super tote

The days have been ticking by with a fury, and in only 4 short days, I’ll be on a plane (four planes to be exact) to Austin for QuiltCon. My family–husband especially–has been super understanding and helpful in terms of giving me a bit extra sewing time so that I can feel prepared. After a long late-night sewing stint last night and a great mail day today, I’m feeling much more prepared. Here’s a quick post outlining what I’ve finished:

I amazingly finished sewing this Super Tote (pattern by Anna at Noodle-head) so that I will have an awesome handmade bag large enough to carry all my supplies around QuiltCon. Only the second bag I’ve ever made, there are a number of things I messed up or would do differently next time, but I am happy with it! I used Anna Maria Horner’s line Field Study for both the front pocket and lining, and used Robert Kaufman 21-wale corduroy for the body.

Night Quilter Belt for the AlterEgo Moda Dance Party

night quilter alter ego belt in progress — Night Quilter Alter Ego belt in progress.

quiltcon night quilter alter ego belt in the snow — Don’t mind the snow. Of course it’s snowing again. We are getting another 24″ tonight into tomorrow!

quiltcon night quilter alter ego beltquiltcon night quilter alter ego belt — Can you tell what my favorite colors are these days?

Yvonne of Quilting Jetgirl proposed a fun idea a month or so ago, where we dress up as our QuiltCon Alter Egos for the Moda Dance Party Thursday night. The idea was to dress like your blog name, since everyone will recognize blogosphere monikers far more easily than actual names or faces. I decided to make a belt reflecting my new Night Quilter logo (see business cards and pins below), and I will be wearing a navy blue shirt with silver star stickers all over it. Night Quilter? I hope it works!

Business Cards and Pins

My business cards from Moo and pin-back buttons from Button Arcade finally arrived today! Now I’m feeling like I’m REALLY ready to head to QuiltCon!! There is an official-unofficial pin swap going on at QuiltCon, so I’m looking forward to swapping! I love that Kyle at Button Arcade was able to put my blog url on the back/side of the pins. What an awesome feature!

Here’s my updated QuiltCon to-do list:

~~Order pin-back buttons~~
~~Download QuiltCon app~~
Prep for classes
–~~Buy fabric for Alternate Grid~~
-Make blocks (5 finished)
-Cut scraps for Playing with Value
~~Make Super Tote~~
~~Make quilted belt for QuiltCon AlterEgo~~
~~Order business cards~~
Make Noodle-head pouch for holding buttons
~~Buy a new moleskin notebook & micron pens~~
~~Make a lanyard?~~ (both Sarah at Smiles Too Loudly and Daisy at Ants to Sugar offered to make me a lanyard! I’m SO grateful for awesome quilter blogger friends! Woohoo!)
Make a list of people to meet (It’s ongoing!)

Up I go to cut scraps for Playing with Value, then perhaps I’ll make a couple more blocks tomorrow for the Off the Grid workshop. Tonight is date night with my hubby for Valentine’s Day, so all sewing comes to a halt when he arrives home from dropping the kids with his cousin!

In my early planning phases for QuiltCon, I didn’t realize how much preparation would go into the trip. Now that February is actually here, reality is hitting. I initially mentally blocked off February as “QuiltCon Prep” thinking it would mostly involve creating and ordering business cards, making a cool bag, and psyching myself up for my first public quilt-world appearance.

I’m registered for two awesome workshops at QuiltCon–Playing with Value with Cheryl Arkison and Off the Grid: Creating Alternate Layouts with Lee Heinrich–not to mention lectures by Carolyn Friedlander, Heather Jones, and Meg Cox, which means that my first quilt conference experience is sure to be amazing, but also that I have a lot of work to do before I head to Austin! So far, I’ve narrowed my QuiltCon to-do list down to:

~~Order pin-back buttons~~
~~Download QuiltCon app~~
Prep for classes
–~~Buy fabric for Alternate Grid~~
-Make blocks
-Cut scraps for Playing with Value
Make Super Tote
Make quilted belt for QuiltCon AlterEgo
Order business cards
Make Noodle-head pouch for holding buttons
Buy a new moleskin notebook & micron pens
Make a lanyard?
Make a list of people to meet (let me know if you’re going and want to me added to my “stalk until I meet them” list!)

As you can see, I’ve crossed a couple things off my list but still have quite a bit to do. For Lee’s Off the Grid workshop, we need to take 5-20 premade quilt blocks in addition to other bits of fabric for sashing and background. I’m wicked excited (pardon my Northeast terminology there), and really want to create something fabulous. I also don’t really have any stray blocks hanging around (a side effect of being a newbie quilter?) which meant one thing: new project!

To put my mind a bit at ease, I snuck in a stop at my local quilt shop (LQS) Fiddlehead Artisan Supply before today’s big snowstorm got going and picked up some half-yards in my color palette of choice.

I’m planning to work out of my white and grey background comfort zone and go with a navy blue background and negative space with these gorgeous pops of color. I probably will add more turquoise and perhaps a bit of light grey as some low volume additions, but I’m going to shop my stash as much as possible for those. I have not yet decided on a block design, although I’m leaning toward making five or more different blocks with this similar color scheme. If you have a favorite block you would suggest, I’m definitely still open to ideas!

fabric and noodlehead super tote pattern — from L to R: Alison Glass Sun Print Bike Path in Magenta, Joel Dewberry Bungalow Swallow Study in Lavender, American Jane Pindots in Leaf Green, Alison Glass Sun Print Bike Path in Leaf Green, Cotton and Steel Basics, XOXO in Dandelion, Super Tote pattern by Noodle-head; bottom: FQ of unknown teal thready fabric

I also want to make a Super Tote for carrying all of my ~~crap~~ precious supplies around QuiltCon, so I picked up the pattern while at Fiddlehead. Now that I have the pattern, I can begin to wrap my head around what will be involved in making it. I have not yet decided on what fabric I will use for the bag, but I’m going to try to shop my stash as much as possible for that, too. I want to have a little budget left for shopping at QuiltCon.

What am I missing? Are you going to QuiltCon? Any tips for a first-timer?