Troubled sleep

The clothing I bought at the thrift store came out of the wash fine. I folded and put them away until I get a chance to cut them apart.

It was a restless night for me. While at the art gallery one of the nice ladies had picked up an entry form for an art contest called “Form Not Function” and gave it to me. This contest has an entry deadline of October 20^th. It is a world wide competition. If anyone wants to learn more about it this is the web address. I’m not sure how to put it in as a clickable link. That’s something I will have to learn later. http://www.carnegiecenter.org Find the Form Not Function button at the top to click for more information.

In my sleep, I kept asking what “Form not function” means. Yes, I know its textile art. But what type of art? Does it mean the type of art that is barely recognizable as a quilt or could it be a more traditional item. Would a more traditional quilt qualify as an entry? I kept thinking how the textile artists have gained recognition in the major quilt contests over the last few years. Almost all of them now have a wall art category but do any of the “art” contests have categories for traditional quilts with really good design?

I don’t think I’m explaining this very well. Hmmm…If anyone remembers the AQS Paducah show had wall quilts that were actually painted pictures of geese in water that were quilted and entered. Those would be what I call form not function quilts.

But….would a contest like this one at the Carnege allow a wall size nine patch or t-shirt quilt with really nice machine quilting qualify as an entry? Would any of the art quilt contests allow a traditional entry? Can I go to my stash of traditional tops waiting for their time on my machine and find a contest entry among them?

What I have written may sound like I’m being critical of the art contests. Not at all!! I’m merely wondering whether I have something already pieced together I can use as an entry because of the short deadline. I do have a couple of what I call art quilts that might qualify. They are already quilted.

I have this quilt….

And this quilt….

But I’m wondering about some of my other quilts. The reason I am wondering is because it’s a juried show. There is no limit to the number of pieces you can try entering. The more entries I send in, the better my chances of being juried into the show with one of them.

Ok, enough internet time, I have customer quilt tops waiting. Vacation is over.

Where was I?

I’m back…

Gee, I sure do hate being without a camera. My blogs just aren’t the same without pictures to go along with my story. I've been reading blogs in the ring as often as I could. I just haven't had the time to comment like we are supposed to do. I'll do better starting tomorrow.

The last few days have been a whirl wind of activity for me. I went back to the Nashville show. Yes, I know I said I would never go again. I ate my words and went back. The second trip was much, much nicer than the first one! I met Renea Haddadin, Marilyn Badger, and Jamie Wallen. All of them are major contest winners for machine quilting.

My poor furkids thought I deserted them the last few days. I should be cleaning up after them but I’m excited and I want to tell about it. I went to lunch with the “nice ladies” today. We first went to the Carnegie Art Center in New Albany, Indiana. The featured artist was Penny Sisto. Penny lives somewhere local to this area, I’m not sure where though.

Penny happened to be there talking to a group of school children so it was a special treat to hear her tell about her works. We had just gotten there and not had a chance to really look at anything. While listening to Penny talk, I happened to turn around to look in another direction at her works because I could get a better view. The tears started streaming. I couldn’t help it, I just started crying. I can’t even tell you why I cried.

I learned some very important artsy things while listening to Penny talk and then getting very close up to her work. Most people know my eyesight is not so good. Also, the dollar store glasses I wear are not the best. I need to get up really close in order to see the work. Most places won’t let you get really close. I usually see everything through a blur. It’s sort of like looking through a frosted window. You know something is there but you just can’t make out the details.

I found that art quilting does not have to be perfect like it does for a quilt contest. In traditional contest quilts all the pieces have to line up perfect and all the stitching has to be perfect. With art quilts the idea is to create a mood or a moment or a thought or whatever…. regardless of the way it is created. I think I’ve written about this before but today it really sunk in for me.

Penny said she can finish a wall quilt in from 4 hours to a couple of days. Good heavens, she would have a quilt completely finished before I could even find the right box containing the right fabrics. I’ve got to find the time to organize again!

I wanted to ask the nice ladies if we could ask Penny to have lunch with us. Before I could get the chance, another person interested in buying a piece of Penny’s work took her attention.

I rode with Emma to the thrift store looking for clothing made from fabrics I can use in some quilts. I have some ideas for art quilts so I picked out clothing with fabrics that will work in those pieces. I found one nice blouse that will fit me so I have to decide whether to wear it or cut it up.

All the clothing is in the washer right now in the hottest water I can get. I want everything to shrink or fade or whatever it’s going to do before I cut it up. I spent more than my budget says I should have spent. I have to be very careful shopping thrift stores just the same as shopping a regular fabric store. If I’m not careful; I will way over spend because I find so many nice fabrics. I’ll have to do the rob Peter to pay Paul shuffle for the next couple of weeks. The fabrics were worth it though. (smile)

So that’s it for an update. Tonight I will be cleaning the house really good. Tomorrow I will be back at the machine staying ahead of the waiting list.

Nashville trip - 2007

Now that I’m home; I can get my life back to its normal routine. In my opinion, AQS should seriously think about moving the Nashville show to an entirely different location somewhere in Nashville. Or another city entirely! Gaylord Hotel does not cater to the thousands of visitors the show brings to their place.

First let me explain…..the purpose of me going on the tour bus trip to Nashville was to view all the quilts up close. I love looking at other people’s work. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing them!! Even the quilts without ribbons are a joy to look at and admire. I took as many pictures as my camera would allow. The camera kept winking out on me. I would have a good shot lined up in the view finder then the screen would go white and blank. I’m not sure what the problem is with my camera. I guess its time to shop for another one. I did manage to take 100 pictures during our 5 hour stay there. I put them on my webshots if you would care to look.

I stopped at the Gammill booth and talked with Ron Parker. I always have to stop at their booth and visit with them a bit. I talked to him about a problem I have with my machine. It starts off with really large stitches then extremely tiny stitches as it catches up with me. My machine’s stitch quality isn’t anywhere close to the quality of the machines at the show. According to Ron my belt must be loose. I did check the way he showed me how to check and yes it is loose. I’m supposed to call him after the show is over for fixing the problem of too many stitches per inch. I actually get around 20 per inch instead of the 10 I’m supposed to be getting. Ron says the problem is in the regulator set up. After a short visit I moved on.

I had bought a plastic foot device called the Curve Master Foot at the Nashville show last year. It had cost me $30. Naturally, it didn’t fit my household machine. None of the adaptors in the package fit the old Bernina 1230. When I was walking through the vendor isles I saw their booth. I decided to ask about an adaptor. Yes, they did have an adaptor to fit the old Bernina 1230. It cost $20; so I pull out a $20 bill to pay for it. When I asked for a receipt to use for my business paperwork, he charged me $1.85 for it. Yes, that’s right, $1.85 for a receipt. I guess there is no point in saying…I will not shop that booth anymore! And…I will not promote their product to anyone else. For me to pay $50 to use one plastic foot on my machine is pretty dumb on my part. For them to charge $1.85 for a receipt is just plain outrageous!!

Last year at the Nashville show when it was time for lunch; we would go outside the show and a little further inside the hotel to the food court. The food court had several normal fast food restaurants and some dining type restaurants too. A visitor could actually get a decent lunch for a reasonable price. This year, the hotel had done away with the food court. We asked a hotel employee why and were told the hotel is going “upscale”.

There aren’t any good eating places within ‘old lady with arthritic hips joints walking distance’ from the hotel; especially when we are only there for a few hours. We asked a hotel employee if they had a shuttle to take visitors to other places and pick them up. No, they don’t have that. We were forced to eat in the food area of the show. I’m totally against having food in the same area as quilts. There are too many ways to have an accident.

The prices for food were outrageous. Well naturally!! Why shouldn’t the hotel make it difficult to eat at a reasonable cost? Now don’t think me unbending here. I expect to pay a little extra for a meal inside a show. But come on…. $10.50 for self serve of a small sandwich, beans, and lemonade? The least they could do is offer a bag of chips and a mint with it. Would you call this an “upscale” hotel meal? I’ve got news for Gaylord Hotel…higher prices does not equal “upscale”!

If a person wanted only water to drink instead of lemonade, it was an additional $3. Cookies and brownies were $2 each. A tiny salad – maybe a couple of table spoons – was $5.75. A 1 ounce bag of chips (that costs 35 cents at the store) was $2. They had four lines of people with only two cashiers. The cashiers charged whatever they felt like charging; if you didn’t like it….tough…go somewhere else to eat. The lady in front of me paid $14, I paid $15, and my sister in law paid $10.50….all of us getting the exact same thing. I didn’t argue; I paid it because I had not had anything to eat since supper the night before and I was starving plus rapidly becoming shaky. It was already 1:45.

Now this is only my opinion; but, if the Gaylord hotel is going to continue with meals inside the show area; the least they could do is give every item a separate price which would allow folks to pick and choose and pay accordingly. They might even consider some other food items too.

After lunch I went to the awards ceremony where I had to pay $15 for my sister in law to get in. I got in free as a contestant. I can understand paying to get into the show. The entertainer (the singing quilter) has to get paid somehow. The problem was….we had to stand through a big part of the show. There weren’t enough chairs until more could be brought in from storage. Then they just sat the stack in a corner for the attendees to pull a chair from the stack, carry it to the other side of the room before sitting. Come on now; for $15 couldn’t the hotel employee carry a chair or two for a couple of old ladies? It would have also been really nice if the lights were turned out during the singing quilter’s performance like any normal performance. The lights were so bright it was hard to focus on the entertainment. By the way, the singing quilter is really good.

I made an idiot of myself at the ceremony. I’m not sure Yvonne will want me to go to another one with her. Heck, for me, the whole fun of walking up in front of all those people is to do something really stupid so everyone will have a good laugh! It makes others remember me. I just tell them…I’m the one who did such and such stupid thing and everyone says…oh yeah, I remember you now. Our group - Happy Heart Quilters - got a second place ribbon.

In the back of the quilt show area was a table set up by Clover. They had pamphlets of things to do at a guild meeting. I picked up several really nice ideas. There was also a box on the table that said “free knitting needles”. The box was empty. I went back a few minutes later when it had been filled. I picked up a pair. The needles are very nicely made from wood. I asked my sister in law to pick up a pair too, in a different size, so I could have them. She refused to give them to me. I asked her what she planned to do with knitting needles if she doesn’t knit. She says “but I can learn” and that was that. I’m sorry but I will not be teaching her to knit. I’ve been teaching her to quilt for about 7 years and she still hasn’t bought a single quilt pattern or book or shown any interest beyond simple squares in all that time. Hmm…maybe she is planning to switch hobbies?

I got extremely excited when I came across a lady weaving rugs! I make rugs from left over t-shirt backs. I’m too thrifty to throw away the backs of t-shirts after I have made a t-shirt quilt. I cut the leftovers into strips and weave them into rugs. Anyway, this lady was selling rug frames made by her brother. He does beautiful woodwork!! I’m hoping to consult with him to make a few changes to the construction of the frame for me. My weaving style is just a bit different than the way he has his frames set up. I already have a bunch of strips cut up because I had dusted off my rug frame a few days ago planning to weave again. I didn’t buy the frames at the show. Instead I asked for a phone number so I could call when I got home. He is going to make the changes in the frame for me and it should be ready in a couple of weeks. It’s going to be a long two weeks!

The bathrooms for the quilt show were a long distance from the show area. It’s like walking a couple of city blocks to find a bathroom. Good gosh…I was at the very back of the show area when the urge to make water hit me…twice.

If you plan to attend a show like this with a friend; trust me, it is better if you agree to go separate ways and meet at a certain spot at a certain time later in the day. My sister in law didn’t want to be farther than two feet from my side for the whole trip. It was difficult to see what I wanted to see while making sure she got to see what she wanted to see too. If you go separate ways you can spend your time enjoying yourself and the other person can too.

We got back on the bus at 5:30. Two ladies were late meeting the bus so we had to wait about 15 minutes for them. We had supper at the Cracker Barrel a short distance from the hotel. Service was great and fast! I finally had a decent meal for a decent price.

I guess that’s it for my report on the Nashville trip. My suggestions…anyone going to the show should plan on packing a sack lunch and never take a water pill.

A quiet day

Yesterday I decided not to go back to the fair. Since I had already planned for a day off; I decided maybe I should stay home to get some work done without interruptions. When I start organizing I first find what is not working, give it a ton of thought for a solution, then make the change.

I looked at my machine and decided it was high time I worked out the problem of shifting tops while quilting. When I load a backing onto the machine then tighten it up, one end is very tight while the other end is loose. As I progress through the quilting the end that was loose gradually becomes tight while the opposite happens on the other side; it becomes loose.

I’ve never been able to figure out a fix for this problem. I measured the distance between the belly bar and the take up bar. There was an inch or more difference. Logically a person could move the bars closer together to make them equal distance apart, right? Well, nothing about a Gammill is logical. I realized it’s not the belly bar that should be straight with the take up bar. It’s the bar down under the table that is the problem. One end of the backing gets attached to the take up bar leader and the other end of the backing gets attached to the backing bar and leader under the table. So how is it possible to measure the distance apart of those two bars? I never figured that one out.

I removed the leaders and put new ones on. I also cleaned dust from parts I normally don’t look at - like under the table where the batting is stored. The frame itself rarely gets any cleaning attention. I also cleaned and oiled the bobbin area, then tightened all the bolts of the table. The clean parts of my machine may not be visible – but – I know they are thoroughly clean.

I sure wish the rest of the house was just as clean. ;-}

Quilt shows and ribbons

All last year I heard comments from other quilters that they were not going to enter this year’s fair because I was entering. Even when I dropped off my quilt there were comments like – Oh there is Anita, she’s going to win best of show again. I keep telling everyone that the Unicorn quilt was just an accident. I had several different techniques I wanted to try and somehow they all worked together to create a good quilt. Once I won best of show everyone expects me to do it every time. I’m not that good a piecer or quilter!! Actually the one that won best of show this year wasn’t even quilted. It was a crazy quilt but not layered with a batting and backing. It's the one in the pictures. Sorry about the dots all over the pictures, those are lights reflected from the ceiling onto the glass.

I went out to the Kentucky State Fair yesterday. I had entered 6 quilts. I won 2 blue ribbons. One in the professional category and one in the memory quilt category. The lady that won both best machine quilting ribbons did a really great job. I was told she used a Statler Stitcher to quilt them. I really don’t know her but the quilting was perfect. She deserved to get those ribbons and I’m happy that she did. If it is true and she did use a computerized machine, I doubt I will ever win another machine quilting ribbon. I can’t really compete with a computerized machine. My movements are far too imperfect while a computer doesn’t know to do anything but perfect. It won’t stop me from entering more quilts though.

It’s kind of strange. I thought I would feel disappointed if I didn’t win a machine quilting ribbon. I really don’t feel that way. Is something wrong with me? That it doesn’t matter I didn’t win one for machine quilting? I do like to get ribbons but somehow not getting one doesn’t make me feel disappointed. All I feel is the urge to start planning a quilt or two for next year.

I spent about 4 hours walking up and down the isles looking at quilts; especially those done by my customers. There were some good, some not so good, some quilted by me, some quilted by hand, and some had ribbons while others didn’t. It was more of a walk down memory lane than an attempt to see what the judge was thinking. I heard many comments from people like…. The judge must have been drunk when they gave that ribbon. The quality of the quilts this year is disappointing. This quilt should have won instead of that one.

I heard these type comments over and over. Those comments are what made me feel really sad. The ribbons are nice but not every quilt is going to get one. The judges give ribbons based on certain criteria. If those criteria aren’t met then no ribbon can be given. I encourage every one of my customers to enter the fair. Why I encourage them isn’t really about the ribbons….it is about seeing their work hanging for everyone to look at.

What quilter doesn’t like looking at the work of other quilters? How often do you go to a shop, or visit a friend, or drop off a top to be quilted and not look at the quilts? The internet is full of people surfing around looking at quilt pictures and websites with quilts on them.

Every customer that comes to my house looks at all the quilts here. They look at the one on the machine and ask me whose quilt it is. They look on the shelves at the completed quilts and often pull one or two off the shelf to look at it closer. They ask me to show the quilts I’m piecing.

For me….this is what a quilt show is really all about; the looking at many quilts all in one place; its eye candy just hanging there for people to enjoy. I tend to focus first on the quilting. Whenever I see a quilt my attention immediately goes to the quilting. I can’t help it, it’s what I do, and machine quilting is my life. After my focus clears somewhat I start looking at the piecing design. I don’t care whether it is pieced perfect or not. I look at the design. Is it something I would want to piece? Why did she or he use a square, a triangle, a diagonal, a curve or other design element? Did the piecer accomplish the look of the design regardless of whether the piecing and quilting is perfect or not?

Maybe this is the artist in me? Artists viewing the work of other artists tend to analyze the intent of the design rather than the way it was accomplished. Let me see if I can describe this in written words with a short story.

There is a painting hanging in an art gallery. At first glance it appears to be splashes of paint thrown on the canvas. One person walks by and comments…My 4 year old son could do that and walks on by. Another person walks up and stops to stare at it for a long time. Suddenly he starts to smile, bobs his head up and down, and says very well done. What did he see that the first person didn’t? He saw what the artist was trying to convey. The splashes of paint themselves were not the real focus; it was what the artist wanted those splashes to represent in the overall design that mattered.

So the next time you go to a fair or a quilt show try looking at the quilts with an artist’s eye. Think of it as a quilt ‘gallery’ rather than a quilt ‘show’. Try seeing the intent of the design rather than how well it was pieced or quilted. Look a little closer at some of the quilts without ribbons. There just might be an artist behind those quilts; someone who was more intent on conveying a message than on how well it is put together. There could be a thousand reasons why the person wasn’t able to do perfect piecing or quilting but that doesn’t make them any less a really great quilter. They could have a handicap making it difficult to piece. They could be just beginning a quilt hobby and you are seeing the first one. They could be low income so that their quilting machine isn’t a do all, very expensive, modern one. They could be trying a design with inexpensive thrift store fabrics to show it can be done. Like I said….there could be thousands of reasons.

And….never stop entering contest just because you don’t win a ribbon. Let the rest of the world enjoy your contribution to the eye candy! Why do you think they call it “show”? It’s because you are to “show” your quilts. I know I’m going to keep entering even if I don’t win ribbons!

Ok, I’m heading off to my studio to start another customer quilt.