Headline News: Angela's Very First Quilt Takes a First Place Ribbon at Houston Quilt Festival!

This is TRULY headline news!  How would you feel if your very first quilt, that took you three years of intensive effort to make, took the First Place ribbon in Traditional Pieced Quilts at the Houston Quilt Festival?  Angela Petrocelli's feet haven't touched the ground in weeks -- ever since she got the notification that her quilt had won a prize.  When she got this communication she didn't know WHAT prize, just that her quilt had won.

Then, when she realized that her quilt was first in the entered category, the shock set in....

Let's give you some closeups of this incredible quilt and then I will tell you a bit about Angela and how I know her.

The quilt is named "Why Not?"

Let's get a little closer so you can see the incredible detail in the piecing.

And closer yet....

In Angela's words:  After purchasing my first sewing machine, my quilting friends said I should start with something simple.  I asked "Why?" and explained I had a vision of what I wanted to do.  Over 2,000 colors and 10,000 pieces later, I finished my first quilt and now I say, "Why Not?"

Angela used cotton fabrics and 60 wt. Mettler cotton thread for the piecing and 40 wt. Isacord thread for all of the free motion quilting that she did on this spectacular quilt.  Which brings me to how I know Angela.....

Angela lives in Prescott Valley AZ and, with her mom, has taken two of my machine quilting classes at Mulqueen Sewing Center in Mesa.  She freely confessed that she was a beginner and would I please bear with her because she knew she was going to have a lot of questions.  And she did!  We had some very good discussions during class work time that were more in depth than what is presented in these classes.  She just soaked it in and was one of those students that not only listens and learns, but goes home, practices and puts everything she has learned into use.

Angela gets to quilt every day and, of course, her skill got better and better as she kept putting in the hours to perfect her skills.  When she came to the Mettler thread booth where I was working at Quilt Festival, her excitement over the first place win was contagious!  I met her the next day in the aisle where her quilt was hanging and we made a video that explains her thinking behind the making of this quilt.

You may have to turn up your volume a bit to hear everything she has to say -- Angela has a pretty soft voice!

I think that says it all -- Congratulations, Angela, on a beautiful quilt and a well deserved first prize.....

And did I tell you she also won "Viewer's Choice"?  Wowie, zowie!  What an adventure for her first quilt, but knowing Angela, she'd say "Why Not???"

And the best news of all? Angela is only 35 years old, so we are likely to see more stunning quilts from this very talented lady!