Mike and I are back from the AQS Quilt Show in Charlotte, NC. It always feels so good to sleep in your own bed and we are trying to catch up on our sleep. This working for a living is exhausting! Saturday morning before the show opened I was able to walk around to see the beautiful quilts that were on display. Walking around the show before it actually opens is one of the perks of having a booth and enjoying the quilts without a crowd. I was able to take some pictures of a few of my favorites and wanted to share them with you.
For those of you that follow Mr. Laura and his trusty minion, Dave, I saw these minion cousins and didn’t think Dave would mind too much if I included them in the post.
There was an entire section of beautiful appliqued quilts from Tentmakers of Cairo and they were all for sale.
Mr. Laura (Mike) is a huge dragon and science fiction fan so I took this picture for him. The machine quilting on this is amazing and was made by Cathy Wiggins from Macon, NC.
Look at the detail of some of Cathy’s quilting, I am in awe!
This quilt is titled “More Than a Memory” made by Kathy McNeil of Tulalip, Washington. A little girl is sitting under the tree reading her book, but just to the left of the tree Kathy has machine quilted two young lovers leaning up against the tree kissing. The detail is wonderful. Kathy has made the border of the quilt look like a wooden frame and from a distance it looks like a painting but it’s all pieced. What a work of art! She won a 2nd prize for the quilt and is very deserving of it. 
I love the title of this one, “Jane as a Teenager” made by Anya Tyson of Wellsboro, Pennsylvania
This quilt called “Flower Garden in Red and Black” made by Mary Owens of St. Louis, MO is one of my favorite color combinations and would be a great quilt to make using a charm pack. I love the simplicity of the patchwork with the row of pieced flowers.
I am seeing more and more “modern quilts” and they are growing on me. I love the machine quilting that they can showcase. This one titled “Modern Views” made by Victoria Findlay Wolfe from New York, NY is a great example of that.
I still love a traditional quilt and there are still lots of beautiful ones to see. This one was made by Gail H. Smith from North Barrington, IL, titled Rose for Katrina. She won a 2nd place ribbon for it and I can see why. 
Quilts come in all shapes and sizes, like this one titled “Let’s Thai One On” by Phyllis Kluger in Berkley, CA
This adorable alphabet quilt titled “A to Z for Ewe and Me” made by Janet Stone of Overland Park, Kansas won Best Innovative Quilt
I really enjoyed looking at the quilts and congratulate everyone who entered, it was a great show.