Back to work

Though I have not posted in over a week, I have most definitely been busy.  I have several quilts finished for my clients, and am now working on a small wall-hanging of mine.  I'm really not at all convinced that I like this before the quilting, but I will finish it before I opt not to bind.  My goal was to create a quilt from solids that can be shown at quilt shows in a small quilt category (under 40" per side).  Hindsight tells me that the Moda Crossweaves may have not been the best fabric to use.  A batik or mostly solid would have been better.  None the less, I am quilting the heck out of it, hoping that I will like it better in the end.  After today, I have a sore back and wrists, but no added love!

Yesterday I went to A Quilter's Gathering show in Manchester, NH.  I had 3 quilts there, but only Zen Garden brought home quilt bling.  It was the only quilt to receive more than 2 ribbons, so that's pretty cool.  It received 1st in Color Compatibility, 2nd in Machine Quilting Excellence and 2nd in Overall Craftsmanship.  This is a smaller show, but it attracts some pretty big name quilters, both hand and machine quilters.  Several of them I know from the machine quilting show circuit.  Since I posted many of my pics to my Facebook page, I won't repost them here.  Best of Show was another Linda Roy hand quilted masterpiece.  Seems it was one of her's that won last year too.  It was fun getting to meet The Megan Farkas - even if it happened because I overheard a conversation where my name was mentioned.  I'm not nosey...just curious!  For those of you that don't know Megan, her quilt is the one here of the Japanese Ladies (maybe you've seen it in a magazine...).  I'm a fan of her quilts.  Yesterday was interesting listening to the much divided discussions over crystals on quilts.  I don't remember too many of them in the show that were twinkled up, but Zen Garden does have lots of very tiny crystals - 3mm ones.  It just twinkled because it was hanging beneath a bright light fixture and a skylight.  It almost seemed that the guests had been listening to the pre-election crap too long.  The crystal-no crystal discussion was taking on an election tone.  None the less, this quilt was appreciated and it was fin talking to people about it's making.

The quilt shows for 2012 are over now, and the planning for 2013 is in progress.