Local quilters semi-finalists at international show

Marlene Oddie of Grand Coulee, and former local resident Nancy Cargo, now from Port Angeles, Washington, are semi-finalists at one of the biggest juried quilt shows in the country.

The two have been chosen to display the quilt, 24 Karat Rondure, along with 210 others in the 2023 AQS QuiltWeek in Des Moines, Iowa to be held Sept. 27-30.

Regardless of how their quilt places in the final judging, all semi-finalist quilts will be displayed at the show, which is expected to draw more than 10,000 people.

It will be up against quilts from 37 states and nine countries.

Oddie, who owns KISSed Quilts in Grand Coulee, contacted The Star with an update after the paper included in the Aug. 16 "Looking back in the coulee" column the fact that she entered her Rosie's Bomb quilt in the same show 10 years ago.

That quilt won second place in its category, she said, and came with "a sizable monetary award for which I was unaware and was pleasantly surprised!" It went on to hang in the local Visitor Center at Grand Coulee Dam and several other local and regional shows receiving various ribbons.

At this year's show, more than $50,000 will be granted to contest winners, including $10,000 for Best of Show and $3,500 each for Best Wall Quilt, Best Traditional Design, Best Original Design, Best Hand, Best Stationary, and Best Movable Workmanship.

This year's collaboration with Cargo, an "inverted version" of Oddie's Rondure pattern, has already been juried in American Quilter's Society shows in Daytona Beach, Florida; Branson, Missouri; Paducah, Kentucky; and will be this month in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Winners at Des Moines will be announced at the show and posted at americanquilter.com.