The Piney Woods Quilt Festival held at the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame lon April 17-18, 2009,  featured the nicest collection of high quality quilts of any small show in the area according to viewers.  The attendance was the largest ever, in spite of the heavy rains in the area.  The show is an annual event and has gained in quality and recognition with exhibitors this year from nine counties. 

The Festival is a judged quilt show with a total of 110 quilts being displayed, including 87 bed quilts and 23 small quilts and projects.  Every quilt is a winner whether for its workmanship, the originality of its creative idea, the sentiment, or just the simple victory of completion.   There were quilts with hundreds of tiny detailed blocks pieced with amazing precision and quilts with appliquéd art that defies description – a grandmother’s quilt featuring tiny embellished dresses made from her granddaughter’s dress fabrics, a Thanksgiving wall hanging and a pumpkin pieced in 3-D.  You truly have to see them to appreciate.

Three quilts in each category are recognized for outstanding features.  This year’s recognized quilts by category are:

Hand pieced and quilted

1          "Dear Jane" by Elizabeth Atchison
2          "Purple Quilt for Peggy" by Ouida Dean
3          none entered

Machine Pieced and Machine Quilted
1          "Double Trouble" by Joan Stevenson
2          "Ribbons and Rosebuds" by Louise Ashy
3          "Waldrop Crossword Puzzle" by Reba O'Shields

Combination - Machine Pieced and Hand Quilted
1          "Christmas Log Cabin" by Reba O'Shields
2          "Roses in the Woodpile" by Country Patches
3          " A is for Aaron" by Susie Evers

Hand Embellished Embroidery and Appliqué
1           "Pineapple" by Jimmie Dollins
2           "Precious Memories" by Pat Curtis
3           "Tulips Entwined Log Cabin" by Amanda Choate

Machine Embellished Embroidery and Appliqué
1           "Rosebuds" by Martha Kenderdine
2           "Pretty in Purple" by Winnie Morris
3           " Blue Log Cabin with Flowers" by Kathryn Schexnayder

Small Quilts and Projects
1           "A Chip Out of Every Block" by Janice Kimmey
2           "Indian Paintbrush" by Lee Shands
3           "Pumpkins Galore" by Charlotte Wells 

Best of Show – Elizabeth Atchison - "Dear Jane"
Viewers' Choice – "Precious Memories" - Pat Curtis
Members' Choice - "The Painted Desert" by Susie Evers, "Tulips Entwined Log Cabin" by Amanda Choate and "Lullaby for Grace" by Mary Fussell

Photo Gallery of 2009 Quilt Festival