With more than 250 entries in our guild’s Garden of Quilts Show, there is no way I can begin to cover the amazing work displayed. Although I took a fair number of photos, I was focused on my assigned task of documenting the show overall, and I didn’t get as many photos of individual quilts as I wanted. But I did get some, and I want to share just a few of those with you. So get a fresh cuppa, settle in, and enjoy a picture heavy virtual quilt show. I showed you my two award winners on Sunday’s post, click HERE if you missed those.
Judges Choice was a modern quilt won by my dear friend, Gail Johnson. Her use of ombre fabrics was inspired. Note the careful placement of the prints as well.
The quilting was a modern design that she did on her embroidery machine.
Fellow Guild member Alice Earl is an amazing applique artist. This bed size quilt called Garden Party Down Under is a combination of traditional piecing and applique.
It won a second place in its category. Just look at the quilting which was custom done to go around the appliques.
Best Original Design went to Carol Preston for her Elements of Art Deco. I’d love to have this on my wall at home.
Note the custom quilting that echo the lines in the design.
I was amazed at the amount of dimensional work at this show. This one by Terrie Spohn has several different dimensional techniques. Some were flatter, and closer to the base while others lifted up.
As you can see, Terrie’s use of folded fabrics is impressive.
Sometimes the small quilts can be extraordinary. This one is called Truffle Duffle by Jan Mott, and is wool and cotton applique with hand stitching. It won First Place in Block of the Month quilts.
This was one of my favorites, as the level of detail was amazing. It is all raw edge layers to create the shadowing and detail on the birds, trees and background.
Here’s a close up of one bird so you can get an idea of the tiny pieces and careful color selection. Note that many of these little bits are actually prints, not just solid colors. This added a textural component to the figures.
I was in charge of tallying the votes for Viewers Choice, and was delighted when it got one of the two ribbons we award. I pinned the ribbon on it, and took another photo before it was mobbed by guests.
The other Viewers Choice award went to Patty Votruba for her Joy Restored series. This was a special exhibit and has a special story to go with it. It is a series of one-foot square floral wall hangings in paintings and dimensional quilts honoring the physical therapists who helped in the recovery of LaDene Joy Votruba after an accident.
LaDene Joy Votruba was an artist who sustained a nick to her spinal cord in an accident. She was a talented painter but the accident left her hands curled and stiff, making painting impossible. She later had hand surgery to regain some finger control, which required a long rehabilitation process. To encourage her to push through, Patty promised to create a one foot applique quilt for each one square foot painting that she was able to complete, representing “one foot” closer to full use of her hands. The special display was made to honor the physical therapists, and also her determination to recover. The quilts are amazing, dimensional copies of the extraordinary floral paintings.
Honestly, there were a bunch that I wished I’d photographed and didn’t get a chance to do so. There was a Sugar Skull that was an amazing applique quilt, and another applique one with cutouts in circles very much like scherenschnitte that blew my mind. It is in this photo on the bottom center.
There was a fabulous Japanese pieced runner by our resident guy quilter, Dave, that I’d love to steal for my dining table. Several had amazing uses of color, including one with a fabric line I don’t even like, but the way the quilter put it together was compelling. I only had time for a passing look at the special Art Quilt display by the Brevard Art Quilters.
Sometimes being too busy at a show is detrimental. I spent hours each show day tallying the more than 1000 Viewers Choice votes, and was very grateful for some help with that. I also helped set up and take down the Quilters Shoppe, and had to have My Sweet Babboo pick up my quilts as I was the last one left to pick up, but I was stuck at the Shoppe checking out members picking up unsold items. Still, working hard to do my part, I felt like I was an integral part of the production those days.
On Friday, I’ll show you more of the quilts from the show, including the amazing Best of Show winner and a few more. I hope you are enjoying the virtual show so far.
From My Carolina Home 
all these special techniques and over-the-top machine quilting entries make me feel like a basic novice…so fun to be involved in a show
A maze of amazing art.
love to see others beautiful creations! Thanks for sharing.
Wow. That is fabulous. They many quilts.
Can I ask ??? Where is this and how many members in your guild???
The show was in Flat Rock, NC. Our Western North Carolina Quilters Guild has about 150 members.
Amazing quilts!!!
Very lovely. There are some amazing quilts that are so exciting to view. You did well with your entries as well. Such a pleasure to see the handiwork.
Mary :))
Love, love, love it! Garden Party Down Under was the raffle quilt at my show! Ours was accepted at the 2024 AQS Paducah show & received an Honorable Mention. I’m a-goggle over Truffle Duffle LOL. Can’t go wrong with mushroom mania.
Thank you for sharing your lovely show with us. I was unable to get up there this year so I really appreciate being able to see these beauties. And kudos to whoever made the show ribbons! Congratulations on your wins!
the applique quilts were show winners for sure.
Wow… I am a bit “jelly” (new hip lingo for jealous)
These quilts are exceptional. There are some real artists out there. I wonder if it takes them a really long time to make them, instead of like me, just busting out the simple ones. Either case, stunning quilt show thank you so much for sharing so much! It gets more and more difficult to do 14 things at the same time, but your goal is still worthy because you are quite skilled at doing your part!
What an amazing display of quilts, Carole! I enjoyed scrolling through your post and reading about the ones you featured. Lots of “Oh wow!” on this end of things! I really loved the bird quilt with all that tiny detail. And the quilter who made quilts that echoed her loved one’s recovery from the accident – so beautiful and meaningful. Hope you aren’t too exhausted!
The quilts in the show were amazing. It was so hard to choose a favorite as there were so many that stood out to me for one reason or another. Almost time to get ready for 2026!!
The details and workmanship on these is just spectacular.
I’m loving all the quilts. Thank you for sharing. Love those little birds too!
What a wealth of talent! That level of artistry elevates everyone in the show. I especially like the judge’s choice and would love the have that art deco one in my home, too! Thank you for sharing.
Fabulous quilts. Wish I could have been there!! I need to put that quilt show on my bucket list !! Looking forward to more pics!!
I am in awe of the artistry – they are so beautiful. Thank you so much for sharing the pictures with us.
Wow! So many amazing quilts, so many talented people. What a beautiful mix of traditional, modern and contemporary quilts. Appreciate your sharing the show with us. It must have been very hard to pick winners. I think anyone who makes a quilt is a winner.
WOW! I’ll go back a couple more times to really take a batter look – Wish I could put this on the tv screen where it would be bigger – the details are so amazing
Thanks so much for taking these photos.
Wow! Thank you for sharing your photos. Many beautiful quilts here.
Garden Party Down Under was designed by Irene Blanck for The Quilt Show’s 2022 BOM. Too bad the label didn’t give her credit.
It looks like a wonderful show, which I wish I could have attended. Thanks for posting all the photos.
Yes, I did enjoy this post. The quilts were marvelous, as were your comments.
What a show and thank you for sharing the photos.
Thanks for sharing the quilt photos with us. Wow there is some extraordinary quilting talent among your quilt entries!
“Joy Restored” is stunning and its story touches my heart.
Hope you are recovering from all your quilt show efforts!
This was just wonderful to see Carole, looking forward to your next post about the show!
These quilts are lovely, that is a nice write up on the Artist that had hand problems,
Nancy
What an amazing amount of talent!