Six Sleeps Until QuiltCon! / Beauties Pageant 246

** The quilts pictured are pieces of mine that have shown at previous QuiltCons **

Preparation for QuiltCon is in full swing at From Bolt to Beauty world headquarters, and I’m getting really excited for the conference!

If you’re not familiar with this event or not a member of the Modern Quilt Guild (MQG), you may be wondering what all the fuss is about. A quilt show is a quilt show, right? To be honest, I have limited experience and haven’t had the opportunity to change that locally: MQX, a show in New Hampshire I used to attend, has shut down, as has the Vermont Quilt Festival.

From my experience, QuiltCon is a different beast altogether. I’ve seen shows where organizers have fit as many projects as possible on panels throughout the space. That is not QuiltCon. There, quilts are treated like works of art. The space is big and open and well lit. Truly, if it weren’t for the adjacent vendor booths and presentation stages, you would think you were in an art gallery.

And the teachers are the best known and most innovative in the field. This year’s offering includes everyone from Sarah Bond and Jen Carlton Bailly, to Jo Avery and Veruschka Zarate.

If you’re considering attending a future QuiltCon, go for it! Here are some things to consider ...

1. Sign up when registration opens, and stay at your computer. It isn’t easy to get coveted spots in popular workshops. To have the best shot at signing up for the classes you want, be on the QuiltCon website when it opens for registrations. I did, but I walked away from my computer. When I returned, I was 1,800th in line. Blerg!

2. Lectures are a great value. One-hour lectures are less than $20. I signed up for several in Raleigh. If something comes up and I decide to bail on one, a $20 loss is no big deal—I consider it a donation to the MQG.

3. Plot with your people. One of the best parts of the QuiltCon experience for me is meeting and spending time with far-flung friends, most of whom I know from social media. Going into QuiltCon 2024, I’ve made dinner reservations and planned meet-ups to make the most of my time to socialize in Raleigh.

4. Enjoy the planning. You might remember that I’m making snarky friendship bracelets to trade with other conference-goers. I’m also wrapping up a bag project to sport while walking the show floor, and I know friends who are working on garments and such to show off in Raleigh.

5. Prepare for a rough re-entry. It’s never easy to get back into the swing of everyday life after time away. QuiltCon is especially exhausting for me. I’m introverted, and all that socializing is exhausting. It takes me a few not-so-busy days at home to feel more like myself again.

If you are going to QuiltCon, look me up! I’d love to chat with you!

Tula Fabric Sale

I am helping a friend sell 19 bolts of Tula Pink fabric. Everything is $10 per yard plus shipping. If you need more Tula in your stash, the easiest way to view the bolts is to check out my destash account on Instagram (@fbtbdestash), indicating the amount you want on the corresponding post(s). If you’re not on IG but need some of these beauties, drop me an email at frombolttobeauty [at] gmail [dot] com, and I’ll fill you in on the details. : )

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• Post your finish in the linky tool. (No links to your own giveaway or linky, please!)
• Point your readers back here with a text link or use the button above.
• Visit and comment on other participants’ finishes.

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Click here to enter

Snarky Bracelets and Another Giveaway / Beauties Pageant 245

Preparation for QuiltCon, the flagship event of the Modern Quilt Guild, is in full swing at From Bolt to Beauty world headquarters. I’ve attended three past QuiltCons—in Savannah, Nashville, and Atlanta—and in many ways I’m doing all the usual things to get ready for QuiltCon Raleigh, like making dinner reservations and reordering business cards. In a moment of weakness, however, I decided that there’s time in the weeks leading up to the show to fall down a new crafty rabbit hole: beaded friendship bracelets.

I’ve seen so many pretty and colorful bracelets appear in my Instagram feed and look forward to making new friends on the show floor as we swap bangles. The reality of making these trinkets, however, has not lived up to my expectations! Here are five issues I’ve encountered ...

1. Everyone else’s bracelets are turning out so sweet, whereas mine trend more snarky. My bracelets sport sayings like Procraftinator, Sew What, and Quilty AF. (Ha!)

2. I was putting my letters on backwards and didn’t realize the problem until I had made several. Check out the accompanying picture. The pile at the top are bracelets that contain mistakes! (Someone, please: Fire quality assurance!

)

3. Stringing beads is more time intensive than I anticipated. Because quilts take forever to make, I thought I’d bang out, like, 20 bracelets each day in between my other to-do’s. This has not proved to be possible.

4. Also, I’m so scared the beads are going to come off that I haven’t trimmed the string tails yet. I do have some heavy-duty glue on hand, however, to secure the knots before I take scissors to the strings.

5. There has been a lot of swearing—way more than a quilt project elicits.

If you’re considering making beaded friendship bracelets for yourself, there are tons of Internet videos to guide you along. I’m using 0.8 mm elastic string and 4 mm glass beads.

Giveaway

The giveaway is closed. Congratulations to the winner, Melva!

You might remember from last week that I am newly 50. I’m continuing the birthday celebration with another giveaway. This week, enter to win a $25 gift certificate to Etsy.

I’m trying out Rafflecopter to accept entries for this contest. All you need to do is sign with your email (or Facebook credentials), and you have four ways to enter. Do one or all four of them—it’s up to you. (Note: If you’ve already signed up for my newsletter or follow me on Instagram, all you need to do is click those options to add those entries.) 

This giveaway is open to anyone anywhere in the world through 11:59 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (GMT-5) on Thursday, February 15, 2024.  Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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The pageant rules are simple:

• Post your finish in the linky tool. (No links to your own giveaway or linky, please!)
• Point your readers back here with a text link or use the button above.
• Visit and comment on other participants’ finishes.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Radical Acceptance and a Giveaway! / Beauties Pageant 244

Someone is turning 50 this month, and that someone is me! 

I can sum up my approach to this milestone in two words: radical acceptance. I’ve heard a couple you’re-getting-older jokes from friends and family, and I’m not fazed by entering my next decade. Sure, I could do without the midlife metabolism, the less-than-stellar hearing, the mass mailings from AARP, but 50 in itself seems like no big deal.

As part of radical acceptance, I plan on celebrating all month long. The way I see it, the activities for any old birthday should last at least a full week. Fifty merits a monthlong series of events ... multiple dinners out, several cakes, and plenty of presents.

EDIT: The giveaway is closed. Congratulations to the winner, Jill! : )

So this week, I’m giving away a $25 gift certificate to Sew Lux Fabrics, a shop I had the pleasure of discovering a few years ago and where I go online whenever I need a Moda fix. Chrissy and her mom stock fabrics from other manufacturers, but their Moda selection is especially fabulous. 

You have two opportunities to enter to win this gift certificate: (1) Upload your link to the Beauties Pageant below (just one link, please) and/or (2) leave a comment on this post about what you’d like to see in a future giveaway (just one comment, please).

This giveaway is open to anyone anywhere in the world through 11:59 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (GMT-5) on Thursday, February 8, 2024. 

IMPORTANT: The winner will be notified via email and has 48 hours to respond before I pick a second name. If you’re a no-reply blogger or comment anonymously, please include your email address in your comment or send it to me at frombolttobeauty (at) gmail (dot) com—otherwise, I have no way to contact you. And if you’re not sure whether you’re a no-reply blogger, send me your email address just in case.

Good luck!

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The pageant rules are simple:

• Post your finish in the linky tool. (No links to your own giveaway or linky, please!)
• Point your readers back here with a text link or use the button above.
• Visit and comment on other participants’ finishes.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter