Awesome Triad MQG meeting! with @Quiltdad

Sorry I have been only posting instagrams.  They are quick and easy and I have been busy with book fair the previous two weeks as well as No Boundaries training.  I have also not been sewing or reading blogs in the pm as my wrists have really been bothering me.  They are feeling better.  So I spent a pleasant rainy Sunday catching up.


Triad Modern QUilt Quild, May meeting part 1

Last Tuesday, May 9 our Triad MQG was privileged to meet at Karen Gray's LQS to drool over her fabric and to hear John Adams aka Quiltdad.  So here in pictures is his wonderful visit where he shared his story into how he became a quilter, shared quilts, and gave away some books (I won 100 Quilt blocks mag!)

Karen's store is beautiful!  But she has sold it and the new owner Gina Ponzi will be changing some things.

John's first quilt.

One made from online swaps. 

John said he learned to quilt from blogs and flickr and swaps.  Kind of like I did in the 90's with the Quiltnet and Q-xchg listservs .  He started quilting about 5 years ago.  His wife accidently got him into sewing when she bought a sewing machine and took up bag sewing when needing a creative outlet as her twins were babies. 

 I think it is funny that she liked the sewing part but let John pick the fabric.  He said he started to collect fat quarters but didn't know what to do with them.  John also revealed a lifelong interest in drawing and art.

I really liked how the two types of blocks work to create this stunning design.

Many of the quilts he shared he had only recently had returned from being photographed for various books and magazines.  John said some one asked him where he kept all of his quilts but he did not have them to keep them anywhere.

John talked about his design process.  In the beginning he made many blocks from patterns he found in blog land.  Later he used large graph pads to create his own designs.  

With other blogger friends from around the world he talked about how they started the popular Fat Quarterly magazine.  He showed us the two quilts he recently made for his twin girls for their issue focusing on children.

He used Tula Pink's new line Night shade.  

I find it interesting that he was able to develop such great relationships with new designers when he was a new quilter.  He was lucky and his talent has allowed him to create samples for some of them and led to other publishing oportunities.  John has been a contributor to Moda Bakeshop and their book.

John shared copies of some of the books he has contributed to.  Including the latest Fat Quarterly Shape Workshop for Quilters

He also shared his book Pretty in Patchwork Holidays coming out in a couple of months that I pre-ordered a couple of months ago.

John was really a great speaker and spoke very humbly of his accomplishments.  Its amazing how much he has accomplished in the quilt world and still work a full time job and is father to three children.  

I would recommend him coming to speak to your guild.  He was a lot of fun!
Part 2 coming tomorrow.

Keep dreaming...Colleen

I challenged my guild mates to bring me a 12" star block with some orange in it.  This is mine, excuse the bad picture.