Glendale Quilt Guild Annual Show 2014

Wow! What a show! I would have been absolutely content with just this one ribbon. I was totally surprised when I got a call from the Glendale Quilt Guild on Thursday evening informing me that “Oolong Trail” had won Best Piecework. That particular award is a first for me.

“It’s Raining Mushrooms in California” took second place in the Other Techniques class, which basically included everything except for traditional piecing, traditional applique, and art quilts.

Then much to my surprise, “Unfurled” won third place in the Art Quilts category. My quilt is the opening moonflower on the right. I thought it was really cool how these three quilts were grouped together. Talk about being color coordinated!

My friend, CeCe Westerfield, won Best Hand Quilting for her traditional quilt, “Tilt A Whirl”. She truly deserved the honor.

CeCe also won Best True Miniature Quilt for “All Churned Up”. Awesome!

This is the quilt that won Best Of Show. It is called “Daisy Dance”, and was made by Susan Meyers of Big Bear City, CA.

This was my personal favorite. “Mom’s Fabulous UFO” was started by Delores Coleman. She completed the seven applique blocks, then put them away. Years later, her daughter Kathi Coleman Wilson, inherited the blocks and decided to add the pieced setting triangles and finish the quilt. It won an Honorable Mention. I think it’s delightful!  For those of you who are not quilters, a UFO is an unfinished object.

The venue for the show changed this year to the Pasadena Convention Center. The show was housed in the Exhibit Hall & Ballroom.

The theme was “Crazy For Roses”, so there were rose quilts all over the place.

The show hall was spacious and well lit.

All in all, a good show! And it was great to see my fellow guild members from the Cotton Patch Quilters of Kern County there: CeCe, Nancy Rink, Carole Smith, and Nancy Palmer, who was gracious enough to take my picture with “Oolong Trail”.

Random Farmland Blocks

 

Several of my readers asked me what I was doing with the batik fabric strips that I was cutting back here:

http://quiltedtimeposts.blogspot.com/2014/03/cutting-cutting-cutting.html

The strips are the makings of more random farmland blocks.

I started making these about a year ago but became stuck when my project got too large for me to manage.

Fortunately, Suzanne threw down the gauntlet and announced the challenge for us San Joaquin Valley quilters at the 2014 Best of the Valley Quilt Show. It was just the opportunity I needed to make a smaller version of where I was going with the larger project. I was able to solve some construction and design problems on “Fields of Bounty”, which I posted here:

http://quiltedtimeposts.blogspot.com/2014/02/fields-of-bounty-2014.html

Now I have more confidence and enthusiasm for finishing the larger version.

Trying To Get Organized

 

Making art quilts is so much fun, but there is one drawback. There is no such thing as taking two or three cuts of fabric from my stash, then closing the lid on a bin or two. No, I have to rat through about ten large plastic containers of batiks and pull every possible fabric I might use—even if it will be for just a tiny snip of that color. The result is a mess. Makes me long for those two-color traditional designs.

Last week I went to the Dollar Tree and picked up six of these small plastic containers. As I recovered from a long week at work yesterday evening, I tried to organize the fabrics for my current project into these bins. They are small enough that I can tuck them into a closet when I am not working on that quilt.

They are not small enough to discourage an overgrown kitten from taking up residence. Curry!!!

Something About Embroidery

 

Ever since I finished the embroidery on Peace, Love & Haight Ashbury, my fingers and heart have been aching to stitch again. I purchased this batik many years ago. Rosebuds? Asian clouds? Maybe just some delightful swirls.

I am not really sure where I am going with this.

It will probably end up being part of an Asian still life, teapot, or ceramic figurine. We’ll see.

Meanwhile, I am relaxing and enjoying the process.

Three For The Road

 

Seems like all I have been doing lately is napping and backtracking. Sooooo tired after all the excitement at work last week!

Then there are all of those sleeves and labels that still needed to be sewn on those quilts I had hung with pins at my featured artist display. Glendale Quilt Guild’s show is rapidly approaching, so I couldn’t procrastinate any longer. “Unfurled”, “Oolong Trail”, and “It’s Raining Mushrooms in California” have all been accepted. “Oolong Trail” still didn’t have a sleeve, so I had to get busy and take care of that.

Since the show is a good two hour’s drive through heavy Los Angeles traffic, I am shipping the quilts. I will drive down on the last day of the show and retrieve them. It has been four years since I have exhibited at that particular show. I am excited about their new venue at the Pasadena Convention Center.

Fortunately, I just received a bolt of Pellon Quilter’s Grid in the mail from Hancock’s, and the box is the perfect size to ship my three quilts. It is even in good shape. I love it when that happens!

Off they go tomorrow!

Walking a Tightrope

 

Thursday is the day that my school will be observed by the California Distinguished Schools Awards Committee. They are sending eight educators to interview and observe the teachers whose work has qualified our school for this honor.Even students and their parents will be interviewed. My department is first on the list, and I am second of that list to be interviewed. For the remainder of the day, my assistant and I will still need to be on our toes because one or more of the evaluators could stop by our classroom unannounced and observe the lesson that is taking place at the time.

No pressure there.

We will all be glad when the day is over.

Cutting, Cutting, Cutting…

 

I think I must be a goose. I always forget how long it takes to cut fabric for a project.

These are my ugly fabric squares that I am cutting for my utility quilts.

From comments that some of my readers have made, it is fair to assume that they think I am making these quilts FOR the cat. Nope, it is because of the cat. Look what Nico does to the fleece throw that is presently along the back of the couch. It doesn’t take him long to pull the whole thing off. Then he perches somewhere else on the couch and gets it all furry.

Good thing he is cute.

I have to say that cutting all of these ugly squares is downright boring. Every now and then, I have to stop and slice off a few strips of batik.

That makes me feel a whole lot better.