Artist Name: Maria F Cousins

City/Town: Great river
State/Province: NY
Country: United States

Materials and Techniques: I took a picture of a butterfly on a flower and then a bee landed on it and I captured the image. They looked like they were talking to each other. I then added the wasp and the ant and they are conversing. Their conversation is written in morse code on the radio waves in the sky. They are also reading the title on the back of the quilt in braille. Both the Braille and Morse code alphabet is included on the quilt label along with its secret message.

Artist's Statement: The quilt is hand painted on silk with fabric paints and dyes then machine and hand embroidered. The center of the flower is all hand done with French knots. The bee, butterfly, wasp and ant were first machine embroidered and then machine appliqued on the quilt. The actual voices of the critters are told in morse code and the title is in the back in Braille French knots. The flower petals and the leaves were thread painted and then double layered for texture and dimension. The border was made from left over silk embroidered upholstery fabric.

Size: 16" x 16"

Artist Name: Amy Munson

City/Town: Bismarck
State/Province: ND
Country: United States

Materials and Techniques: Raw edge applique and free motion quilting.

Artist's Statement: It could be a house, a courthouse, a church, a landscape or an archeological site…everyone has places that are important to them. Places they care about. Places that matter. This Place Matters is a national campaign by the National Trust for Historic Preservation that encourages people to celebrate the places that are meaningful to them and to their communities. Look to your own communities and tell the stories of the places you can't live without. Share your voice to encourage and inspire an ongoing dialogue about the importance of place and preservation in all of our lives.

Size: 16" x 16"

Award: Judge's Choice Award (Meg Cox)

Artist Name: Annedore Neumann

City/Town: Moenchengladbach-Wickrath
State/Province: NRW
Country: Germany

Materials and Techniques: Commercial and handdyed cotton, silk. Threads are cotton, poly and metallics. Ticker tape appliqué, writing and final quilting by machine

Artist's Statement: You read or hear a name and immediately recall the voice - unforgettable, unmistakable - the situation, time of your life. Although some are gone, they still accompany you: musicians, authors, actors, your favourite radio man, the Queen, the translator and interpreter of "Winnie-the-Pooh", your children's fairy tale teller ( on tape ! ), three Nobel laureates of literature, Robert de Niro's german voice, an Academy Award winner Documentary, a literary critic, a soccer star....... but no politician !

Size: 16" x 16"

Award: Members' Choice: Honorable Mention

Artist Name: Betsy Vinegrad

City/Town: Short Hills
State/Province: NJ
Country: United States

Materials and Techniques: Made from fabrics designed by and/or purchased from women. Wool and cotton/polyester batting. Polyester and cotton thread. Pieced, quilted and embroidered on a domestic sewing machine.

Artist's Statement: The Pussyhat Project, conceived of by Krista Suh and Jayna Zweiman, was launched to make pink hats as a unifying symbol at the 2017 Women's March. Gatherings took place all over the country to make pussyhats. For centuries, knitting and quilting bees have been safe places for support, sharing of ideas and even political activism. Made at a weekend retreat, inspiration came from many women including fellow quilters, fabric designers, knitters, crocheters and marchers.

Size: 16" x 16"

Artist Name: Janet M Bergman

City/Town: Ottsville
State/Province: PA
Country: United States

Materials and Techniques: Trapunto, free motion quilting and markers

Artist's Statement: This years theme, 'Voices', brought so many feelings and ideas to mind. However, in the end, the voices in my head won out. Putting down some of the many thoughts and phrases (from childhood to the present) helped me clear my head if only for a few minutes and proved very therapeutic!

Size: 16" x 16"

Artist Name: Karen Jordan

City/Town: Naperville
State/Province: IL
Country: United States

Materials and Techniques: Cotton fabric, thread, ribbon, glue and glitter. Pieced, appliqued and free-motion quilting.

Artist's Statement: What people say comes directly from what is in their heart. Whether it's directly in conversation, commenting on social media or speaking out for a cause. The theme "Voice" made me think of a Bible scripture, Mt 12:34 (For the mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart). I decided to depict this in my quilt.

Size: 16" x 16"

Artist Name: Ann R Holmes

City/Town: Asheville
State/Province: NC
Country: United States

Materials and Techniques: Cotton fabrics and batting. Printed Treasure fabric and free clip art for the earth. Zig zag Free motion quilting for lettering. Invisible thread and white rayon thread.

Artist's Statement: Our bodies have an immune system and so does our planet. But what is the tipping point where all living things will be in danger? Humans and plants like breathing clean air and legislation requiring scrubbers on coal burning power plants have reduced acid rain and other air pollution. But, ocean temperatures are now rising, melting icecaps and killing sea coral, the home to many aquatic species. We desperately need laws to mitigate climate disruption.

Size: 16" x 16"

Artist Name: Jessica Skultety

City/Town: Phillipsburg
State/Province: NJ
Country: United States

Materials and Techniques: Free motion quilting, hand quilting, raw edge applique

Artist's Statement: In the aftermath of the 2016 election, I felt frustrated by insinuations that those who don't trust or believe in President Trump are unpatriotic. In fact, my love for my country inspires me to resist against forces that threaten it. I decided to shout this to the world accompanied by a patriotic pussyhat, a symbol of the most empowering day of my life so far, the Women's March (1/21/17).

Size: 16" x 16"

Award: Members' Choice: Honorable Mention

Artist Name: Maude Wallace Haeger

City/Town: West Chester
State/Province: OH
Country: United States

Materials and Techniques: Cotton pieced with embroidered faces done with Aurifill thread. Drawings done by the artist and transferred to the piece by drawing on Solvey and then sewing over the Solvey using the darning foot so I could manipulate the piece as needed. There is a small amount of gold lame over one person as well. The inspiration for the people is from iconography.

Artist's Statement: The theme of Voices evokes speech of some type – or at least sound. Our country is undergoing some difficult times, as is the rest of the world. There are people in the world that have some beliefs I do not agree with. "Where Have all the Children Gone?" is specifically asking about the gay men of Chechnya who are being killed. These are young men who grew up in homes that surely must have loved them at one time. And now the parents are being told to kill those children because of their sexual orientation. Once a child is your child that child is always your child and should be protected and cared for even if a parent does not always agree with what the child has become, believes, or whatever... It can also be asking where have ALL the children gone?, as many children are battered or abused or have any number of things happen to them. Their voices of anguish should be heard. (Inspiration for title is Bob Dylan's song "The Answer is Blowing in the Wind") The statement above has been included on the label on the back of the quilt.

Size: 16" x 16"

Artist Name: Maude Wallace Haeger

City/Town: West Chester
State/Province: OH
Country: United States

Materials and Techniques: As mentioned above, the background was created using the motif I have used for several quilts. The name I gave it was Roads and Horizons and is done by taking at least two different pieces of cloth and cutting them freehand into the pieces needed and then moving them around like puzzle pieces to create the background - and of course sewn together! I drew all the faces onto Solvey and then used that to guide me as I used the darning foot of the sewing machine to allow me to embroider by hand on machine...LOL.

Artist's Statement: As the answer to "Where Have all the Children Gone?" is the companion piece with the winds blowing into the universe which is represented by the sun. I created this piece to be answering the other piece, but also as a piece that was not so sad. If there is an answer somewhere, there is hope. The winds were inspired from an old map from the 1400's that I originally used for a quilt I began in 1967. While in high school I was alone most of the time. I embroidered for hours to entertain myself. My mother and I had discussed the Caswell Carpet, which is actually an incredible embroidered carpet made of squares with different designs on each square. The Caswell Carpet is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. As does happen, other people's work of the past can influence the present which is what happened for me. I did end up creating a huge embroidered quilt with blue and white squares - each individually embroidered by hand. There is a sun at the center of the original quilt with the winds placed at the four major directions. Now I embroider on the machine but guide the pieces by hand. The winds and sun have been placed upon a background of a motif I use a lot which I created at a Nancy Crow workshop several years ago. Whatever your beliefs are, hopefully voices are speaking to you – the answers/voices are blowing in the wind… (Inspiration for title is Bob Dylan's song "The Answer is Blowing in the Wind")

Size: 16" x 16"

Artist Name: Sandra Teepen

City/Town: Atlanta
State/Province: GA
Country: United States

Materials and Techniques: Materials: Printed commercial cotton fabric, cotton batting, printed canvas. Technique: Machine sewing with hand sewing details.

Artist's Statement: We learn to use our voices at home - in a house. To me, one of the best sounds from the human voice is the message: I'll be home. Remember the song "I'll be home for Christmas ... if only in my dreams"?

Size: 16" x 16"

Award: Members' Choice: Second Place Award, Judge's Choice Award (Paula Nadelstern)

Artist Name: Tim Latimer

City/Town: Lansing
State/Province: MI
Country: United States

Materials and Techniques: quilted leather. I do my free motion quilting on an antique treadle sewing machine. I used 40 wt cotton thread and poly embroidery thread.

Artist's Statement: This Quilt represents my obsession with quilting. The voices in my head are often about quilting and those voices in my head need to come out. I talk quilts and I make quilts, and the quilts represent my artistic voice.

Size: 16" x 16"

Artist Name: Andrea Murray

City/Town: Brooklyn
State/Province: NY
Country: United States

Materials and Techniques: Fabric created by weaving strips of cotton quilting fabrics, printable fabric, cotton batting, cotton thread. Raw-edge machine applique, machine quilting.

Artist's Statement: In recent months and years, US citizens have been very active in exercising their right to free speech. When I heard the theme of this year's contest, I wanted to highlight a few of the many issues that have inspired people of the United States to make their voices heard. The cutouts in the woven fabric were inspired in part by Ejay Weiss' 9/11 Elegies series at the 9/11 Memorial.

Size: 16" x 16"

Artist Name: Anne Garretson

City/Town: Newfield
State/Province: NY
Country: United States

Materials and Techniques: Cotton commercial fabrics, cotton batting, fabric paint

Artist's Statement: This piece was inspired by the sight of two teenage girls standing on top of a concrete pedestal at the Women's March on Washington. Of the thousands of signs I saw that day I was struck by the power of theirs. A scrap of cardboard that read 'fight like a girl' became a message of our strength and their young confidence gave me hope.

Size: 16" x 16"

Artist Name: Garen Sherwood

City/Town: Chapin
State/Province: SC
Country: United States

Materials and Techniques: Appliqué, machine quilting and handwriting - mine and theirs.

Artist's Statement: A treasure trove of texts to my sons, hidden in my phone, where my voice can be seen and I am sure heard too! An unexpected cache of small love letters.

Size: 16" x 16"

Artist Name: Lisa Ellis

City/Town: Fiarfax
State/Province: VA
Country: United States

Materials and Techniques: Cotton fabrics, raw edge pieced.

Artist's Statement: For many people, piles of stones document a person's spiritual experiences in the wilderness. The Bible tells us that when ancient Hebrews experienced an encounter with God, they would build an altar by piling whole stones. As a sojourner came across a pile of these stones, he or she would be reminded that God was present. At my own beach house on the coast of California, this pile pf stones reminds me to be still and rest. The stones inspire me to let go go my to-do list, to enjoy God's creation, and to go to my studio and create new works of art.

Size: 16" x 16"

Artist Name: Earamichia Brown

City/Town: New York
State/Province: NY
Country: United States

Materials and Techniques: fabric and misty fuse, raw edge appliqué and machine quilted.

Artist's Statement: The title is often said under my breath or in my head. It seems to be happening a lot more the older I get. The voice that comes out can be a frustrated “I Got This”. In this comic book setting, you can imagine the superwoman having to drop what she is doing to handle the emergency of the day. For the Quilt Alliance Voices theme, I chose this because lately I have been required to rush in and “handle” things. Ugh is a new favorite word... and I got this is a now overused phrase.

Size: 16" x 16"

Artist Name: Elizabeth F  Brown Pekins

City/Town: Lampasas
State/Province: TX
Country: United States

Materials and Techniques: Machine quilting and applique, couching, complex woven cloth, cottons, specialty fabrics, threads, yarns, fusible webbing, thread, wrapped chenille stems, ink

Artist's Statement: My piece references the inner voice that we all possess, what I like to call "the language of the heart". It is love, compassion and caring for ourselves, others and our world. Sometimes it is loud, clear and direct. Other times, we must be still and quiet to hear that voice. The voice of the heart is always there;it never leaves us.

Size: 16" x 16"