Quilts at long last

I think I misplaced my blogging mo-jo (is that called blo-jo?) so haven't posted in a couple of months. So much has happened since my last post that it's hard to know where to start.

I think for this blog post I'll show you some of the quilts that I have loved seeing of late. I'm sure you will have seen many of them in other people's posts .... people who actually post regularly and when the news is still current :P

First up .... Quiltcon: Feb 2015 (Yes, that long ago!!)

"Face #1"
I adore this quilt by Melissa Averinos. I wasn't the only one.  It was awarded a Judge's Choice award.

QuiltCon - meeting all the quilty people!!

What an absolute buzz it was to meet so many wonderful people in Austin last month!! Many people I had corresponded with online, people who had made YouPatch quilts, so many people I have admired over the years!!

WARNING: there will be a LOT of photos in this blog post and I will be in most of them :P
So if you have had enough of seeing me and my pink hair, just focus on the OTHER gorgeous people in the pics ;-)

First up, the Aussies!! In the lead up to QuiltCon, I joined a FaceBook group called "Aussie QuiltCon Contingent". Such a gorgeous and supportive group of women. Some old friends, some new. We shared our travel plans, our excitement and of course much silliness! What a crazy bunch travelling to the other side of the globe to play with quilts and fabric!!!

QuiltCon - The first blog post of many

And not a minute too soon!!! I'm a tad late in posting about QuiltCon as we didn't get home to Melbourne until the 28th Feb and since then I have been suffering jet lag, a nasty head cold and a severe case of procrastination-itis!

So in this first blog post, I'll be mainly showing you our YouPatch booth. We were so proud of our booth that packed away into a suitcase! But more about that later.

In future posts, I'll be talking bout the people of QuiltCon, the city of Austin and, of course, all the gorgeous quilts!!! I'll also be showing you our post-Austin visit to Los Angeles where we got to hang out with a bunch of fabulous people and soak up the winter sunshine.

But first, our journey to Austin ..... didn't go exactly to plan!

Yee-haw! A Texas quilt

Well, if we are going to take an Aussie quilt to QuiltCon, we'd better have a Texas one too! ;-)

This succulent was the closest thing I could get to a cactus at short notice ... lol

This is the first pixel quilt I've made that has the added element of applique. It's not easy to create a 5-pointed star using squares and rectangles! :P

Aussie Aussie Aussie

In preparation for our trip to Austin in February, I thought it would be good to make something very Australian to share at our YouPatch booth.

An Aussie map quilt hanging on the most Australian of icons, the hills hoist!

Autumn leaves?

Yep ... I created this abstract pixel pattern from a picture of autumn leaves.

Using YouPatch I chose the lowest level of detail and dropped the colors down to 5. Then I selected my own color palette and voila .... this was the result!!

For the quilting I went with an off-centre spiral, augmented with some fun squiggles and swirls.

And for the backing, I chose this stunning fabric that I bought at Amitie Textiles.

I'm hoping this quilt will be accepted for the exhibit at QuiltCon.

I'm a bit excited to have this one finished and I have another finish to show you in a few days. Much stitching excitement!!

Andi xx