The worst part about quilt shows is that not every amazing quilt can win a prize. In larger shows, like QuiltCon, Road to California, International Quilt Festival, and the American Quilter’s Society (AQS) QuiltWeek series, every quilt exhibited has already won, because it went through a jurying process before it ever entered the show venue.
After each major show I attend, I like to choose a few quilts that didn’t receive a ribbon to share with you, and today I’m sharing a few quilts that stood out to me at the AQS show last week in Columbus, Ohio. These quilts embrace different design styles and construction techniques, so hopefully this gives you a small taste of the show’s overall aesthetic.
Lotus Leaf
By Kyoko Ochiai
What I love about the quilt:
- The scale of this quilt (I know it’s hard to tell from a photograph) is quite large, so the massive, graphic appliqués feel all-encompassing and whimsical even when paired with a subdued color scheme.
- The botanical appliqués use subtle monochromatic value shifts within a blue palette, creating a silhouette effect, particularly on the larger plants.
- Improv versions of traditional log cabin blocks, done in subtle variations of white, juxtapose traditional piecing with bold, contemporary appliqué forms.
St. Regis: Chicago River View
By Rebecca S. Dickson
What I love about the quilt:
- The quilt’s overall proportions emphasize the height of the depicted skyscrapers.
- Striped fabrics on the right side of each building enhance the image’s perspective.
- Organic fabric layering creates the sky in the background, while the manmade structures feature a clean finish.
Santa Fe Trip
By Kylie Menagh-Johnson
What I love about this quilt:
- Improvisationally pieced blocks of various sizes create a scrapbook-like effect, feeling like a collection of photographs, postcards, and mementos.
- Large-stitch and decorative hand quilting enhance the spaces created within the quilt.
- Organically shaped quilt edges mimic the land formations found in the Southwest United States.
Tangerine Tango
By Jan Frazer
I have loved this quilt since I first saw it in Paducah, but it won an award, so I didn’t include it in that highlight post. Since it didn’t win at the Columbus show, I added it to this list as a “bonus” quilt!
What I love about this quilt:
- The bold orange background is unexpected and creates a distinct mood for the piece.
- Using a solid background fabric, rather than block-based appliqué, lets the shapes dance with one another and evokes a style more commonly seen in other forms of textile art.
- The intensely dense hand quilting in the quilt’s background echoes the appliqué shapes, but creates a terrific sense of movement and flow where the echoing quilting sections meet.
The Show
I’ve shared a few pieces that stood out to me. Do any of these quilts speak to you? What do you think of the wide range of styles and techniques? If you were also at the show, do you have any favorites that you are still thinking about a week later?
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