State #34 and QuiltCon!

We crossed off State #34 - Georgia! This is what our 50 State Challenge puzzle looks like now.

My husband and I just returned from QuiltCon in Savannah, Georgia.  We had a wonderful time touring this beautiful city (and tasting the food!) between visits to the Convention Center.

By now you've seen pictures of many of the impressive quilts on social media.  I arrived at the show first thing on the opening day and was admiring the Best in Show quilt Bling when someone came up to me and asked if I would take pictures of her with the quilt.  It was the maker, Katherine Jones, just minutes after finding she had won Best in Show.  I took several pictures with her camera (and a few with mine) and listened to her story of how she made it.  Just one of the special moments for me at QuiltCon.
I took my time strolling amongst the impressive quilts, absorbing the talent and inspired by the stories.  Meeting some wonderful quilting friends was great fun.  This lovely pouch was given to me by the incredibly sweet Michelle of From Bolt to Beauty. Look at those teeny, tiny squares of gorgeous fabric!

I attended some great lectures and one class and even managed to squeeze in a little shopping.  This is what I dumped out of my suitcase back at home.

I demonstrated great restraint in my shopping, particularly fabric.  A few gems had to come home with me.  Gee, what do all these Japanese fabrics have in common?  On the left is from Studio Choco and the other pups are Trefle from Kokka Fabric in two color ways of course.  More fabric that will be "too special" to use.  Oops.

The city maps from Les Fleurs was long overdue to come home with me.

This prolonged recovery from surgery has reignited my interest in handwork including cross stitch, embroidery, even another attempt at knitting. I picked up these embroidery items from the French General booth.

I really love to free motion quilt and am continuing to improve my skills. In several of the FMQ'ing classes I have taken over the years, the use of stencils and pounce chalk has been suggested.  I'm not sure how good I am going to be at following the lines, but I did give in and purchase a starter package with some fun and more complex patterns to try.  I'll let you know how this goes!

I've heard so many wonderful things about these rulers, I brought one home!  This is the newest version that is not as wide as the original Stripology ruler but includes marking for squaring up blocks.

I'll end with one more quilt picture.  I laugh every time I see "My Cat is a Jerk"by Monica Solorio-Snow.

I've got a few more QuiltCon stories but this post is too long already!