QuiltCon 2024 Recap
QuiltCon 2024 is in the books and WOW what a show! The Modern Quilt Guild’s annual event took place in Raleigh, North Carolina this year and it was a riot of color and inspiration. Thousands of quilters attended, eager to connect with one another.
Big Winners
I was delighted to have three quilts in the show, two of which were honored with prizes. Candy Pop received a new award called Best Original Modern Design and Mulberry Swirl took First Place in the Minimalist Design category.
My nieces helped me celebrate “Mulberry Swirl” winning 1st Place in Minimalist Design
“Candy Pop” was awarded Best Original Modern Design at QuiltCon 2024 in Raleigh
“Pink-a-Boo” hung in the Negative Space category
I’m especially proud of Candy Pop, which I constructed last summer. Here’s a description of the piece:
I made this quilt to push my design and piecing capabilities into new territories. All of the fabric is hand-dyed or hand-printed. Construction of the quilt top required techniques similar to that of a double wedding ring motif, with the added challenge of an 18-foot-long serpentine swirl. Cut from a single piece of fabric, it winds its way up and down three columns of circles.
Candy Pop hung in the “big winners” area at the main entrance to the show along with four other quilts.
Ginny Robinson won Best in Show for her gut-wrenching piece on gun violence entitled What We Will Use as Weapons: A List of School Supplies.
Yvonne Fuchs’ Cloudy Night Sky won Best Machine Quilting, a new award that consolidated the former Best Machine Quilting, Frameless and Best Machine Quilting, Framed prizes
Ethylene Ziegler received a new Best Hand Quilting award for a quilt called Solomon’s Stripes
Janice Reimer’s quilt Anechoic earned the MQG Excellence Award
The five “big winner” quilts at QuiltCon 2024 in Raleigh with quilts by Jacquie Gering in the background
Four of the top-five prizes (Best in Show, Best Original Modern Design, Best Machine Quilting, and Best Hand Quilting) were awarded by a panel of judges: Brigit Dermott, Denyse Schmidt, and Stacey A. Watson. The fifth was selected by MQG staff members. At the conclusion of the show, Irina Timofeeva won People’s Choice for the quilt White Bubbles.
To see a complete list of all the 2024 award winners, visit the QuiltCon website.
Family Affair
I grew up in Raleigh, so the show felt like a bit of a homecoming. My parents and my sister’s family now live nearby in South Carolina, and they all drove up to experience their first QuiltCon. One of my nieces had a quilt in the Youth category, and she was thrilled to see it on display.
Lessons Learned
This is my 8th time attending QuiltCon. It’s one of my favorite events of the year, and I’ve learned a lot about my preferences since my first show back in 2017.
One thing I noticed in recent years is that I’m less and less interested in seeing the actual quilts in the show. I know that sounds bad, but here’s why—I’m more and more interested in connecting with the people who make them! This year, I received a wealth of knowledge and inspiration from the conversations I had with friends, new and old. I’m so glad I focused on nurturing those instead of spending time trying to see every. single. quilt. My brain can’t process that amount of visual input anyway, so why try?
An overhead view shows dozens of quilts at QuiltCon 2024 in Raleigh, NC
I shared this insight in a previous blog post, but I still firmly believe that unscheduled time is a precious gift at QuiltCon. I had a little less of that in Raleigh, and as a result, my energy fizzled out faster than usual. (I am an ambivert who needs daily, consistent quiet time to myself in order to recharge.) My goal for next year is to block off mornings for peaceful reflection and wait to hit the show floor until later in the afternoon when it is less crowded and chaotic.
What I’d Like to See at Future Shows
Speaking of crowds, a record number of people attended QuiltCon this year, and I plan to write more about the numbers in an upcoming blog post. But for now, I’ll say I’d love for the MQG to make the quilt aisles wider at future shows. They felt very cramped in Raleigh and were difficult to navigate for anyone using mobility devices. Adding benches and seating areas around the show perimeter and along the halls of the convention center would also boost accessibility.
Something else I’d appreciate is designated quiet hours to view the quilts. It would require some logistical planning and perhaps an increased workload for volunteers, but I would gladly pay an extra fee for the chance to walk the quilt show with fewer people and in a quieter environment. In a similar vein, having quiet rooms/spaces inside the convention center in which to rest and recharge would be a welcome reprieve!
Finally, I know it is unpopular to mention, but we are still in a pandemic and I’d love for the MQG to implement some clean air initiatives to protect attendees. For the second year in a row, my Instagram feed is filled with dozens of people who say they got sick at QuiltCon, so let’s take steps to prevent that from happening again next year. To start, air purifiers with HEPA filters could be stationed in every classroom. I’d also like to know what future host convention centers have done to upgrade their ventilation systems since 2020. (Raleigh’s website mentions cleaning and disinfecting protocols for high-touch surfaces, but respiratory viruses spread through the air.)
What do you want to see at future QuiltCons? Tell me in the comments, and if you attended this year, be sure to fill out the conference evaluation survey in the QuiltCon app.
Thank You, MQG
I applaud The MQG for its hard work on this event and the steps taken over the years to make it more accessible and enjoyable for a wide range of people. The small staff does an incredible job organizing one of the most popular quilting events of the year!
