Austin Area Quilt Guild Biennial QuiltFest

Austin Area Quilt Guild Biennial QuiltFest

Sept 23 - 25, 2022

I meant to post about this last year, but I have gotten a bit lost in home repair projects that were not supposed to take so long. I am hoping to start posting more regularly again this year, as most of the projects and the related stress are now behind me. 

My entries, folded and stacked, waiting to be delivered in person to the show!

I submitted 3 quilts. The show is not juried, so if they have room, then all 3 will be shown.  I requested to have both sides shown of my two-sided quilts, hoping that they would have the space, but not expecting it.  I was incredibly pleased that they were able to honor my request! I mean over-the-moon happy about seeing both sides of my two-sided quilts displayed! Fantastic!!!

I was delighted to be able to attend the awards ceremony.  I did not help hang the quilts this year, as I was having some problems with my back, so I was anxious to see all the quilts. And after the awards ceremony, the show is open to members to get to see all the quilts before the crowds come in during normal show hours. Irresistable! 

I saw a lot of great quilts, very inspiring. And, I was planning to share them here, but I cannot for the life of me find them on my camera. Nuts!

seeing the show with friends: Andrea Brokenshire, Sherri McCauley, me, Pat Romohr

Even more surprising, I won a LOT of awards.  I never know what to expect of my quilts in this regard. Sometimes I look at them for so long, I get tired of them, and then I am surprised when someone else enjoys them. So, I am usually authentically surprised when a judge likes my quilts enough to select it for an award.

The following photos of the show were taken by Pat Romohr, and I am so grateful that she shared them with me. 

Plenty to Go Around/Scarcity won a 3rd place and the Quilt Show Chair's Award! Here I am with my super squinty smile, and in the second one, mouth open surprise, perhaps about the color of the ribbon both matching my quilt, and looking good with my outfit! Almost as if, it was made for me!

Plenty to Go Around

Scarcity (the other side)

A note about this quilt. It got extremely high marks on my judging sheet. I got one negative comment: "dark shadows show through light fabric".  It was intentional.  It needed to be that way to illustrate the contrast of the story of the two sides.  The quilt NEEDED some transparency, as it is about the relationship to white privilege and racism. Because the quilt is hanging at a quilt show, and has back lighting, you can see hints of the other side regardless of the side you are standing on. It was a conceptual choice that did not go over well with the judges, or perhaps was misunderstood? 

Another note: this quilt is currently on display at AQS Paducah.  It did not win any awards there and it will not be displayed with both sides showing. I was very content to have it juried into the show and have an opportunity for it to be seen. And though I have not been to that show, I suspect the competition is fierce. I had also planned to enter it into the Houston Quilt Show this year, but sadly it is now too old.  I missed my chance to enter it last year because I was a judge.  And so it goes...

 

Next up my quilt Caterpillars/Butterflies. It also won two awards! It got a 1st Place and a Design Award. The Design Award is extra special to me.  It is one of the things that I value most about a great quilt.

Caterpillars

The two awards, and a close up of my super dense matchstick quilting with every line sewn with a different color of thread.

Last up, my quilt Seeds/Bloom.  It did not win an award. Although, I have to laugh at myself because of my three entries, this one is perhaps my favorite.

Seeds

Bloom