Quilling Conference - NAQG, Day One!

Now that the Summer edition of Quill America is out, the 'embargo' on the NAQG con is off - so I can finally post what I wrote back in May about the conference!  I've mentioned before that I think such an embargo is unnecessary, but alas.  Anyway, I submitted some pictures and text to the Summer 2016 Edition of Quill America, and many were selected to appear!  For that I am grateful and pleased!  Some of those pix could not be presented in color, however.  So now that they are there first, I don't have to worry about scooping myself :)  Here are a few more tidbits that don't appear in Quill America, and some of the images in color.

I've spent the last three days (May 2016) at the North American Quilling Guild's annual Conference, held this year in Nashville, TN.  It's been a whirlwind of quilling, classes, meeting new people, and sharing ideas.  I wasn't sure what to expect before I came, but will definitely be leaving tomorrow having had a very positive experience!

Day One (really Thursday evening as well as Friday) started with registration.  Host Judy (far right in the picture up top) and her associates checked us all in and gave us a bag filled with quilling goodies, as well as fun snacks (like Moon Pies).  I spent time in the 'hospitality room' meeting people and doing a bit of quilling (silver earrings with small crystal centers).  I was really happy to be invited along to dinner with some new friends (Michelle, Tracy, and then Mary), and in spite of spills and more, we had a very good time.

Friday was filled with classes, the morning was the vortex coil class taught by Sandy.  I'd never attempted vortex coils before, but the method shown was easy to follow, and by the end of class I was producing some solid coils.  Everyone extolled the class as both fun and useful.  Then it was on to the quilled roses class.  Roses have always, always been a challenge for me, and so it was really good to get more experience.  We were, for the most part, happily suffering together, trying to get our roses to look like ... roses.  I did manage to produce three that were at least recognizable.

After lunch it was off to the Chinese style quilling class where we learned various techniques to create flowing, airy quilling.  Our project was an elegant betta fish with sea grass and sea flowers in curving shapes.  I hadn't done much of this kind of work before, and but caught on pretty quickly to how to 'pull' the strips to separate the strands.  Everyone was focused on our projects and wished we had just a bit more time to get them finished.  Then on to the Quilling A-to-Z class with Kay.  Kay helped us with a variety of questions from accreditation to how to do alternate side looping.  She showed us her own accreditation pieces, along with samples used for teaching students of all ages how to quill.

After dinner with new friends, it was off to bed to try to get ready for the big second, and for me, last day of the conference!