AQG Quilt Show

Last weekend was the Arizona Quilter's Guild show. It was not far from my house, how could I not go?? :) For some reason, I have never gone to this show. I was quilting last year. I remember it being advertised. I didn't go. I have no idea why. 

On to the show! They had a Modern category!! I was so excited LOL I'm going to be brutally honest here, there were over 200 quilts hanging in that show (it might have been over 300). I saw every.single.one. There were probably 10 - 15 that stopped me in my tracks. I thought that was a low number. Am I wrong? There were not that many entries that were amazingly quilted. Maybe that was the problem. I seem to be a little hung up on quilting these days. . . have you noticed? LOL I guess this is the reason I didn't take that many pictures. . . I did however, get pictures of all of the winners in the modern category. :) I am still kicking myself for not taking a picture of the quilt that won for Best Quilting on a Track (Long Arm) and it also got Best in Show. It.was.amazing!! You'll have to take my word for it. . . I seriously am kicking myself for not getting a picture :( BUT, here are the Modern Category winners - they were all pretty amazing!

First:

BEAUTIFUL! I concur with the judges on this one! :)

Close up of quilting - yes, I had to get a tissue out and wipe the drool off my face! Seriously, WOW!

More of the quilting and the seriously well deserved 1st place ribbon :)

Second:

Such a visual treat! Honestly, now that I'm looking at it again, I would not have wanted to pick between the 1st and 2nd place winners! They were both spectacular!

Close up of the quilting - again, totally drool worthy! So much to see in this quilt.

Third:

OK, now people are looking at me like I have issues. . . so much drooling going on!! LOL

Again with the quilting!! Swoon :)

Honorable Mention:

Seriously would not have wanted to be judging these quilts! I couldn't pick. You all win ;)

Googly eyed over the quilting. . .

I guess the judges had not gotten the memo that winning modern quilts need to be straight line quilted... ;)

OK, last post I teased that I spent two hours gawking at something. . . what was that something? Uh, just the quilter of the heart stopping winning quilt (you know, the one I didn't get a picture of. . . UGH), Gina Perkes, doing a free teaching/demo of the Gammill 18 inch long arm. There were never more than 5 or 6 people standing around the frame. We were all able to ask questions and she demonstrated whatever people asked!! It was amazing to watch her. I walked away with SO many tips and ideas. And I might just be taking four, count them, one, two, three, four, days of classes from her in July!! Here she is demonstrating:

Total concentration in her quilting stance :) I can't even tell you how fun it was to watch her quilt! I could have stood there for days weeks.

First, she is the sweetest person ever!! Sense of humor? Check! One of the first things she talked about was her 'nut sack'. . . OK, I got the giggles because I was the youngest by far (and I am no spring chicken people!) of any of the women standing around Gina. She is younger than I am by about 10 years. I could tell a couple of the ladies really wanted to laugh but most of them were in shock. LOL The nut sack is a bag filled with crushed nut shells that she uses as a weight close to the hopping foot to reduce bouncing. As she said, it is filled with crushed nut shells so it really is a nut sack! 

I got to gush over the quilting of the winning quilt directly with the quilter - awesome! I asked several questions as she was demoing and once the two hours were up and everyone walked away I got to ask her about the classes in July. I might have also gotten a chance to show her a picture of a portion of the quilting on Shock Wave on my phone . . . It was a total thrill to see her eyes get real big and have her say "Wow, you're good!" Wha wha what??? I'm still smiling :)

Yup. I'm going to take two full days of classes on a long arm. One day of quilting on a domestic and the last day is applique on a long arm. But wait, I don't have a long arm, right? No, I don't. I did try one at a quilt show a little over a month ago. I'm not convinced that I would ever get good enough with a long arm to have the control and obtain the level of detail that I can get on my domestic. So I decided to sign up for some classes. I got lucky that Gina is the one teaching those classes! I figure after spending that much time on a long arm, I will be able to better determine whether or not purchasing a long arm would be a wise investment. . . I'm not convinced. There are a LOT of very accomplished quilters out there that quilt on their domestic sewing machines. I think there are pros and cons to both ways. And even if I decide not to pursue long arm quilting, I will get four days of instruction from a nationally known teacher who also happens to be pretty darned personable! :) Wins all the way around, don't you think?

I went to the show partly because I knew that Gina was going to be there at some point. I was hoping to catch her while she was at the vendor booth (she helped Gammill in developing the user interface on the 18 inch machine she was using during the demo) just so I could see her in action. I had no idea she was going to be teaching or that there wouldn't be hoards of people standing around her. I also got lucky as just as I was finishing looking at the quilts an announcement was made that she was going to start her demonstration in 10 minutes. I'd say it was meant to be :) And once I started watching her, I couldn't stop! 

So yes folks, I stood and gawked at a quilter for two hours like a lot of people would stand and gawk at a rock star! :) 

OH and I have to show you one more quilt. This quilt was not in the modern category but it is just too darn cute and I could not resist taking a picture (or two) of it!

Is that just too stinkin' cute or what?? :)

OK, that's two posts for this week. Come back tomorrow - I have a finished flimsy to share! Yup, been a long time since there have been three posts in a week on this here blog. Don't get used to it, #1 Fan, it probably won't happen again soon ;) LOL

Linking up with Gemma over at Pretty Bobbins for I Quilt. She has a great post on modern quilting, check it out and all of the quilty goodness linked there! 

Until next time, keep on quilting!