26th Annual AQS Quilt Show & Contest

WOW! What a great show last week. The quilts were awesome, the merchant mall was filled with a wide variety of quilting products, and the food court outside had that home-style picnic atmosphere. I didn't try all the dishes but I'll be back next year to sample more of the barbecue and yummy desserts.

Congratulations to all the winners and semi-finalists, and thank you for once again making this a successful quilt show.

JANOME Best of Show
This year's award went to Sue McCarty, Roy, UT for her quilt Tribute to Tolkien.
Sue made her prizewinning quilt for her brother Jim. She explains: “My brother is an avid fan of the Lord of the Ring series and the later film adaptation by Peter Jackson, and I also feel it offers something for everyone as a classic story of heroes’ journeys in which all characters undergo change.” Read more...

American Quilter's Society Hand Workmanship

Vintage Button Bouquet by Linda Roy, Knoxville, TN

Click here to view the entire list of winners.

2010 Catalog of Show Quilts
Bring the Paducah quilts home with you! Enjoy the beauty, creativity, and ingenuity of this year's show at home. The 387 semi-finalists are juried entries from 47 states and 10 countries. 
Book or CD-ROM Retail $20.00 Member price $16.00
 

Book #8155

CD#8285

A Star (or Two) is Born!

Today, April 27, is the day our own Bonnie Browning and upcoming AQS author Judy Woodworth appear on The Quilt Show! Be sure to tune in and watch both quilting experts. Judy will show how to stitch freeform feathers, and Bonnie shows all kinds of ideas for finishing a quilt's edge.

Then, when Judy's first book, Freemotion Quilting Handbook, comes out early this Fall, you'll know something about her.
Her book includes all kinds of tips and techniques she uses to longarm amazing, award-winning quilts.

Click here to enjoy the show!

It's Show Time!

The quilts are up, the vendors are in, the quilters are arriving every minute. The dogwoods are hanging on to their blossoms just long enough for everyone to get that last glimpse, and the weather is gorgeous. The National Quilt Museum has fabulous exhibits up and the area merchants are all decked out with quilts to welcome everyone. It's show time in Paducah!

If you aren't here or on your way here, stay tuned to www.americanquilter.com for the latest: photos of the show winners and later, a video overview of what you missed. The new Pavilion is a wonderland inside with vendors, Quilter's Park and special exhibits, and the Expo Center and Convention Center are their friendly familiar selves, packed to the gills with quilts, quilts and more quilts, and vendors galore. The Best of Show quilt will knock your socks off. The classes are outstanding and several are still available; check the Workshop Desk during show hours (9am to 6 pm Wed - Fri, 9am to 5 pm Sat). There are even seats available to hear Kaffe Fassett, Eleanor Burns and Ricky Tims at the Carson Four Rivers Center! Don't you wish you were here!

I'm expecting to meet several authors and would-be authors during the show. It's always exciting to see what creative people have in mind for a book or article, so the show is a special time for AQS Publishing. Chris Brown, Editor-in-Chief of American Quilter and I will have office space on the second floor of the convention center past the Admissions Desk. Jan Magee, Editor-in-Chief of our new magazine, The Quilt Life with Ricky Tims and Alex Anderson, will be in Booth 4008 in the Pavilion. If you are in Paducah, stop by to see us!

Creative Confidence

Nothing helps creativity like having the right tools, skills and techniques at hand. Renae Haddadin, well-known for her stunning machine quilting on intricately designed medallion quilts, has written her first book to share the simple, easy-to-do methods she uses to achieve her award-winning results.

Amazing Ways to Use Circles & Rays is more than a technique book. In addition to the projects, which range from wallhangings to large quilts to a tree skirt, Renae offers - no, gives - permission to take the skill set she's provided and run with it. She has truly broken circle and ray drafting, construction and foundation paper piecing into such simple steps, beginners can produce highly sophisticated original designs right away.

AQS #8154 at www.americanquilter.com or 1-800-626-5420.

An Annual Favorite Returns

It's that time of year again -- publication of the winners of The National Quilt Museum's annual New Quilts from an Old Favorite contest.

The 2009 block was a perennial love -- the Sunflower block. Barbara Brackman shows no fewer than 19 variations in her Encyclopedia of Pieced Patterns, and the contestants were as imaginative as ever. First place winners Claudia Clark Meyers and Marilyn Badger are frequent quilting partners and award-winning quilters, yet they say every win is a thrill.

Catch their excitement and the joy of stretching boundaries shared by the other contributors to this book when you order AQS# 8152. www.americanquilter.com/buybooks or 1-800-626-5420.

Learn which block will be next at www.quiltmuseum.org.