The 7th annual Quilt Alliance contest theme is TWENTY and all quilters who love quilt history and believe that every quilt has a story worth sharing are encouraged to enter. This year in honor of our 20th anniversary as a nonprofit organization, we celebrate “twenty”: the numeral, the concept, the quantity, the word. All techniques and materials are encouraged. Entries must be a quilt (3 layers–top, filling and backing) and conform to our contest guidelines. Postmark deadline for entries is May 1, 2013. The Grand Prize winner (to be chosen by a panel of three professional quilters/designers) will receive an HQ Sweet Sixteen machine quilting system by Handi Quilter, Inc.  Download entry forms here.

Here is a Tiny Desk Exhibition (love those NPR Tiny Desk Concerts) of Alliance contest quilts made by Alliance member Dr. Ramona Bates of Little Rock, Arkansas. Ramona donated these miniature beauties between 2009-2012 and each quilt now lives in the collection of a generous quilt fan. Click on the link below each quilt to see materials and techniques Ramona used along with her artist statements. These quilts are also documented in The Quilt Index, along with all Alliance contest quilts (browse them here).

Meet this Member!
Visit Ramona’s Blog, Sutured for a Living, and find out more about this talented plastic surgeon with a passion for piecing (and knitting, and dogs and knitted items for dogs…). Thank you, Ramona, for giving your time, talent and treasure to this organization. As you help us save the stories of quilts and quiltmakers, we are so proud to preserve and share your own quilt story.

I hope you enjoy this Tiny Desk Exhibition. Please share with a friend!

For the 2009 contest, “Crazy for Quilts”
04. “Still Crazy After All These Years”
Ramona Bates

For the 2010 contest, “New from Old”
14. “Label Me”
Ramona Bates

For the 2011 contest, “Alliances: People, Patterns, Passion”
38. “Redwork or You Should Have Seen It In Color”
Ramona Bates

For the 2012 contest, “Home Is Where the Quilt Is”
16. “Dog in the Yard”
Ramona Bates
Click here for materials & techniques and artist’s statement

Posted by Amy E. Milne
Executive Director, Quilt Alliance
amy.milne@quiltalliance.org