Post-Quilt Show Breakdown & a Garter for the Wedding...

The quilt show now behind us... and life moves on. 

What takes months to organize & days to assemble- breaks down quickly...

Within 2 hours of show closure- all quilts have been returned to their entrants, the staging is packed up for next year and the QGET has left little trace of it's wonderful 2016 convention.

It takes many volunteers to pull a show like this together. 

Those on hand...  and those that hold things together back at home while we neglect all else to get through it. 

TY again to my DH for putting up with all of the chaos.

All that remains is a program... 

& an article snipped from the newspaper... 

Show closes at 5... and by 6:15 the waiting quilters are eager to pick up their quilts.

 A final look at my quilt- first view of show when you enter convention hall:

ferns begone that guarded the poles

Quilts are quickly removed from poles holding their sleeves by 3 people. 

A gloved quilter "catches" & gently removes the quilt, while a man on a ladder controls the pole & another man the retaining beams.

One break in rhythm can cause a collapse... I find this the most stressful part of the whole show! (Especially carrying those heavier quilts with ribbons hanging)

Across the convention hall, another team folds the quilts... tags, judges comments, and those well deserved ribbons facing out.

multiple teams work together for show breakdown, quilt preparation, and finally distribution

Once quilts are removed...

down comes the linens for folding...

then the poles & beams- until next year!

After take down and folding is completed- 

the quilters are allowed entry to pick up the quilts.

It is a slow process... being sure the right person with the right receipt picks up the right quilts, its ribbons, & judges critiques.

lined up to pick up their quilts... 

1 hour after show closure: All frames already disassembled!

The next day I did not want to do anything but relax!

A final look at my entries:

Quilt show behind me,

I spent most of today working on wedding needs for one of the kids friends. She grew up spending a lot of time in our home and DH is giving her away. She asked if I would make her a garter & a guest book. (Reminding me I had made her nearly all her homecoming mums... it's a Texas thing)

Her wedding has a Hall of Mirrors from The Palace of Versailles theme. (Not at all sure what that means... but I figured glitz, chandeliers, royalty & poof?

Anyways... I wanted to create a chandelier look for her garter.

I picked up some simple wedding supplies at the store, grabbed my glue gun & bedazzler & went to work.

Not quite sure I achieved it... but it is heavy on the bedazzling, the ribbons do dangle, & I found some rhinestone crown buttons.

 guest book decorated similarly

To Regan & Josh.... 

Wishes for a very special wedding 

& happy future.

The Quilt Show Shuffle & the "Keystone" Cops

You challenge yourself... plan it out... hoard your supplies... and then you take a deep breathe.

Eventually the procrastination is over.

It's the first slice through that special scrap of fabric you have been saving just for this quilt that always seems the hardest.

I am no perfectionist...  I just do the best I can. Adjusting as I go- making it mine.

Trying to stay focused- start to finish.

To match my seams and keep my piecing straight.

Cutting edge- without looking clumsy.

No patterns to stress over- A true original when I want artsy.

Wonky- but not clumsy.

Seams pressed open... and staying open when the next seams cross them. (OK- I still have a lot more work towards that one!)

All blocks displayed out on my design wall & repeatedly manipulated...

eventually fully pieced with pride!

Hopefully- kept out of the ever-growing  UFO pile.

And then- you Quilt & Quilt & Quilt...

You flourish artistically while you stress out spasmodically.

Tying off and burying the knots between the layers.

Fighting the "birds nests" and avoiding frequent use of a seam ripper.  

Then finally... creating & attaching the binding by hand. the label. the sleeve.

And then you finish up just under the wire with a knot of thread hanging like a noose around your neck.

We are the quilters.

We all go through it. 

We promise ourselves- "next year I will stay on top of things"...

"next year I will get all my quilts done in a timely and meticulous fashion"...

"next year- next year..."

Trying to remember... quilting is just a hobby... and while it feels like the most important thing in your world this month... it really isn't. (at least, not to anyone else who hasn't reserved a seat at the table!)

Wandering around the quilt show this morning, I could not help but laugh at my tension the past several weeks. I stitched until my arthritis was so inflamed- even dipping my hands in to hot wax paraffin gave no relief. I was absolutely obsessed & going nuts!

But there my quilts are... hanging for all who wish to view. 

My selvage quilt is the very first one you see when you enter the show!!!

It's placement makes me feel like a rock star- And I am beaming with pride!

I am not sure many people know I made my stars from joined selvage slivers... or how many even know what a selvage is for that matter. They just see a large modern quilt.

It's our first year with a modern category & I love watching the modern arts continue to evolve.

Blue ribbons--- I don't need the quilt police to tell me they like my quilt. 

Frequently, their actions are more like the keystone cops anyways! And our show was not spared the dramedy.

The overachievers in demand of acknowledgement always make their presence known. Too bad... they are so busy picking at threads, I think they miss out on the art.

It's the members of the guild who really support each other- encourage us along... that matter to me.

We share kudos... ideas... inspiration.

They make me feel like an artist. 

It is the friends I make in my guild that will be there to share the scraps long after the quilt police go back to the jail.

I am grateful to share the show with them.

My quilt is the very first quilt you see when you enter through the doors at the 

35th ANNUAL TYLER, TEXAS QUILT SHOW

The Selvage is in Our Stars

Assorted stars of varied size and style created through color blocked and pieced fabric selvage strips

an original design

Ziggity Zag

A zig zag off the beaten path- on the modern route to somewhere "to be decided"

An original design- reinterpretation of a chevron

Mason's Cello

A portrait quilt of my son & his cello

an original design

The Quilters' Guild of East Texas produces a quilt show every spring during the Azalea Trail.

This years show features a display of 251 QUILTS, 66 CHALLENGE BLOCK 

& ASSORTED SPECIAL EXHIBITS plus vendors, charity quilt silent auction, numerous demonstrations, an old-fashioned bed-turning, door prizes, scissor sharpening, and a RAFFLE QUILT. 

THREE of those 251 quilts are MINE!

A few of my favorite modern quilts

Until next year (when I absolutely will get it all done in timely fashion without stress... hopefully)

In the Eyes of Mason's Cello

It has been a long & beyond dreary week of ongoing storms resulting in flooding. 
Often it felt like our whole region was drowning. 

Rain gauge total from one day last week

Overnights of interrupted sleep as "storm, flood, & tornado warnings" all took turns warning us of the need to take shelter immediately through our telephones... TVs... radios.

My husband shot these pics of the flooding Wednesday on his way to work

Tyler, Texas

And then... a few minutes ago- I spotted a glimpse of sun trying to poke through the clouds! It's gone now... but it teased briefly... and reminded me spring floods will be followed by spring flowers (eventually)

After over a year of anxious pause- I finally finished my portrait quilt Mason's Cello. It's Demonic eyes have left me anxious and perplexed for over a year! I took a class at the International Quilt Show with Charlotte Warr Anderson... but it did nothing to help my confidence. I took an online Craftsy class... read magazine articles... pinterest...

Closeup on facial features as I left them a year ago...

Finally... I knew I just had to thread the needle & get started. 

I created an outline with disappearing ink

The first stitches were the hardest

And finally... my demon began to look like a man

I wish the eyelash color were a bit lighter, and it had not been so hard to get the needle and thread through the multiple layers of fabric... 

or I could have used the thinner matching thread.

But for the most part... I am pleased 

& very, Very, VERY relieved to be done with my eyeballs.

They have haunted me since I started this project. And,

If I never do another portrait quilt with two eyeballs again- that will be best!

Today, I added the quilt sleeve & label as the final step for quilt show preparation.

I found an old scrap of Pokemon fabric in my stash. A favorite from his childhood. I thought it was perfect... a bit wonky, so I did the best with it I could- but so is HE!

quilt back with sleeve & label

MASON'S CELLO

2015

Somehow- I finished all the extra detail work on my quilts with a few days to go! All 3 of my quilts are ready for show turn in this Tuesday. 

The Quilt Show for The Quilt Guild Of East Texas is March 18th & 19th.

Good Luck Everybody!

Dedicated to My Guy

Mason, Age 6

The SELVAGE is in our STARS

 The Quilt Guild of East Texas' quilt show is in less than 2 weeks. I was under enormous stress to finish my selvage quilt and after 2 years- I was determined it look the very best modern quilt I had ever created. Fully quilted... my anxiety to trim edges and bind were growing increasingly tense... so I put everything else on hold... planted myself in front of TV reruns... and spent all week finishing it up!!!
I am excited & relieved... to have completed the final stitches a few minutes ago!

Needing a place large enough to complete a quilt of this size-

I converted our dining room into a temporary sewing room

I spent ALL day Saturday cutting & piecing binding!

By Sunday's end- I had finished attaching the binding- 

and realized I now had WAYYYYY more than I had intended. 

Oh well... plenty left for pillows and curtains! 

...roll... pin... stitch

And for the next week+ 

I could be found right here- 

on this couch- buried beneath this quilt- 

stitching for hours at a time

It felt like I would never finish!

And then... I did!!!! Woooohoooo!

Sleeve needs to be 90 inches from quilts bottom 

to hang correctly at our show

Quilt Close-ups:

My quilt... at rest... allowed to lay flat--- 

me, off to collapse!