How Lucky am I?

I know I say this often, but seriously, how many great things can keep coming my way??

A few days ago, I got an email from a great longarm quilter. She's quilted many a ribbon-winning show quilt (seriously...have a look here), and teaches super design classes on how to design the quilting for your quilts (rather than the "stand and stare" technique). She also teaches Quilt Whispering at MQ Resource, which is an absolute must for any machine quilter. I took the class in the early winter last year, and with her technique and guidance, quilted this quilt. She gently convinced me that this quilt ought to be entered in the Machine Quilter's Exposition in April of this year, which reluctantly I did. It turned out winning the Rookie of the Year Award. Total shock. So, she knows what she's talking about. Anyhow, she emailed this weekend to see if I might be interested in quilting a quilt she'd originally been slated to do, but couldn't because of an injured elbow. Holy cow! Turns out that this is not just any quilt. It is fairly high visibility. It is a raffle quilt for the Folsom, CA quilt guild show, to be held in February 2011. I looked a little bit, and this is a 3 day show, and similar sized guilds in that area have netted several thousand dollars for their raffle quilts. It sounds like it is nearly as large as the Maine Quilt show. I am most honored to have this privilege and responsibility passed onto me. More than that, I am shocked and delighted that she thought I was worthy of it. Wow, in a word. Wow.

And on a lesser note, but still a good one, I got a call last night letting me know that my Olivia quilt won the Project Linus 2010 Book-Blanket Challenge. That's 3 for 3 for me (and yes, that's a slightly happy, slightly smug grin on my face). I won a $25 gift certificate to a local quilt shop. This is good timing because I need some background fabric for the Sea Glass quilt I want to start later this year, and I may need more of a couple of Stonehenge fabrics for this quilt. I keep modifying the outer borders in EQ7. I have not been completely happy because I wanted it to have a more mosaic-y feeling, as well as feel like the many colors of fabric are cohesively blended throughout the quilt. I am much happier with this now, so much so that I have started on that mosaic border, consisting of nearly 2000 3/4" squares this afternoon! I heard this morning that the parts ordered for Mr. LA might not arrive for me to pick it up tomorrow (very grumpy sigh), and that if I want it, I'll have to bring it back to have them installed when they arrive. I may get it and coordinate the parts while I am in Utah next month. I am feeling tense about getting started on several custom quilts that are awaiting my attention. I should be quilting, rather than tweaking EQ7!

Have a good week-

I'm a Lucky Gal

I have never had the luck of the Irish whatsoever until this year, and day by day, month by month, I am constantly surprised at what riches come my way. It is truly surreal and unbelievable. I'm over the moon with excitement.

A month or more ago, I submitted my story to HandiQuilter about how I came to buy one of their machines. They were holding a contest. They were going to select 15 people from their stories, and bring them to their company for a 3 day retreat. Did I say that this retreat is in Salt Lake City??! I had just returned home from the Maine Quilt Show, and was still pretty psyched about seeing this year of my life come full circle. I wrote my story that night.

Tonight while I was doing the drudgingly dull task of making dinner (Oh, how I dislike cooking on Fridays!), I got the call. My story was selected, and I am going to the quilting retreat next month!! Boy am I excited - and it is a paid trip too! I have one small logistic of getting someone to cover my college class either one or 2 days, but, hey...they've yet to get me a contract so anything is fair game now in my book. I can hardly wait to hear from the HQ contact to find out what I might learn/do on the retreat. I'm seriously dying to learn some machine maintenance (considering that is where my beauty is going next week, for a little R&R & deep oiling).

So what is a quilting blog without some quilting, you ask?...Here's Nearly Insane #1 all quilted. Believe it or not, it is a continuous pattern, even on the sashings. This is (as if it is not apparent from the next picture), the absolute largest quilt I can do. It is So wide that I cannot move the machine off from the quilt on either side. Dictated by the size of the backing, anyhow, which was about 135"x135". Who, I ask you, really has a bed that big??! Yvette does absolutely the most intricate piecing I have ever seen. Some of these 6" blocks have over 100 pieces. The quilting was really quite hard - the fabrics are mostly rather busy, and seeing my thread was challenging.
And layed out in my hallway (which can house a twin without folding easily), here is one half...

...and here's the other half. ENORMOUS! I shutter to think about the shipping!

I did a continuous swirling and feathering pattern in the outer borders (totalling 18"!) and a more structured leaf & swirl in the white border, where it shows more.

It's so pretty. And very heavy thanks to the ton of seams.

Here's some peeks at the blocks - Count the pieces...

I like this star. And the basket too.

It's just Completely Insane, I tell you. There's no Nearly about it! Yvette has actually made a 2nd one of these too. Imagine that! And oh, any guesses on how many yards of thread it takes to quilt a 13924 square inch quilt???

answer: about 4500 yards!

I thought God heard my prayer...

I was so elated I nearly kissed my postal carrier when I saw there was a package going into my mailbox. Well I came to my senses quickly. But I was pretty darn excited (thinking it might just be that long lost DQS quilt that appears to be destined to stay lost), and even more so when I saw that the package had a return address from Finland. Finland meant one thing...Jen. Not only that, it took 3 days to get here. I'll take more Finnish mail, thank you!!
Several weeks ago, Jen asked for my address. I kind of thought little of it, as many people from the swaps ask, and I tend to only get a few little mail goodies. In all honesty, I really thought I was opening up THIS little beauty, which I truly love, for Kate's ALQS. Suprised, but equally as delighted, she sent me one of her mini quilts and a few other goodies. It has the same brilliant machine quilting and will look adorable in my almost 2-year old's bedroom. It's just her colors! Her patch quilted card is lovely too. The baby wrapper below is so cute - it used to surround chocolate :-)
I had to chuckle BIG though when I saw what Jen taped onto the package. It's a cartoon of a paper machine! Ha... she is a fellow Mainer, like myself, but lives in Finland where the pulp & paper business is like Life itself (once upon a day, it was like that here too). Anyhow, before my last 2 kids were born, I worled for Metso Paper designing, manufacturing and installing paper machine dryers - sort of a Queen of TP, I guess. I did that for nearly 10 years. My former employer, Metso, is a big name paper machine supplier in Finland. Small world.

Thanks Jen, the quilt is fantastic. Your humor is a close 2nd. And my boys are trying to behave so as to earn a chocolate, but I think I will out eat their good behavior! And for the ALQS gem, looks like it's enroute to another lucky lady!