Affirmed scores another win at the Quilt Festival

Kathy Bland
Sunday, November 3, 2002

Last week at the International Quilt Festival, the Best in Show was "Flowers of the Crown"--a beautiful, masterpiece of a quilt made by Shirley Kelly of New York (in photograph). I've forwarded some photos that really don't do the quilt justice, but as you will see, it features both Affirmed & Alydar & depicts the last winning of the Triple Crown, & the flowers representing each of the 3 races. Thought I would share. "I can't even express in words how much I loved this horse, & obviously, I'm not the only one." ..Kathy Bland

Paper: Houston Chronicle
Date: FRI 11/01/02
Section: HOUSTON
Page: 2
Edition: 2

STAR BEST OF SHOW
Flowers of the Crown by Shirley Kelly of Colden, N.Y., is the Best of Show winner at the International Quilt Festival, which ran through Sunday at the George R. Brown Convention Center. Kelly's quilt pays tribute to one of horse racing's greatest rivalries, the 1978 Triple Crown races of Alydar and Affirmed, the last horse to win all three major races. The quilt depicts a painting of the horses at the finish line, hanging on a stone wall above a table with a book on the Triple Crown and a vase of flowers that symbolize the races: roses at the Kentucky Derby, black-eyed Susans at the Preakness and white carnations at the Belmont Stakes. More than 1,000 other quilts were on display at the festival.