And the winner is……

ME!!

Yep!  I won first place in the Large Quilt category at our quilt show this weekend for my Civil War Tribute quilt.  I feel validated as a quilter.  It’s one thing when your family and friends tell you your work is good.  But it’s something else when strangers think so, too.  See…I guess there are traditional people out there after all!  My husband was looking for the big check.  He’s a funny man!

The Best of Show was a pictoral wallhanging…very pretty.  It was interesting how she made the fabric patterns work for her.  A little broidrey perse I think.  (Yeah, I’m pretty sure I spelled that wrong!)

We had about 20 vendors…most of whom I made very happy with my purchases. 🙂  Picked up some fabrics for Grandmother’s Choice and a couple of  patterns and just lots of things!  A girl can’t have too many things, you know!  I took my grandchildren to the show on Sunday and they bought out the resale shop.  They spent $6 and walked out with two shopping bags of “stuff”.  One man’s stuff is another man’s junk.  I’m just glad the junk stuff went home with them and not to my house.  I have enough junk stuff of my own!

It was a very busy weekend.  Setting up, working at the show and taking the show down.  But my husband and I still managed to go to Shipshewanna on Monday….where I bought more repro fabrics and another pattern.  Laying in supplies for the winter. 🙂  We also bought an old window from a church in Mexico.  I’m planning to make a piece of patchwork to frame behind it and hang it above the door in my front entry.  It will be very nice when it’s finished.  My husband is very smart…he put it right next to my sewing machine so that it’s the first thing I see when I sit down to sew.  Clever man!

Enjoy this slideshow of some of my favorite quilts from the show.  Which is your favorite?  Mine is the one with the ribbon on it! 🙂

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I feel vindicated….

I wonder if many of you are like me.  I have a love/hate relationship with quilt shows.  I love to see the quilts.  I hate that I can’t touch them!  I practically have to walk through with my hands tied behind my back.  There’s always the quilt with that little thread on it that begs me to remove it.  I have to walk away fast!

I love the diversity of many of the shows.  People do things with fabric I would never dream of doing.  I always wonder why their minds work differently from mine.  Why didn’t I think of that?

I leave most shows with mixed emotions.  On one hand I am extremely inspired.  I want to go home and lock myself away in my room and sew for days.  And then, on the other hand, I feel woefully inadequate.  Why can’t I make quilts like these?  Why can’t I make a beautiful applique quilt?  Why can’t I make a stunning art quilt?  Why is it I don’t stitch tiny pieces of fabric together in a quilt that looks like a photograph?  Why don’t I put shape and color together to create movement or convey emotion?

I struggle with these questions after every quilt show.  And I have an answer.  I don’t want to.  It’s really pretty simple.  I just don’t want to.  Having said that, I then struggle with these questions….why don’t I want to grow as a quilter?  Why don’t I want to step out of my comfort zone?  Why don’t I push myself?  Same answer…I don’t want to.  I’m happy with my traditional way of doing things.  It makes me happy.  We should do the things that make us happy.  Growth is nice but we don’t always have to grow.  I guess I’m like a little bonsai tree.  A bonsai quilter.

I was thumbing through the latest issue of American Quilter  admiring the winners of the Grand Rapid show and beating myself up because my quilts don’t look like these.   Then I came across and article about Marti Mitchell.  In this article, Marti says “There is  nothing wrong with quilters wanting to buy fabrics and make quilts for their families.”  It occurred to me that was a true statement!  I was vindicated!  I don’t have to step out of my comfort zone unless I want to!  That statement has given me the freedom to admire all of those quilts that I like to look at but have no desire to make and still feel like a quilter.

Hello, my name is Candy and I like to make Nine-Patches.  Wow!  It feels good to say that!

A few things…

Last weekend, my husband and I went to the AQS show in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  He’s really a trooper.  Not many of my friends are quilters so he gets to be my BFF on quilt days.  He’s a good guy…he likes quilts.  He enjoys looking at the quilts and he enjoys going someplace nice for lunch.  But he does not like the vendors.  I think guys are genetically wired to dislike shopping.  Unless it’s for tools.  Then they can wander for hours in the hardware store.  I try to remember all the shows and shops I’ve drug him through every time I’m with him in Home Depot.  But I digress….  Bottom line is he will trudge through aisles and aisles of vendors without complaint.  He’s a keeper.

Every quilter who goes to a quilt show would probably agree that visiting the vendors is as much fun as viewing the quilts….particularly at a big, national show.  All of the big companies are there and so many of the pattern makers and authors.  You can find things that are just not always available at your local shop.  And they call your name and they follow you home!  I had one item that called to me.  It was the kind of thing that seems like a good idea at time…like the Tupperware pickle keeper that I had to have so many years ago.  🙂  This quilting item was appealing but it was pricey so I had to convince myself that I really wanted it.  So, I decided to continue shopping and if I really wanted it at the end of the afternoon, I’d get it.  Eventually I decided I couldn’t live without it.  My reasoning was that either way, I might be sorry….sorry I bought it or sorry I left it there.  So, back to the booth I went.  Eventually.  You see, we forgot where it was.  So CubFan and I were once again trudging down the aisles.  We finally found the booth and I walked away a happy camper.

So here is the object of my desire…Steady Betty.  It is a very unassuming pressing board.  I’ve been pressing on a towel on top of my cutting table…which, by the way, is warping my cutting mat.  I’ve been looking for a better method.  This is it!  It’s foam covered and the foam holds your quilt blocks in place while you press them.  It eliminates most of the distortion that can occur when you press your blocks.  I have no buyer’s remorse with this purchase…unlike the pickle keeper.  Check it out here.   As I said, it’s a little pricey but I think it’s worth every penny…again, unlike the pickle keeper.

My other major purchase was a product dear to my heart…thread.  I think it’s pretty well documented that I love thread.  I’ve had this love/hate relationship with King Tut thread.  I love it…it’s beautiful…it’s high quality.  My machine quilting just doesn’t look pretty when I use it.  Part of that is because my machine quilting just doesn’t always look pretty to begin with!  🙂  Out of desperation one day, I tried SoFine 50 weight and my stitches looked so pretty.  I think King Tut is just too heavy.  I needed to get some SoFine in neutral colors.  I talked about going to the Superior Thread booth for a week.  I walked right past it and CubFan had to direct me to it.  I was like a kid in a candy store!    I picked out some colors and some Masterpiece for piecing and a cone thread holder thingy and went to the register.  I told CubFan not to come to the register with me.  He wouldn’t understand.  He doesn’t care…he just doesn’t get it.  He once looked at my tackle boxes full of rayon embroidery threads and said “You must have $50 worth of thread in there!”  I did not set him straight.  If he’s happy believing that, I’m happy letting him.  🙂  I’m pretty sure I worked a couple of days for that thread.  But I think it’s going to make a big improvement.

Here is what I’m working on right now.  I’m pattern testing for my sister.  Her original is made in a more primitive colorway but I decided to try it in “snowy” colors.  These are certainly not the norm for me!  Here’s a sneak peek!

I’m hoping to share some quilt photos from the show as soon as I can get them edited.  Where does the time go!!!