See the incredible work which won the Houston Quilt Festival!

Wow!

Many heartfelt congratulations to Cynthia England for her Handiquilter’s Best of Show at Houston International Quilt Festival!

The last couple of years my friend Nancy and I would search the AQS Paducah show book to see if our “buddies” from England Design were going to be there and we were disappointed to see they were not. I can see now that Cynthia has been a bit busy.

BEST OF SHOW Cynthia Enland

BEST OF SHOW
Cynthia England

Considering this quilt, Reflections of Cape Town, has 8400 pieces, I can see why she was no longer making hundreds of butterflies to demo her technique in her show booth!

I have to say, though, we didn’t just search out the England Design booth to enjoy browsing through her patterns and studying her large masterpieces on display, we liked to visit our “England friends” each year–and they remembered us from year to year. While I can’t think of any vendors who weren’t friendly, these folks were just a little extra special.

Now I’m wishing I had spent a little more effort looking up what Cynthia was up to because I understand that this is her THIRD Best of Show in Houston!

So, what does this mean for me?  It’s time to get out that half-finished, “aging”, England Design kit that I bought years ago and work it up! This little beauty is called Old Grist Mill. Cynthia’s technique is called Picture Piecing and you work on the front of the fabric and there are no papers to tear out of your finished product. For the record, I don’t have a problem with paper piecing, once I get past those first two pieces (blush), but this method is a little more forgiving, and I do appreciate that!

Old Grist Mill by Cynthia England

Old Grist Mill
by Cynthia England

Go to Cynthia’s gallery to see all of her wonderful quilts!

There’s one thing I remember about the England Design booth in Paducah: you walked out of the booth knowing and remembering ONE thing: This is NOT paper piecing.

Have you ever tried this method? Tell my about your experience with making landscape or picture quilts.

Sign up for email notifications and I’ll let you know when my next post goes live!