Tuesday, August 5, 2014

AQS Charlotte Show

This past Saturday, my quilty friend Brenda and I drove up to Charlotte for the day to see the AQS Charlotte Show.

I had a quilt hanging in the Wall Quilts - Modern section (Numbers pattern can be found here and Pi quilt pattern can be found here)




I did not win any awards, but I was super happy to have been juried into the show and it was exciting to see my quilt hanging up.

One of my good quilty friends, Paige Alexander, won honorable mention in the same category.  This picture below does not do the quilt justice, the piecing, applique, and quilting were even more stunning close up. Her quilt used the Zephyr quilt pattern by Debbie Grifka of Esch House Quilts and the leafy lines quilting design by Christina Cameli,of A Few Scraps.




My quilt show take-aways:


  • Quilt Bling - I had never really seen quilts with bling on them (crystals and other sparkly doodads), but it seems that every 3rd or 4th quilt was sparkling.  I admit that the sparkles are not really to my taste (I bedazzled my clothes when I was in elementary school and feel no need to do so to my quilts), but can appreciate it on other's quilts.
  • Amazing Quilting - I have never seen so many examples of absolutely breathtaking quilting.  Judy of Green Fairy Quilts had a quilt in the AQS author's area that I just stood and stared and stared at.  In other quilts, the hand quilting and machine quilting was so perfect and intricate it was amazing.  I can't imagine how much time went into quilting one of those quilts.  
  • How different quilts look up close and far away - I went through each of the rows of quilts looking at each quilt closely, then I would see the same quilt from far away when I was wondering around and I did not even recognize it.  It was amazing how some quilts I liked up close I was not as impressed with from far away and vis versa.  The next time I design a quilt I am going to try to keep this micro / macro viewing distance in mind.
After the quilt show, Brenda and I stopped in at Mary Jo's, a wonderful and large fabric store.  May Jo's has a great selection of solids, stash builders, novelty fabrics, and newer fabric collections.  I got some Kona Pepper, Pearl Bracelets in Gray, and a few Bontanics prints.

All in all a very good quilty day!



12 comments:

  1. Congratulations!! How fun to see your own quilt hanging in an AQS show! How did you find the judges comments? Not what did they say, but did you feel like the comments were fair and right on or not so much?

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  2. So fun to have a quilt hanging at the show. I went to the AQS show in Paducah this year and I had some of the same take aways. I am always amazed that I can go down the same row more than once and notice something like I had never seen it. I would agree that the Green Fairy Quilts were breathtaking.

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  3. I saw your quilt, looked great! You are so right about the quilt bling, I have never seen so many sparkly quilts. I had a quilt in the show as well, and I was thrilled just to be juried in too.

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  4. Quilt bling? Interesting. I definitely agree that I have no need to add that to my quilts... but I'd definitely go check out anything shiny someone else makes! Lovely photo with your quilt. How were the judge's comments? I know exactly what you mean about the macro / micro view of quilts, and I'll have to think on that some more.

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  5. Oh I love your pi quilt, that would look great in my math classroom! I may have to steal that idea :)

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  6. If they had a category for Coolest Quilt, yours would have won :) Great take-home lessons, too.

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  7. When I went to a quilt show a couple of months ago there were a lot of quilts with bling on them too. Some of them looked good as the bling suited the quilt, others just look like the bling was added just because the maker felt like joining the "trend"?

    I bet it was exciting to have your own quilts on display!!

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  8. How fun!! You look so happy standing with your really cool quilt! :) I haven't seen bling on quilts yet and don't feel a need to add any to mine, but it would be interesting to see.

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  9. A pi quilt! I would have loved to have that when tutoring for HSAP. Wow! (Just for fun, really.) It's great that your quilt was hanging at the show, and your quilt is awesome. I am not really in the "bling" category myself.

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  10. Thanks Cheryl, it was exciting to have a quilt in the show and to win a ribbon was icing on the cake. While at the show I heard so many nice compliments on your Pi quilt. If there had been a viewer's choice ribbon, you would have won it!

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  11. I saw your quilt at the show! Congratulations Cheryl! I knew it was yours before even reading the sign since I had seen it on your blog! Way to go girl!! Yes! there were a lot of quilts with bling on them! They were beautiful. The perfect one with bling could be a great looking wall hanging.

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  12. I love your pi quilt! My husband is a number nerd and said it's the best quilt he's seen. :)

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Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a comment!