Tacoma & Association of Pacific West Quilters

The Association  of Pacific West Quilters (APWQ)  is a rebuild of the Association of Pacific Northwest Quilters (APNQ). A new group has taken on the job of showcasing quilting in Western Canada and the USA.

We stayed at the Courtyard Marriott ... an excellent hotel with a wonderful chef who made fresh omlettes every morning! Lots of great restaurants in the area.

Right across the street was the Tacoma Convention Center ... a bright  venue with lots of space.The stairways are supported in mid air.

When you looked closely at the windows, they are geophysical map lines of the area.

The show was well hung and lit with lots of room to stand back and admire.

It was great to see so many Canadian enties and winners! Congratulations to friends!

Emilie Belek First in Abstract.

Karen Jurek, Honorable Mention Large Traditional. 

FAN friends Donna Bray Zerelski - 'Where is the Ice' and Pippa Moore - 'There is an Elephant in my Garden' were great entries.

Ruffled Feathers by Roxanne Nelson earned another award!
Jane Willoby Scott took home an second in abstract.
Judy Leslie's 'Winds of Time' won many admiring looks. these ladies wanted me to tell her that this was their favorite!

I met and chatted with Faith McLeod about her wonderful quilt of her son with parrots.

Lots of great US quilts as well: Kathy'McNeil's 'Natural Wonders' was a beautiful scene from the San Juan Islands.Barbara Shapell's heron was superb!

You can probably guess that my heart's interest is the art quilts I keep saying 'That's my favorite ... no, that one'

There were many amazing traditional quilts in the show, especially some of those that were  hand quilted.

Special Exhibit 'Collective Threads' Excellent quality of work 8 panels cut from one photo and executed by 8 different attists.

Of the judges/teachers quilts, I really liked this: Branching Out by Andi Perejda

This quilt is an excellent example of the long arm quilting done with trupunto: Remembrance by Linda McCuean - source Bertha Stenge 

You can see the Best of Show, Viewer's choice awards: http://apwq.org/

Link to list of award winner's names: http://apwq.org/pwqs/2011%20AWARD%20WINNERS%20To%20Sue.pdf
Unfortunately, they have not posted the winning quilts.

Link to review of show by sandra leichner:
http://sandraleichner.com/wordpress/2011/08/30/review-of-the-apwq-quilt-show-very-long/

Travelling shows:
Living Colour: http://apwq.org/exhibits-lc.html and Spirit of the West

Upcoming Shows:     2012 - August 24-26      August 23 - 25

Having worked on planning for the Canadian Quilt Association National Juried Shows, I appreciate the work that goes into a large juried and judged show ... congratulations and thanks to all the volunteers ... you did a great job!