two to remember

Last weekend was the Belle Point Quilt Guild's

biennial quilt show.

It was the 3rd time I've gone to the show,

and the first that I entered any quilts.

I entered two for display only,

and one to be judged.

I reasoned that it was pretty sound

technique-wise,

and the quilting wasn't too shabby,

so I was hopeful that I'd get some helpful comments from the judge(s)

regarding what I could improve

so I could

maybe someday

earn a ribbon.

Well, Y'all!

I earned a ribbon!!

A third place ribbon!

The comments weren't all that helpful, though.

There were two;

one said my stitch in the ditch needs to stay in the ditch,

and duh! of course it does.

And while I didn't SiD perfectly,

I'm not sure that I could do much better

on a good sized quilt

with a domestic machine,

especially one not built into a table.

(I happened to notice that the 2nd place quilt 

wasn't stitched in the ditch,

which made me wonder if perhaps I'd have fared better without it...)

The other said that I need to 'whipstitch my corners.'

Now,

this one ticked me off a bit,

because,

y'all know how I am about my binding corners,

and I had sewn them,

I just did it invisibly.

In addition to that ribbon

(and the $10 prize money that went along with it)

I got another surprise;

an even better one!

My friend had made a quilt for us

 as a housewarming gift,

and she presented it to me

by hanging it in the show!

There I was, just browsing the quilts,

and bam!

there was my last name - hanging on the wall

on a beautifully quilted 

(almost whole-cloth) quilt

with a blue ribbon pinned on it.

She used bamboo batting and a lawn backing

because she knew I loved both,

and quilted in a verse,

and our names.

She despises handwork, 

so couldn't bring herself to add any,

but she outlined the pieced letters in black,

to give it a similar look.

I'm so so tickled with her lovely, thoughtful gift!

And I currently have not one,

but two

award-winning quilts in my home.

(though as soon as those darn razorbacks straighten up,

I need to sell that one...)