BERNINA at QuiltCon 2019
QuiltCon is the yearly quilt show and conference of the Modern Quilt Guild. BERNINA was proud to be in attendance at this year’s event in Nashville, Tennessee, as an official sponsor offering classrooms stocked with the latest BERNINA sewing machines, and with two vendor booths chock full of all things BERNINA! QuiltCon is the largest quilt show focused solely on modern quilts, offering days of workshops, classes, lectures, over 550 quilts on display, and a full hall of vendors and exhibitors. Here’s some of our favorite highlights from this year’s amazing event.
We all had a great time at the event, especially meeting all the visitors who stopped by our BERNINA booths.
We had a full variety of the latest and greatest BERNINA sewing, quilting, and embroidery machines on hand.
Not to mention an entire booth dedicated to the BERNINA longarm machines, the Q20 and Q24.
The BERNINA longarm machines were definitely busy all weekend long with demonstrations and some play time.
QuiltCon 2019 Quilt Show
The QuiltCon show is a showcase of modern quilts, all selected from MQG members around the world. Awards for top quilts include categories such as appliqué, quilting, handwork, improvisation and more. The top prize of the show, Best in Show, is selected as an exemplary example of modern quilting.
Best in Show was awarded to a group quilt, Smile, by Leanne Chahley of the Lethbridge MQG (also pieced by Stephanie Ruyle, Felicity Ronaghan, Kari Vojtechovsky, Melissa Ritchie, Diane Stanley, Marci Debetaz, Debbie Jeske, Karen Foster, Hillary Goodwin). The quilt measures 68″ x 51.5″, and features improvisationally pieced blocks by members of a group quilting bee.
The quilt includes horizontal lines of tightly spaced quilting across the entire piece. It’s a stunning example of a group quilt made in an interesting way by many hands.
First place in the category of Modern Traditionalism is Infinite Magnification, 50″ x 63″, by Christine Perrigo of the Denver Metro MQG.
The quilting motifs mirror the large piecing in the quilt through the negative spaces in the quilt.
First place in the category of Handwork is Outside, 56″ x 43″, by Kack Weise, and Individual Member of the MQG.
Hand quilting lines in different colored threads add interest and movement to this abstract design.
First place in the Two-Color Quilt Challenge is Double Crossed, 68″ x 68″, by Paige Alexander of the Greenville MQG in South Carolina.
The design includes large and small crosses throughout the quilt.
One quilt that was popular with visitors to the show was this Judge’s Choice winner quilt, Somethings Are Not Easily Seen: Poverty, 76″ x 66″, by Kathryn Upitis of the Denver Metro MQG. While the overall effect of the quilt is red and white bars, a closer look reveals stretched letters spelling the word “POVERTY.”
Up close you can see the detail of the patchwork piecing creating the stretched letters in the quilt.
First place in the category of Appliqué was Hunt Harriot Quilt, 60″ x 71″, by Carolyn Friedlander, an Individual Member from Florida.
Repeated shapes in different fabrics create large radiating designs in the quilt.
3rd place winner in the Youth category is this charming quilt, The City Zoo, 53″ x 59″ by Zoe Sutters from the Washington D.C. MQG.
The brightly colored, improvisationally pieced blocks are so fun in this quilt!
Some of our personal favorites include this stunning bee quilt, A Bee From Manchester by Anne Marie Miro, an Individual MQG Member from Georgia in the United States.
The bee is applied with appliqué, and the quilting is stunning.
Scott Lunt’s quilt, This is What Four Years Look Like, was also an amazingly made quilt.
Each of the 6″ blocks was entirely pieced with the orange marks in the gray background.
To learn more about the event, and to see more award-winning quilts, visit the official QuiltCon 2019 website here.
