Traditional in the Background and Aullwood's judging

These last two are interesting because they use traditional piecing in the background of the quilts. At left is Nancy Linz' Wings.

Nancy wrote this as her artist statement:

The majestic eagle returns after a successful hunting trip. Waterfront development threatens the habitat of eagles and eagles won't nest near these developments. The hardfought battle to bring our national bird back from the brink of extinction may face set backs in the years to come as humans and eagles compete for the same real estate."



This next piece is in one of my favorite color combinations. I think I have done at least three pieces using black, white and red. Here, the judge of the show, Diane Dover of Beavercreek, Ohio shares her Red Day with us.

Diane does mostly works based on natural themes, particularly birds.

I had to laugh as some people have thought that my blog is solely on Aullwood. Well, I admit, lately it seems like it HAS only been on Aullwood. I wanted to include most of the works because the Aullwood show is a small show, and I know that when my quilts go "abroad" so to speak, I would love to know how they look and with what other pieces they were hanging.
While many of the quilters who show at Aullwood are local, many more aren't. In addition, I think that these quilts bear looking at for a variety of reasons, not to mention that some of them are just too darn spectacular to hide under a bushel basket....if they still make such things.

Plus, I think it is interesting to see which quilts were selected for awards, and which quilts were selected to be shown. Not all the quilts entered were chosen.

Ok...so what were your favorites? What would you have chosen for Best of Show, Theme Interpretation (if you've forgotten, it was "Winged Messengers"), Innovation, Craftsmanship (OK, you can't really do that one as the pictures I took either weren't good enough or not close enough for you to really judge this one), and then viewer's choice?


Are you ready? Here's the list of winners:

Best of Show: Walter and Emma by Janis Jagodzinski

Theme interpretation: Operation Migration by Marlene Gustafson and
City Birds IV by Ginny Eckley

Innovation: Morning Hunt in the Everglades Melani Kane Brewer and
Paradise by Janis Jagodzinski

Craftsmanship: Home Landing by Nancy E. Kimpel

Viewer's choice: Home Landing by Nancy E. Kimpel

So, please comment on what were your favorites and why? If you can.