Sit & Sew Radio

Sit & Sew Radio


Episode 28 - The QuiltCon 2017 edition

February 25, 2017

Welcome to Episode 28 of Sit & Sew Radio, a Quilt Addicts Anonymous podcast. I have spent the last 36 hours interviewing a dozen fabulous people at QuiltCon in Savanah, Georgia. It was awesome, exhausting and so much fun.


Me (left) with Stephanie Kendron, the host of the Modern Sewciety podcast.
There were four quilting podcasters there, so the lovely folks from QuiltCon created a podcast booth right in the middle of the show floor. So as I did all my interviews QuiltCon attendees could get a peak at the podcast recording process in action. It was kind of like being in a fish bowl, but it was very fun. A big thanks to the QuiltCon organizers for making that happen.

With that many interviews, there are going to be a few episodes of material from the QuiltCon interviews. But for this episode, I am bringing you mini chats with some of the past guests from previous Sit & Sew Radio episodes. I had a blast catching up with Christa Watson, Natalia Bonner, Sheri Cifaldi-Morrill, Tara Curtis, Laura McDowell-Hopper and Mathew Bourdeaux. This was the first time I met many of them in person and it was a lot of fun to see what they are up to now.

Christa Watson, QuiltCon, Modern Quilt Guild

Christa Watson, quilter and author

Christa is a Sit & Sew Radio veteran. She has appeared twice on the show on Episode 5 and Episode 25. Christa is a professional quilter who creates stunning beautiful quilting on her domestic sewing machine. So yes, ladies and gents, you can be fabulous without a longarm.

Christa has written two books on quilting, has a third in production, has a Craftsy class and travels the U.S. teaching.

Visit her website at christaquilts.com.

Natalia Bonner, QuiltCon, Modern Quilt Guild

Natalia Bonner, longarm quilter and author

Natalia was one the Sit & Sew Radio guinea pigs. She appeared on Episode 4 and I was super stoked to have her one because she has been one of my quilting inspirations. Natalia has also written multiple books on quilting, including a new one on feathers that is due out in the next couple weeks, and she also designed a new ruler that has all the elements she loves for creating fabulous quilting in one easy to use tool.

Visit her website at piecenquilt.com.

Mathew Bourdeaux, QuiltCon, Modern Quilt Guild

Mathew Bourdeaux, blogger, weaver, quilter, goober

O.M.G. where do I start with Mathew. Originally featured in Episode 9, he has such a huge, warm and welcoming personality that I just had to meet him in person and catch up at QuiltCon. I wish we weren't two time zones away from each other so we could chat all the time.

Mathew when he isn't working in pharmaceutical sales by day, Mathew is hanging out with his 3-year-old daughter and finding ways to be creative. He is constantly collaborating now projects with designers, works with Art Gallery Fabrics and is always coming up with something new to do with fabric.

Visit his website at misterdomestic.net.

Laura McDowell Hopper, QuiltCon, Modern Quilt Guild

Laura McDowell Hopper, blogger and textile curator

So Laura and I love close enough to each other to get together to sew, but it's been far to long so we were reunited in Georgia, many, many miles away from both our homes.

Laura appeared in Episode 8 where she gave us the low down on how to store and take care of our quilts so they would last for generations. She also has recently completed a quilt called, "The River" which was accepted to QuiltCon and featured in the show. Laura has continued to do some very fun collaborations and has been busy setting up her very first dedicated sewing room. It is gorgeous.

Visit her website at sonicstitchesquilts.com.

Sheri Cifaldi-Morrill, QuiltCon, Modern Quilt Guild

Sheri Cifaldi-Morrill, pattern designer, Crafty's Quilt Design Fellow

Sheri Cafaldi-Morrill, Whole Circle studioSheri is having one heck of a year. Originally featured on Episode 23, Sheri is the winner of Craftsy's first Quilt Design Fellowship. I talked with her right after Quilt Market, where she had a booth to feature her patterns thanks to the fellowship, and her pattern design career was just beginning to take off.

Now she is working with major players in the quilting world, had three quilts featured in QuiltCon and is continuing to work to turn her passion into a business.

Visit her website at wholecirclestudio.com.

Tara Curtis, QuiltCon, Modern Quilt Guild

Tara Curtis, inventor of the Wefty Needle

Tara has also had a big year. In our interview in Episode 11, Tara talked about how she took this idea to make fabric weaving easier and created the Wefty Needle, a cute little tool that makes it super fast to create fabulous woven patterns from fabric.

Since we talked Tara went from printing all the Wefty's on a 3-D printer in her garage to working with a small batch manufacturer to create the Wefty's on a larger scale. The move was worth it because she has nearly sold out of the first order and her woven projects are being featured in quilting magzines.

Visit her website at tjaye.com.