At the Quilt Show...

The dust has begun to settle after the Country Road Quilters show this weekend. One of the nearly 150 quilts exhibited was this lovely French Baskets quilt by Jill Allen. The quilt earned the Viewers' Choice award, along with second place in the applique category, plus an award for Best Hand Quilting. You can see a detail of the meticulous stitching below. While putting on a show is a lot of work for those involved, the result is worth it. Seeing a body of work that represents the talent within a guild exhibited all at once is so impressive. So enjoy a little glimpse of the show.

Quilts ranged from small to large. This Wheel of Mystery by Freda Jones earned the first place ribbon in the Miniature category. I love this traditonal curved pattern. Just imagine making it in such a diminutive size!

Kay Smith won a first place award for her imaginative Florida's State Butterfly-Zebra Longwing. It has lots of dimensional elements and features Seminole-style patchwork in the borders. It was Kay's entry in the "Florida in Fabric" exhibition at the Ruth Funk Center for Textile Arts.

Here's an exquisite small applique quilt that is heavily thread painted. It was made by Beth Shutty, and is titled Goldfinch and Cornflowers.

My Mustard Quilt by Sharon Medley earned a matching "mustard-color" third place ribbon! Simple brick-style piecing as well as the color placement make this quilt so pleasing to look at. 

The rich color, beautiful fabrics, and artistic arrangement of design elements just draws me in. This is Eddie Mock's "The Gingko". The pattern is by Sew Bee It, and features fabrics by Lonni Rossi.

A number of the quilts shown were part of the Guild's Star Challenge. Beth Shutty made a photo transfer from a NASA Hubble telescope photo of an STS star cluster named NGC 3603. She then surrounded the image with foundation-pieced stars, machine quilted the piece, and embellished with Swarovski crystals. Quite heavenly.

The Judges Choice Award went to Kay Smith who made this original Seminole Meets NY Beauty quilt. Kay made this in answer to a previous Guild challenge, and she embellished it creatively. I'm sorry I don't have the Best of Show quilt to show you.. a Baltimore Album Quilt made by skilled applique artist Itsuko Andrews. It was stunning, but the photo keeps disappearing everytime I try to upload it! Oh wait, here it is. Persistence paid off. This is Itsy's Best of Show quilt, which also won first place in the applique category. And these are just a few of the beautiful entries.

There were plenty of opportunities to shop. I picked up this composition book with cover donated by Guild president Jean Whitney.  Plate and Wheel blocks may be my favorite among quilt patterns, even above the time-honored Log Cabin. But I have a lot of favorites. There was some spirited bidding at the Silent Auction. This little quilt I made and donated (pattern info here) brought a princely sum for the treasury. We had lots of outstanding vendors, too. Now to rest a bit, then gear up for the next show in two years.