Quilt Show Viewers’ Choice Winners
2023 offered up an amazing array of quilts! Below are the top 10 in the Viewers' Choice contest.
1st Place “365 CHALLENGE” Pieced by Marianne Stuparits and Quilted by DeLoa Jones
I was given a 3-inch paper piece pattern every day for a year. My finished quilt ended up with 415 squares. The total number of pieces that ended up in the quilt is 16,182! Notice that each 3-inch square is individually quilted. My dream was to have each one quilted separately, and when my quilter mentioned this idea first, I was over the moon that she was up for it! Bless her heart. It did take me a little longer than the 1-year projection – about 18 months to complete.
2nd Place "COLOR MY WORLD" Pieced by Jan Van Auken and Quilted by Jan Van Auken
This 2021 Block of the Month from the Quilt Show was designed by Wendy Williams. It was foundation paper-pieced, machine appliqued and machine quilted by me. This quilt took about 20 months from start to finish
3rd Place "BUTTERFLY PATCH" Pieced by Ruth Uitvlugt and Quilted by Ruth Uitvlugt
I made this quilt for my brother and sister-in-law who have a Michigan-designated butterfly garden. I used Edyta Sita’s Accuquilt die pattern and machine appliqued each butterfly. The quilting was free-motion on my domestic machine.
3rd place- - # 110 New York Beauty by Amy Simes
4th Place "8,100 SQUARES TO SCRAPINESS" Pieced by Carla Nienhuis and Quilted by Pressing Matters Quilt Shoppe
A group of friends decided to make a postage stamp quilt, and everyone picked their own pattern. I saw a picture of this layout on the internet and loved the design. Each of the dark squares were individually cut and sewn into the blocks. The white fabric was strip-pieced and cut. I am very happy with how it turned out.
5th Place "TARA" by Ellen Lambright
The use of contrasting colors, the center blocks set-on-point and the many different borders along with perfect workmanship make this quilt outstanding for earning the ribbon for 5th place. It is one of the four king-size quilts which placed in the top five spots.
6th Place "!WILDFLOWERS!" Pieced by Jan Landry and Quilted by Jan Landry
This Sue Spargo quilt (Fresh Cut) was just so much fun to make! Wool applique with lots of embroidery on the top brings the folksy flowers to life. Machine quilted.
7th Place "BIRDS IN MY GARDEN" Pieced by Barbara Walsh and Quilted by Heather Broehem
My hand appliqued quilt is from a book called, “In the Meadow”, by Barb Adams and Alma Allen. Echo quilting was used as the technique to quilt it. The stitching lines followed the shapes of the outside edges of the birds. Those stitching lines added more design elements to this quilt.
8th Place "NIGHT WAVES II" Pieced by Carol Vinnedge and Quilted by Carol Vinnedge
This is a 2nd version of a similar wall quilt I made for my Florida brother’s home. My inspiration was a picture found on Pinterest that was not attributed. I machine-pieced at least two fabrics in each block and trimmed into diamond shapes, placed the blocks on my design wall and painstakingly rearranged until the design mimicked moonlit waves.
9th Place "SPIRAL GRAPH" by Kate DeJonge
There are three colorful loops in each corner which were paper pieced. There is a lot of contrast between them and the back background. The heavy quilting is of different designs which were programmed into the quilter’s special quilting machine. There is so much beauty in the quilting lines.
10th Place "HOMAGE TO GRANDMOTHER’S GARDEN" by Laura Wierda
Laura always does such a fine job with her quilts as seen in the choice of colors, the design and the fine workmanship. The viewers noticed the designs in the quilting of the background which further enhanced the flowers.
