The last bird in the nest finishing high school

So very hard to believe that our last little birdie is graduating in just over a week!  She had to present her Senior Project yesterday and I really enjoyed seeing it.  She had 3 people on her judging board that she knew well, so that helped with any nerves.  And she really rocked it!  I was very impressed with her speaking skills, and I'm a pretty harsh critic in that department ;)  She knew she would get an A, she had prepared well and had a good presentation.  So her real goal was to get an A+.   And we found out today that she did - WOO HOO!  She really knocked it out of the ballpark quite soundly!  There were five judges, the top and bottom score are thrown out, the remaining three are then averaged for your score.  She found out it didn't matter:  all five judges scored her at 100% - WOW!  Needless to say, she is quite over the moon.

I'll have to come back and insert a picture - she took my camera out of the car to download pix on her computer, so it's not here at work today.  This was just a great way to wrap up her High School years and a suitable reward for 4 years of hard work.

In quilting news, Polly Pocket got her binding taken off and new binding put on - and put on straight this time!  There is a nasty bulge where the final seam is joined, and I may try to work on it once she's home from the Minnesota show.  But it looks light years better than it did.  I went ahead and did this because there are only 7 quilts in her category at this show, so maybe, just maybe, a third place ribbon could be in our grasp.   But it would never be in our grasp with that wiggly, sad binding, lol.  Youngest DD was a doll and helped me reblock it, so I think I've sent it on its' way in the best possible condition (although, perhaps crammed in a smallish box to try to save some shipping, so I'll pray for wrinkles that fall out quickly!!)

I think I'll rebind the Wedding Memories quilt too, before the Shipshewana show.  It somehow ended up at about a 1/4 inch on front, but more like 3/8ths on back.  Pretty noticeable, AND, when we block it - the pins are in the ditch on the front and not seen - but they are going right through the middle of the binding on back and leaving a polka dot trail of pin holes -*sigh*.

Now if I could just get that customer quilt going that has been on the frame since January!  I need it out of the way to get DD's t-shirt quilt on there and maybe at least quilted by her party, don't forsee getting it bound by then, but at least pieced and quilted would be good!  She ended up with 25 shirts, but they are very mixed in colors so I'm struggling with what to use for sashing.  But we did find 3 yards of a FABULOUS print that will be used in the backing - it speaks to her love for art, which is only represented by one shirt on the front, so this is a nice touch.

There is a nice border print in the collection too, but I haven't figured out how that could be incorporated.  Maybe I'll just get a fat quarter and piece up a really cool label?

For now, I better get back to folding and taping the newsletter here at work, so I can keep my job so I can earn money to buy fabric LOL

My quilt came home

Unfortunately, not in time for talent night at church!  Talent night was Tuesday, and the quilt came home yesterday (Wednesday).  I had hoped to share it and the new ribbon, but had to scramble for a new idea at the last minute.  Talent night is so hard when you don't sing or play an instrument, those church folks have no idea ;)

The ribbon is pretty, and I added it to my collection.  The check wasn't in the box, but maybe it will come in the mail?  We'll see.  It's the first money this quilt has won, so pretty exciting!  I'm still reeling over the amazing comment on the judging sheet - "Phenomenal quilting design and execution" WOW, just WOW!
 
There is a lot of negativity in the show quilting world right now.  A day or two ago I saw a post from a national quilter, Sherry Rogers Harrison.  She was being targeted by a FB group - sounds like because her political views are not the same as theirs.  But it also sounds like they went way too far - saying untrue things to try to get her teaching gigs cancelled, her products boycotted, and get people to drop her.  It almost sounded crazy, but there were several other folks commenting that they had seen the posts and could verify them.  It was mentioned that a few others have suffered from similar attacks - one of whom is a teacher I took a class from, purchased rulers from, and enjoyed. This was her post that addressed the attack:

 Please know there are 2 groups on Facebook under the name Conservative Quilters. You will be able to see one group with 37 members. That group is NOT the group I am referencing. You will not be able to find the group in question because it's secret. I hope this clears that up.
The other day I alluded to the fact that some nasty messages were being passed around by some people in my beloved quilting community. I stated that I never saw any of those messages due to the fact that my friends never came forward to share them with me. Since then everything changed and good people have come forward with the hope to make this end and to get back to what this quilting community is really all about. Some of the attributes that I love about this community are that we have people that we can share the love of quilting with one another, we can turn to each other for advice or comradery. We have each other to inspire one another, we hold up one another when we have fallen, and when we have faced heartache or loss, we are there for one another. That's what we do and it works.
What I am about to share with you is hateful and hurtful, mean and unnecessary and none of it belongs to this industry. There are people in this industry, friends of mine and friends of yours who are out to do harm to me and several others in this community. I have been sent screenshots from several individuals of this plot to take us down both personally and professionally. The goal it appears is to attempt to interfere with book sales, teaching gigs, personal relationships and to interfere with any business affiliations we deal with.
These people hide under the pretense of " Conservative Quilters" which I have no problem with them being. I am not a conservative, but i am human. I care about the rights of all of us, I care that we don't get so caught up with the hate and discord of this county and turn on each other like it has. I have expressed my thoughts publicly on my Facebook timeline. It's my timeline, my thoughts, my feelings. I've never in any way shape or form shoved my opinion down anyone's throat. I've never started a private group with the intent of tearing another person to shreds. I've never ever contemplated how to get them back. I've never ever considered provoking another person so they could watch the train wreck take place. I've never ever pretended to be a friend to find a way to take them down. I only have one face and it's the face I've always shown and always will continue to show.
I have many screenshots of messages from this group of people. At this point I have decided not to show you these screenshots. They are ugly and spiteful and mean and filled with untruths. They will make you angry and sad and will indeed embarrass many people that you know. That's not who I am and even though they are trying to hurt me, I'm not going to hurt them. I pray that they will wake up just by reading this message and I hope they take some time to wonder if that is truly who they chose to be.
So I'm asking that we all take a reality check and think about what we are doing. Are we standing proud and holding each other up or are we focused on the wrong things, the things that don't matter, the things that are hurtful and hateful.

This is her post today, showing screenshots of two comments - one name I recognized, and interestingly, she had been pegged in my mind as a whiner because of some previous comments on a quilting board we both belong too ;)

"Its been revealed that members of the secret Conservative Quilters group have been busy deleting posts from their group's wall and doing all kinds of housekeeping to make everything look nice and clean. Members have been leaving the group to try to protect their identities. The administrator of the group has posted publicly denying that anyone was targeted by her group, and group members have chimed in with denials as well. But the fact is that you can't deny the truth.
To prove once and for all that none of this was made up, I'm going to share with you two of the more harmless posts that were made by members of this group. You can read these posts and make your own decision about what to think.

This isn't about politics, at least not on our side. We don't care if you're conservative or liberal, straight or gay, black white or green. We have our political opinions, yes, but we don't attack you for yours and we would never ever try to get you fired simply for not believing the way we think you 'should ' believe. We are sorry that you don't feel the same way about us.
We won't be posting any more on this topic. We don't want a witch hunt. That's not what this is about. This is about living and letting live. There's room for everyone in the quilting world. We hope that by bringing this out into the light we can stop things from being done in the dark and make quilting a safe place
Know that we welcome you into our tribe regardless of your political, religious, or any other beliefs. We use red AND blue thread, and rainbow variegated too.

If this works, it's a link to Karen McTavish discussing this situation ~
 https://www.facebook.com/karenmctavish/videos/10212129107679144/

I won't copy and paste more, but another quilter had nearly a dozen screenshots of comments - it's unfortunate.  And people using their politics to abuse others is part of what makes me hate politics all together!

This is the second negative incident - the other was Margaret Solomon Gunn being accused of copying a quilt design.  She refuted this, and truly, I watched her progress on this quilt through her blog over the year and I find it hard to believe that it was copied.  For one thing, if it was copied, she would have moved a lot faster - she wouldn't have had those months of sitting and thinking about what to do next, LOL. 

There was also that overheard conversation last fall at the class in Louisville about how the "judging" at one of the national shows (couldn't figure out which one!) is done by a handful of teachers (who haven't entered anything that year) just choosing the quilts that appeal to them - not actual judges.  And it becomes a popularity contest, or the person speaking said that for one quilt the "judges" said they knew who made it and think it's won too much, so they blackballed it.  Now, I'm no where near in these people circles, so I don't have anything to worry about, but it does make me want to tread lightly into the show quilt world!

We shall see ;)

Such a busy time . . . .

My goodness, where to start!  Let's start with the quilting news :)

"Memories of My Wedding Day" won an Honorable Mention at the Utah Quilt & Sewing Market (formerly HMQS) - WOW!  I got one of those awesome calls "We were wondering if you will be in attendance for the award ceremony, your quilt has won a ribbon" WOW!!  Of course, I wasn't going to be there, but they live streamed the awards so I got to see it, yeah :)  Mine was the first one announced and that was amazing.  I'll get a ribbon and $50.  The judging comments were emailed and for "best feature" they said "Phenomenal quilting design and execution."  WOW again!!!  I'm excited to send this quilt a few more places this year and see what happens!  Here is a screenshot from the awards video on Facebook :)

Youngest DD heard back that she won 2 more scholarships - yeah!  The ALJC Women's Esprit Woman Of Wisdom Scholarship through our church denomination and the Fish Family scholarship.  The family scholarship was by recommendation of the school counselor, no application or essay.  So I wrote a letter to her counselor asking for his recommendation - maybe it helped, who knows, but it was worth a try!  The ALJC scholarship will be awarded at the General Conference in Knoxville, TN in June - so looks like DD & I have a trip coming up.  We are excited about it and she is over the moon about winning this one.  She really thought it would go to someone who grew up in the church, or was a "somebody" (pastor's kid, evangelist's kid, etc.) in the church at the national level.  I felt confident she would win - but I was shocked to hear that there were probably 75+ applicants.  I might have been more nervous if I had known that, LOL.

This was a photo we took after church when it was announced.  The funny part is, it is supposed to remain a secret, for the most part, until the scholarship is presented at the General Ministry Conference.  So Bro. Joel began by saying "This, what happens next here, is not for social media.  Really.  It's not for Facebook or any social media.  No pictures, no posting, nothing outside these walls"  and he was staring right at an older lady who is notorious for posting all kinds of stuff on there, LOL.  Then he called DD up to the podium, and the lady behind us murmured "Uh oh."  I almost laughed, because it would never occur to me to think something bad was up, I'd be thinking "I wonder what great thing is going down?"  but I guess that's just my personality, LOL.  I figure it's ok to post here, because, well, I have about one person who reads this (besides me, and I already know) so almost no one will see it!

Quilting has stalled out.  It's probably my thyroid still not being right, I've just had no energy.  I think I only cooked one time in 10 days lately - and dishes were done less often than that :(  Hopefully, hopefully, hopefully my thyroid is getting better with the new medicine dosage.  It's been about a month, and that's how long it took to level out last fall . . . . so we shall see.  Shoulder is not healed, but the pain has gotten considerably better, so that's progress.  The same vintage quilt has been on the frame since Jan. or Feb. and it's still there - not halfway done.  At this point, I'll be struggling to finish it and the niece's t-shirt quilt by the end of May, and then one more t-shirt quilt by the next weekend. Crossing my fingers!!

More medical issues for me :(

Middle DD didn't get blood work done after all, so we can't be sure it's her thyroid.  She has begun taking a supplement from her work that many folks come in and pick up to help with thyroid problems.  So, we'll see.  Hopefully it will help.

But in other thyroid news, mine was crazy last October, and since it has been about 6 months since I began taking medication, I thought I'd just get my levels checked last week and see how I was doing.  Well, in a couple of words: not well.  Last year my reading was way (way, way, way, WAY) too high - 174.4 when it shouldn't be over 4.2.  Now, it's way low - .007, when it shouldn't be under .4.  My doctor lowered my Synthroid and we hope to see improvement. 

Once I heard the reading, I realized that I have been droopy - taking naps a couple times a week, not getting things accomplished at work like I should, and letting housework slide.  Plus my fingertips have been cracked badly the last couple of months.  I never even thought about my thyroid being out of whack again - but these are all symptoms from last fall.  I did go back and have them draw a full blood workup to see if there are other things being affected as well.  Last fall, my kidneys and cholesterol were whacko - so it isn't crazy to think that there could be organs and systems being affected by this low number.  I"m hoping it will give me some idea of what to watch for, symptom-wise, when the levels drop.  One thing I"m wondering about is joint inflammation.  I've had a lot more pain in my hands, feet, and shoulders.  I actually had an MRI last week, before we had the blood work results, to look at one shoulder that has been in giving me trouble.  It doesn't hurt all the time, but when I get it in a bad position, oh boy!  The pain can make me cry!!  And sleeping is difficult because lying down seems to put it in a bad position. The pain started about 8 - 10 weeks ago, and has gotten progressively worse.  I called today but the results of the MRI weren't in.  I wish they'd hurry, so I can get started fixing it and feeling better!  I'm hoping it will only need cortizone shots or therapy - not surgery.  MIL had the surgery and it didn't look a bit fun!  She even said she wouldn't wish it on her worst enemy (which would be me, LOL) because it was the worst pain she had ever experienced - not what I want to do!

In good news, youngest DD heard back that she won a scholarship she applied for.  It was for education majors, and she applied through our Heritage Fund.  They oversee about 40 or 50 scholarships through the community.  The great part was, she only had to fill out one application to be considered for all that she qualified for.  There are still 2 that she will pursue this week, and one due next week.  Hopefully we will hear back soon on the one through the church, and the one for students going into special needs work.  And of course, if the IRS letter ever arrives stating she didn't file taxes in 2015, we can forward that to the college and maybe finally hear about a financial aid package!

Busy, but not necessarily accomplishing anything :(

The quilt show news has been ok.  No ribbons or wins to report, but nice judging comments from MQX East - they appreciated the quilting on Charm Stars (didn't mention the zillions of colors), but my piecing needs work.  Actually, I think the quilt might have been pretty square and piecing lines straight, before I got it onto the longarm - me thinks I might have stretched it a little in the quilting process :(  Bummer!  Middle DD helped me block it though before it shipped out, and the outer edges were square and straight for this show!  But, yeah, those long piecing lines left a little to be desired.

The Wedding quilt is home from Lancaster, and I was bummed to learn there are no judging comments from this show ....... so I guess, unless I think I'm going to win something, there's not much reward in entering and paying all that shipping (plus entrance fees!)

Polly Pocket is cooling her heels with AQS, waiting for Paducah.  She hung in the Daytona Show, but I'm guessing there will be no judging comments from there since that show is owned by AQS, the same folks who own Lancaster.  I have heard that there are comments from Paducah, so we have that to look forward to.  She is beginning to show her age, with some snapped threads, so I'm not really expecting much.  Seeing her picture online because someone attending liked her will be satisfaction enough.

Currently there is a customer quilt on the frame getting feathers and echoing.  It is a vintage top with a medallion of vines and leaves surrounded by a green border, then a border of the vine and leaves, then green, & then vine on the outside.  I was feathering the green, and echoing the vines . . . all was well, until the medallion.  The applique is too close together for echoing.  This was discovered mid-February.  Unfortunately I haven't been able to reach the customer, and she wasn't at quilt guild in March to ask.  So I've been stalled at the center waiting to get her OK to do something different in that area.  She was at guild this month, and as I suspected, when I explained the issue, she said my idea to stipple/meander in there was just fine "Do whatever you think best!"  But Murphy's Law: If I had gone ahead and meandered she would have said "No" and I'd have had a lot of ripping out to do, LOL. 

Once that one is done I have 3 T-shirt quilts to do - one for my niece who is graduating from Butler University this May, and two for my (spoiled ;) ) youngest DD who graduates from High School this May.  She actually has 3 T-shirt quilts to be done.  She had enough shirts for a Jr. High one, and enough for a High School one, but she had enough extra (and special) that she'll get another one that is sort of a mash-up of grade school, Jr. High, and High School.  Now, that last one will not get done for graduation - no body has that much time between now and the first week of June!!  I'm going to get the last of the niece's shirts this week from my sister, and hopefully can get started laying out the design this weekend.  Over the years, when my sister would hand-me-down her daughter's clothes, I would set aside a shirt here and there that I thought would be good in a t-shirt quilt.  Plus I picked up a few from Goodwill just in case.  Her quilt will be a birthday gift, and for graduation we are giving her a hope chest.  I can't wait to see her face over each of those gifts, as they are pretty special. 

Speaking of college, we made a trip to Muncie to check out Ball State University for the youngest.  She's been accepted and with enough financial aid will go there this fall.  She plans to study education with a concentration in Deaf Education.  The campus was lovely and the people were very friendly.  I'm starting to get excited for her.  It took us forever to get home, we were lost for a couple of hours!  Our directions started in a location across campus from where we had to park, and we just never found the streets that we needed.  Our third stop for directions was the winning one!  He said we were actually very close to finding Highway 3, and I said that I think we'd been very close to it all evening - probably circling around it, but just not finding it :)  And it's important to note that the FitBit registered 16,558 steps for the day -- mind you, we were in the car for just over 6 hours of it!  That's a whole lot of steps!!

DS has taken a new job at the same factory as DH.  It came with an almost 50% raise - so he is over the moon.  He said that it is a nice change to be able to go out with friends for a movie or laser tag now and then.  He has a friend who may relocate here later this year, so that will be fun for him.


Middle DD is working at the health food store, and though she doesn't love it, she does a good job and I still think it is a great fit for her.  We are headed to the doctor tomorrow to see if maybe her thyroid is not functioning as it should.  It would explain a lot of her symptoms.  But she's terrified of needles, so the blood work will be tricky. Wish us luck :)

Bloomington & Paducah Quilt Shows

I had a wonderful time at the Bloomington Quilt Show this year.  I got to help in the judging room for two days and that was so exciting.  There is always so much to learn listening to the judges converse and pour over each quilt.  My charm stars quilt was there, but didn't generate any excitement.  They didn't even notice all the thread changes :(  

Some of my favorites this year were "Elegance" by Elsie Campbell.  She won Best Handquilting and it was well deserved.  Unfortunately, my photo has a black line through it :(  But it was spectacular!

 Another favorite was this beautiful butterfly by Indiana quilter, Linda Johnson.

The background is so simple - nine patches, but her use of color makes it sparkle!  There's a little bit of 3D with this quilt also. 

Margaret Solomon Gunn had two quilts there.  I usually follow her blog, but I missed that "Illuminations" was finished and heading out to the show circuit.  The colors really sparkled in person, very fitting to the name!

 Her other quilt, "The Twisted Sister" was also here and it was exquisite!  Somehow, I didn't get a full shot of the quilt, but I have several detail pictures.  Her quilting is so precise and intricate.  I could stand and stare all day.

Now, one of the other interesting things from this show was my discovery that two quilts had been entered in the previous year.  It was just a lark that I even noticed.  The night before the show opened, I was looking around the internet for pictures from previous year's shows.  The next day, as I was looking at the quilts hanging, I noticed one that I had seen online the night before!  It was a beautiful quilt, and won an Honorable Mention this year, no placement last year.

 The other one I happened to see on my camera as I was reviewing last year's photos to see if I could delete some and make room on my memory card, LOL.  This one caught my eye on Saturday when we were taking quilts in.  I knew I had seen it before, and had spent time pouring over it.  I checked and saw that it was in Cedar Rapids, so I figured I saw it then and let it go.  But then, reviewing the pictures on my camera . . . . BAM! There it was in Bloomington last year!  This one also, didn't place last year,  BUT, it took second place in a category this year.  So I let one of the committee members know.  Luckily they are the ones who have to decide what to do.  When I left the room they were leaning towards taking the cash prize away and bumping up the quilts below it.  One of the folks in the room was suggesting that the entrant shouldn't be allowed to enter for 2 or more years as well.

The Paducah news is great - I got the shocking news that Polly Pocket got accepted into the Paducah Quilt Show - WOW!  I really wasn't expecting this at all.  And the goal I set for Paducah was just to get in so, hey, I'm already a winner ;)  My goal for Daytona Beach (Polly) and Lancaster (Wedding Memories) is a teacher ribbon.  I went ahead and entered Charm Stars into one more show - MQX East.  They had a special award for scrappy quilts, so I thought it would be fun to send it out there and give it a shot.  I really need to block it this weekend though, it looked pretty rumpled at Bloomington and didn't catch anyone's eye.  My concern is that it might bleed.  There are some burgundies that have already bled a little, so I'm scared that a full blocking would cause a huge bleeding fiasco.  But, I'm going to have to go for it, otherwise the quilt has no chance - especially since one of the judges at MQX was also here at Bloomington.  Wish me luck!

Catching up with quilt news

 Continuing her travels, Polly Pocket went out to the San Diego Quilt Show in early fall and won the Wall Quilt Category - a hand made ribbon and $200 in cash ;)  Charm Stars went too, and got some nice judges comments, but didn't place.  A lady attending the show photographed them and I saw them on her facebook page - that was a surreal moment to be sure!  The lighting with Charm Stars was great - you can really see the quilting :)

Our local guild show came up the first weekend of October.  I had already entered Polly in a previous year, so I needed a new wholecloth to enter.  I put the fist stitches in on Saturday morning and had the quilt ready to drop off Friday morning - 26 hours of quilting!  It was worth it though, as the new quilt "Memories of My Wedding Day" took first place in her category, and won "Best Machine Quilting" which is the ribbon I really wanted.  The cool part is, since I was in the judging room, I was able to hear all the judges comments.  And I also saw the Best of Show decision come down to the winning quilt and mine - WOW!  I was fine with losing out, the winning quilt was a beautiful applique that she had been working on for four years.  Funny thing is, the same quilt pattern, done in different colors, won Best of Show at the previous show two years earlier!  It's a great pattern, that's for sure.

I don't have any pictures of the quilt hanging - forgot my camera.  But this is a picture of the new quilt.

 

After the fun of competing this year, I decided to enter some shows for 2017.  My hope is to win a Judges ribbon or an honorable mention, I truly don't have any illusions that I could win at these big national shows.  I've seen the winning quilts, and I'm not there yet.

Funny thing though, even though I have 2 quilts to enter, I find that there are times where I don't have anything to send out because the quilts are already tied up at a show.  Some of the shows have you submit your quilt almost a month early, and then don't send it home for a couple weeks after the show.  I didn't realize that one of the companies that hosts several shows, offers the option to have them hold your quilt between shows.  Great - less postage, but bummer - quilt is tied up for months.  And I found this all out when I entered Polly into a show in Daytona Beach in early February.  And thinking she would be back in time, I entered her into the nearby Indiana Heritage Quilt Show in Bloomington, in early March.  After she got accepted into both shows, I discovered that she won't be home in time to go to Bloomington :(   It sounds crazy, but I feel like the only good solution is to recreate Polly and send "Polly new" to Bloomington.  I've unearthed the design and been to the print shop to have it enlarged.  Now I have to trace it out on fabric and stitch it up.  I will change out the McTavishing for a micro-stipple instead.  I think the stipple will make the feather designs pop a lot more.

So far, I've entered Polly Pocket in Daytona Beach and Paducah.  She's been accepted to Daytona Beach.  The Wedding Memories quilt has been entered into Lancaster, PN and been accepted.  I have a whole calendar page set up for where they go the rest of the year - they almost need their own social secretary to keep it all straight!!!