An early start...

It was an early start yesterday morning, and it rained most of the way to the city, but I was not driving, so it did not matter. It's not often that I don't have to drive, so is a nice change. There were 7 quilts entered into the exhibition from our Gumtree Quilters members, and 3 of them had received phone calls that they had won a prize, so we were very excited. Pat had entered 3 quilts, so was unsure which one had won. And when we arrived and checked out the exhibition we found that 4 of our members had won prizes. A very pleasing result for our members, although even without a ribbon, the quilts looked amazing.

Pat looks very pleased with her quilt, Shades of Grey, which received a judges commendation. I was happy to finally get a good photo of this hanging up, as laying on the bed just does not give you the perspective of the quilting on this. Pat made this quilt, in one of the Pick a Case Mystery retreats, and we are both very pleased with the outcome of this. Quite a step outside of my comfort zone this was!! It was also a big learning curve about some aspects of the Creative Studio software of my Statler. And the quilting turned out quite different in the end, than I had planned from the start!!

This is Linda's Grassy Quilt, that I quilted recently. This was also a good chance to get a better photo of it hanging. This is one that you need to see from a distance to get the image of the grass blowing in the wind. This also received a Judges Commendation award.

Pat M's quilt, Classic Borders, that she made last year in our group's border challenge won 2nd in the Two Person Small Traditional category. Pat said she nearly fell of her chair when she received a phone call about her win, so she was very excited. And I get to have one those ribbons that you see on her quilt!

This is Mignon's quilt, Memories of Nanna, that won the Viewers Choice award at our Group exhibition last October.  Mignon had been unable to finish due to illness, after hand piecing all the centre of the quilt. Other group members finished the quilt for her last year, and we entered it into Adelaide. It received a second prize in the Group quilts.

Following are some other quilts that I have quilted for customers which also looked very special.

First is The English Basket quilt, made by Cheryl, who I met up with at the show, so a took her photo in front of her quilt. Cheryl does the most amazing hand work, and I have more photos of other quilts to show soon.

This is Marie's quilt hanging proudly in Adelaide, The applique blocks were started many years ago in a workshop with Robyn Ginn, and she is very happy to finally have it finished. Marie is on a mission to finish lots of PHD's this year, and is well on the way.

And another quilt from Pat, called Fleur de Lis, and made for her daughter Fleur, with some beautiful hand stitching.

Pat's quilt, called Roundup that was made for her husband in our groups border challenge last year.

This was another customer quilt hanging in Adelaide, that was made by Sue, sometime last year.

I met up with my friend Elaine at the show yesterday. She was thrilled to learn that a quilt she quilted won a third prize, and I snapped this photo of her with her customer in front of the quilt.

There were a few quilts, that I particularly liked and this includes the following, called Contradistinction, by Vicki Jenkins of Horsham. I loved how she quilted this, and it won 2nd in the Modern Category, and also the award for Excellence in LongArm Machine Quilting. Amazing quilt.

I also loved this quilt by Rachelle Denneny, called Vanilla Butter Cream, and this won first in the Miniature Category. When you realise that this quilt is only 38cm square you get the picture!! Rachelle also won quite a few other awards, but this was my pick.

Another quilt that I thought was pretty amazing was Cafe Au Lait, by Chris O'Brien, which won a 1st prize in it's category. Fantastic use of a tablecloth, and something I have on my bucket list to do, one day!!

Detail of the quilting which is amazing.

Hope you enjoyed just a small part of the quilt show through my eyes. There were lots of other great quilts, and the show is on until Sunday afternoon. A few of our group will head back to Adelaide on Thursday evening for the presentation night at the Guild meeting.

Now it's time to get back to work, as I have a few Mystery quilts to finish before then, as I have another house full coming on Friday for the next retreat.

Bye for now,
Blessings, From Jude