Rambling Rant on Quilt Show Manners

It was at least 15 years ago when I first went to a quilt show.  Now, I had a working knowledge of quilting prior to then, and had made several machine-pieced, hand quilted quilts by then.  But it was kind of news to me that there were people that made these things to display in shows, and not just for beds.  So the year I moved back to Maine, my mom and I drove to Augusta for the Maine Quilt show.

I think I am a piecer at heart, and may always be.  I love to see the intricate designs that are created with piecing.  Applique too, but that love developed many years later.  It was at that show that I first discovered that people actually quilt with a machine.  I was in complete shock, thinking how incredibly and horrendously ugly they were.  Hand quilting was, in a word, classic. And 15 years ago, the talent in machine quilters was nothing that it is today.  All I could liken the quilting designs to was a mattress pad.  And I was not shy in those years about vocalizing if I thought a quilt was ugly.   Little thought would have been made to whether the actual quilter may be nearby.  I was firm in my opinions and strong dislike for machine quilting, and I let it be known.  Tact is definitely an acquired skill.

I met a fellow machine quilter this past weekend at the Maine Quilt Show.  I have known of Teri for a few years from my going to MQX, but we managed not to cross paths until this weekend.  She is originally from Maine, but clearly has a preference for NY now.  Not sure I completely blame her when winter comes roaring in here.  I'm a bit of a Southern Girl, if the truth be told.  But in talking to Teri, I learned that there were people at the show making snide comments about her blue ribbon-winning quilt because she's not from Maine.  Being the master of quick replies (probably comes from needing to quickly discipline 3 kids), I thought "SO WHAT?"  Is there anything in the show guidelines that states that the quilter has to be from here?  Do we as a show, really want to alienate the out-of-staters that  (1) do actually send quilts here or (2) actually drive more than 3 hours to come to the show?  When the future of this particular show appears to be in question (given the state's guild newsletters), I think that the answers to these two questions should be a no brainer.  Isn't quilting multi-cultural, multi-age, multi-gender, multi-state?

I can accept when quilt show goers choose to comment that they may not like dense quilting.  Or that they don't like to see crystals on quilts.  Or that they prefer hand quilting.  As a former hand quilter, I completely respect and love a good hand quilted work.  One name: Linda Roy.  She's synonymous with fantastic in my book, and ranks up there with any of the great machine quilters.   I have spent enough time standing within earshot of my quilts the past 2 years to know that comments are made unknowingly, and that opinions are always present.  Usually they are well-edited, and generally kind.  But remarks like "that shouldn't have gotten a red ribbon" or "she shouldn't get that because she's not from Maine" are ridiculous.  You are not a judge.   I seriously doubt the Maine Quilt Show was named that because they intended to keep it exclusively Maine-made.

I wasted a little time this morning perusing through old show books.  I'm kind of a packrat when it comes to quilting this-n-thats, and have every show book from every quilt show I have attended.
The Maine Quilt show...

This year's show had only 18 out of state quilts, mostly in the judged category.  This is not a lot, but is between 18-20% of the judged ones.   Hardly any of the display quilts were not Maine-made.   I know for a fact of several people, including my family members, have driven from another state just to go to this show.  It's not just for Maine to enjoy.

2009 Maine Quilts had 25 non-Maine made quilts, mostly in the judged division.  This represents nearly 25% of the judged quilts.  That is not an insignificant number.  The winner that year was of all people, Ronda Beyer.  I was in awe of her quilt then (ok, and still - Darwin's Diamonds is impressive), but admittedly would feel a little jipped if someone of her talent swooped in and won it again.  Though there are many quilters way better than me, there is definitely a proud feeling of being from Maine, and winning here at home.  Maybe to alleviate this feeling we should have a "Best of Judged" and "Beat Maine Quilt".   Just a meager thought.

That is precisely what the Vermont Quilt Festival does.  I went to this show this year, and it's great.  Vermont attracts good talent, and shows many styles.  It's (IMHO) further in the sticks than the Maine show is though, being barely an hour from the Canada border, yet it only hosts 27% VT made quilts (this year).  New England and other states are very well represented.  They have a Best of Show, Best VT Show (aka Governor's Award) as well as a dozen or more specialty awards.

I send quilts all over the country to shows, and sincerely hope that there are not too many people saying "oh, goodness, she shouldn't win.  She's from ME?  Where's that?..."

'nuf said.  Go to your next quilt show praising the person from out of state for wanting to send his/her quilt there.

Geometries Abound - Maine Quilts 2012

Yesterday, I went with my daughter and mom to the Maine Quilt Show.  Though there are always many different types of quilts, it seems that this year had more of the purely "geometric" offerings.  The more traditional quilts were off in the Meet the Quilter area, but unfortunately I failed to take any pictures there.  My mistake because they were gorgeous.

Anyhow, in an effort to keep my 5 year old happy for 3 hours, I gave her the $500 camera and let her take pictures until both batteries were dead.  As a result, most of my show pictures are at a heavily skewed, upward angle.  Some could be clearer, and most do not have the maker's information, which I typically note.  I like to record that as I blog the picture if for no other reason than I hate to see one of my quilts in a blog without the proper name/crediting with it.  My appologies...I have some of the names, just not all.

Here is one of my favorites, by Lisa Longstaff Hayden called Haley's Challenge.  The tetrahedrals in this style quilt are something I have not seen.  Being mathematical, I find this intriguing.  It earned a red ribbon too.

This is Autumn Migration by Patricia Converse.  Notice all the geese heading south?  Very clever.  It also earned a red ribbon.  

Illusions by Nancy Corson is another stack-n-whack style quilt with the 3D elements thrown in the design.  Interesting.  I like it.

 This would be a double D cup if I made it!  I can't imagine how people keep these flat.  It's Maine Twilight - Snow and Ice by Marjorie Wilson.  I still have one of these in multicolors on my someday/bucket list.

 This is super awesome.  Original and well executed.  It's called Worlds Apart by Beatrice Gilbert.  Cool.

 More 3D geometric perspectives.  Checker Champion by Frances Parker.

 And here is where the ambiguity begins...The camera was passed off to my daughter, and documentation goes a muck.  She would have happily taken photos of the cards, but most were well above her head.

It's not that she didn't try to take them...most are hard to get clear!  The one below is for the quilt just above!

This is a segment of Dan Perkins's X Marks the Spot quilt.  He thrives on using a ton of piecing.  Last year's quilt had to have several thousand pieces.  I'm not sure how many are in this one but there must be more than 500 HST's on the front alone.  And the back was pieced with stars as well.  It must weight a ton :-)

Next time...some more of my pics from the show.

Lightening Strikes Twice

You always hear that lightening never strikes the same spot twice.  I know that this is only a saying, but it does seem that to get a really good thing to happen a second time is harder than getting it to happen once - if only because the psychology of the human mind gets involved the 2nd time.  Humor me & read on...

I have been athletic all of my life.  As a young girl and teenager, I was a competitive gymnast.  I was pretty good, and I really worked hard to be successful.  I took this nearly to the point of being superstitious.  I'd save all the green m&m's (yea, this tradition was started before the connotation we know of came around for green m&m's) from every package.  There would be a baggie in the freezer of all my m&m's, and I'd take this to gymnastics meets for good luck.  Somehow, I struggled with consistency, and the candy supposedly helped.  As a result, I kind of expected that if I'd done really good at one meet, the next one might be a dog meet.

The competitive nature continued throughout high school with musical endeavors, and into my adult life when I decided to try my hand at competitive adult figure skating.  I always tackled things head-on, and with an intention of succeeding.  Or winning.  I'm not one of those people that loses gracefully.  Or happily.  I am a firm believer that I control my own destiny.  If better people beat me, and I did my best, it's one thing.  But if I goofed something up, and could have controlled that, then I get upset.

So how does this relate to anything??  My quilting career has taken off like a rocket.  I purchased my longarm less than 3 years ago.  I quilted client quilts a month later.  A magazine contacted me for quilt photos after 3 months.   I entered my first quilt show after 6 months, and won Rookie of the Year.  At 11 months, I was selected by HandiQuilter to be part of their 2011 advertising.  It was moving and moving fast.  I was surprised, but the roller-coaster was fast, and flying towards success.  I didn't want to slow down long enough to blink for fear I'd see the progress decline.  A year ago, as I had done for the previous couple years, I entered 2 quilts in the Maine Quilt Show.  It's a decent, smaller show.  It lacks a lot of higher end quilting that you'll see at machine quilting shows, but is still generally well represented by hand and machine quilters alike.  When I arrived to the show last year, I stood in shock to see my quilt hanging with the Best of Judged ribbon.  It still strikes me as shocking that I have already received a best of show award.  I haven't put in my decade of dues yet.   It was a strong wake up call that my quilting is good.

It was also a scary thing, because all last fall I wondered how on earth I'd ever make anything that could top that for this year.  Winning once was easy.  I never thought about it, in fact.  It just happened.  But repeating it would be hard.  Nobody wants to go back the following year without a quilt capable of knocking the judge's socks off.  At least, I certainly didn't.

The quilt I had been working on, and intended to enter in this show, was giving me absolute fits.  First off, I had horrendous tension problems with the Glide thread on the batik fabric that I had to rip out a huge section.  I then opted to stitch with a gold Glide because the gold bobbin would blend with the backing fabric, disguising any tension problems.  The problem was that I hated how this looked on the front.  It was not in my "plan".  The general quilting went pretty well.  I found one small pleat on the back because of how I chose to quilt (SID all first, then go back and fill - places on the quilt were hard to keep smooth and taught during quilting).  I conceived a long and skinny label to cover that.  Creative or Ingenious??  You be the judge!  Then it was done quilting and onto the blocking boards.  Then the shit hit the fan.  OMG, there was bleeding.  It was horrible.  Areas of the ivory fabrics looked bruised.  I didn't want to say that the freaking quilt was jinxed, but it sure seemed that way.  I contacted another fellow quilter that helped me with the dye release.  It took about 4 days and 100 Shout color catchers.  But when I was done, I had another problem.  Some of the pins I used to secure the color catchers in the wash cycle had left a rust spot on the quilt.  This was maybe 15-20 1-2mm rust spots onthe front and back -- and not in locations where I'd conveniently place a crystal!  I tried washing it again with a rust detergent.  The problem is that all the washing I did on the quilt, and all the use of detergents, color catchers, etc had taken it's toll on the quilt's brightness and fullness.  It just seemed thin and limp, not having the nice loft it had the day I took it off the frame.  And the bold batiks had visibly faded.  Perhaps nobody else but me would realize it was a shadow of it's former, unwashed self.  But I knew.  And I was heart-broken.

I opted to finish the beast anyways.  I got out the crystals to discover that the ones sent to me were not hot fix!  Another sign, or so it seemed.  I waited a week, and Dreamtime kindly returned the wrong crystals for the type I needed.  I did the hand painting, as planned -- not originally, but after seeing the gold Glide thread on the gray triangles, I decided I'd paint the vinework to better blend it in.  I don't think I really believed that, but at that point I was just going through the motions in a feeble attempt to finish this quilt.  In fact, the picture below is the only thing I can find that shows any of the painting!  

I continued on and added what seemed like an ingenious variagated piped binding.  I did post about that here.  I used about 60-8" segments of graded color around the binding.  It looked pretty cool.  Correction: It looks freaking awesome.  But I still had reservations about sending this quilt to the Maine Show for fear it flopped.  All signs with the multitude of issues I'd had were that it would flop.  I didn't want to go into the show and have egg on my face.  I don't have the Tara Lipinski mindset (remember her as the one-time wonder, who won the olympics in 1998, and then retired before she could ever compete again.  I don't think she wanted to not be able to repeat her performance).  Anyway, I have digressed there.  I don't give up.  I tackle things strongly, and would prefer to go down in a blazing ball of fire than to run the other way.  But, I really don't want to go down in a blaze of fire anyway.  So...

Tentatively, I entered (OK, the real truth...I entered the quilt before it had ever been quilted, and before it had any problems!!)   my new problem quilt, named Rainbow Nouveau, on account of all of it's many colors.  I also entered my Sea Glass quilt.  I think that this will have nice appeal with people considering the show is in Maine.  Very (VERY!!) much to my surprise, my client and friend Kathleen called last night from the show preview.  She said that Rainbow Nouveau had won the Best of Judged.  I was shocked.  More than shocked - I think I had a cardiac moment.  I was starting to think that the judges had a mental lapse, when she told me that the two judges were there with her and wanted to talk to me.  Oh holy freak out on my end, are you kidding?  They were very nice and had fabulous things to say.  If only I had the where with all to ask them a real question or two about what they really thought!  Oh Lordy, thank you for them not having enough time to discover where the garbage tension is, and where the rust spots and remaining dye bleeds are.  My theory seemed to work - With enough to look at, the eye will wander continuously, and it won't be possible to find all the bloopers!  I am elated and surprised that lightening did strike twice.  I have found such tremendous fortune and success and pleasure with quilting.  And the hard work and perseverance is rewarded and recognized sometimes too.  I will indeed take some close-ups of the quilt on Sunday, since I don't have any!  This is the one my friend emailed this morning.  I warned you this was a busy beast!

Oh, and Sea Glass took a 1st place too.

The end.  The show is this weekend at the Augusta Civic Center.

Detailed Pictures, as Promised

As promised several days ago, I have additional pictures of the 2 quilts I quilted for clients that were shown at the Maine Quilt Show. This first one is by Kathleen Currier and was a display quilt. It's a wildly bold and modern design, and despite absolutely loving the color lime green, I found the design very difficult to do. We wanted to quilt more than a pantograph since it was going in the show, but when the top does not have a definite focal point, it makes stitching a custom more challenging. Additionally, the fabrics are all mostly quite busy, and seeing the thread was hard.
Lucky for me, she is a fantastic piecer. Even with all the curves, it layed perfectly flat. What I chose to do was a little unorthodox. I cut circles out of a poly batt to place under the appliqued circles to give them added poof. I then stitched a row of pebbles around the perimeter of the circle to hold them in place, and amplify the poofy-ness.

Along each waving strip, I stitched a variety of different fillers ranging from classic feathers to swirly feathers, pebbles, flames, waves, etc. I also used different color thread - green, black, white and charcoal. Originally, she had a patterned background, but I convinced her early on to go with a solid color to show off the quilting. Hanging at the show, you'd never know how much quilting there really was. The poor white glove gals practically stood by this one much of the day I was there, holding up one corner so people could see the back!

...which was really quite unexpected.

It's wild like the front, and shows off a real avant gard style of quilting.

.

Here is Jaki's quilt, which won a red ribbon. It's a smallish wall hanging, with impeccable applique. The background is all filled in a McTavish-esque style. It was hard to do anything but an "all-over" filler because the applique designs are not separated much. The dense fill did enhance the puff of the appliques. Since it was a judged show quilt, I did use a polydown batt over a cotton batt also.

The backing was perfect to hide the stitching, but show the patterns.

All appliques are outlined with a mono-poly thread.

I wanted to show a nice variety of fillers - background fill, a few feathers, some striping of the outer border and a little ruler work. I knew her applique work was good enough to get her a ribbon...didn't want her to miss out because the quilting was not up to the same standard.

Have a great weekend! I've spent the entire day laying a patio, concrete paver by paver. My quilting wrist is out of commission for a day now. Luckily, I have 3 quilts I need to have done by this week all set to go. This coming weekend I am heading to the Lowell Quilt Show, and the following week I am off to World Quilt in Manchester. Lots of great inspiration to see!

ME Quilt Show Pictures & Afterthoughts

I have received my judges comments from the weekend's quilt show. You'd think I just wouldn't care. I took home two blue ribbons, and then some. But I always like the critique, looking for one thing after each show that I might be able to improve upon with my next project. Every judge sees and comments about different things, even if they happen to judge the same quilt more than once. Two years ago, it was the words "binding should be filled". Never again did I have a flat area in my bindings. Last year I had critiques of my applique stitches showing. I'm pretty sure that they don't show on this year's "Intertwined". Small needle, finer thread, and tinier stitches took care of that. One judge said last year that a quilt was not square (but I quickly confirmed her eye was crooked, not the quilt's corner). I like to study the judging categories that I don't get maximum points, to see where I might gain something. This year I chose piped bindings, and received an additional point per quilt over last year. There is always something to be gleaned, or so I think. That is one reason I personally prefer that the judges comments are not all about what you did correctly. Criticism is a helpful part of the process.

So anyhow, my comments are here in the mail today. There's nothing too catchy in the review for my Best in Show quilt. Clearly they liked it. They failed to see small areas of mis-tensioning, or that the many borders don't all align perfectly vertically (or perhaps since it's first show they have relaxed and aligned!!). I knew they'd catch the mis-matched curve piecing on the center rosette. It's hard to hide! Let's face it - that rosette center was a curved-piece nightmare that resulted in a major C-cup before it was quilted!! I have similar thoughts about the review of my other quilt, "Intertwined". Generally, it was liked, but I think when you give them less to look at (compare this quilt to the BOS quilt...), they are able to find more. That mere thought makes me think seriously about making overly simple quilts with really nice quilting. More always makes the eyes wander and not catch the obvious. The wetting/blocking process made the batik fabric in my ribbons pucker a little. Found that. Seriously, was I supposed to iron it?? One judge didn't like the peachy flowers. Oh well. Same judge had great comments about the complimentary colors used, and my general use of color, but then she managed to only score 8 out of 10 points in the color section. Go figure??! Guess she likes use of purple and orange, but just doesn't like orange!

What seriously chaps me in the judging process, though, is when one judge is grossly different (aka lower) than the other two. I'm sure she/he is consistently lower with all quilts, but it still affects the average score, and final placement. Now this is a hypothetical rant since the scoring still gave me a blue ribbon, but it is the principle of it. How close should scores be between the 3 judges? Is it reasonable to think that they'd be within 10%? I think that when one judge is bringing down the average of the other two judges by 3 points, it is a hair out of whack. Two judges think a quilt is worthy of the top of a blue ribbon scoring, while the third places it in the middle of a red ribbon?? I come from a competitive gymnastics background and if one judge was scoring differently, either high or low, then some agreement had to be reached as to what this judge was seeing. If not, then judges ought to leave additional feedback about what they took points away for. Seems reasonable. ...or maybe I'm just ranting again.

So, on to some pictures from the show. This was a display quilt, but it has lovely color. The patches just "bloom", and the simple curve-crosshatching allover gives it a nice old-fashioned feeling.
Photographs don't do this justice. Another display quilt, it was very pretty in person.

A lovely small wall-hanging... might be hand-dyed silk. The purple swirl was done with stitching.

"Black Magic" by Ann Freeman - nice machine quilting on a black background, and a rather whimsical rooster.

"Aurora Diamond Quilt" by Jan Krentz (teacher). The back had a hidden surprise of a circle of swimming whales. Very sweet. It appears from a distance to have a jagged bottom, but it is really black quilted fabric, cut like mountains. Nice illusion.

A nice landscape of the Maine coast by Brenda Ware (I think).

"Blossoming" by Beatrice Gilbert. I love this one. It's done with silks.

"Starburst Galaxy" by Carol Perkins. Very nice machine quilting. Both she and her husband had quilts in the show.

"To Everything there is a Season" by Pat Delaney. This is done on a domestic, and is really colorful and pretty. Judges agreed!

Betty Sypniewski's "Fairy Dust" has ultra-sweet colors.

And who doesn't love a NYB quilt??!! failed to get it's name or the maker.

The last 2 are ones that I quilted for clients. I'll show details tomorrow or later this week. This was ("Pauli's Garden by Jacqueline Soper) a 24"x30" wallhanging in the judged category. Her applique was nicely done.

This ("It's About Time" by Kathleen Currier) was SO hard to quilt, but was only for display. The back is black. Come back tomorrow to see what I did.

Will the Wonders Never Cease??

Today was mom's day away to go to the Maine Quilt Show, and let the kids have a day with Nana. I hoped that my two quilts would show well. I kind of knew from the shows earlier this year that Postcards from Venice would probably do well, as long as judges were not too picky about a few misaligned points on the curved-pieced rosette. It's not the flashiest quilt, and it's probably not what every Mainer thinks is the most interesting to stare at, but who's looking at the quilt when it has all those awesome colorful ribbons to gawk at??!

Holy smokes (OK, that is NOT the word I mumbled as I walked into the Civic Center, and right off the bat, saw this). I could hardly believe it. No, I practically peed my britches with glee and shock. Yes, this is 75 hours of quilting vindicated in ribbons. I am so happy. No, make that still on cloud 19. Higher than the air. Four quilt shows since April; seven ribbons. Happy grin.
I know you have all seen the quilt months ago, buthere's a closeup at the new quilt "bling". I'm sure my daughter will think that the purple ribbon ought to be in her room. We may have to have a small (ok, huge) negotiation.

I did enter another quilt. Smaller, brighter, flashier. It received a ton of fantastic comments (yes, I am always listening to the viewers...I know that they may not love dull colors and dense quilting, but judges do...). "Intertwined", as I named this 42" applique quilt also brought home a blue ribbon (one of I believe 5 given at the show). More happy smiles.

I actually had quilted 2 other quilts that were at the show (client). One was judged, and it took a 2nd place ribbon (one of only a few of those!).

All in all, a very successful, surprising, shocking and smile-filled day.

Take a risk, Take a chance, Make a change

I am back from a whirlwind long day at the Maine Quilt Show. It's only 75 minutes for me to drive to Augusta, but I left at 7am and did not get home until nearly 8pm. Next year I will need to plan on coming an additional day if I opt for a class. I took an all day applique class yesterday from Karen Kay Buckley. The class was fast-paced and really good. It was my first official quilting class, ever (hard to believe). I have always learned things on my own or by doing research. This was a nice change to have someone else tell me what works for her. Though my applique piece is far from done, it is looking nice technically. I have an entire new dream list of gizmos and threads I need too! But...because of being in a class all but 2 hours yesterday, I did not get near as much time to just stand and stare at all of the quilts as I'd like. Likewise, I had to pass on shopping at all the quilt shops too.

It was really great to see both of my quilts hung amongst the competition. I am so proud of how they both looked. I was kind of upset because I did actually find out from my mom later on Friday evening that they both had 3rd place ribbons. I really wanted better. But to see them hung was confirmation enough that they looked really good. The demarkation between 3rd and 2nd place is a hard one to define. Many of the 3rd place quilts were very impressive, while I saw a couple 2nd place ones that I had to roll my eyes at. I am anxious to receive the judges comments in the mail this week to see how they really did, by the numbers.

"Summer on the Beach" surprised me. I thought for sure this would score like a dog turd, but for some reason judges like it. I guess it just has SO many triangles that they didn't look long enough to find the ones I chopped to make it all go together. I'm not sure all of you can access this link, but it's worth a try. Here are more pictures of this quilt, as are some here. This quilt is officially retired from it's brief show circuit to take it's new place on my bed.
And here is my newest quilt "Primavera", also sporting a 3rd place ribbon. It's not inconceivable (depending on what I hear from the judges comments) that this quilt may make an appearance at another show next year. It looked so fantastic hung under the show lights. The crystals on it (all 700 or so) twinkled beautifully. And seriously, it hung between two really nice quilts, both with yellow ribbons. I just LOVE that hibiscus flower quilt.
My mother, the so-called-photographer, didn't get such great pictures of me with either quilt. I look stoned, drunk or just looking the other way in most of them. Lovely!
Here's a few detailed pictures of these...The back is so textural. Partly this is from using 2 layers of batting (poly and wool), but partly from the amount of quilting.
The borders which I initially worried about the Rainbows thread, actually looked really good. I'm sure a judge will have something to say about that lime green flange that I stitched down though :-)

The experts at MQResource gave me such great advice on my quilting plan. I'm really glad someone suggested doing the radiating lines. It was a little bit of a pain since I drew them on with a compass and a ruler (rather than the specialty and $$ rulers that do exist), but it was worth the time.

This brings one event in my life full circle. A year ago when I went to this show, and entered my first quilt, I also tested all of the longarms. At that point, I only dreamed of being able to own one. It never dawned on my I'd be able to quilt as well as I do. By September 2009, I knew I was buying a machine, but I still had personal doubts about whether I could make a home-business successful. How long would it take to get up to speed? How would I attract clients? The rest is history now. As I left the dealer that last time (after testing the HQ Fusion), I heard a song on the radio. Now I am by no means a Kelly Clarkson fan, but the words spoke to me. I found the encouragement and motivation to "Take a chance" in this song. Most ironically, as I was getting on the highway last night to come home, this very song came on the radio. I felt like an angel was watching overhead. Follow your heart. Follow your dream. Take a chance.

I'll spread my wings and I'll learn how to fly

I'll do what it takes till I touch the sky

And I'll make a wish, take a chance, make a change

And breakaway

Out of the darkness and into the sun

But I won't forget all the ones that I love

I'll take a risk, take a chance, make a change

And breakaway

Intentionally Evasive

My mother emailed to tell me that my aunt had been to the Maine Quilt Show today. She said she knew something about my quilts. I kind of figured that meant that they probably had a ribbon. I asked her to elaborate. And all I know now is that there are 2 ribbons...one for this quilt and this one. Right now I could wring her neck for not telling me more, knowing I cannot go to see the quilts until mid-day Sunday! Part of me wants to preserve that surprise, assuming it is a surprise I will be tickled with.
The first quilt "Summer on the Beach" (the one that won a ribbon at MQX this year) I really don't think will do all that terrific. I'm not really looking forward to reading the judges comments because I know where it falls short. It was not quilted with the intention of going to a show. It was not pieced with the intention of being show-worthy. I never envisioned that it would actually be featured in not one, but two magazines this summer! It was sort of a whimsical decision the morning before I drove to Providence to go to MQX that I decided to enter it, and for it to be judged. It has some "just fudge it" piecing here and there. I've always been neurotic about my triangle points, but there's one row of 1" HST's that I decided really didn't matter that much! It's only destiny throughout the process of being made was to end up on my bed. And it will.

The second quilt is one I have yet to show finished pictures of here. Call it a jinx. Call it whatever. You can even say that I am just like my mother, being slightly evasive by only showing you a picture of the quilt's back!! I designed this one from the start to be this year's show quilt. I second guessed each thing I did on it from the appliques to every patch of quilting. I solicited guidance from MQResource on my quilting plan. Now, I have posted this quilt there, and many very nice people have given me kind words of praise for the quilt. Click on that link if you feel compelled to see before Sunday. I look at it this way. I started the applique mid-Fall 2009. I'd stitch on them as may Thermo students took tests. In January of this year, I scrambled to get the relatively detailed (in terms of applique) corners finished. I know that I have been longarm quilting for 10 months. I'd only consider the last 5-6 months within the window of skills required to quilt this quilt appropriately. To get a ribbon of any color for my first year of machine quilting is an amazing feat. I am proud, as I should be. I'd be lying, however, if I said I am not greedy in the particular color ribbon that I really want!

Greed. One of those so-called deadly sins. Or is it? Perhaps it is just the fuel that motivates each of us to be better at our trade.

Have a great weekend-

Saturday Slacker

Or so I wish. I wish I had the mindset sometimes to just veg on the couch. Maybe have a bowl of ice cream and a beer and then take a nice 2 hour afternoon nap. No such luck here. Noisy kids and plenty of quilting in need of doing.

Here's 2 pictures of quilts for Lisa that I did the day I got back from vacation, last Sunday. It's a great and simple pattern. It is not hard for a beginner, but it has a nice effect. I have it on my long list of patterns to make something with. Someday. The first one is quilted with a Jodi Beamish pantograph which I cannot remember the name of (and I am too lazy to go downstairs and look!) and the tan & blue sister quilt is a freehanded swirling pattern I call "feathers & swirls". Not so original there, but it usually quilts up looking nicely.

I have done a couple other customer quilts this week too, ones that are on a very short list to be done for an August quilt show, and a baby shower next weekend. I'll show those next week. The baby quilt came to me Thursday and it's a customer that tipped me nicely recently when she had yet another rush job. On account of that, I had a hard time telling her I didn't reall have the time! I would have liked to have done more custom work on this quilt, but time really did not allow. Plus, I spent 2 hours friggin' frogging her quilt because I had of all things a nasty pleat about 12" long. I have never done this before on the backing so I was pretty steamed - my sewing space is warm enough right now. Last thing I needed was to be PO'd on top of that! Anywho, that quilt was finished up early this morning and looks fantastic. Somehow it is these ugly adventures in quilting that make me fully appreciate when a sewing spree does go really well.

Like it did this afternoon. For the last couple weeks, I have been plugging through a bac of assorted scraps, cutting them into 2" strips and squares. Here's a few of the items I have pulled together. One is a 16"x40" table runner and the other two are between 18" and 20" square table toppers. These are some of my favorite fabric scraps - all brights and from a total hodge podge of designers.

This afternoon, I loaded all three onto one backing fabric and quilted away. They are all done differently. My favorite is the one on the lower left. I suspect I will make a few more of these.

Here's a runner I pieced and quilted earlier. It is the same fabrics, just larger pieces. This was a DP9, made from leftover 5" squares I had.

These next two table runners were finished a week ago. I struggle to get a good photo of them. They are really pretty in actuality, but come across kind of dingy. The "Americana" fabrics are not really my taste, but it is one less charm pack sitting around my studio. Maybe someone will want to buy them. Fingers crossed (or else someone will undoubtedly get them for Christmas!).

This morning, I brought my two quilts going to the Maine Quilt Show for dropoff. It always makes me nervous to leave my work or to mail it off somewhere. They were received exceptionally well by the quilt shop owner and the quilters that saw them. That is a good sign. Now it is in the hands of the judges. I have taken a number of pictures of the new quilt Primavera, and will show it after the show next week. As another surprise, this 2nd magazine (The Quilter) featured several winning quilts from MQX, and on the last page was mine. That quilt is also on it's way to next week's Maine Quilt Show. I also signed up for an all-day class at the show. It's kind of late notice, but hey, what the heck. It is an applique class taught by Karen Kay Buckley. I do know how to applique, but I figured since I have to be there all day because of needing to pick up my quilts afterwards at 6-7pm, I might as well do a class!

Have a fun week. Next week, my boys are again off at camp and I have a very custom quilt to tackle, and hopefully some desired piecing. I won't hold my breath there though!!