Festival-Houston: one in, one not
Tuesday, July 7th, 2009The ways of jurors for big quilt shows mystify me……this year I entered Koi:

and Fields of Gold:
In the annual World of Beauty contest at the International Quilt Festival in Houston. The good news is that after FIVE years of “sorry but….” letters (I got in the first time I applied and never since), I am in AGAIN!!!! HOORAY…
What baffles me is that I consider Koi, a 40×60-ish quilt, two sided, lots of good technique, great quilting, imposing, yet it was “declined” (OK…let’s be blunt: rejected! For the second year in a row!) and the lovely but small (about 16×20) Fields of Gold, which began as a 9×12 journal-type quilt as an illustration/project for my book, has been accepted! I will admit, I ADORE the wheat in the quilting (even if I did do it myself…), which is my favorite part of the quilt along with Lisa Walton’s fabric (visit her website Dyed and Gone to Heaven) which really made the piece. But still… whazzup?
At least Koi got in to Paducah (if my faltering memory serves me correctly) and then got featured to my great surprise in QuiltMania, in a photo spread on the AQS show. Weird. Don’t get me wrong… I’m thrilled the drought is over and that as I teach there for the first time this year, I will have a quilt in the juried show. Still, I’m happily baffled.
Maybe I’ll be able to use Koi as my teacher’s quilt LOL!
Addendum: Suzanne Sanger and Terry Grant both had very astute observations (see the comments)…. that there have been other koi quilts by other people, but nothing like Fields of Gold…… I think they are on to something…..











