The fruit of my labor

As I mentioned in my last post, the Austin Area Quilt Guild Show, "Pearls of Wisdom"
took place this past weekend. The show is open to the public for 3 days but it takes a good 2 years to plan an event this large. I really appreciate the dedication of the guild members, show committee chairs and coordinators that volunteer their time to make the show possible.
On Wednesday, 2 days before the show opens, guild members participating in the quilt show drop off their quilts and the fun begins. The quilts have to be hanging for judging by Wednesday night, and Thursday morning the judging process starts. This year there were 4 judges who had to review many, many quilts. Of the 400 or so entries, many were for judging, I understand the majority but I wish I had a more exact figure. (some quilts are just for show)
By around 5 PM Thursday evening, winners have been selected and ribbons are ready to be put on quilts. As I had been helping that evening I wasn't totally surprised by the results at the Award Ceremony and my friend Barb told me the smile on my face gave me away. And here is the reason for my smile......


This "blue quilt" as many people were referring to, is one piece of material (size 42"x38") or whole cloth quilt. After marking all the elements on the quilt I stitched the grid, border design and animals using my long arm machine. After doing that I free motion quilted the design around the animals using 4 different colors of variegated threads. For this particular quilt I used King Tut, So Fine and The Bottom Line brands.
This quilt was my favorite of my 3 entries. It received Honorable Mention and very good feedback on the judges grading sheet.


I only photographed a small section of this applique quilt (size 108"x98"). I designed the applique motifs and my sister applique the motifs to the squares. We pieced it together. I machine quilted the grid which had been marked on the quilt before mounting it to the long arm machine. I free motion quilted the design around the applique using So Fine Thread. This quilt was awarded 3rd. Place in the Two Person Category.


This dress was entered in the Wearable Art Category where it received 3rd Place.
The dress is linen, the skirt was quilted and washed to give it a "quilted look", I embellished the skirt with pieced fabric circles of different white and off white material. I left the the edge of the circles unfinished to give it a casual look. I also attached little flowers made with "pearls" to the center of the circles. The quilting on the skirt was done with So Fine thread.