My spring travel season has officially begun, and it's off to a great start! Last week I hung out with the APQS crew working the booth at the AQS show in Lancaster, PA. In addition to the fun times in the booth (like this picture of Tony dressed up for St. Patrick's Day!), I also take some time walking around the show admiring all the beautiful quilts. I've found that each show has it's own character, and because Lancaster is in the middle of Amish country there tends to be a lot of hand quilting. There were quite a few masterpieces this year, and I wanted to share a few of my favorites with you! Claudia Scheja is a German quilter, and her work is amazing. I'm in love with the way she played with colors, creating a beautiful slow gradation from the green in the center to the purple at the edge. And the reverse applique along the edges portrays famous landmarks such as the Taj Mahal. Can you identify each structure? What do you think of the way this star is exploding out from the center of the quilt? The movement in the piecing and it's bright primary color scheme caught my eyes immediately. I'm always curious to see how quilters tackle big borders like this, and those medallions were a great way to fill in all that negative space! "Captain Kimo" was quilted by a fellow Kentucky girl and APQS owner, Nancy Sterett Martin. Nancy is a George owner, and this quilt won third place in the Wall Quilts - Home Machine Quilted category. This quilt blew me away! The texture she created in the feathers is incredible, she even quilted in more feathers than what she appliqued onto the quilt. And be sure to take a closer look at the looser plumage hanging off his chest. She loosely appliqued the fabric on, then frayed the edges to make them even more feather like. So clever and beautiful! Marilyn Badger's show quilts always require a lot of close ups because there are so many intricate details! Marilyn is an APQS master quilter, and this was my first time seeing her latest quilt called "Arandano." This quilt won for best original design, and I think you can see why. In each close up image you can see the long hours she put into the quilt, not only piecing and quilting, but also in the bead work, those teeny tiny applique circles, and the hand embroidery. I'm so in awe of her skills! I may not always agree with the Best of Show winner, but when I do it's because the quilt is absolutely AH-MA-ZING! Melissa Sobotka's "End of the Spin" is a work of art. This quilt is all hand appliqued and it depicts a collection of spools against a brick wall. Excuse me while I drool some more over the way she plays with light and shadow in this quilt. Angela Petrocelli calls this quilt "Why Not?" and I'm wondering how many of you will have the same thought as me when you see the close ups. Take a look at the ribbon in the picture below, and see how small those log cabins are? Do you have a long list of reasons why not now? This quilt won for Best Home Machine Workmanship, and it was well deserved! Those are probably 1/4" logs to make up a 2" square, and that's not even the smallest block in this large quilt. My eyes are crossing just thinking about putting this together! Andrea Brokenshire's "A Passion for Purple" was another quilt that I was so impressed with the way she played with light, color and texture in the applique and quilting. This quilt is so detailed it looks like she painted it. And look at how the quilting just adds to the texture of the petals and leaves. That pretty blue ribbon came from the Wall Quilts - Home Machine Quilted category. I absolutely love curved crosshatching, and I was so excited by the way Inger Blood quilted the curved crosshatching around the corner that I forgot to take a picture of the whole quilt. Oops! Luckily for you, Inger has a wide shot of this quilt and many more on her Pinterest page. You can see them here.