Enter Your Quilt Today for the AQS Quilt Show in Lancaster

There are just 14 days left to enter your quilt in the AQS Quilt Show & Contest - Lancaster, PA. The postmarked deadline is December 1, 2009. More than $42,000 in cash prizes will be awarded, with $10,000 going to the Best of Show winner. The rules for the AQS shows have changed - now you can enter your quilt in more than one AQS show. Click here to print a copy of the contest rules.

In July, Linda French won the Best of Show at the AQS Quilt Expo in Knoxville, Tennessee. It was her first entry in any contest. You could be the next big winner. Send your digital images and entry form to AQS today.

If you have any questions, contact Erin Ulrich, Contest Coordinator, at 270-898-7903, ext. 174, or erinulrich@AQSquilt.com.

Good Luck!

Lancaster Registration is Now Open!

Registration is now OPEN for the AQS Quilt Show & Contest in Lancaster, PA, March 24 - 27, 2010. If you ordered a printed registration guide, it was mailed yesterday (10/21/09). You can also print a copy of the registration guide from our Web site.

Here is the link for the Lancaster registration site: http://www.americanquilter.com/shows_contests/lancaster/2010/general_info/ .To navigate, click on one of the buttons related to the information you need: General Information, Contests, Registration, Vendors, or Teachers. You can register by U.S. Mail (just print and complete the registration form and mail it to us with your payment), by fax with credit card payment (270-898-1173), online with credit card payment, and by telephone (270-898-7903) beginning on November 3, 2009. As a reminder, you can only register for yourself online; if you need to register for additional people, call the AQS Show Office at 270-898-7903.

The show will be held at the Lancaster County Convention Center (LCCC – 3 East Vine Street) and Lancaster Marriott at Penn Square (headquarters hotel at 25 S. Queen St.), with quilt exhibits and vendors in Freedom Hall, the Commonwealth Ballroom, and the Heritage Ballroom. Additional special quilt exhibits and vendors will be located at Liberty Place Theatre & Conference Center (313 W. Liberty St.), a short shuttle ride away. Classrooms will be at the convention center, and more classrooms and the lecture hall will be across the street in Southern Market Center – all are located in downtown Lancaster. The Spring Quilt Blossom Festival is an AQS-sanctioned event and is located at the Continental Inn, Route 30 (2285 Lincoln Hwy E).

Quilt Contest: You can submit entries for the quilt contest now too. The deadline for submitting quilt entries is December 1...there are five categories:
Bed Quilts: A-Pieced
Bed Quilts: B-Appliqué
Wall Quilts: C-Wall Quilts
Wall Quilts: D-Pictorial Quilts
Special Category: E-Grand Geometrics - Created the Amish Way

Lodging: Now is the time to book your hotel room. Shuttle service will be provided complimentary to all attendees staying at AQS-approved lodging properties who booked through the Passkey reservation system. You can book online by visiting https://resweb.passkey.com/go/quilting, or by calling 1-800-PA Dutch (800-723-8824) for housing assistance.

Come enjoy the pastoral scenery in Amish country, hundreds of quilts, and a quilter's shopping paradise in the Merchant Mall. Make your plans today!

Photo credit: www.discoverlancasterpa.com / Terry Ross

Lancaster AQS Quilt Contest Rules are Online

Calling all quilters!

The rules for the AQS Quilt Show & Contest - Lancaster are online at www.AmericanQuilter.com, click on the Lancaster show. More than $44,000 in cash prizes will be awarded in five categories. The categories are: Bed Quilts - Pieced; Bed Quilts - Applique; Wall Quilts; Pictorial Quilts; and a special category: Grand Geometrics - Created the Amish Way.

The Best of Show winner will receive $10,000 in this contest. There will be a $5,000 Best Hand Workmanship, $5,000 Best Machine Workmanship, $5,000 Best Longarm Workmanship, and $3,000 Best Wall Quilt awards. There are additional prizes in each category of $1,500 for first place, $1,000 for second place, and $750 for third place.

One of the changes in the rules for the AQS quilt contests for 2010 is that you can enter any or all of our shows. Only those quilts that win cash awards in any of the AQS contests will be ineligible to be exhibited again in another AQS contest.

The winning quilts in the Lancaster show will be sent to Paducah for photography for the American Quilter magazine, and these quilts will be shown in a special exhibit in Paducah. The winning quilts from Lancaster will be shipped back to the makers after the Paducah show.

The deadline for entering the AQS Quilt Contest in Lancaster is December 1, 2009. That date will be here before we know it. You can send your entry to AQS any time - you don't need to wait until the deadline.

Remember, you can't win if you don't enter. The Best of Show winner in Knoxville entered a contest for the very first time. Enter your quilts today!

Good luck!