A Jumble of Projects to show on this Mother's Day

As most bloggers will say, they are considerably busier than their blog posts will suggest.  I am no exception.  I am down to the 5 week buzzer (as in 5 weeks until school is out and the house is buzzing with 3 kids), and I am rapidly trying to fire through a list a mile long of things I am working on.  Some are my projects, while many are not.  Either way, if I don't get them done, they may not get finished until late August unless they are handwork.  I may have to selectively either sleep less or take 1-2 hours in the evening to quilt to stay caught up.  With warm and long days coming, I'm not sure that option sounds appealing though!

First things first...This is my 60" top.  It's fairly simple and is my first of such pieced quilts using silk Radiance.  The top is lovely in person, having a beautiful sheen.  It's far from perfect though, as matching points is harder with this slippery fabric.  I have 2 diamonds still to applique...I know, I know. no biggie, they will get done.

A couple weeks ago I started sketching the quilting plans for this quilt onto tracing paper.  I design quilting so many different ways -- sometimes I draw on the electronic pen tablet, sometimes I just sketch on copies of the quilt.  I was finding it difficult to get a sense of the actual scale of where I was going to be quilting, so this time I just sketched full scale.  The difficulty here, though, is obvious.  I have to transfer these to the quilt.

For simpler designs, I might make a cardboard/cardstock template of that spine, but this quilt has several areas that are of equal complexity, so something else is needed.  Also, I want decent symmetry when designs come together.  I do not possess a traditional light box, which many quilters have, because I generally don't trace designs.  For this quilt, I wanted to...maybe not down to each and every feather (a little non-uniformity is OK afterall), but the basic shapes should be in the same places.  I have subsequently converted my dining room table into a modified light-box by replacing the center leaf with a 24" slab of plexyglass.  There is a lamp beneath the table.  Voila!  The interfaced silk is not the easiest to see through, and the seam areas are nearly impossible (thank goodness this is simple), but it is going to suffice.  Hopefully I will be quilting on this if not tomorrow, then soon.  We'll see if today really is "Mother's Day"...if so, then tomorrow.  If not, then this week sometime.

I'll show a progress snippet of another of my projects before I show a few client pics.  I work on this at dance lessons, and in the evenings.  I have made creating hand-made quilt designs a science so that I can still have time for my own things!  Everything but the pointy star is stitched by hand.  This is just one corner - three more are in the works.  To create an added dimension, I am adding features of the silk radiance to this quilt.  The berries are in 3 shades of silk, as is the brown bias frame in the following picture.

I  have designed this quilt completely around a 1/2 yard piece of the floral Benartex Charlotte fabric.  I have had this 3-4years, and loved it, but just never knew what to do with it.  It is the inspiration for the color palate.  The rest will follow.  There will be more applique in an outer border through the taupe fabrics.  My goal is to have it done by November 1 so it can be quilted for next season, but that may well be crazy.

I have most certainly been busy with client quilts.  This most busy and colorful quilt was on the machine for a week or so, and then for another day this past week to add to what is below.  The Kaffe Fassett prints are bold and colorful, and pose a most obvious difficulty in creating a custom quilt that has quilting that really shows.  I won't show any more of this quilt right now, but you will see more in the future.

I have done yet a 3rd of these adorable owl baby quilts...I love it.  It is a small, manageable project that quilts up in about 5-6 hours (yes, I am slow!!).

 Since I don't buy any cutesy fabrics, I am always amused to see some of the most adorable stuff that is out there, like the backing for the owl quilt.  Is this not great?!

Finally, a few simpler quilts have made it into Mainely Quilts of Love recently...an edge-to-edge lap quilt using the Plush panto...

 The thread doesn't show significantly in the pictures, but it is a gray Glide and adds a nice shiny dimension.

And another...Becky's argyle quilt is for her young son.  It's made with shot cottons I believe, and backed with a sheet.  Yes, I realize many quilters run for the hills at the smell of a sheet backing, but seriously, I see them all the time and they cause no problems.  Just recommend to your clients to not go for the 3-400 thread count ones, and to prewash.  They are just fine.  This quilt is stitched with the pattern Razorgrass.  It's edgy and all boy.

The pattern is really dense.  It takes me nearly a half hour to make one pass of the quilt.  I used a soft blue Omni thread for this quilt since the Omni is a little more robust than some other threads, and I didn't think that her son really needed a thread with sheen like Glide.

I want to say something about these shot cotton fabrics.  I realize many quilters really love them.  I saw a show quilt done in them recently that is breath-taking.  But they are very thin fabrics, almost gauze-like.  I could see shadowing through two layers of this soft blue!  I, personally, might avoid such fabrics for a quilt that will get a good bit of use/abuse.  JMHO...I also subscribe to the belief that they are very pretty and luminescent, but they aren't immensely durable feeling.

That's what I have been up to.  How about you??!

Some Thoughts from Paducah

Ever wonder what it takes to win at Paducah?...Yea, you and me both.  I spent many hours while I was there studying and photographing different aspects of quilts, both winning and not.  It is truly the most phenomenal display of talent I have yet to see.  I took way too many pictures to count, but I thought I'd show just a few.  These in this post are all machine quilted -- some by longarm and some by domestic.  Don't get me wrong, the hand quilted quilts were equally as impressive, but the subject of Japanese quilters needs a chapter all of it's own.  They will blow your mind completely.

This quilt is by Lois Podolny, "My Journey to Baltimore", and it won 1st in the large wall/home machine quilted category.  It is just perfect, in the design of the appliques right down to the tiny details of the machine quilting.

Look out if she enters this in a show near you!...it's a winner for sure.  Look at all those tiny circles - You know how much I LOVE making and appliqueing circles on my quilts.  Here's another quilter after my own heart.  As good as the applique is, the quilting is better.

"Celtic Summer Celebration" by Jaynette Huff took 2nd in the same category.  It has TONS of bias applique stitched in a Celtic manner, but the machine quilting took a secondary seat, as there really was very little open space on the quilt.

I have seen this at least once before, but Terri Doyle never disappoints with her whole-cloth quilts.  It is called "Secret Garden", and took 2nd in Large Wall/Longarm quilted.  This is the category that my Zen Garden quilt was in.  If you double click, I think some of the details of her quilting are more visible.  I don't really know how AQS or any show can fairly judge a top that has no piecing whatsoever with others that are heavily and accurately pieced, but that is how they do their categories.  Seems like there might be more such beautiful whole-cloth quilts if they had their own category...JMHO.

1st in my category is Mark Sherman's "Poppy's Rainbow".  It is a very large and impressive quilt.  Much of the quilting is in coordinating threads so it is hard to see.  On top of that, it is displayed with a chain so you can't even get within 6-8 feet of it.  It's turned edge applique, stitched on the machine, and embellished with lots of twinkle.

I didn't take pictures of all of the bed-sized quilts that were machine quilted -- just the ones that I really loved.  This is a part of Jan Hutchison's "Remembrance".  You can go to her blog on my sidebar to see other pictures that she took.  It's a wholecloth, thread painted and trapuntod.  It is absolutely gorgeous in it's design and execution.  FYI- that green is a Kaffe shot cotton, and is dreamy in person.  She should have taken first in her category (if I was a judge!) - her quilt blows the competition away!

One of the things I noticed about this show is that the quilts downstairs (which included the hand and machine quilted bed and wall quilts) in general were much more impressive than their smaller wall counterparts.  So many more of the larger quilts were just jaw dropping.  The contingent of Japanese hand stitchers thrown into this mix (and they were largely downstairs too) was so amazing.  Going to see the smaller quilts, sadly, left me mostly underwhelmed and just wanting more detail.  It's hard to say that because there were good ones up there.  Heck, even I had a small wall quilt in the show.  But so many of the non-ribbon winners downstairs blew your mind, but only the ribbon winners upstairs were in that position.

Janet Stone's "Charm School" is something like her 12th quilt in an alphabet series.  I found this quilt a nice departure from the more printed fabrics she often uses.  It really showcases her creative machine quilting (done on domestic), not to mention the way that only she knows how to embellish!  Without doubt, this quilt now belongs to the National Quilt Museum :-)

This post is a wee scattered in that I have shown several good quilts, but failed to show the Best of Show.  I have seen this amazing quilt before last year.  It's the dynamic duo of Karen Kay Buckley (who has now published this as a pattern) and Renae Haddadin, "Fiesta Mexico".  If there was any doubt that these two would produce a show stopper, there shouldn't be.  You ought to see it from the back !...white backing to showcase all the threadwork.  I have a picture from April 2012, MQX if you are interested.  Another quilt going to the museum...

 Sue McCarty's quilt is also headed for the museum, where she has at least one other one residing. It is a wholecloth quilt exclusively created with thread.  There may be a little bit of painted items too, and a ton of crystals as well.  It's mind-boggling to see in person.

Here's a closeup...There was a person sitting by the quilt telling viewers how many yards of thread she used. I think the number is like 50000, but I can't really remember.  It's crazy how much though!

 I'll end this with a couple others that caught my eye (of the machine quilted ones).  Karen McTavish quilted this quilt (like we couldn't tell from the narrow and graceful feathers everywhere!).

 And this quilt just satisfies my eye's need for certain colors.  I like it.

I have been busily working through the quilts in my backlog, trying to get as many of them behind me before my kids are out of school next month.  I do have a few I could share in a future post.  I am also in the process of creating the design for my silk quilt, as I hope to quilt part of that in a week or two.

If there are any of you out there that have quilts you are wanting to have an edge-to-edge done on, and don't have really tight time constraints, I will be trying to take exclusively this type of quilt throughout the summer.  These are easier for me to finish with 3 kids hanging around because they are quicker.  Please consider me if you do want to have a simpler quilt finished :-)

Playing with Satin

Playing with satin.  Or if you aren't great with spelling and feel challenged, it may read like "Playing with Satan".  I made this lap quilt last December.  It is a cranberry satin on the top and a printed poly (gasp!...kind of satin-like) on the back.  In hindsight, it probably should have had a quieter fabric like flannel on the back, but I was trying out fancy fabrics and in a "What the hell" mood that day.

The design process of this quilt was relatively simple...I marked the center square, marked some angles, eye-balled a few things and then pulled threads.  I really expected the colored Glide threads to show more than they did, but it was sort of an experiment.  It was supposed to be a Christmas present too, but I wasn't in any mood to finish it 4 months ago, so it sat!

It is only single batted with my usual 80/20 batting.  I expect it to be a lap quilt, so no wool.  The quilting definition is just fine because it's shiny.  It was fun to stitch...I think I spent 4 hours just free-stitching -- some ruler work, but mostly freehand.

One thing I learned is that satin is very hard to keep a quilt square.  I ended up trimming quite a bit to square it up before binding it.  And binding with satin is more like binding Satan.  Holy moly...that stuff is very slippery.  Knowing my motivation to do any quilting the week after MQX, I knew the only way it would get bound is if it was done on machine.  I never thought I'd starch satin, but it had to be done to get that stuff pressed!  In the end, the binding is not my best by far, but it's not too bad.  I noticed that the blue pen used to mark the quilt hadn't disappeared so I washed the quilt.  Who knew satin would wash and dry so easily??!

It's an interesting twist from the usual cotton that quilts are made from.  It is very drapable and shows off the quilting really nice.  Though it wasn't really hard to quilt, it leaves me not really thrilled that my next quilt up is made from silk!

PADUCAH

My whirlwind trip to Paducah is now a thing of the past.  It is hard enough when you travel somewhere only to stay there 2 days, but when the US government gets involved to screw up the air traffic controllers, it is a complete fiasco.  Considering that I flew through Newark last Thursday, where average delays were on the order of 4+ hours, I am lucky to have even made it all the way to Kentucky.

The show was everything I expected and more.  400 of the world's best quilts all under one roof.  I really appreciate getting to see the hand-made and hand-quilted quilts also, since this was me 5 years ago.  The Japanese dominate the handwork categories, and rightfully so.  Their quilts are just stunning.  I have opted to not post a ton of photos because the angles that they were hanging made it really hard to get photos of many quilts.  If you get a chance to get to this show, even if you don't have a quilt in it, go running.

I got 2 quilts accepted..."Intertwined" did not ribbon.  I sort of goofed on this one I think.  Unfortunately, hindsight is 20/20.  I entered it in the "small quilts - 1st Paducah entry" category, which had 38 entrants.  I should have just entered in the "small quilts - longarm quilted" category.  I think it may have even placed, as this category had 15 quilts entered.  The upshot of this is that I am still eligible to enter it at another AQS show, and I may try it again at Paducah next year.

My "Zen Garden" quilt, however, received Honorable Mention in the Large wall - longarm quilted category. This was a large category, stacked with a tremendous amount of talent (many quilts that probably beat this quilt at other shows!).  I am fortunate to have gotten this award.  OK, you have to squint to see the small white ribbon.  Sadly, the HM's don't get the traditional Dogwood bloom ribbon that Paducah is known for.  But since I was there, I spoke to one of the AQS gals that puts this show together, and she is sending me a dogwood florette.  Such nice service :-) 

I managed to buy a modest amount of fabric, mostly for my next quilt that is started (the dahlia).  I also grabbed 8-10 cones of thread, some hand quilting stencils, a 2014 Quilt Arts calendar that a quilt I quilted last year is in, and a few other odds and ends.  I had the crazy pleasure of shopping at Hancocks of Paducah.  OMG...if I lived there I'd need another job.  No cheap fabric in that place!

Time to get busy finishing some client quilts before my kids finish school!

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!

A Day to Play

 Well, kind of.

This is the only day this school vacation week that all 3 kids are away visiting Nana.  I have work accumulating in the studio, and needed to get things going.  April is blowing by fast and my trips here and there are not helping me to get things finished.  I did finish a lap quilt late yesterday, loaded another small (but dense custom) wall hanging, which I finished this morning.  Before I depart for Paducah, I have a huge E2E to quilt.  It can wait for Monday though.

Here is a quilt I finished a couple weeks ago.  It has made it's journey home to Tennessee already so I will show it.  This is a hybrid-type quilt.  It's got traditional blocks, but in non-traditional fabrics, all combined with free-piecing of the letters.  I didn't want to take the quilting too seriously or make it too formal.

 The butterfly kind of takes center stage, so it got a visible (variegated colorful thread) trail behind it.   Somehow the free-feathers as its background seemed to depict airy flight.

The blocks were all done a little differently, but I tried to repeat the quilting if there was a neighboring similar block.  Mostly, I took a geometric approach.

 I used a variegated Rainbows thread on the blocks because they were every color batik under the sun.  It allowed me to use just one thread, and still have it seem cohesive.

 Here's another look.  I don't have too much to comment on the quilt.  It took me a little outside of my innate comfort box, which for a quilter is a good thing.  Different quilts keep you thinking of new and different things to stitch.

So, like I said initially..."A day to play"...when the wall hanging I was working on was done, I stitched some on this new flimsy.  Can't really call it a flimsy yet as it is in a multitude of pieces, but many of the pieces are stitched together now.  I had the large center dahlia done a week ago, but now it has 4 smaller babies dahlias.  They still need their centers, which I will hand stitch.  I am playing with combining the silk Radiance with the quilting cottons.  It is a bit of a pain to make the bias strips with, but I think I will like the effect.  I love how I have been able to use a couple of fabrics that I really like, but just have never really found a great use for...the pommegranites and the Treetop Fancy.  They are perfect in color and texture for this quilt.  This quilt will have a ton of hand applique once I get the basic structure of it together (ie, when time stands still and lets me just do what I want to do!!).

Next week, I am off to Paducah to see my 2 quilts in the show, and the other magnificent 398 quilts that were accepted.  I can hardly wait!!

Big Bertha Brings home Big Blue

If you have read and followed my blog lately, you know I have been gearing up to go to the Machine Quilter's Exposition (now called New England Quilt Festival).   This is my favorite quilt show that is within a reasonable trip distance from where I live, and I look forward to going each year.  Today is the last day of the show, and I am now home.   Need less to say, it has been a whirlwind trip full of every emotion imaginable.  

I arrived Wednesday morning.  Judging was all over before then, and I did actually post full pictures of the three quilts I have entered on Facebook.  I knew before driving to Manchester, NH that I had earned a ribbon.  No details were provided to us winners, though, about which quilt earned a ribbon (if we entered more than one) or what the placement was.  It didn't really matter.  I had a ribbon and I was more than content.  I arrived early enough in the morning that I thought I might help with the quilt hanging before my afternoon class.  The pre-show scene was pretty chaotic, though, and I was tired, so I decided to just wait for my class.  In hindsight, it is probably a good idea because they might not have let me in there anyways!  

After my class, which I can go into in another post, was the awards ceremony.  It was fun to get to see friends I'd met last year at the show, and to meet facebook contacts that I've messaged with.  I asked one of the gals that was helping hang quilts, and she assured me that my quilts were all hanging nicely.  I'd worried a bit about my largest one, "Big Bertha" because it's 99"x99" and I have only seen it hanging once, and wondered how it would do.  Early in the awards ceremony I got a 2nd place ribbon for the quilt I expected to get something for (my small quilt showed in a previous post).  I had peeked through the show book in the afternoon and knew that the competition in the categories of my larger quilts was very stiff.  It seemed unlikely that I'd beat enough of them to ribbon.  All was good - I had the ribbon.  They got through the awards for all the categories, including the ones for my larger quilts - and as expected the ribbons went to the  quilters I figured would get them.  Quilting can be really predictable in some ways.  Then they got to the "big" awards...best quilting, best embroidery, etc.  I was pretty sure I wasn't up for any of these.  Now I can be like a card shark at Vegas too.  Because I had looked through the show book, I knew who of the "big hitters" had not gotten anything yet (but often do).  Often it is these quilters that take the bigger awards.  Sure enough, one by one, they were given out.  I had two quilters left in my head that I suspected might be up for the last award, Best of Show.  Not once did I even consider it could be me.  Seriously, not once.  I couldn't see how my quilt could beat the greats like Marilyn Badger, Janet Stone or Gail Stepanek/Jan Hutchison.  Heck, all of these had quilts in Houston, with ribbons.   They are phenomenal.  But then, I also knew that they'd already taken placements in their respective categories, so there were only a few choices left.  I'm telling you, when they called my name I think all the blood left my head.  Shock set in.  Part of me thought I was dreaming.  Winning Best of Show was not anywhere my radar, certainly not at MQX.  I am shocked, surprised, elated, and a thousand other words.   This award is mine this year.  Mine.

I am delighted that three judges critiqued my work, and got me.  They understand and like the choices of quilting that I designed.  I listened to head judge Scott Murkin explain the quilting designs I used to a class of his students.   They were on a guided tour of winning quilts.   I had a thought process for what I chose, and I'm thrilled that they saw that.   I'm not a one trick pony (or I try hard not to be)...I am constantly trying to open my boundaries as a quilter and select new motifs.  It can be risky, but worth taking that chance.

One of the biggest selling features for this quilt was most definitely the 106 scallop binding!   It is the first of this type that I have done.  I consulted with judge Linda McCuean on the binding early in the winter, since I have seen several of these that she has done.  She gave me fantastic pointers, and about 45-50 hours later, the binding was done.  It compliments the Dresdens exactly as I envisioned.  Despite a LOT of work, this binding sets the quilt apart and I am delighted to have chosen it.  I know that there are many times when I just want a quilt done, but I am the Tortoise here, rather than the Hare.  I just don't rush the making of my own show quilts.  There are many "Instant Gratification" quilters out there, and I envy their ability to not overthink projects and just get them done.  I am not that person.  Approximately 22 months after starting the quilt, it is at it's first show.  I estimate that this quilt took me between 600-700 hours from start to finish, cutting, designing, ripping, hand stitching nearly everything, marking the quilting motifs, quilting and binding.

There were many days I had issues with this or that, and I posted things to facebook.  I love and cherish all the great comments I got.  They gave me the determination to make the questionable change, and keep working on the quilt.  The dark green bias with pink piping was added primarily to cover the edge of the checked fabric.  It wasn't printed on grain, and the edge appeared "wavy", like I cut it crooked.  I love the fabric, and loved it on the quilt.  Since changing the check was not an option in my mind, adding something to cover it up was the order of the day (or week, as the Tortoise works).  In the end, it was a fantastic addition to the overall design.   The triangles of the outer border were started as traditional prairie points too.  I was on a mission to recreate a traditional quilt but with a modern twist.  Turns out I really do HATE prairie points, and I ended up appliqueing them down.  More so, to modernize the look, I thought it needed the pops of pink so I hand stitched over a hundred tiny dots to the border.

I hope you enjoy learning the ins and outs of how I choose designs.  I know I didn't post a ton during the construction of this quilt, but am happy to share it now.

The last few days have been overwhelming getting to meet so many of the folks that have followed this quilt either here or on facebook.  I cherish the many congratulations and hugs received this week from all of you.  Those complete strangers that go to the trouble to introduce themselves to hug me are delightful.  Being a somewhat reserved person, the experience leaves me grateful for the outgoingness of the rest of the population.  Thank you.

Quilt details...
Fabrics...over 50 modern or semi-large scale green prints, all solids for background and outer border are Michael Miller Krystals, quilted with 3 shades of silk thread, and highlights in red on the flower centers are in 40wt trilobal poly.  I used QD wool over Hobbs 80/20 batting.  The dark green bias  wave and prairie points are machine appliqued, but every Dresden and dot are done the old-fashioned way (aka needle turn). FYI - the Tortoise loves handwork :-)  It was on the frame a total of 6-7 weeks for quilting, for a total of 175-200 hours.  Remember, it is 99" square finished.  All quilting is free-handed (no computer).  All photos here are compliments of the great Jeffrey Lomicka - MQX photographer extraordinaire.

Happy Easter

I know, I know...I am a week late.  Or 51 weeks early.  I knew when this was sent to me that I wouldn't be getting it back home to her before Easter, but that was OK.  She was working on it nearly a year ago before they got relocated from Maine to Alaska!

The circle flowers will get buttons attached to them; that is why I didn't quilt anything on them.  I think it turned out super cute.  I used an ivory Glide on most of it.  It has a sweet and delicate sheen.  Then at the end, I came back over the 2nd tan border and the greens with a variegated Rainbows thread, which also has a slight sheen.  You can see where I added just a subtle hint of this Rainbow thread in the picture below. 

More free-form feathers.  I guess when I find a filler that I like, I use it.  It is pretty here, and this pink background really didn't scream for a more structured feather.  It is a playful and light-hearted look.

 The bunny will also get features added when it goes home.

Only because this is my Easter post...here's a quickie look at our most casual Easter...My daughter likes to gussy herself up, but it's a hopeless lost cause for her brothers. Boys will be boys.

Have a good week.  Not sure I'll post anything until I am back from MQX next weekend.  For those of you within driving distance of New Hampshire...This week is the Machine Quilters Exposition in Manchester, NH.  It is a great machine quilting quilt show.

Dear World, Please meet Kaleidoscopic Calamity

I have hesitated about introducing this quilt in its entirety before it goes to show next week, but decided what the Hell.  Why not?!

Without further adieu, here's "Kaleidoscopic Calamity".  It has had a number of possible names ranging from Experimental Solids to A Colorful Co-mingling, and a few that are not appropriate for print!  What started as a desire to make a quilt solely from solids has now been put to rest.  I no longer yearn for this any more.  These are not true solids; they are Moda Crossweaves.  They have one color in the warp, and another in the weft.  They turned out to be thicker to work with than I like, making accurate points hard.  When I selected them, for some reason I had them confused with shot cottons.  Dumb me.

Specifics...this quilt is 35"x35", my smallest to date.  You can double click any picture to see the quilting details.  I used the usual show quilting batting recipe - Hobbs 80/20 with Tuscany wool.  It's stitched with threads Monolon and Glide in several colors.  The shine is pleasing on the otherwise dull fabrics.

I chose to quilt the center of the quilt "free-form", as in not adhering strictly to the piecing (now, that would be boring, eh?!).  This was definitely a quilt of learnings.  I much prefer things to work out right the first time, without picking out.  Seriously, who doesn't.  I designed the star block.  It seemed simple enough.  It was just intended to be rotated onto point for the quilt layout.  I constructed it in rows, very neatly pieced.  (you will notice that if you turn your head 45 degrees, the piecing looks much neater).  Problem is that when the block is turned on point, it doesn't look quite as neat.  Learning #1: Piece blocks in the orientation that they will hang so that horizontal and vertical lines appear straight.  Needless to say, I did not undo these blocks.  This quilt was already losing my interest by then.  I am surprised I did actually finish it!

Here's a closeup of the star...Small quilts call for tiny, intricate quilting.  Not really sure how many hours I spent on this but the number is insane for it's small size....probably 35-45.  Or more. Yup, probably much more.  It's like childbirth...your body is programmed to forget certain things that would otherwise be disturbing.

The outer border is my favorite part.  The quilting happened to stitch beautifully that day, and I loved the look of the motifs I chose.  Maybe a judge will feel the same.  Fingers crossed.  I know areas that have plenty of issues, but this border is not one of them.

It's bound with a red piping.  In fact, the day I needed to mail it off to MQX, I had one corner to "modify" as it was not laying properly.  I unpicked the hand stitches, and proceeded to accidentally nick the binding with my brand new rotary blade!  Talk about pissed.  I had to remove about 1/4 to 1/3 of the brown binding just to replace a tiny hole!  Two hours later, it was ready to send off :-)

The back is strips of leftover green.  It's not really symmetrical, but does that really matter?  It shows the quilting really well.

Since these pictures were taken, crystals were added to the back too.  You never know, if it ribbons, it may hang with the back showing.

Cross your fingers and wish this Calamity luck.  The competition and quilty company at MQX next week looks daunting.  I have a quilt in 3 different categories.  My guess is that this small quilt category (under 40" side) may have the best chances.  But who really knows!?!   The news will all be out next Wednesday evening.