When I arrived last Tuesday, the Hyatt was waiting for the quilters!
For two years, one of my quilts hung over the front desk, but two years ago something happened that changed that. An antique pine tree quilt of mine was hanging there and disappeared over night. The show director almost had a heart attack when she found that it was missing the following morning. But, never fear, it was just a housekeeping error. The caterer thought it was for an event held in the evening and removed it, placing it in a banquet room. Eventually, it was discovered and returned to the show director. She made the decision to hang it in the exhibit hall where there are guards 24/7 so that another error like that could not happen. Now, all quilts are hung in the exhibit hall, but I do miss having a theme quilt hanging in the lobby to welcome the quilters to the Hyatt!
After checking in on Tuesday, June 12, I helped hang some of the show. What fun that is! Actually seeing the quilts up close and personal -- wearing white gloves, of course!
Wednesday was spent on more setup, and then most of the rest of the week I spent here.
Glenn Taylor has been the registrar for the show for several years and I was privileged to work with him to help those who pre-registered pick up their name badges, totes and show pins. It was sometimes very fast paced with lines of quilters eager for the show to begin! That is Glenn in the middle and a volunteer on the right. Volunteers are the lifeblood of the show!
Wednesday night brings the Preview Party featuring a dinner where the show winners are announced followed by the first opportunity to see the quilts. Oh, yes, the vendors were all waiting in their booths as well -- lots of vendors with lots of "stuff". Let the party begin!
My friend, Diane, and I joined this group of quilters from New York.
That is Barbara Arnold (no relation) in the middle. She was the Certified Teacher of the year either last year or the year before. She is also from New York.
These ladies are from New york, too, except for Diane, who is shown in front (right side). We had a delicious chicken meal that night.
There were approximately 270 at the preview party -- lots of tables of 10!
Judy Taylor, president of NQA and several of the board members as well as the two other show chairpersons were at a table near the front.
Of course there HAD to be some chocolate!
Judy welcomed us all to the 42nd NQA show.
Two of the judges were present to announce the Judge's Choice awards.
The third judge had to leave after the judging so another judge made her announcement. While the NQA show is a non-juried show, Certified Judges do the judging and make comments that the quilters get when their quilts are returned so they know what they are doing well and where improvement might be needed. Feedback like this helps us improve with each quilt we make.
Drum roll please!
The co-directors Karen Blocher, Linda Miller and Judy Taylor announced the list of winners and photos of the quilts appeared here.
You can go to www.nqaquilts.org to see the list of winners.
My favorite was America, Let It Shine by Sherry Reynolds from Laramie, WY. I had the privilege of meeting her and spending a bit of time with her -- she is delightful and her quilt was exquisite!
While I'd love to show you the quilts here, it would be a copyright violation as the show book asked that no one use images of the quilts on their blogs or web sites.
I'll share more of the show happenings in the next post.
I'm exhausted -- happy, but it was a busy 6 days with little sleep!
xoxoXOXOxoxo
Lois
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