New Ventures

Here is a sneak snippet of what I hope to someday be another great show quilt.  I have tremendous motivation on this project, as I often do in the early days of each new project.  Finishing them always seems to be the hardest.  I completely love the fabrics and the colors, and even the fact that I am using way more print on this quilt than I often gravitate towards.  I think that it will work.  If you saw the last post, you will notice that I changed the corners (which were mini-dahlias).  They turned out to be a complete pain to get as a full semicircle.  I was frustrated tweaking them, and couldn't keep them at 170 degrees!  I went back to the drawing board, and I like these too.

My box from MQX arrived yesterday.  Just before I left the show 10 days ago, I saw that two of my quilts had been given Teacher's ribbons.  Each faculty at MQX is given a ribbon to place on their quilt of choice.  I have been given a few of these over the years, and they are a nice treat.  Often, they are placed on pretty quilts that didn't place.  I used to feel that they were a nice motivator to keep doing what I was doing.  Everybody dreams of bringing home a ribbon from a quilt show.  Sadly, all entrants don't though.  Not all shows have faculty ribbons, but MQX does, and they are a nice touch.  While I like the thought that many faculty have in placing them on non-ribboned quilts, I also love it when a teacher just selects quilts he/she really loves too.  When you win Best of Show and 2nd place, you certainly don't expect to get a Teacher's ribbon too.  It is for that reason that these are very meaningful.  Crystal Smythe (of Intelliquilter) put her ribbon on my small Kaleidoscopic Calamity, 2nd place quilt, while Judy Woodworth put her's on my Rainbow Nouveau quilt.  When I know that there are many growing quilters that would have really loved to have gotten these ribbons, I am thankful to have been the chosen recipient.  I don't personally know Crystal, but Judy is a fantastic quilter and teacher, and just a delightful soul. Thank you.

Now, I really must go and pack for tomorrow's trip to Paducah.  I endured the long and silent wait while the awards ceremony took place last night to get word right at bedtime that my Zen Garden quilt took an honorable mention.  I'm delighted and most excited to get there tomorrow!