Quilt National opening day

Quilt National '11, the biennial juried show, opened this evening at the Dairy Barn in Athens OH.  Best in show went to Bonnie Bucknam for her quilt "Crater."  It's not only a beautiful composition from across the room, it's gorgeous up close where you can see her beautiful dense quilting.

I've had the privilege of being in several workshops and master class retreats with her at Nancy Crow's barn, and watched her cut and piece many quilts in this same "Geology" series.  Even when I sat next to her for two weeks and watched the fabric going up on the design wall, I was never sure how she was going to make it all fit together, or make those complex curved seams lie flat.  But she always made it work.

In my opinion, it's a well-deserved award for Bonnie.