Preview Night

Preview night at the Dallas Quilt Celebration begins with thank yous to the show committee chairs–I learned tonight that this show is one of the largest volunteer-produced quilt shows in the country–followed by presentations of the judges and their judge's choice selections, along with the Pride of Dallas award (curiously won by a quilter from HOUSTON, Texas). These quilts aren't presented to the assembled crowd, and none of the winning quilters were in attendance, which is a bit anti-climatic, but, happily the Best of Show Quilt was presented to the crowd.

Best of Show winner at Dallas Quilt Celebration 2010 is Brown Birds Lullabye, made by Sally Magee of Heath, Texas. No photo can do it justice . . . you're really going to have to see all the incredible appliqué and Broderie Perse for yourself to appreciate it.

Here it is hanging in the show, followed by a detail photo.

I'm planning to go back to the show–I'll be making my best effort to avoid the vendor booths because, despite assurances I haven't seen any sign of movement from the State of Michigan–and will have more photos to share, so stay tuned. In the meantime, here are the winners from the guild's  block challenge, Texas Boots, Baltimore Style. I wanted to make a block for this challenge, but had a hard time soering out what to do with my cowboy boot–one of the requirements–to make it Baltimore Style.  Maybe, I just haven't lived in Texas long enough . . . clearly, the winners had no problem ;-)

Tonya Littman's block won first place.

Second and third place were won by Paticia Kopeck (left) and Judy Kriehn.

Honorable Mention went to Cathy Bradley (left) and Marsha Senisel.

FYI, each year, the challenge blocks are made into "Keeper Quilts" which are guild quilts. All of the keeper quilts are being displayed at the show this year.

As I walked around tonight, the Pride of Dallas winner was one of the quilts that grabbed me, too. This miniature, Mission Impossible 2, was made by Komiko Frydl of HOUSTON, Texas

Notice that pin (holding the ribbon with the label and award ribbons)  in the lower right corner to get an idea of the scale of this incredible quilt.  Those are 128 point Mariner's Compass blocks.  The last ring of points is so fine, it looks like it has to be drawn or painted in ... but it's not.

I enjoyed the quilts, to be sure, but I have to admit that the thrill of the evening for me was running into Patricia Campbell and John.  I can't help but smile at the fact that John remembered that cold January in Ann Arbor, Michigan, more than a few years ago, when Pat was the guest lecturer of the Ann Arbor Guild.  Walking around last night, I realized that the two people who really taught me the fine points of appliqué were both there last night: Pat and Charlotte Warr-Andersen, who is one of the judges for the show.  I was feeling both incredibly grateful to both of them while also realizing that since their workshops, I'd come a long way baby ;-)

If you're headed to the quilt show this weekend, let me know and I'll look for you.  Depending on what the morning brings, I'm planning to head back tomorrow and connect with Michelle and her mom, whoa re driving down from Oklahoma for the day.