Bellevue area quilter Christina Fairley Erickson has been selected as a semifinalist for the 2011 AQS Quilt Show & Contest, March 16-19, at the Lancaster County Convention Center in Lancaster, Penn.

Erickson has been chosen to display the quilt, “Best Friends”, along with 175 others in the annual contest. Three quilting authorities will judge the elite group. Cash awards totaling more than $44,000 will be granted, with prizes including $10,000 for the Best of Show and $5000 each for the Best Hand, Machine, and Longarm Workmanship.

Regardless of how “Best Friends” places in the final judging, all semifinalists’ quilts will be displayed at the show, which is expected to draw more than 20,000 people.

Erickson also had her quilt, “Friesian Dream Come True,” displayed at the National Quilt Museum in Paducah, Ky., last year and currently will have two quilts displayed at the Vashon Allied Arts Blue Heron Gallery on Vashon Island in February.