AQS in ABQ - Large Home Machine Quilted Award Winners

This will be the first of many posts about the AQS show that came to Albuquerque for the first time, but not last, time ever. Now, on to the award winners!

This beauty titled Aunt MiMi's Flower Garden II by Elsie Campbell took third place in the large, home machine quilted category.

Aunt MiMi's Flower Garden II by Elsie Campbell

Special details include the detailed quilting, decorative stitches accenting the appliqué, and an irregular shaped outside edge.

 Solitary by Ronnie Griner took second in the same category. The sashing makes up an intricate secondary pattern. The piecing is so precise, and the appliqué is wonderfully executed. The bold colors paired with soothing blues make a complimentary combination.

Solitary by Ronnie Griner

Solitary by Ronnie Griner

First was awarded to Ann Horton for Life Everlasting.

Life Everlasting by Ann Horton

 This quilt showcased a multitude of techniques.

Snow Flowers by Susan Stewart was given the overall Best Home Machine Quilted award. Susan created each section of lace using her embroidery machine and attached each section with monofilament thread.

Snow Flowers by Susan Stewart

She applied an ample dose of crystals to the already magnificent whole cloth piece.

Snow Flowers by Susan Stewart

Congratulations to all the winners! You have certainly taken quilting to an impeccable level.

Bee Blocks - January

Kerrie Porter of Pretty Lady Baby requested straight-forward 9-Patch blocks for this month. For the Hope Circle of do. Good Stitches, she wanted monochromatic blocks in purple, pink, yellow, or green.

To create blocks that will finish at 12", I cut nine 4 1/2" squares for each block. These came together delightfully quickly. It actually took more time to decide on fabrics than to do the sewing.

Christina Biro was up this month for the New Quilt Blogger Bee. She has a full-fledged tutorial for her requested block on her Wips & Tuts blog. Just make sure you make the bottom row of geese go to the left instead of the right.

Instead of doing half square triangles, I opted to create flying geese units using the no waste flying geese method. While not difficult to sew, this block does require some generous cutting time.

They are pretty though, and it's going to be a lovely quilt.

Tutti Frutti Finish

Hooray! I have wrapped up my modern rendition of Gail Garber's Tutti Frutti pattern. You may remember this scrappy, spiky, rainbow sensation from my previous post.

For the free motion quilting, I tested out what Karlee Parter calls "graffiti quilting". To sum it up, I used a vast assortment of designs, transitioning from one to another. While I did purchase Karlee's book Graffiti Quilting: A Simple Guide to Complex Designs, I was disappointed to discover that it did not include guidance for creating the free motion designs she uses. Instead, it contained illustrated examples for different categories of free motion designs and enlarged pictures of her finished work. I prefer chronological diagrams with directional arrows. Therefore, I found Beginner's Guide to Free-Motion Quilting and Shape by Shape Free-Motion Quilting with Angela Walters to be better instructional resources.

I left the spikes unquilted, to emphasize them by creating more puff in these areas. However, the center was too large of an area to leave entirely unfilled. I filled alternating portions of the star with  repeated motifs to emphasize the symmetrical aspect of the design.

 

I also stitched in the ditch to outline each shape.

I'm very proud to say that I even added a quilt sleeve and a label using printable fabric. My boss, Gail Garber, chose the quilt's title which is a reflection of her hesitancy with deviating from a gradient of hand-dyed fabrics and gentle curves, as well as her fun sense of humor.

 

Here she is in all her glory!

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