Journey to the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival 2023

In this article, I discuss the inspiration, lessons, and sheer joy of attending my first ‘big’ quilt convention.

I’m sitting in the Hampton Roads Convention Center, surrounded by beautiful works of art. They’re not art as you’d typically think. There’s very little paint or sculpture to see here. The art is in the stitch and fiberwork.

I’m at the Mid-Atlantic Quilt festival 2023. Hordes of elderly and middle-aged women stroll through the halls, pulling suitcases stuffed with sewing machines, needles, thread, cutting mats, and other notions behind them. There are a few men in the crowd, and next to no one under thirty.

The demographic make-up is not surprising. Traditionally regulated to the domestic sphere and considered ‘women’s work”, sewing and quilting are dominated by our mothers, grandmothers, aunts, etc. How many times have you heard someone say “My mother/grandmother/aunt sewed/makes quilts?” At 32, I’m probably one of the youngest people here to quilt and learn new techniques. These women (and some men - I see you guys too!) have so much knowledge to share and I’m honored that they’ll take the time to chat ‘quilt shop’ with me.

In Awe…

The 2023 Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival is the first large quilt conference I’ve attended with intention since I started quilting in 2015. I’ve attended several small regional ones over the years, but never could afford the time off or travel expenses to attend a large show until recently. This year, as soon as I found out who was teaching at Mid-Atlantic, I knew I HAD to go!

Day 1 : Travel & Kick-off

It’s hard to describe the feeling of excitement in the days leading up to QuitFest. Not only was I FINALLY going to a larger quilt conference, but I was also going to be taking my very first formal quilt classes there!

I’m a bit of a pre-packer, meaning I like to pack the day before. And between ‘The Flower’ and ‘The Bubba’, I had plenty of packing ‘help’ from the kitties. After a slightly sleepless night and lots of hugs and scritches, I was on the road to Hampton, VA.

After a 3.5 hour drive, I arrived at my hotel…which happened to be directly on the beach! (seriously, look at these views.) Between quilting and the beach, this was gonna be a good week!

Have table in hotel, will sew… I mean… I am at a quilting convention.

First day of the QuiltFest, I took a class with an art quilter whom I really admire; Heidi Proffetty.

Heidi is know for her amazing mosaics, and as I’ve moved further into the art quilting realm, I’ve found that I often like to incorporate elements of mosaic quilting into my own works. So it 100% made sense to take a mosaic quilting class from the mistress herself!

Day 1 : First Class

Heidi was explaining the magic of mosaics here and showing us some of her more recent works.

I learned so much from her and had two major takeaways:

1) I’m totally gonna start using her mesh technique for my work. Often with art quilts, you’ll see mesh or tulle placed over the entire work to keep it from fraying. However, Heidi places the mesh/tulle under her small pieces to keep them from moving around while she is working and “quilts the heck outta it”. Genius!

2) When working with a digital cutting machine, it is always a good idea to starch the heck out of your fabric. I honestly don’t know why this never occurred to me to do before…

Heidi was also kind enough to take a picture with me after class. I tried really hard not to fan girl, but hey…

Day 2 : Second Class

Day 2, I spent the morning looking at the quilts in the show and spending money with the vendors. I somehow managed to only buy 3 rulers…shocker, I know.

In the afternoon, I learned Bobbie Bergquist’s technique for making stained glass quilts. It involves a lot more glue than I was expecting. Now, I’m not typically one to use glue in my own quilting as I don’t want to have to clean the needle or risk gumming up my machine. (I’m also not a great gluer to begin with…seriously, I somehow manage to always get it everywhere…)

I felt that since I’m not the biggest fan of gluing my fabrics, I would probably have to find some alternative work arounds at home in order to finish the quilt. However, I’m glad I learned the technique because stained glass quilts are simply beautiful and it’s another useful tool/skill to have in my quilting toolbox as an art quilter. Who knows? Maybe I’ll use the technique in a future art quilt… I still had a bunch of fun in the class and really enjoyed helping out my fellow quilters to understand the ‘layering’ of the technique.

Rami Kim being generous enough to take a photo with me. I was so nervous to ask!

In the evening, I was able to meet the delightful and talented Rami Kim. If you don’t know Rami Kim, she is know for her gorgeous fabric folding, embroideries, and quilted (of course!) garments. I mean, take a look at this peacock jacket:

Her use of flying geese to create those long peacock tail feathers here… *Chef’s Kiss* …I literally have no words to describe how breathtaking seeing Rami Kim’s work up close and in person was. #aspirations.

How can you not admire her work? She was so fun to chat with and freely shared her various techniques with us during her lecture and fashion show. I did origami many many years ago and recently discovered fabric folding/ couching, but haven’t quite been able to figure out how to do it yet. So I bought one of Rami Kim’s books and cannot wait to work my way through it!

I also joined the Studio Art Quilt Association (SAQA) this day. Honestly, I wasn’t sure if my work was ‘up to par’ enough to join, but after one look through my website and talking about all the resources they offer to/for aspiring art quilters like me, the lovely ladies at the booth were like “Why aren’t you a member?!” So, hopefully my name will appear in their member registry soon!

Day 3 : Third Class

Finally, on the last day of the convention, I took a ‘free piecing birds’ class with Joe Cunningham. I was surprised at how much fun I had learning this new, more abstracted method of piecing. I’ve tended to gravitate towards applique more lately, as piercing often requires precision - measuring, cutting, sewing - and, as we all well know at this point, I kinda struggle with that. So I signed up for Joe’s class, figuring that maybe since he works in abstract, I could learn a thing or two about piecing. And boy, did I learn!

The two birds I made in class. Joe Cunningham was also kind enough to take a picture with the millennial in the room. lolz

Joe’s process felt so much more forgiving than a typical piecing process to me. Since the result is an abstraction, if you make a mistake - “eh, it’s fine”. Honestly, I found this to be so freeing when it comes to piecing (and that’s probably why I liked it so much!).

This was us preparing for our photo. We were trying to figure out what direction made the most sense for the birds. But they’re abstract so - in true Joe Cunningham Spirt - we finally went ‘eh, it’s fine'‘. lmao

A Journey Completed

While I’m exhausted from a crazy busy week, my artistic spirit has been rejuvenated. I’ve got tons of ideas and my poor sketchbook is getting a pretty hard workout as I try to capture all the ideas and inspirations from QuiltFest. I hope to share these ideas and inspirations with you all in the very near future! BUt for now, please enjoy some of the spectacular quilts that were on show: