June 15-17, 2011
Knoxville, TN
The AQS summer show has been in Knoxville for the past three years, but this year was the last there, as the summer show is being moved to Grand Rapids, MI for 2012-2014. The quilt show is sponsored by the American Quilters Society (AQS). It’s one of four shows AQS sponsors, with Paducah, KY being the major show in April. The others are held in Lancaster, PA, and Des Moines, IA.
My friend, Rachel Bates (from the Moody Crazy Quilters and the Pell City Friendship Quilters), and I left Birmingham around 8:30 on June 15, heading up I-59 North to Knoxville. The plan was to spend the night at the Knoxville Holiday Inn next to the convention center and then meet up with my mother, sister and my sister’s friend, P.J.
Last year, I had made the same meet-up in Knoxville, but Rachel was a new addition this year. My mother had hand-died t-shirts for each of us last year, but this year, P.J. wore hers earlier in the week, and couldn’t wear hers to the show. Mom had made a new t-shirt for Rachel, so at least there were four of us who were dressed alike. We find it’s easier to locate each other when wearing matching shirts. Last year, we stenciled “I’m the MOM” on my mother’s, “I’m the LITTLE SISTER” on my sister’s, and “I’m the BIG SISTER” on mine. P.J.’s said, “I’m the FRIEND”. I didn’t get a chance to make a stencil for Rachel’s t-shirt. No matter -- hers looked like the others, and that was what counted.
Rachel Bates, Marjorie Post and Becky Ray
My mother had acquired 4 passes to the show from the Northwest Quilters (in Portland, OR), since NW Quilters had a quilt entered in the show. She had sent a pair of tickets to me, but somehow they got lost in the mail and ended up being returned to her (after the show, I might add). So, we were going to have to pay for entry after all. Rachel and I arrived in Knoxville around 4pm (with the time change), and we didn’t feel it was worth spending money for entry on Thursday. We did go over to the convention center to purchase tickets for the next day, and picked up a couple of free magazines and bought a program for the show. We carried those back to our room and spent the evening browsing the reading material.
On Friday, my mother, sister and PJ were riding a bus from a quilt store in Johnson City, TN (my mother flew in from Portland to stay with my sister). They left Johnson City around 8 a.m. I got a call from my sister about 9:30 and she said “We’re still about 45 minutes away.” Then she called right back and said, “We’re here; guess I got confused about where we really were.” They loved riding the bus to the show, as they didn’t have to stress about driving or parking.
The show features quilt competitions and displays of challenges from various quilt guilds, as well as classes and lectures. The AQS shows have “purchase” prizes, so if you win a prize, the quilt is acquired by AQS and put into the American Quilt Museum in Paducah.
We were pleased to see the NW Quilters entry: Oregon Trail before I-84 (I-84 runs through Portland). There was also a set of challenge hangings from the Rogue River Valley Quilters in Southern Oregon. This challenge (called A River Runs through It) specified that each wall hanging must feature a portion of a river, and the quilters were given a specific fabric to use for the water. Beyond that, how they designed their piece was then up to them. When finished, the hangings were hung side by side, with the appearance of a continuous river, but each person’s design was totally different, so it made quite an interesting composition.
A River Runs through it -- Rogue River Valley Quilters
We spent quite a lot of time admiring a quilt called “The Quilt Show”– which was composed itself of several miniature quilts, even with award ribbons! The attention to detail was amazing. If you look closely, you can see that some patrons are holding quilt program booklets.
The Quilt Show
My sister had entered her quilt “Light at the End of the Tunnel”, made of batiks, into the show. Although it didn’t win a prize, anyone we mentioned it to knew right away which quilt we meant.
One of my favorite quilts was the International Sunbonnet Sue, which is inspired by a new AQS book. Each of the 49 Sues is dressed in her country's traditional costume and holds a symbolic souvenir that obscures her face. For example, the Chinese Sunbonnet Sue is holding up a lantern, the Swiss Sue is holding a cuckoo clock, the Mexican Sue is holding a cactus, and so on. Here are some more examples:
We were also quite amused by a quilt featuring interpretations of the Sunbonnet Sue by famous artists. It was fun identifying the various artists’ styles.
Here is American Gothic.
Whistler
I also enjoyed a set of challenge quilts interpreting Elvis song titles.
There was a huge rainstorm in the late afternoon after the Tennessee bus left, taking Mom, Becky and PJ back to Johnson City, and it continued most of the night. Fortunately, the hotel dinner was delicious and it was nice to sit in the restaurant looking out the window at the driving rain, realizing we only had to take the elevator up to our room, rather than run through the storm.
We went back to the quilt show on Saturday, since Mom and Becky left their entry badges for us, and we were able to visit a few booths we missed or revisit ones that particularly intrigued us. Rachel likes to do handwork, so she was interested in the English paper piecing templates and bought several sets. I was intrigued by a set of Japanese inks and brushes for hand dying fabrics.
Here are some more quilts that I liked.
