This past weekend scores of visitors stopped by the annual Sycamore Stitchers Quilt Show to view the many beautiful quilts and cast their votes for their favorites.
Upon entering the quilt show, visitors were given a voting ballot to mark their favorite quilt in each category and also a plastic glove to wear while handling the quilts.
For the contest, quilts were divided into nine categories: Hand Quilted Bed Quilts, Machine Quilted Bed Quilts, Baby Quilt, Long Arm Quilt, Holiday Wall Hanging, Juvenile/Lap Quilt, Wall Hanging, Miniature Wall Hanging, and the Sycamore Stitchers Challenge. Each year the Sycamore Stitchers Challenge is different. This year, the challenge was titled, “Here We Go-A-Caroling,” and quilters were asked to interpret a Christmas Carol in their work.
Around 50 entries were submitted for the contest, which quilting guild members said was up from the number of entries in 2015.
The show was open Thursday through Sunday in the Gathering Room inside the Sycamore Shoals State Historic Park’s Visitor’s Center.
After the show closed, guild members tallied the votes and awarded special ribbons to the winners in each of the categories.

• Hand Quilted Bed Quilt — Lin Dutton, of Erwin, won this category for her quilt named “Renfield’s Flower Garden.”
In the description for the hand quilted and hand appliqued quilt, Dutton said “I worked on this quilt for 3 years off and on as time allowed. It is in memory of my Mom who passed away while she was working on it in 2014. Renfield was my 21-and-a-half year old cat who passed last year. It is named for her.”

• Machine Quilted Bed Quilt —Lucy Terry, of Johnson City, won this category for her quilt named “Alaskan Beauties.”
In the description for the machine quilted and machine appliqued quilt, Terry said “We love Alaska and have visited many times. This quilt represents many of the beautiful animals and mountains we have seen. The book with patterns, Portraits of Alaska, was given to me by a dear friend, Michele Hart.”

• Baby Quilt — James Heaton, of Elizabethton, won this category with a quilt called “Mother Goose” that was pieced and quilted by his mother, Dorothy Heaton. The description for the quilt said “the quilted top was pieced with extra batting to make the goose stand out. This quilt is made for a baby girl with a little stuff toy for the baby to play with. Both quilt and toy are washable.”

• Long Arm Quilt — Rachel Phipps, of Elizabethton, won this category with her quilt titled “Ruffled Roses.”
The description said the quilt was machine pieced and appliqued by Rachel Phipps and long arm quilted by Nancy Martin. The quilt features a Sue Garman pattern. “I wanted it to be bigger so I added the rose bud pattern,” Phipps said in the quilt description. “A picture was sent to Sue Garman and she was pleased with the addition. It is on her blog, Nov. 1, 2015.

• Holiday Wall Hanging — Patricia Rupe, of Butler, won this category with her entry titled “Christmas Sampler Quilt.”
The description said the wall hanging was appliqued, pieced and embellished by Patricia Rupe and was quilted by Jan Olm. “This is one of the first quilts I made,” Rupe said in the description. “I made this quilt for my Mom, who has since passed away.”

• Juvenile/Lap Quilt — Sandra Buckman, of Johnson City, won this category with her entry titled “School Days.”
The quilt was machine pieced, appliqued and quilted by Sandra Buckman. It was a Pit Designs kit, but Buckman added two additional borders to the kit according to the quilt description. “I saw this kit at the Cherry Pit in Sevierville last year and I had to get it for my great niece in California, since her school mascot is an owl,” Buckman said in the description.

• Wall Hanging — Joyce Stiltner, of Gray, won this category with her entry titled “Starry, Starry Night.”
The quilt was paper pieced and machine quilted by Joyce Stiltner using a pattern from Stained Glass Quilts by Liz Schwartz and Stephen Seifert, according to the quilt description. “This was going to be my Sycamore Stitchers Challenge for last year but I didn’t have it completed in time,” Stiltner said in the description.

• Miniature Wall Hanging — Eloise Kominek, of Johnson City, won this category with her entry titled “Apple Time.”
The quilt was pieced and quilted by Eloise Kominek and features curved piecing, quilting and applique by machine according to the quilt description. “This wall hanging patter caught my attention when it was featured on the cover of a quilting magazine,” Kominek said in the description.

• Sycamore Stitchers Challenge – “Here We Go-A-Caroling” — Jeanie Johnson, of Elizabethton, won this category with her quilt titled “Stained Glass Manger Scene.”
The quilt was pieced and machine quilted by Jeanie Johnson using a stained glass construction and embellished with crystals according to the quilt description. Johnson chose “O Holy Night” as her favorite Christmas song to depict with her quilt. “Silent Night” would be her second favorite. “I get very emotional hearing both songs,” Johnson said in the description.
For more information on the Sycamore Stitchers quilting guild, visit their website at www.sycamorestitchers.com.