Minnesota Quilters–What a Show!

I spent the past week in St. Cloud, Minnesota at the Minnesota Quilters 2018 Show, judging, teaching, and lecturing. It was a whirlwind and what a great experience.

On Monday and Tuesday, I judged with fellow NACQJ (National Association of Certified Quilt Judges) judge Kathi Eubank. The caliber of entries was high, which is impressive as the show is not juried but rather accepts the first 200 quilts entered. So yes, the decision-making was tough in several categories. Here are the wonderful winners, starting off with the Best of Show–Large.

Best of Show–Small by fellow Oregonian, Joanne Baeth, who’s a really nice person, which I know after writing an article with her a few years ago.

Exemplary Hand Quilting and a stunning quilt in its own right.

Best Miniature: an original design.

I had saved several quilts as my potential judge’s recognition. This one ultimately rose to the top. I love the colorful houses, the wonderful movement in the scene, and the quilt’s overall charm. It all makes me want to keep looking at the composition.

The National Association of Certified Quilt Judges has an Award of Merit, which judges can give at their discretion. Kathi and I selected this quilt which did not win a major award but is so deserving of recognition for obvious reasons. It’s an original design with amazing dimension and depth and fabulous use of fabric to create glow and movement. The background is cotton and the rest is silk.

As a faculty member, I taught a cord-making class and participated in both a demo and a presentation. This meant I had the pleasure to give another award. I love to encourage entrants. This beauty was my choice. Look at the great use and placement of fabric to create glow and movement. Great example of the comment “…making the eye move over the quilt surface.”

Here are a few quilts I appreciated for different reasons. The first is this charmer. The maker writes “Meet my birds, living on a wonderful farmstead in the Adirondacks”. The parents are Fergus and Lizzie, and their child is Oliver. The rabbit is Harman.

The quilt below is from a cross stitch pattern and has 33,600 half inch finished squares in 336 blocks. Marilyn spent 350 hours making the quilt. She writes, “I love owls and as soon as I saw this pattern, I knew I had to make it using my original technique for using cross stitch patterns to make quilts.”

Just days before judging, I finished year ten of a Master Art Class with Hollis Chatelain. One point we were discussing was the contrast between shiny and dull. The border on this quilt is a terrific example of the effectiveness of this technique. Clark Myers painted stripes on her border fabric with a metallic paint.

Here’s a close-up showing the surface design technique along with the artist statement. Notice Frank Palmer was the quilter on this quilt, as well.

Part II coming up next.