Off to the Big Show!

Now that I've given you a little taste of southern Florida beauty on the St. Lucie River, let's be off to the West Palm Beach Convention Center which is about a 35-40 minute drive south, depending on traffic. It was the site of the "World Quilt Show- Florida VI", January 8-10, 2015. This event, organized by Mancuso Show Management, was  comprised of 19 shows under the one roof! The big draw was of course the World Quilt Competition XVIII - On Tour. These are the international entries of the 2014 World Quilt Competition, which was judged in August of 2014. Participating countries were Australia, Canada, Germany, Israel, Japan, New Zealand, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States of America.
The others were a mixture of state, national and international shows: Florida Guild shows/challenges, the Florida Quilt Competition, the Hoffman Challenge, shows from Israel, Curaçao and SAQA Brazil... I'm sure you get the picture. There was something for everyone- art quilts, traditional quilts, thought-provoking quilts, humourous  quilts, hand quilted, long arm quilted, you name it, it was there. And then of course there was the Vendors Mall- 73 vendors this year, and naturally you must visit each and every one! Some we visited twice. And some we visited more than twice... (Now you're beginning to understand why we spent three full days, from 10a.m. to 6p.m. at the WPB Convention Centre. By the time we exited the building each day, the sun was going down...) Yes our feet, our eyes and our brains (and our wallets) were tired, but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do!!
So- let's look at some quilts, shall we? I'm going to begin with a few Guild Challenges first. My friend Sandi is a member of two guilds in her town, and she had an entry in both of their Challenges. The Martin County QG did a music challenge in 2014; participants were to select a favourite song as their inspiration for  a quilt, with a perimeter no smaller than 96" and no larger than 180". I thought the entries were all awesome. They were so varied - it's always interesting to see how each person interprets the theme.

Best of Show/Viewer's Choice and Best Use of Theme ribbons went to The Other Mozart by Jane Taylor.

First place and Best Use of Color was won by The Reach by Nancy Smith.

Second place went to Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes by Sandi MacMillan.

(Sorry, I somehow missed getting a photo of the third place winner...)
Honorable Mentions went to three quilts:  Achy Breaky Heart by Joan Carman,

Splish Splash by Sandee Monk

and finally, Come Fly with Me by Maureen McNally.

Sandi's other guild, Gone To Pieces Quilters, meets weekly, and they had an exhibit of their 2014 Challenge, "From The Sea". Entries in this challenge are not judged. Here are just a few of my favourites:

Oku No Kame (Lots of Turtles) by Mary Anderson.Mary is a sweet, sweet lady who does such beautiful hand appliqué. I loved this one!!

Of course Sandi's entry, Bathtub Beach was a favourite as I too love Bathtub Beach. You can see photos here of my visit to this beautiful beach last year. Sadly I didn't get there this year (ran out of time.)

I think Sandi did an awesome job quilting this piece. Note the iridescent bubbles...
I wonder if it's a coincidence that this cat bears a strong resemblance to Sandi's cat Angus...

I loved the blues (of course!) in Jane Taylor's quilt One Fish, Two Fish. Great quilting too!!

That's all for tonight. Stay tuned for lots more quilts to come....




Peace,
Linda

My body is here, but my heart is at the beach.