Hello, QuiltCon!

In less than two short weeks, I'll be in Austin for my second QuiltCon. I can't wait! I joined in on the #helloquiltcon hashtag on Instagram, but thought I'd post an introduction here as well. The old blog is pretty quiet these days (I think I just saw a tumbleweed blow by!), so if you want to find me, I'll be on Instagram as @hollybroadland. You can also learn about me on my About page. 

Hi! I'm Holly and I'm the founder and Co-President of the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild. For the past five years, the VMQG has been the main focus of my life outside of family. It has been a wonderful place to find new friends and get inspired to quilt. It's also been a way of defining myself outside of my treasured roles as wife and mother, and I appreciate that to no end! I'm also a keener who volunteers for The MQG on the Leadership Conference Commitee.

Here's my QuiltCon schedule (I'll also be at the Leadership Meet & Greet on Friday night and the Leadership Conference all day Monday):

A few random facts about me:

1) I was born in Campbell River on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada.

2) I'm a chronic procrastinator (case in point, I haven't ordered my #quiltconpinswap buttons yet and I fly out on the 18th!).

3) I was a high school rower for three years and competed twice in the Canadian high school rowing championships in St. Catharines, Ontario. If I'm on your team, I will pull hard and not complain.

4) I'm a wannabe librarian and I love substitute teaching in school libraries. 

5) I'm on the introverted side, but when I'm around my quilty peeps, my extroverted side comes out. I can't wait to connect with lots of online friends while I'm at QuiltCon!

6) I love books. I can't imagine life without a book on the go at all times. I'm currently reading "Wings of Fire: The Dark Secret" by Tui T. Sutherland because my seven year old got me into this series about dragons.

7) I'm a lefty who prints neatly.

8) You know the saying, "Who doesn't love free stuff?"? Well, it's me. I don't love free stuff. I'm an environmentalist who lives in a small space and I already feel overwhelmed by the amount of stuff in our two-bedroom condo. Last night, I ordered pizza and they gave me a free plastic plate and I handed it right back to the delivery guy.

9) If I weren't an elementary school substitute teacher, I could see myself being a copy editor. I just can't help spotting spelling mistakes!

10) I don't wear makeup. I didn't even wear any for my wedding because it would have weirded out my husband. The closest thing I have that resembles makeup is Burt's Bees lip balm with a little pink tint to it.

11) I love my Converse All Stars! I had a green pair in high school and now I have a red pair. I kinda want a whole rainbow of them (I am Rainbow Girl, after all!).

If you see me at QuiltCon, please come up and say hi!

Cosmic Kites - a half rectangle triangle baby quilt

I'm happy to share Cosmic Kites, my latest finish, my project for The Modern Quilt Guild's Michael Miller Petal Pinwheels Challenge, and my first ever half rectangle triangle quilt. Right off the bat, I want to thank Latifah Saafir and state that I followed her great tutorial on the Modern Quilt Guild's blog all the way from cutting fabric, to assembling my blocks, to the final layout. Latifah's quilt is called Kite Tails and I agreed with her that the diamond shapes looked like kites. I quilted stars into the centres of my kites to mimic the shapes in the grey Star Jacks print, hence the name Cosmic Kites.

Detail of eight-pointed star quilting. It took me several tries to figure out how to draw an eight-pointed star continuously, but once I figured out the trick of skipping two points and aiming for the third point, it was great!

I'd never tried half rectangle triangles (HRTs) and I thought this challenge was a good chance to give them a try! I found them trickier than HSTs and more fussy to trim because you don't just line everything up on a 45 degree angle and cut. There's marking and careful alignment involved. However, they give a great graphic effect, so I may just try them again!

I brought my blocks to a recent Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild all-day sew-in and finished piecing them by lunchtime.

I worked surprisingly hard all afternoon and evening and got the quilt basted and quilted by the time I packed up around 8:30pm. I heard plenty of expressions of disbelief in reference to my unexpected productivity that day! (I'm know for chatting and not getting much done at VMQG sew-ins!).

I posted the previous picture to Instagram (that's where you can find me all the time these days, my blog isn't nearly as active) and Debbie Jeske (A Quilter's Table) emailed to let me know she'd like to feature this quilt in her July Quilting Trends column on Sew, Mama, Sew! I was thrilled! That gave me the incentive to get this quilt bound quickly and I think the Ta Dot print in Apple green brings out the green in the Petal Pinwheels line. Thank you, Debbie!

I backed the quilt with an Erin McMorris Leaf Dot print that I'd been saving since I spotted it in a remnants bin at a LQS in Langley that has since closed.

I loved zipping along and sewing up these straight lines (no marking involved) with my Janome 7700. I used Aurifil 2024 in 28wt and the lines have beautiful definition.

This quilt will be shared at the upcoming annual VMQG outdoor meeting (don't wanna miss the group photo!) and then gifted to a new little second cousin who was born the day I was quilting it!

Have you given HRTs a try?

QuiltCon Registration - check!

Vancouver MQG members Paula, Holly (that's me!), Arita, & Paul in front of our fellow member Diane Thompson's quilt, "A Tribute to B.C. Binning" at QuiltCon 2013

Exactly one week ago, my heart was still racing after an exhilirating QuiltCon registration experience. I had done all I could to prepare, including a last-minute strategy session with my QuiltCon roomie Michelle, watching the "How to Register" video numerous times, and creating a text file full of course codes and member discounts so I could easily cut and paste. I know registration was a stressful situation for many and I want those who didn't get into their first choices to know that there is so much at QuiltCon in addition to the workshops! I took 1.5 days of workshops at QuiltCon 2013 and that was plenty for me, as I had people to meet, inspiring lectures to attend, a quilt show to drool over, vendors to visit, dance parties to go to, etc, etc. 

 Me and Lizzy House with the HST mini quilt top I made in her workshop

This time, I was lucky enough to get into my top choices and I will be taking Patchwork City with Elizabeth Hartman and Creative Quilting With Your Walking Foot with Jacquie Gering. Those are two full day workshops on Thursday and Friday respectively, so I'm going to take yoga on Saturday morning to stretch after an intensive period of sewing. I've booked a number of awesome lectures on Saturday and left Sunday mostly free for recovery. I'll also be staying for the leadership conference on Monday because I'm geeky like that.

Registration for the general public opened today and I'd highly recommend the experience if you can make it to Austin, Texas next February!

Oh, and for you QuiltCon newbies, a piece of advice. Expect QuiltCon withdrawal in the weeks after you return home. I had a hard time readjusting to life without QuiltCon, so my eldest (who was nearly six years old at the time) drew me my own quilt show. Love that kid!

Will I see you at QuiltCon in Feburary? What are you most looking forward to? Are you considering entering a quilt in the show?

Road trip to Portland!

Tomorrow morning, I'm meeting up with Amy, Sonja, and Constance, and road tripping down to Portland, Oregon for the second annual Pacific Northwest Modern Quilt Guild Meetup! Four days of sewing, socializing, classes, fabric shopping, and more (and did I mention, this is all child-free?!). I can't wait!

It's been almost exactly six months since the awesomeness that was QuiltCon and I'm looking forward to re-connecting with friends I met there! I also can't wait to meet new soon-to-be friends. I always have something to talk about with fellow modern quilters, so my usual introverted self isn't too worried about the large group! Plus, I met a bunch of these folks in Seattle last year at the first meetup between the Vancouver, Seattle and Portland MQGs. I had so much fun at that event (just check my flickr set!) and I can't wait to attend my second meetup!

If you don't know me yet and you've just found my blog, here's a picture of me with the tote I'm working on for the tote bag swap:

And here are a few facts about me:

1) I'm a SAHM to two delightful girls (ages 6.5 and 2.5)

2) I married my high school sweetheart, who I met in math class because we were both math geeks

3) Hip hop is one of my favourite musical genres (especially stuff that's easy to sing along with like "Inner Ninja" by Classified who I just learned is from Nova Scotia!)

4) I'm from Vancouver Island, British Columbia, a gorgeous island off the West Coast of BC. Therefore, I take the ferry a lot to visit family who still live on the island. I moved to the lower mainland (that's what we call the southwest corner of BC that includes Vancouver and surrounding cities) in 1995 to go to university.

5) I'm a biology geek with a BSc in Ecology. I'm also a substitute teacher so I get thrown into random classrooms to teach subjects as diverse as organic chemistry, tap dance, and Punjabi!

6) I'm the founder and president of the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild. I love my guild!