One of the great machine quilting shows is here in Utah — and it was held last week. The show — HMQS, Home Machine Quilting Show — featured so many wonderful quilts. This blog post features the ones with a strong Handi Quilter connection.

HQ Studio Educator, Marie Eldredge, had three quilts on display. And one of them won a Teacher’s Choice award. The quilt is called Blush and Impulse. It’s no wonder it won an award!

Check out the close-up views of Marie’s exquisite quilting.

Here are the other two quilts by Marie.

The next quilt was by a former HQ Studio Educator, Mindy Powell. Her quilt, The Hummingbird, won a Judges’ Choice award in a SewBatik quilt challenge.

And another former Handi Quilter employee, Karlee Porter, won third place in the Utah’s Own quilt category for her Shimmering Symphony quilt. She quilted this on an HQ sit-down machine.

And these quilts by HQ Ambassadors Kim Brunner and Suzanne Hyland.

Kim’s quilt:

Suzanne’s quilt:

This is just a small taste of the magnificent quilts that were on display at HMQS. We hope you enjoyed seeing them.

Thanks to everyone who left comments. We so enjoyed reading your comments. But, alas, there is only one winner.

Congratulations to Julie B. who was the winner of a copy of Quiltmaker 100 Blocks Volume 7 from Handi Quilter and Quiltmaker magazine.

We want to let you know about an event that Handi Quilter is sponsoring with the nonprofit Quilt Alliance.

The event is a one-day educational conference called Not Fade Away: Sharing Quilt Stories in the Digital Age. It takes place on Saturday, July 20 at Floris United Methodist Church in Herndon, Virginia. The conference is designed to demonstrate the Alliance’s oral history projects and share techniques for documenting and sharing quilts using digital technologies and social media.

If you are someone who makes, collects, or appreciates quilts, both modern and vintage, you’ll want to consider attending this event. Admission to the conference is $45 for Quilt Alliance members, $55 for non-members (annual membership starts at $25/year).  Admission includes a coffee reception at registration, a boxed lunch, Quilt Alliance USB drive full of take-home resources, and one-day admission to Sacred Threads, an  international exhibition of quilts exploring themes of spirituality, joy, inspiration, peace/brotherhood, grief and healing.

The keynote speaker will be Janneken Smucker. She will speak about how and why people who love quilts — the makers, the owners, the users, the preservers — continually layer new meaning onto these objects. During the demonstration portion of the event, pioneering fabric designer and award-winning quilter Jinny Beyer will be interviewed for the Q.S.O.S. project by Luana Rubin.

Participants will also be able to choose two workshops from the following topics:

1. Self-Publishing for Quilters with Kyra Hicks.
2. Social Media for Quilters with Pat Sloan and Luana Rubin.
3. Taking Better Photos of Your Quilts with Meg Cox.
4. Label It. Today! with Leslie Tucker Jenison and Michele Muska.
5. Q.S.O.S. Volunteer Boot Camp with Pauline Macaulay and Emma Parker.

Seating for the conference is limited so early registration is encouraged. Not Fade Away conference details and online registration can be found on the Quilt Alliance website.

Since it was founded in 1993, the Quilt Alliance has had a mission to document, preserve and share the stories of quilts and their makers. The Alliance offers resources to help every quilt owner and maker document her or his own collection, so the quilts continue to carry their stories into the future. Help them celebrate their 20th anniversary in 2013 by becoming a member. For information, visit their website.