FOQ TWELVE: winners

A comprehensive list, pictures and description appears on Nicola Foreman's blog. A miniature quilt winning best of show makes the point that all categories are eligible and that it is as hard or harder to make a tiny quilt with all the elements of a large one. However the whole point of these is how she/he she do that and the technical ability involved; I don't think a miniature can ever have the graphic impact and resonance of a full size human scale piece which can be viewed from a distance or in close up. Of course I write from the perspective of a traditional quilter who likes body sized quilts!

Judith Lynch: Sticks and stones 1
This is the Modern Quilts winner and deploys many familiar elements, negative space, narrow
inserts of lines and a cross, neutral background, use of white, minimal colour and
dense walking foot quilting. It's a very nice quilt but I would have liked to see more of the i
individuality that was the hallmark of the first modern quilts.

Detail

Annelize Littlefair: The trouble with magenta, hot or cold
Traditional quilt winner., Again, technique seems to be the main factor in this choice from last year's best of show winner, a longarmer. Again in something relatively small I hould have liked to see more variety of elements and less conventional quilting designs. Again though, a very nice quilt and there is nothing "wrong" about it but not enough for me!

Birgit Schuller: The Sprinter
Winner of The Quilters' Guild Challenge and a super quilt with many levels of complexity with the dynamic visual impact
from a distance, the capture of runners in full flight, the foreground one echoed by a shadowy front runner, restrained and rather unexpected use of green, subtly textured choice of background and wonderful quilting composition which carries the theme forward with start to finishing positions. I love the varying scales and repetitions of depicted figures all subservient to that single
knockout image.

Detail

Mary Palmer and Anne Kiely: Tidings
Winner of the two person section. I love this quilt because of the balnced sections, use of colour
and beautiful delicate motifs. This quilt is an artistic collaboration while many quilts in the
two person section are large professionally long armed quilts. I imagine this makes it very hard to
 judge.

Philippa Naylor: Measure for measure
Miniature winner and Best of Show. Philippa's work on any scale is exquisite and finely
detailed as this tiny beautifully edged quilt demonstrates to perfection.

Friday Frolics: The four seasons
Group quilts create the same judging problems as two person quilts, ranging groups of expert artistic works alongside
regular group quilts by a group with a range of abilities perhaps made to raise money for charity or for local display.
This quilt neatly straddles the two with its four separate sections (a construction solution often resorted to by the
 artistic collaborators), use of a cohesive theme and background shading but combined with traditional Dresden Plate
blocks and fabrics from various stashes.