Did I win?

Yes, I did win a couple of ribbons.  My rose quilt got third place.

This quilt got second place.  I think you can read the person's name if you enlarge the picture.  I'm trying to figure out what the design is?  Is it a bug?  An animal?  I really do like it though.

This quilt got the first in the same category as well as best of show in all the quilt categories.  This is the second or third year in a row this person won best of show for his textile art.

I know it's hard to see from the glare of the glass.  It's a 3D textile art piece with lots of open areas.  It was entered in the original design category where "innovative design is encouraged".  He certainly does that with this piece.  Its a beautiful piece of textile art. 

It has layers of quilted fabric elements with open areas in between.  The white fabric you see is actually the back of the other quilt in the glass case, seen through those open areas of this quilt (art).  This swirl thing stands up about 5 inches from the flat part of the art piece.

This quilt is done by a guy who is a local artist.  I don't think he started out doing textile art.  I can't seem to remember his name either.  I did write it down and now I can't find the paper I wrote it on.  I'll try to get it again next time I go to the fair.

There were a lot of people talking about that quilt and how it should not be entered as a quilt.  Well, hmm.... it does meet all the criteria for being an innovative original design quilt.  I'm not upset that it won best of show.  However; the average, everyday quilt maker doesn't stand a chance of winning the big ribbon as long as the textile artist's works are in the same department.  That includes any original design art quilts I enter too.  Art and quilts can't really compete against each other.  It's like comparing delicious layer cake to plain flat bread.  Both are good in different ways but there's nothing alike about them. 

How can this problem be fixed?  I'm glad you asked.  It's my opinion the "innovative, original design, textile art quilts" should be moved to the fine art department.  Leave the category of original design quilt in the textile department for those who come up with "an original pieced or applique quilt consisting of three complete layers recognizable as an actual quilt for a bed or a wall".  Hmm.... the description wording could be improved but I think you get the idea.  The problem of separating textile art from actual quilt is a growing problem for many quilt shows and fairs.  Until someone comes up with the perfect wording for a description to separate the two; it's going to continue being a problem between quilt makers and textile artists. 

One of my customers won a blue ribbon in the two person quilt category.  This is the quilt you can see from the back behind the art quilt.  I won a ribbon for best machine quilting on a bed size quilt.  I had told this customer last fall that it was a good quilt to enter the fair and I was right.  Some quilts just stand out for me after the quilting is finished.  Not that I don't put my heart into all the quilts... it's just that some turn out much better than others.  Everything goes perfect and turn out better than expected.

My quilt with the nude bathing lady and the log cabin quilt didn't win any ribbons. My rug got a second place ribbon.

This rug got first in the category.

This rug got best of show.  It's beautiful!  This person has me wanting to make one like it.

I just have to show you this doll that got a blue ribbon.  I love, love, love it!  A little old lady with her walker complete with tennis balls, her beehive hairdo, her comfortable shoes, her hand made jewelry and thrift store clothes, her quilted jacket, the rear view mirror on her walker, and she's....

headed for the bingo with a grin on her face.  Don't you just love her too? 

That's how I'm gonna look in a few years only I'll be headed for a quilt show.  What really got me to giggling is her shoes.  Look at her fuzzy flip flops..... and now take a look at what I wear everywhere I go. 

Hee, hee, hee..... you laughed too.  I have fuzzy flip flops in different colors. 

I wanted to take lots of pictures of the quilts and other crafts.  Well that didn't happen because I forgot to put fresh batteries in the camera and didn't carry any extra with me.   I'll take more photos the next time I go. 

I also saw something at the fair that really upset me and I don't know what to do about it.  First let me explain about winning ribbons at the fair.  No one knows if they won a ribbon until they actually go to the fair and look.  The ribbons are left on the items until the end of the fair.  The ribbons are given to the people when the items are picked up.  So, if a ribbon disappears before someone knows they won it... there's no way to know about it.  For example if a person enters something and it wins a ribbon.  Say that person can't get to the fair until the weekend before the fair ends and the ribbon is gone from the item.  That person won't know they won anything until a check for a few dollars arrives in the mail weeks later.  Much too late to get the actual ribbon. 

Well, I saw a couple of older ladies with some ribbons quickly hiding them in a bag.  I don't know which department the ribbons came from.  My SIL and I were sitting outside the building on a bench taking a break at the time I saw these two ladies with the ribbons.  My SIL said maybe the ladies won the ribbons but asked to take them home instead of leaving them.  Maybe she's right although I seriously doubt it.  I don't even know who to tell about what I saw because where the ribbons came from could have been anywhere in the fair.   

I haven't a clue why someone would want to steal ribbons.  There's no fun in owning a fair ribbon unless there is some pride in winning it.  You can't sell them.  You can't even make a quilt from the ribbons because the ink will wash off.   Displaying a bunch of ribbons won't have any meaning unless those ladies are trying to fool someone into believing a craft they create is ribbon winning skill. 

My only hope is the ribbons those ladies stole did not come from an entry done by a child.  How heart breaking it would be for a child to find out weeks after the fair they really won a ribbon but doesn't have an actual ribbon to show their friends.  Oooo.... another horrible thought.... I hope those ladies don't go to big quilt shows!

I messed them up

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Ok, the roses don't look too bad except it's not the way I wanted them to look. I wanted a vague ghost like image of roses in the background. I think I know what I did wrong. I used a variegated thread in a 30 weight. I couldn't control where the colors got stitched and the thread is too heavy for a pale image in the background. I'm still happy because I learned from the test.




I have a thinner thread (that's not variegated) I can try on another test quilt later. As my daughter pointed out... there's no definition to the petals. They run together instead of being defined. She's right and that's from the variegated thread.

Using individual colors instead of a variegated thread will give me more control where the colors are stitched. A thinner thread will give me a much fainter image. I went back over the roses with some different color threads. It helped but it's still not right. On second thought, I probably have way too much stitching. Less is more as they say.

Anyway, I stopped working on the roses and put the customer quilt on the machine. I started stabilizing it. Guess what came in my mail.... the newest issue of Machine Quilting Unlimited. I start reading through it when suddenly I came across this. WOW!! The ghost image type quilting I was trying to achieve. Now this lady has "THE GIFT" I was telling you about.

This is the work of Hollis Chatelain. I can't stop thinking WOW! I'm drooling a lot. There is some hand painted fabric in there. Possibly about 5 percent fabric paint and the rest is all thread. I'm only guessing by looking at the photo. You see how the leaves are faint images? The fabric below shows through but the leaves show up too. A perfect balance of thread and hand painted fabric. I want to quilt just like her when I grow up!

Ok, I do have a long, long way to go before I can quilt like that. It does give me a goal though. Without classes or books to help me along the way it will mean lots of trial and error. I don't think Hollis gives classes or has any books out. If she does give classes I'm sure they are way off someplace hard to get to and very, very expensive. I'll be content to examine any photos of her work I can get then try testing.

Hmm.... I probably should take a step or two backwards and get some books on sketching or on pen & ink drawing. Before I can stitch with thread I need to learn to draw with pencil or ink. I should have realized that already! I do tell people to practice machine quilting designs by tracing them over and over until they know the movements. Once the movements with pen are learned then it's transferred to the movement of the machine. Yup, I've gotten far too anxious. First learn..... then do.

The roses continue

I'm still experimenting. I like the roses the way they are but I want the quilting to be a major part of the design. So I drew in some ghost roses. Can you see the white lines? I used one of those white marking pens that disappears when steamed. I ghosted in three more roses. You might have to click on the photo to enlarge it to see them better.








Here's a close up of one of the ghosted roses. I'm going to do some freehand machine embroidery before I quilt the layers together. My inspiration for the embroidery comes from Sarah Ann Smith and Patsy Thompson.





I didn't get any farther than this because my SIL called to come over for a day of cutting out the pieces for her next quilts. We made quilt kits for her. I have to be very specific, very watchful, and very repetitive with her. I write down everything.... step by step... and then go over each step with her as she does them. A true beginner.


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If I'm very lucky I can start the quilting on the roses this morning. I'll post pictures tomorrow if I get anything accomplished. It would be very nice if I could create the ideas I have in my head. I see things clearly there.... not so clearly when the ideas come out of my mind and into my hands. I want to be good. I have a talent. I just don't think I have the "gift". Do you know what I mean? For example any person can learn to play the piano but only a person with the "gift" can be a concert pianist. Any person can write a story but only a person with the "gift" can write a best selling novel. I may have a talent but only time will tell me if I have the "gift". In the meantime it's Practice, Practice, Practice. Have fun with it!


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I have a customer quilt that needs to be started today so I'll work until noon on the roses then take it off the machine to start the customer quilt. This quilt is a twin to one I did back before xmas. I had promised I would quilt them both so the quilting looks the same. A different quilter doing the same designs never looks the same.

It was very cold at the bus stops!

Well yesterday didn't go so well. Lots of delays at all my stops. A couple of places I didn't get to after all. I'll go again on Thursday.... maybe. At the library I quickly found one book and a couple of CD books to bring home then hurried to catch the next bus. When I finally arrived at the fabric store I had about 30 minutes to quickly pick out some fat quarters before my daughter picked me up. She had classes last night so I had to go.

Here's the book from the library. I picked it to learn about lights and shadows in quilts. I didn't have enough time to look for other helpful books.

Here's the fat quarters. I decided to stay with cottons instead of batiks. Batiks are very tightly woven fabrics and I need a looser weave for the quilting ideas I have. I think these colors will make some nice roses.

For such a tiny bundle these were pretty expensive. $2.50 per fat quarter. If I had the time I would have looked for yardage and had it cut. On the bolt some fabrics would have been $7.50 or $8.00 a yard instead of $10 as a fat quarter. Oooo.... that's not very thrifty of me. I have to make better "time" plans for my next shopping trip.

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As you can see too, there aren't a lot of mottled fabrics. I didn't see many. Either they didn't have many or I just didn't spot them on the shelves. I think these fabrics have enough light and dark areas to work for me anyway.

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Ok, a full day of house cleaning and laundry awaits me. Time to get started.

Favorite roses are white or yellow

I kind of got distracted from the original rose. I want to buy fabric for it and I won't do that until this afternoon. Still wanting to work on roses I decided to experiment with another rose design. Something I can use for a charity quilt if I don't like how it turns out.

Of course I had to have help cutting out the pieces. I didn't know a two year old could use sissors. Well, not perfectly but it's her first time using them. I have to be sure to keep them out of sight when I'm not around or else she might wind up with short hair.




Here's the rose I started playing around with. It's raw edge applique with some scrap pieces I sewed together for a background. The scraps looked like someone had used them for applique before donating them to me. Kind of like swiss cheese until I pieced it back together again.

Today I've got several errands to run. I'm bundled up in layers and hopefully won't have to wait too long on the buses. Sometimes they run late and some lines have been cut down to half as many runs.

Working on the rose

It's sometimes difficult getting to my computer these days. The computer is in my daughter's room. We sleep on different schedules. When I'm up early, like 3 or 4 am, she's still asleep. When she's awake, staying home because of the weather, she uses the computer to work from home. I can't move the computer to another room because there is only one place it can be hooked up to the internet. I need to get another phone line installed so I can move it to another spot.... but where? I'll have to think on this a bit.

Anyway, my friend Marilyn suggested I start with the rose to challenge myself. What a coincidence.... I had started working on the rose already. I had thought the same thing.



When I draw the pattern pieces for a quilt, I call it a map. Map.... gives directions.... get it? So I drew the map for the rose. I've not decided which pieces go under which ones yet. I'll do that as I start putting it together.

I've decided to work in a series for most of my quilts from now on. I find it just as easy to cut out templates for more than one quilt at a time as it is for one. Here I've cut out the freezer paper patterns for 5 rose quilts.

I started looking through the tons of fabric in my stash to find the right fabric.... well heck.... not enough fabric for even one rose as I see it in my mind. All my fabrics are nice but won't do for a rose. I thought maybe I would look for some hand dye fabric..... Yikes! I had no idea how expensive those are. Nope, not in my budget. I gotta find time to use the dyes I own. Why have them if I don't learn to use them? This goes on my to do list for warm weather.

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Ok, I have an appointment next Monday which means I'm going to be out and about. I may as well add a trip to the fabric store too. I haven't been to this fabric store in about two years. It's been nearly that long since I was able to get away from the quilting machine except for grocery shopping and doctor visits. I gotta check out what they've been up.

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I plan to look for mottled fabric and batik fabric. Those should work for the shading effects I want on the rose quilts. Hmm.... while I'm going to be out anyway, I might as well stop at the library too. I haven't been there for quite a long time.