If you follow us on Facebook, you already know that we attended QuiltCon last week in Nashville, TN and have shared many pictures of the quilts. QuiltCon is the annual quilt convention of The Modern Quilt Guild. We attended our first QuiltCon in 2017 in Savannah, GA; this was our first visit to Nashville. The winter storms brought significant rain so the weather wasn't great, but it finally stopped and the sun came out on Sunday which we saved for sightseeing.
This was a welcome sign in the airport. We took an Uber to our downtown hotel which was just a couple of blocks from the convention center and Country Music Hall of Fame.
The front side of Music City Center was designed to resemble a guitar - you can kind of see that here. (Apologies for the thumb blocking the corner.) In this post we'll try to give you a feel for a mix a quilts and some of the sights around Nashville.
The Best in Show quilt above is called Smile by Leanne Chahley of Alberta, Canada. The blocks were made by members of her international quilting bee, who she asked to make colorful improv blocks. She quilted it herself on a longarm, and says it never fails to make her smile.
Burst, by Marge Tucker of Norwell, Massachusetts, is the winner of Best Machine Quilting done on a frameless, needle stationary machine (domestic or mid-arm). She challenged herself to improvisationally piece Dresden plate blocks. The half Dresdens are completed by the quilting in the border. The mosaic look is the result of using the gray background in the center and layering it over navy blue which makes the seams stand out.
The Modern Drunk is by Jodi Robinson of Enon Valley, Pennsylvania. It is the winner of Best Machine Quilting done on a framed machine where the needle moves (longarm). This is her modern interpretation of the traditional Drunkard's Path block. She wanted to create quilting that creates movement, in this case radiating from the center.
On Thursday evening we met friends for dinner at BB King's Blues Club, which was a great recommendation and one of the highlights of the trip. We were treated to live music by the Mike Hayes Band and they were fantastic! If you want a sampling, Google "Mike Hayes musician" and give a listen. Have you ever seen anyone play guitar behind their back?
The AT&T building is the tallest in Nashville and it's twin peaks can be seen from anywhere. It is fondly referred to as the bat building.
One of the corner bars contains a very large mural of Legends of Country Music - here is just a portion of it. How many legends do you recognize?
On our Sunday tour, we visited the former Marathon Motor Works building that now houses various shops, among them the Nashville location of Antique Archaeology. If you're not familiar with them, this is one of the shops of American Pickers (Mike & Frank) whose TV show airs on the History channel. Their original shop is in LeClaire, Iowa. Check out their show if you haven't seen it.
We hope this gives you a taste of our Nashville experience, and will share more in the coming days.
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