Exhibiting Your Quilt At International Quilt Festival in Houston

Updated for 2022

In December of 2020, International Quilt Association was dissolved and the judged show known as World of Beauty was moved under the organization of International Quilt Festival and is called the International Quilt Festival's Judged Show.

The major change is that there are far fewer categories in the judged show than there were in World of Beauty. There used to be 22 categories, now there are eight.

As with any exhibition, read the rules. Everything is covered there. 

For 2022, entries for the Judged Show are due May 26 at 1 pm CT. (If I were you, I'd just tell myself the deadline was May 25 at midnight so I didn't get caught by the odd timing of the actual deadline.)

Also for Special Exhibits (different than the judged show), previously there was no entry fee. Now Special Exhibits require a $20 entry fee and artists must pay for shipping their work to and from Festival. 

The following is a blog post originally written in February of 2020. 

Quilt Festival is the biggest quilt show in the United States. It's a fantastic event held at the end of October in the Houston convention center every year. Exhibiting a quilt at Quilt Festival is a dream for many quilters.

I've exhibited work at Quilt Festival for several years and I think I have the hang of the system. I've heard lots of confusion about the details, so here's my overview. Obviously, don't depend on me as the expert. Check the official website if you have questions. But I hope this provides a big picture of how it all works.

First, there are two general classifications for quilts show on the show floor.

Judged Exhibition known as World of Beauty (WOB)

organized by the non-profit member organization International Quilt Association, IQA 

quilts.org

Special Exhibitions

organized by the company that puts on International Quilt Festival and Market, Quilts, Inc.,  quilts.com

The similarities between those web addresses (.org vs .com) can be confusing. Now you know to note the difference.

World of Beauty takes up about 25% of the show floor. Everything else is special exhibits as seen in this map from the 2019 show. WOB is the big block in the bottom center.

Quilts Inc also has a smaller shows and market events in other locations. Some special exhibitions are also shown at those events. This post focuses on entering exhibitions in Houston.

World of Beauty

• This exhibition is juried and judged. That means you submit an image of your quilt to be considered/juried into the show. Then all the accepted quilts are judged (in person, not from images) and prizes are awarded. Entry info here.
• There are three jurors and three different judges every year. They are announced and introduced at the Winners Circle event which occurs on Tuesday evening before Festival opens on Wednesday evening. 
• There are eight big awards in WOB. Best of Show comes with a $12,500 prize! The Founders' Award and the World of Beauty Award win $7500. Contemporary Artistry, Machine Artistry, Innovative Artistry and Thread Artistry all win $5000. These seven prizes also include travel and lodging to Quilt Festival.
• There are 22 categories defined by size, theme and technique. In each category, judges chose a first, second and third place. Honorable mentions are sometimes also named. First wins $1000. Second wins $700. Third wins $300. See the list of all the winners from 2019 here. 
• You must be a member of International Quilt Association to enter WOB. You can pay your $25 membership fee as part of your entry.
• Members can enter two quilts in WOB. Entry is $30 per quilt.
• Official information about entry isn't released until sometime in March maybe.
• Entry deadline is usually mid to late May. Acceptances are announced in mid-July. Quilts must be delivered by mid-August. Winners are contacted in mid-September (so they can plan to come to to the awards ceremony, if they wish. They don't tell you what you've won, just that you're on the winners list.) Quilts are returned by the end of November.
• You pay to send your quilt to Houston and must also pay return shipping. IQA uses a formula including the size of the quilt and your location to determine what you have to pre-pay for them to send your quilt back to you. (It can be more than you think it should be.) Or you can send a prepaid label using your personal FedEx or UPS account. 
• Your quilt must not include any "work for hire" to enter WOB. That means if you paid someone to quilt it, it doesn't qualify. 
• Quilts must have been completed after January 1 two years before the show. (Quilts for the 2019 show had to be completed after January 1, 2017.)
• There are lots of other rules listed clearly in the entry info.
• Your WOB quilt may be for sale. If it sells, 20% of the price will be donated to IQA. (I've sold three quilts from Festival. There is a buying audience!)
• More than 55,000 attend Quilt Festival. It's a great opportunity to get your work seen by lots of people!

Hey! It's me and my quilt, Day Break, which was part of World of Beauty in 2019 in the Whimsical category.

Special Exhibits 

• Every year there are several special exhibits on the show floor. Entry info here. 
• Quilts Inc organizes some special exhibits that return every year including Tactile Architecture, Hands All Around and In Full Bloom.
• Quilts Inc also organizes some special exhibits that are one-time-only. In 2020, they will include Fine China and Math and Science. 
• These special exhibits are juried and entries are usually due in mid-April.
• Quilts Inc is currently updating their entry system and hope to have entries open in March.
• Size and date requirements are listed for each exhibit. 
• These special exhibits generally are not judged and are not awarded prizes. 
• In the past, there has been no entry free for these special exhibits. You pay to ship your quilt to Houston. They pay return shipping. 
• Quilts Inc also takes proposals for special exhibits by individuals, organizations and companies.
• These special exhibits include things like the Cherrywood Challenge, collections from groups like Dinner at Eight Artists, and collections by individuals like the log cabin quilts by Amy Pabst in 2019. 
• For more info about the proposal process you can email Special Exhibits Manager, Becky Navarro at beckyn @ quilts . com
• Special exhibits by individuals, organizations or other groups generally require a sponsor or must pay fees for shipping, handing and hanging the quilts.
• Studio Art Quilt Associates always has beautiful exhibits in a special gallery section on the show floor. 

The Studio Art Quilt Associates special exhibits in 2019.

I hope this is a good overview. Enter your quilts!

Classes and Quilts at International Quilt Festival

It's such a pleasure and an honor to teach at Festival! I've already got kits in the works, so I'd love to see you in the classroom. You can register here. 

Here's my schedule.

Thursday, November 2 from 2 to 5 pm: Small Stitched Landscapes (class number 478)

Friday, November 3 from 10 to noon: Mixed Media Sampler Creating Original Stencils (event number 556)

Friday, November 3 at 3 pm: All About Art Quilts Lecture (event number 563)

Saturday, November 4 from 9 am to 5 pm: Creativi-Tree Art Quilts (class number 711)

Sunday, November 5 from 9 am to noon: Techniques with Paint and Ink (class number 801)

You can read details about these workshops on my workshops page on my website. But don't look at the supply lists. They are different from Festival and you'll need to refer to the Festival website for info about kits and supplies.

I'll also have some art quilts on the show floor. (It's my year of ladders.)

You can see Rising Resting in the Personal Iconography exhibition.

Limbs, Ladders, Roots and Rocks will be in the Art Miniature category of the judged shows.

Rising Setting will be in the Matter of Time textile exhibition curated by my friend Brenda Gael Smith who will be there with the quilts!

The very very best part of Festival is the people! I get to see friends from all over the country, meet new students, connect with people who have enjoyed my book and talk with a bunch of people who love creating with fabric! If you see me, please come say hi!

Enjoying every stitch!

When I was at Quilt Market in Houston, I was delighted to see Carrie Bloomston. We've met before (I'm not sure where... maybe just through friends of friends in the online world.) and she warmly welcomed me into her gypsy tent introducing her fabric line, Dreamer, with Windham.

A few months later, she posted some fabric scrap packs for sale on Facebook and Instagram. On a whim, I treated myself. They sold fast and I was excited to get one. You can't really see them all here. It was a wonderfully fat bundle.

Later Carrie shared that selling the scrap packs allowed her to put down a payment on a studio outside her home, enabling new adventures and dreams for her professional and creative life. I found that quite gutsy and inspiring.

I wanted to use the fabric to generate some new adventure and dreams for my own professional and creative life. I set out to create several small art quilt collages each using at least one of Carrie's prints and some kind of shape symbolizing ideas to pursue and celebrate in 2017.

Here are the six finished art quilts. They are all 5x7 inches.

For Nourishment

The triangles on green are from Carrie's scrap pack.

For Growth

The bee is from the fabric collection.

For Family

The green fabric with the white plus that says "birds flying" is from Carrie's fabric. Does this symbolize Claire getting ready to fly away from home? Maybe. I loved stitching those tiny birds.

For Momentum

The blue bit with the selvedge at the top is from Carrie's line. I love incorporating an interesting selvedges.

For Stability

The bit under the rocks is a print from the fabric pack. This little collage surprised me the most. It took me a long time to put all the right fabrics, shapes, colors and stitches in just the right place -- now I think it's my favorite of the collection.

For Lightness

The green triangle points at the bottom (and on the left edge) are from the fabric collection. You can see I used a bit of my favorite stripe here too! You know the phrase, "Light as a feather?" Here I am thinking of clarity, buoyancy, illumination.

These were a delight to make. I enjoyed every stitch. They are all framed and available in my Etsy shop.

In addition to sales of the artwork, I will be developing a workshop around this series. It will be about personal symbols, simple compositions, working in a series, creating small art and enjoying every stitch! 

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Eleven Quilts and Some Beetles

I did a better job of tracking my quilt inventory and production in 2016. I'm hoping to refine that process more in 2017. Goodness... I made a bunch of art quilts!

I hope you'll enjoy this review of my 2016 collection!

Nourished, 31.5 x 34

I created this quilt for Studio Art Quilt Associates call for entry for the exhibition Tranquility though it was not accepted. I was featured in an article I wrote for Art Quilting Studio. You can see a bunch of in-progress pictures here.

Depleted, 31.5 x 34

I created this quilt for Studio Art Quilt Associates call for entry for the exhibition Turmoil, which was shown alongside the Tranquility exhibit. It was also not accepted, but was also featured in the article in Art Quilting Studio.

Brimming, 8 x 6

This small piece was a donation to the SAQA Spotlight Auction which is a fundraising event that occurs at the annual conference. It sold for $120.

Cultivate, 8 x 6

This is another donation to the SAQA Spotlight Auction at the annual conference. It sold for $125. A few more pictures from these two quilts here.

Elixer, 11 x 8

I created this piece with Misty Cole's super cup Poison Bottle block-of-the-month pattern. More about that process and the patterns in this blog post. 

Small Multitudes, 12 x 12

This is my annual donation to the SAQA Benefit auction. I've donated for seven years in a row, I think. This piece sold for $250. You can read about how I created it in this blog post. 

Blue Roof, 27 x 27

I created this piece to enter in the Tactile Architecture special exhibition at the International Quilt Festival. It was not accepted. I began work on another piece with several of the same fabrics and shapes. It's still in-progress and has much more potential than this piece which I definitely not my favorite of the pieces I finished in 2016. There's a short video of those two quilts here. 

Provisions, 40 x 40

This was my entry into the annual Dinner at Eight special exhibit. This year the theme was "Patterns." It was accepted and was on exhibit at Quilt Festival in Houston. It will be shown again at Quilt Festival in Chicago. You can read about the process of putting this piece together here. 

Uplifting, 26 x 18

This was created for Pokey Bolton's memorial exhibition celebrating the life of Yvonne Porcella. The exhibit will be shown again at Craft Napa in January.

Beetle Pincushions

Obviously, these are not quilts, but they were a super fun creative project I created to show case Leslie Tucker Jenison's new fabric line. They will appear in an upcoming issue of Modern Patchwork.

Limbs, Ladders, Roots and Rocks, 20 x 20

I created this piece in a frenzy of preparation for the International Quilt Festival. I posted daily updates of its progress on Instagram and FB. You can see all those photos compiled here.

Crocus Arrangement, 10 x 7

One last piece in 2016 (unless I can finish something up in the next three days). This is my submission to the SAQA Trunk show which is a group of art quilts that are sent to regional groups, visual arts leagues, schools and small exhibition settings. This piece began as a step-out for my appearance on Quilting Arts TV. It was the perfect time to finish it up and share it with SAQA.

On to 2017!

Chatting with Ricky Tims

I was delighted to chat with Ricky Tims of The Quilt Show while I was at Quilt Festival in Houston. Here's the video! Click here to view it on YouTube.



We really did sing a bunch of Hamilton together right after I introduced myself as a Hamilton fan. It was super fun! I wish they would have recorded that!

You may be seeing me with Ricky again sometime soon. Hint, hint!

Step by Step Creative Process

A week or so before International Quilt Festival, I decided I really wanted one more art quilt collage to bring to share with students as an example of my process layering fabric, paint and stitch. I posted all these in-progress pictures on Instagram and Facebook and it was super fun to get day-to-day feed back and encouragement from my followers.

Here's a review of the whole process.

I started with a simple idea of a line of trees. I sketched the trees on parchment paper.


Then transferred the line to pre-fused fabric and cut it out.


I was left with two strips of red trees.


I was initially thinking I'd create two quilts and I auditioned some fabric palettes and color stories.



I liked the light green, but wanted to make it a little more interesting. I printed a weird blobby shape with a toilet paper tube on one piece of the green.



I added handwriting to the other strip of green.


Additional fabrics were gathered.


After much back-and-forth, arranging, rearranging, slicing, adjusting and fretting, I finally settled on this very simple composition for the background layer of design.


I decided to return to the ladder motif that I've used in other quilts lately. I created a sample ladder to think through color, size and placement.



I was a tiny bit concerned about the contrast of the bottom of the legs of the brown ladder sitting on the red strip.

I solved this by adding a wavy very light tan strip at the top of the red.


Waiting for ladders to be constructed. By this point, I'd abandoned the idea of creating two quilts before my trip to Houston. Not enough time. (But I'll get back to that second strip of red trees soon.)


Slow and steady fusing of ladders.

I've got four ladders fused in place. Now what?


Seriously, I didn't really have a plan at this point. Eventually, I decided to create a large tree that would go from the top to the bottom of the quilt, probably painted using a freezer paper stencil. First, I'd need to draw the tree. I spent more time on this than probably any other step in the process thus far. "Drawing" is not easy for me.


Eventually I mostly settled on this. I've sketched on parchment paper so that I could place the drawing over the quilt to think carefully about how the tree will interact with the other elements already designed.


Then I transfer to drawing to freezer paper and mark the pieces so I can put it back together after it's cut out.


Here I've fused the tree shape to the quilt just to see how it looks. This is the "positive" part of the freezer paper stencil. When I add the paint, I'll be using the "negative" part.


I decided the tree was a bit too full, so I pruned some of the branches. See the difference?


Oops. Before I painted the stencil, I remembered I wanted to add stones in the blue section at the bottom, so those got cut and fused in place.



Then I fused the freezer paper stencil over the whole quilt. This part feels a little scary. Once the paint is added, there's no going back. (See what I mean about positive and negative parts?)


I love how the stencil nestles right over this one tree in the red strip.


Begin adding paint, very light at first.


I've peeled back the stencil to check the contrast between the blue paint and the dark green top section. Surprisingly, it shows up really well. I was concerned I'd need to make it lighter, but the blue worked just fine.


I did need to make the roots section lighter using tan paint.


Here's the entire painted tree!


Notice how the tan roots blend up into the trunk section. I designed the roots to overlap some of the stones. I love this layered effect.


I wanted the quilt to measure 20x20, so I'm checking as I go to make sure none of the element will fall off the edge when cropped, or be too far from the edge making the quilt look off center.


Here I've taken a picture of the quilt and printed it out to mark up possible stitching designs for both free motion quilting and hand embroidery.


It seems like I didn't take too many pictures as I was stitching. Here I'm auditioning thread colors.


And all the stitching is finished! For hand stitching, I did yellow stars at the top, several red French knots nestled in the stones, and a simple line of green stitching connecting that wavy line to the background. For machine stitching, I added my beloved arch at the top. I outlined the red trees in yellow to make them stand out a bit. I stitched a leaf motif in the light green area with a matching thread to add very subtle texture. The trees and stones were also outlined with free motion stitching and additional stones were stitched into the blue section.


Squaring up.


I finished the edge with a simple zig zag with a beautiful top stitching thread.


And it's finished! Limbs, Ladders, Roots and Rocks 20x20"


A few details. Here you can see the free motion stitched leafy motif in the background.


An angled shot shows the French knots.


Want to see the back?


I really enjoyed the whole process of creating this quilt and I'm delighted with the results. Many of the techniques are straight out of my book Art Quilt Collage: A Creative Journey in Fabric, Paint and Stitch.

If you're interested in exploring this sort of creative process with me, I'll be teaching a five day workshop at Quilting Adventures in New Braunfels, TX from March 26 to 31, 2017.
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