the Portland Modern Quilt Guild

In With the Rain by the Seattle Modern Quilt Guild.

I absolutely loved this one...it is spot on for all of Seattle's iconic features. 

Tech Garden by the Silicon Valley Modern Quilt Guild.

One of my favorites from the main show was, We Come in Piece. Three quilters each made a monster and then they cut them into three sections and mixed them up. The colors are so fun and it looks like a great project to do with friends.

I will share my handwork projects in another post. 

The first week of March I have another 3-day quilt retreat. I plan to work on a patriotic quilt I designed around a panel. Very excited to start that quilt.