Decisions, decisions

What to do. What to do?

I received a note from organizers of an international quilt competition/festival saying they would like to use my quilt as a finale' piece in one of their exhibitions during the festival, but that it doesn't fit within any of their other categories (which means no judging and no chance for winning a purse) due to size issues or thematic guidelines.

Well, phooey.

"Why are you bummed? That is so cool that they want to use it."

Back to the quandary.

Aside from exceeding their 144" perimeter max for the competitive category titled "Yin and Yang," the quilt is perfect for that exhibit/part of the competition - and could easily stand a chance to win.

Right, except for the pesky size thing.

Hey, it's only 116" larger than their standard. (Yes, I am smiling...and most definitely kidding.)

"Um, excuse me....where's the quandary?"

Oops, sorry.

I am certainly encouraged that they want to show the quilt. [smiling like a happy idiot] They want to highlight it and use it as the "emotional" culmination in a particular venue of the exhibit, but I am not certain about exhibiting it in such a drastically large, public, international arena when I still have future hopes of entering it in an AQS show (yes, in hopes of winning some prize money), and into another 'homegrown' contest where the outcome could possibly mean a little $ residual happiness.

Again - Hey! I am still out of work and in need of bill-paying capital after all, and if quilting satisfies that need then why not? Exploit your strengths, right?

I love the situation (the idea that the quilt is desired for something important and cool like this) but I am not liking the decision I have to make. I know, though, it's a great problem to have.

I love a mistake, don't you?

Especially a really dumb mistake where you find that your calculations were so off the first time that recalculating the numbers actually resulted in a need for way fewer blocks (or material) required.

I did just that over the weekend. I found a 'happy' mistake.

Stupid, but happy. Oh, and I nearly broke Lesson #5 to smithereens in the process. Not to mention Lesson #7 - Don't make color decisions in a poorly lit environment. NEVER!

In ciphering for the Ocean Waves quilt, now on the cutting table, I somehow miscalculated the need for whole center blocks in place of the pieced blocks. (And actually, I know how I managed that error, too...but I won't go into it now.) Suffice to say, I only require 18 bird print squares to piece into the fray - as opposed to the frightening 35 or so I named earlier - along with another bunch of half squares and quarter squares that will fall into the corners and along the edges of the quilt.

Eighteen! - what a lovely number. :)

I've also reassessed how I will be configuring the color scheme for the blocks. Yup, I did.

Instead of framing the birds on all four sides with a pair of materials, I will be using the more traditional (and familiar) method of piecing those elongated hexagonal facets with the color pairs, and most likely infusing a lot more brown into the pairings to help the other colors in the whole blocks (and in the pieced blocks) shimmer. My intent has always been to have those brights absolutely sparkle, and I think the brown infusion will make that happen.

The first of the blocks will be constructed over the coming weekend, so I will keep you posted.

With the daylight comes the realization

Ah, yes - daylight.

Sunshine.

An opportunity to share a bit more of the palette for the next new [gasp] quilt.

Yesterday I revealed a few of the center squares for the scrappy Ocean Waves on the cutting table, but ran out of good daylight with which to add a few extra photos. So, here now is a portion of the material for the multitude of triangles.My only real trouble/dilemma/quandary/SNAFU/issue is in actually being happy with the size I've chosen to make the blocks.

The desire to simplify and quickly make this gift for xx xxx (a bit larger in proportion) has outweighed my inner desire and intuition to scale the blocks a tad smaller and assemble more of them for the final result. You see, in order to make more of the blocks (on a slightly smaller scale) would necessitate my having to find and buy more material with realistic looking birds (very hard to come by).

So, my hands are essentially tied and the fate of the quilt block size is sealed. As it stands right now, I am still going to have a significant number of repeated central squares (those birds, et.al.), and perhaps some solid squares in complementary colors, to be able to finish off the 35 blocks it will take overall.

Ah, quilters, our lot is never an easy one, is it?

Can't do it

Well, I seriously tried to do nothing else (new) until I tackled another of the items in my existing pile...but I am weak!

Weak!! [fake sob]

I can do both! Really...I can. And I will!

These are the larger central blocks for an Ocean Waves for xx xxx.

That's right - the recipient is a secret. If I told you, somebody else would be able to read it and the surprise would be ruined. Other people do read the blog, you know, even if they never comment. :)

Don't worry, all will be revealed soon enough.

Deep breath. Cleansing breath.

Clearing the cobwebs out of my mind - and even some from the sewing area - I unearthed a few little bits of tid (AKA: "tidbits") that made me smile.

I guess these should be added to the list of quilting projects, eh? Well, they'll have to find their place in the queue, just like everything else!

I can clearly remember the reasoning behind the miniature houses; and even using a small number of all those I made in projects here and there (mostly Christmas in nature, as you can imagine from looking closely at the fabrics used). I remember sketching out the pattern in the size I required, and then drafting the pattern pieces and sewing together the first block in muslin to make certain the dimensions were correct. Just don't remember why I never finished using them all. Hmmm.What a thrill it was to find that everything in the piecing was perfect!

Now, I will need to come up with another project for these remaining precious 4.5" houses (but most likely I will need to make several more blocks in the process).

No, no, no! Pink and brown, pink and brown, pink and brown! You still have an Ohio Star to quilt...remember?!

Oh, and stacked carefully away with the miniature houses was a pile of about 20 scrappy postage stamp blocks - each one comprised of 25 1.5" cut squares and stitched together in alternating rows. It was my attempt to use up every square inch of scrap material instead of tossing it out or saving it in yet another container for further use. We all know how full drawers (and then rooms) can become when trying to sort and save every little thing without reason.

[chuckle, snort] I almost typed that with a straight face. :^p

Here's something different, anyway. A little bit of pastel piecing to put you in the right frame of mind for Easter and spring.

The Michigan Fine Arts Competition is a shame

Sad but true.

The BBAC has decided that quilts are just that....quilts. 'There's no merit for including them in art shows or competitions because they're quilts.'

"You have quilt shows to enter quilts into. This is an art show and competition. It's that simple."

So, rather than explain in their prospectus that certain fiber arts are not to be allowed entry into their juried show (i.e: quilts), they happily (blindly) allow you to submit your entry with payment and then reject the entry without an explanation.

Pardon the rudeness, but the MFAC (and I am not meaning "MI Fine" here) is a miscarriage of artistic expression and a sham of a competition. Narrow minded and bereft of soul and content.

I know this sounds like sour grapes, but I am disappointed and I needed to vent. Thanks for listening.

At least, that's the conversation in my head, at the moment.

Decision's made........nearly

Much as I would like to begin an entirely new quilt - top to bottom - I am curbing my enthusiasm, and have decided to quilt and bind that pink and brown Ohio Star beauty I completed and sandwiched last spring. Just about this time of year, come to think about it.

If I leave it go much longer I know I will be sorry. Soooo......

And it really shouldn't take forever since the quilt patterns are large and simple, and will be a more traditional one-pass quilting style. The competition piece was over-quilted (to the max); once I feel safe enough to post photos of it you will see what I mean, and will then understand how many hours went in to just the quilting process!

After I've quilted and bound the P&BOS I will feel 100% justified in starting something new, and can also work on something else already in process - oh, like Karl's quilt, or the pretty navy Flower Baskets.

Ha! I think I have told myself this same thing for the past two years....but I mean it this time! [*as I do every year*]

Ah, this would be a great time to bring up Lesson #9: Never have too many projects going at one time.

The fact is, there are enough quilts in my project pile to simply finish off that I could be busy with sandwiching, quilting and binding quilts for the remainder of the year! There would be no need to start anything new, but we all know that would give me itchy palms. Staring at the stash and having no creative juices flowing, just planning and scheming in my head and on paper. That would drive me insane!

Anyhow, I am off to do something, even if it is to just stand and look at the projects and eeny-meeny-miney myself into a concrete decision - for the moment.

What next?

Oh, my goodness, what's next, eh?

I suppose it would only be fair to work on Brian's Renaissance costume piece, and then perhaps an interviewing outfit for myself.

Yes, yes, those are perfectly acceptable (reasonable and completely common sense) things to work on, but I am in that quilt-mode.

[wondering if quilters ever make it out of quilt-mode]

Brian has been patiently nagging (and unsuccessfully trying to guilt) me into working on his item next, so perhaps I should simply get to it and get it out of the way. Again, seems plausible and smart. Hmmm.....

I do have my list written down in that ledger, and those are all needful things, and in the queue, and should be tended to in short order, but then there's the cleaning and putting away of all of the material I unearthed and used and stacked around for the competition project.

Of course, I will need to get the sewing area and lower level in order and rearranged (as I have been craving to do for some time now) before I can think of putting away the displaced materials. And it's not that I don't want to put the fabric away - I DO, I hate the chaos and disorder. But...I mean, you can't (shouldn't) really put away that which you are going to have to move, and move again, to move the furniture, right?

That's what I thought, too!

I'll let you know what's up next, shortly...I hope.

Binding is going on!

For the last two days I have been cutting and configuring the binding, sewing it onto the trimmed quilt, and/or turning and blindstitching it down. As of Friday morning, I will have that portion done, and will be able to finish the bits of top stitching and apply the sleeve for hanging.

The process would be going much faster, and the binding would have been a one day affair had I not been trying to make such a chameleon of it. But the results work and are (almost) exactly what I wanted.

Sewing it on, then turning and stitching it down (always by hand) usually takes me less than a day, but I have been engaged in homework for two new classes which has been taking up an awful lot of my time.

[sigh]

Can't tell you how marvelous it feels to be so close to the finish line and how excited I am at the prospect of having it done! Of course, quilters will know this, so I don't really need to explain it all. ;)

Oh......happy day!

Wahoo! Background quilting finished!

This day felt like it would never get here. For weeks, it seemed to elude me, but....
  I managed to complete the background quilting yesterday, late in the afternoon. What a relief!
All that remains to do is a bit of quilting in a few large-ish portions (within another design incorporated into the quilt), and to make and apply the sleeve....but that can wait until after I have washed the dishes. ;^)
I am currently enjoying the feeling of success (to a point) in the major work having been completed - it's been a long time in the making.

To congratulate myself, I'm going to bind the quilt before moving on to the incidental quilting, since the incidental stuff is located so far to the interior that applying the binding won't be a problem. Besides, the binding only helps maintain the integrity of the quilt edge, and I am so tired of working around the bulk of the backing (rolled to the front and stitched in place) to keep the edges from abuse. It's a lot of extra bulk to keep shifting - and now....I don't/won't have to!
Party with me - the background is finished. Phwew! [wiping my brow]