I won Best Machine Quilting (frameless) at QuiltCon 2016!!!

My "I can't believe this!" face.  Photo by Yvonne Fuchs.

Man, you guys, I don't even know where to start!  I never, ever imagined that I would win such a prestigious award for my work on this quilt!  I was notified about two weeks before QuiltCon that the quilt had won something, and was asked to be at the award ceremony.  I skipped the first hour of my Thursday class to be there, but it was so worth it!

I took so many photos with this quilt!  Photo by Yvonne Fuchs.

Because this is a group quilt (logo design by Bob Lowe, pieced by Lois Warwick, applique by Sally Williams and Laurie Moody) I assumed we had won something in the group category.  But as they called out the winners for the group quilts I didn't know what to do with myself--what else could it possibly have won?!

Hugging Jacquie Gering on stage!  Photo by Yvonne Fuchs.

The Albuquerque Modern Quilt Guild banner won the Best Machine Quilting (frameless/stationary needle) award!  HOLY MOLY.

Craig S. Meyer | Senior Vice President of Marketing for Baby Lock  (the award sponsor) and Jacquie Gering photo op!  Photo by Yvonne Fuchs. 

ABQMQG banner hanging at QuiltCon 2016 with the Best Machine Quilting (frameless) ribbon and sign.  Photo by Yvonne Fuchs.

The backstory on the banner is that I volunteered to quilt it (on my Janome 6300, which has a 9 throat space) about a year ago.  It looked like a fun project to work on, was a good way for me to contribute to the guild on my own time, and fit into my spring sewing schedule.  All of the quilting was my idea, though the variegated thread for the balloons was my husband's idea (and clearly a stroke of genius).  The air current quilting came together after much discussion and help from Yvonne @Quilting Jetgirl.

These photos really illustrate just how much the quilting added to the banner: 

ABQMQG banner pre-quilting.

ABQMQG (Albuquerque Modern Quilt Guild) quilted banner after 30 hours of quilting, measures about 86"x42".

Did you see that?  Thirty hours of quilting!  And another 15 hours for basting, thread burying, trimming, binding, washing, blocking, hanging sleeve, and show-prep!  I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to lay out your quilt and go over it checking for loose threads, animal hair, dirt, lint, etc before you bag and box it to send to a show!  I've sent this banner to 2 shows now and have spent at least an hour per show cleaning it up so it is in tip-top shape.  If your quilt gets into a show, spend an the extra time to make sure it is in the best condition possible!

ABQMQG banner back--where the quilting really shows up!

Over the past year and a half I've really struggled to figure out where I fit in the Modern Quilt Guild.  Honestly, I've felt like I don't really belong--my quilting always seemed closer to "art" quilts than to "modern" quilts.  I was so thrilled this quilt got into QuiltCon (the only one of the 6 I entered, btw), and am still amazed and honored that the quilting won the top award for quilting on a domestic machine.  I feel like the MQG is starting to recognize FMQ as a really meaningful way to enhance a quilt in a modern way.  Not to mention the amount of thought, time, practice and work that goes into FMQ!  And the Best Machine Quilting on a frame award was also FMQ! 

Hanging out with Joshua of Molli Sparkles with his No Value Does Not Equal Free quilt that won Best Machine Quilting on a frame.

Huge thanks to Baby Lock for sponsoring the award, to the judges for picking a quilt that I poured myself into, and to Yvonne for taking and sharing so many wonderful photos!  And many, many thanks to all of the people that have supported and encouraged me!

See the original blog post for the ABQMQG banner here.  You can also see the work in progress posts here and here.