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Photo by Daniel Lai
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Mary Ann Fielder displays her quilt which will be judged at the AQS International Quilt Show in Paducah, Ky.
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As an artistic genre, it's hard to top quilting in popularity today in the United States. Roughly 27 million Americans - 17 percent of U.S. households — make quilts.
For Manchester resident Mary Ann Fielder, her love of quilting has paid off. Fielder has been selected as a semifinalist for the 24th Annual American Quilting Society International Quilt Show and Contest, April 23-26 at the Paducah Expo Center in Paducah, Ky.
"This is the first time I've been juried into this particular competition and I'm very excited," she said.
The pictorial wall quilt was one of was one of 395 quilts chosen from a field of 798 entries.
"This is the second pictorial quilt I have done which I made as a wedding gift for my niece and her husband," Fielder said.
The quilt, entitled "Fillyaw Forrest," depicts a classic woodsy scene near Manchester. It will now be sent to Paducah to compete against others within its own category.
According to the AQS, three quilting judges will grade each entry prior to the opening of the show. The individual quilt named Best of Show will earn a $20,000 prize and become part of the permanent collection in the Museum of the American Quilter's Society in Paducah. All 395 quilts will be displayed at the annual quilt show that brings more than 35,000 quilters, collectors, enthusiasts and vendors to the city each spring.
"I don't think it will win Best in Show, but its nice to be selected to compete," she said.
This year's entries include quilts from 43 states and 11 other countries, including Japan, Brazil, Australia and Italy. There are 16 categories in the contest. The quilts include bed-size quilts, large and small wall quilts and miniature quilts. Designs range from traditional to innovative original images.
Fielder said she has been quilting for nearly 25 years and has made about 40 different quilts.
"I used to have them on display at Elements Art Gallery when it was open," she said.
Fielder said she credits one her long-time friends for sparking her interest in the hobby.
"She started going to a quilting class and thought that it would be something that would interest me; I have been going ever since," Fielder said.
Though she has attended the quilting show for several years, Fielder said she has not been selected as an entrant since 1998, when she and several members of her quilting group won an award for a quilt that is now displayed at Arbor Hospice.
"That was a lot of fun because we had 14 members working on it together," she said.
In addition, two of her friends won the $20,000 grand prize in the past for a 90-inch quilt depicting songs from the 1960s British rock group The Beatles.
Fielders said over 100 hours are spent working on each quilt.
"It depends on what you want to do and the size of the quilt," she said. "The bulk of this one was done during a retreat over several days."
Over the years, Fielder she has learned to overcome some of challenging obstacles of the craft.
"Being able to stitch smoothly and working with a regular sewing machine can be tricky," Fielder said. "Getting a good sense of depth is hard to do."
One her favorite quilts, "Profusion," is a wall quilt Fielder designed years ago which features a stylistic tree with bright flowers and leaves.
"That was a lot of work," she said. "Normally I get ideas from quilting books or nature scenes, but this one I designed on my own and I really like it."
With her quilt included in this year's competition, Fielder said it has given her a renewed joy in the hobby.
"I'm not sure what's up next," she said. "I don't have any current plans to do another pictorial quilt right now, but I am working on a wall quilt for myself .
"I make a lot of gifts for my sisters and family and friends."
Editor Daniel Lai can be reached at 428-8173 or dlai@heritage.com.
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