"Special Award" Winning Quilts

I thought you'd enjoy seeing the quilts that earned the Special Award Ribbons at this year's Smoky Mountain Quilt Show that took place this past weekend on the campus of Maryville College.

Best In Show Bed Quilt, Tennessee Treasures by Linda Roy

Linda of Knoxville, Tennessee described her creation which was entered in the "Bed Quilts - Mixed Techniques/Appliqued" category ...

Original designed on graph paper. Authentic Tennessee feed sack fabrics are the intended showcase of this quilt with hand applique, hand embroidery and hand quilting. Turkey Red background with red embroidery. Each original basket features a different feed sack with ruched handle, upper edge and flower along with matching feed sack appliqued dog teeth along edge. Scale changes for interest in area of quilting and dog teeth applique.

 Here's a closeup of one basket ...

Best in Show Wall Quilt, For Alex: Love, Mom by Leona Harden

Leona of New Tazewell, Tennessee wrote this about her quilt entered in the "Wall Quilts - Pieced" category ...

My inspiration was a photograph taken by Mara Fulmer, Professor at Mott College, that was one of the last taken of my son, Alexander Earl White - 1981-2001, on a class trip to Fiji. Further inspiration was a collection of Alex's art sketches.

Never say you CAN'T ....(draw, spell, swim), I didn't think I could do this ... until I TRIED. Home machine raw edge applique, thread play, paper pieced points, machine appliqued turned bias, border, fabric art flowers, Warm and Natural batting. Quilted on a Tin Lizzie 18.

Judge's Choice, Dotted Double Wedding Ring with Charisma by Agnes Lawrence

Agnes of Knoxville, Tennessee wrote in the show brochure about her quilt entered in the "Two Person Team - Large" category ...

This quilt was made for my son Daniel and his bride Laura, to celebrate their marriage. The fabric line, Charisma by Chez Moi for Moda, was used since Laura likes bright colors. Daniel wanted a boat. Quilted by Vicky Strongsky.

Excellence in Hand Workmanship, Colors of My World by Mary Piper

Mary, of Racine Wisconsin, wrote about her quilt entered in the "Bed Quilts - Mixed Techniques/Appliqued" category...

This quilt consists of 311 three-inch Nine Patch blocks and 310 three-inch Hourglass blocks. The Hourglass blocks are done in two shades of beige and only visible upon close examination of the quilt. The border is an applique flower design. The quilt is machine pieced with a hand appliqued border and is hand quilted. Over time I have seen many Nine Patch quilts and Hourglass blocks, and I when I saw the quilt pattern in "Quick and Easy Scrap Quilts" by Leisure Arts and Oxmoor House, I liked everything except the border. I enlarged the quilt to queen size and changed the flower in the border to one that was more pleasing to me.

Excellence in Machine Workmanship, Pastor's Attic II by Peggy Garwood

Peggy of Fairfield Glade, Tennessee says this about her quilt entered in the "Two Persons Team - Large" category...

I used the book, "A Baltimore Album" by Marsha Radtke, but substituted  seven blocks designed by Pat Andreatta. Kathy Drew did the longarm quilting.

Traditional Design, Thirties Revisited by Sue Jones

Sue of Maryville, Tennessee says this about her quilt also entered in the "Two Person Team - Large" category ...

I had been collecting thirties fabrics for some time when I came across this pattern and thought they would be great for it. The pattern is from "Log Cabin Quartet Book" revised by Noella Kalal. Machine quilted by Cyndi Herman.

Scrap Quilt, Square Dance by Lynne Harrill

Lynne of Greenville, South Carolina says this about her entry in the "kids quilts" category ...

Bright scraps make a colorful kid's quilt. I copied the pattern from a friend's quilt.

Novice Quilt, My Version of Mountain Blooms by Shana Margrave

Shana of Kingston, Tennessee wrote this about her entry in the "Wall Quilts - Appliqued/Mixed Techniques" category ...

This quilt was constructed after attending Cincy Blackberg's class for Mountain Blossoms pattern. It is machined pieced, but embroidery, applique and quilting were done by hand.

Martha Odell Memorial, My Favorite Things by Itsumi Saski

Itsumi of Farragut, Tennessee wrote of her entry in the "Lap Quilts" category ...

This quilt was made with a few of favorite things in quilt making: traditional pieced blocks, pieced border and applique border. I put the Bear Paw block in the center because it is the symbol of our guild. On the other hand, the applique border was designed to be as simple as possible to bring focus into the center blocks.

Innovative Design, Logs and Stars in Scraps by Leslie Kiger

 

Leslie of Saint Simons Island, Georgia says about her quilt entered in the "Two Person-Large" category ...

The stars and log cabin squares were created using a variety of scraps. the dark background was used to set off the star blocks. The patter is "Eldon" from Laundry Basket Quilts. It's quilted by JoAn Knight.

  Just for Fun, Calm Lion by Sharon Slagle

Sharon of Loudon, Tennessee says of her quilt also entered in the "Two Person Team - Large" category ...

I saw the sitting lion with a bird friend in a grandchild's story book. I love "big cats." It's quilted by Kathy Drew.

Surface Embellishment, My Velvet Elvis by me

I entered it in the "Art Quilts" category and this is what I wrote for the show brochure ...

Bits and pieces of Elvis-related stuff that I collected over a period of several years with the intent of making a crazy quilt ended up in this piece. It's become the latest creation in a newly developed style I call "unraveled." It's a gift for my husband, the world's greatest tongue-in-cheek Elvis fan.

Viewer's Choice, Behold the Lamb by Dena Bauer
There were 1272 attendees at this year's show.  Many cast a vote for their favorite quilt to determine the winner of this award. (The boy in the only photo of this quilt that I could locate is the son of an attendee).

Dena of Wadesville, Indiana says this of her entry in the "Pictorial" category ...

Christ, the lamb of God, at his second coming will return on a cloud and we will praise his name for all eternity. The lamb and cloud were made using the confetti method and the halo, as described in Revelation, was made with Angelina. I hand painted the background. Original design, lamb photo courtesy of Christopher Renner, Rutland.

There were 178 entries to make this a fabulous show. Many of them awarded with 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places, as well as honorable mentions, in 14 categories. The list of award winning quilts is too long for me to write out. When (or if) a slideshow of the winning quilts is posted on the Smoky Mountain Quilt Guild site, I'll post a link so you can see them.