Quilt show in Florida...the countdown!

I have been in Florida since Sunday, and haven't been idle! Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were judging days where I participated as a step in aid and a scribe. The quilts (all 310 of them) are beautiful and so exciting to see. Later, I will have a slide show of some of them for you, but won't be able to reveal any details on winners until after the reception tonight.

The room for the judging is where the guild meets. It is big and bright and perfect for judging. Maribeth Schmitt was the judge, and her judging form was a pleasure to fill out. Way less writing and a comprehensive list of what she's looking at that we marked with E, for excellent, VG for very good, G for good, S for satisfactory, and NI for needs improvement. The comments were kept to a couple of succinct sentences.

The tracker, registrar and scribes are at the left table. All the quilts are divided by category on the back tables. the tables in the front have a category of quilts stacked flat and ready to be judged. The next category of quilts is also ready on a set of tables behind the ones the ladies are standing by.

The right side of the room has a table for the awards person to keep track of quilts being held, and a table for the step in aids  where the quilt is re-folded and the label cover taken off, then returned to the category tables and put in ascending order to be transported to the venue.

Here, the fanners are lifting a quilt for inspection of the judge.

You may recognize this quilt from a recent blog post! She was very complimentary of the quilting.

Here is another quilt that I did for a friend. She also had flattering things to say about it.

Another quilt by the same customer as the last one, also praised by the judge.

When the judge is ready to select the ribbon winners, she has the held quilts put back on the table and begins her process of elimination. I swear you could hear a pin drop during this phase, followed by quiet whispers among the gallery after the winners are chosen. I love the suspense and the reveal! In the background, the step in aids are refolding a released quilt to be returned to it's table.

Today is set up, and I took a pass on that because I really shouldn't be doing heavy lifting until I have my stress test next week. So I am meeting a friend for lunch and then doing some retail therapy!
More to follow...
By the way, Mr Wazoo is lamenting the endless rain they are having at home. He hasn't been able to go out at all this week. I'm glad I'm not there, but ready for the drive back on Sunday. It is just too hot here, and the host couple's home has no air-conditioning because of a leak in the coolant hose. Night time is fine, but the evening is rather warm. And no-seeum bites...
Well, I'm off to town and some fun. See you on the flip side!
* yes, Adam is naked in the painting at the end of the room, but the congregation had such a flap over it, the artist blacked his bits out. Too funny.

On a roll with tee shirt quilts

Either this quilt is too late for Christmas, or really early! The combination of fabrics is really appealing. It will be a nice addition to the  customer's holiday decorations.

Very pretty Christmas quilt

Panto: Holly Berries

The backing is nice, too!

The big tee shirt quilt is done, and the customer will be surprised on Friday when she comes to pick it up!

The finished product!

I think the bicycle turned out well. The wheels, seat, chain hub and basket are all from tee shirts.

Panto: Techno. I pieced the back with bicycles and red check.

Another customer quilt came in, and is a wedding present for their son. The wedding is next month, and Mom made a quilt as a gift. It is made of soft flannels that look like woolens. I really like this quilt! Her batting is one I haven't used before by Pellon. It is way loftier than the Quilters Dream we generally provide to our customers. It made for a heavier, but more textural quilt. I just love it! I'm sure the customer's son and his bride will like it, too.

Great colors, easy but effective pattern and so tactile!

Panto: Woven Wind

Right down to the striped binding, this quilt is well thought out.  I'm happy she found me to finish it for her.

Meanwhile, I worked on another tee shirt quilt for a customer from down by Atlanta. I'm not a fan of the messages on the tee shirts, but I am also not one of those service providers who turns people away because I don't agree with them on some things. (Think: baker and gay couple's cake...) I'm sure the customer is a very nice and caring lady, but I am pro choice (not pro-abortion) and I have the sense to know that abstinence is a wonderful concept for teens, but frank conversation and access to reliable birth control should also be in the picture. I have three daughters and a son. We taught self responsibility and respect for others. I had to wonder what choices the place on the tee shirts offered. 

Quilt on the design wall, no sashing, cornerstones or borders yet.

I made these simple half square triangle blocks to fill the spaces where I didn't have enough shirts.

Thank you, Eleanor Burns for teaching me the twirling opposing seams to make the block lie flat.

Sashing, cornerstones and borders on, the quilting is half finished.

Here is a quick peek at a secret project I am working on. It still needs the stems, and then I can appliqué the pieces down. So far, so good!
Tomorrow, I get a haircut and finish the tee shirt quilt. Three days before the trip to Florida!

Top secret...almost!

I got a new chair for my evening handwork. It has a foot rest that just accommodates a little white dog.

She is proofreading my blog entry and being a nuisance!
Woof woof...

Uff Da!! What a day

I started out okay, working on the tee shirt quilt and making progress. All the columns are sewn and the red sashing looks great!

quilt in progress

By 2:30, the long sashes were sewn on and all the bike parts laid out when I felt a pressure in my chest. I kept on fiddling with the quilt, but the pain intensified and pierced through to my back. Hmmm...This could be something. I walked upstairs and took some aspirin, then walked back down to the studio. No shortness of breath or sweating...the pain was less, but now my jaw was sort of stiff feeling. Mr Wazoo had gone to the store and I didn't know how long he would be, so I contemplated my options. Call a friend? Call an ambulance?! Wait it out? I called my daughter, the PA, and she said to go to an urgent care ASAP. Mr W came home, and off we went.

Understand, I live in a small mountain town. There is a walk in clinic, so we went there. The doctor sent me to Jasper, where the Piedmont hospital is excellent . In retrospect, I think I should have taken my chances with the local ER, as it is five minutes from the clinic. Jasper was an hour drive. 

As soon as we arrived, I was whisked off to a room where three people hooked me up to a monitor, took blood, started an IV, and did an assessment. Then we waited. After four hours and more tests, the MD decided to let me go home. There will be follow-up and a stress test, but I didn't have a heart attack.

The moral of the story is , if you think something is wrong, listen to your body and do something. I farted around way too long before seeking help. This time it ended well. I will know better if it happens again. 

Tomorrow, I will finish the tee shirt quilt!!

QOV and Tees

I finished up the second QOV and Mr Wazoo packed them up and sent them off to Florida.

This is an unusually pretty panel.Someone will really like this quilt.

Panto: Simply stars

A peek at the back.

The QOV was finished and gone by 11:00, and the rest of the day (without a break) was consumed with a tee shirt quilt. It took over two hours to press on all the fusible interfacing and trim the blocks.

I spent some time making a layout plan, and the rest of the day was spent attaching the circle bits to the blocks. The yellow circles, small light blue circle, elongated dark blue piece and white square are all parts of the bicycle I have planned for the center of the quilt. The customer requested bicycle fabric, and there were just the right pieces for a bike, so I made one! I can't wait to see it all come together tomorrow. I have a foot doctor appointment at midday, but should be able to get it well along by quitting time.

The quilt is taking shape on the design wall.

A lot going on, not much getting done.

After a trip to the dentist for a check-up, I sequestered myself in the studio and set to work on my projects at hand. I have the raffle quilt top finished, and the backing loaded on the Gammill for the stitch in the ditch. I can't start quilting yet, because I am out of Quilters Dream wool batts! I have the batting ordered and hope it comes quickly.

Ta Da! The raffle quilt is now a flimsy! Too big for the design wall, so I had to squeeze it between the two longarms.

This is the Moda fabric I chose for the backing

A close up of the top and bottom border flowers.

I also finished up the un-quilting on the blue and white quilt and re-quilted it to my satisfaction. One row was off to the right about a quarter of an inch, and I didn't notice it right away. I had to un pick about a foot of quilting. yuk.

I made the binding from plain blue fabric, and will assemble it and sew it on tomorrow.

There are some small puckers and tucks, but for an old, hand pieced quilt, I think it looks pretty good.

The orange peel quilting.

I used an old sheet from when we had an RV for the backing.

Quilt and binding ready to be sewn tomorrow.

Two more QOVs came today and I started them while prepping tee shirts for a customer quilt. I should have both quilts finished tomorrow, and Mr Wazoo will get them sent off to the binding person.

I love the panels that are coming out for QOVs! They make it an easier task to get the quilt finished and to a deserving Vet.

I'm not thrilled with this new panto. It has a squiggly line with a star above and below it at intervals. There is just too much open area for my liking.

I do love this backing!!

The second one is almost done. The panel is of Mt Rushmore. I'll get a picture when it is finished.

This is a pile of trimmed tee shirts. The stabilizer is cut and paired with each shirt, and I need to press it on.

I already stabilized the smaller pieces and cut them into ovals and circles.

I am still working on two repairs, and came across this interesting find. I removed a large torn piece, and found this second quilt was used as the batting!! The blocks of the inside quilt are in better shape than the actual top, so I have decided to appliqué the edges of the top pieces down and leave the good 9 patch blocks exposed. I think the customer will be really surprised.

Oh my! This is wonderful.

I wish I knew what was under everything, but it must not all be wonderful or the quilter wouldn't have covered it up.

Happy Birthday!...to ME

Today was my birthday, and it has been a nice day from start to finish. Even Google said happy birthday!

These dancing candles appeared when I started up the laptop.

My west coast daughter sent me some beautiful flowers, Mr Wazoo gave me a set of knives (hmmmm....very trusting of him), my son sent a pizza stone and peel and a baguette baking pan. My Wisconsin friend sent a text video of herself playing piano and singing Happy Birthday (very cool!!). My sister, my friends and my Arizona daughter all sang to me, too..on three phone calls! Another friendly couple brought over a birthday cake and ice cream! We all had cake and ice cream for lunch. Life is good. Mr Wazoo added the finishing touch to my perfect day with grilled spare ribs, homemade slaw and baked beans. Yum. Sixty six is off to a good start.

My pretty birthday flowers

In the studio, I worked on a personal project today. Months ago I worked at the local storytelling festival, providing a quilt display from the guild and answering questions about the quilts and the guild with some friends. A lady came and asked if there was anyone interested in some old quilt tops and fabrics. Of course, I took the bait. I paid $50 for two 1930s tops in really good shape, and a bag of fabric scraps for my restoration and repair side of the business. I got out one of the tops yesterday and gave it a good starch and press, and added a border. I loaded it up on the Millie and started quilting it today. It will make a nice utility quilt, or maybe just a display quilt in the guest room.

1930s or 40s Robbing Peter to pay Paul quilt top. All hand pieced!

I squared to up and added a border for stabilization.

The border fabric

Every row is just a bit wonky, but it is going along well. I'm almost at the bottom!
You'll get the big picture tomorrow when I get it off the frame.

On the work front, I quilted this darling panel baby quilt for a customer.

I've quilted another one of these panels before. I think it is really sweet. The batik border she chose works perfectly with the colors in the picture.

Panto: Splat

Pink swirly backing.

The stems are sewn down on the top and bottom raffle quilt borders, and all the bits for the appliqué are traced and ready for cutting and pressing to the fabric. That will be another tomorrow task as well as starting a customer tee shirt quilt. Never a dull moment here at Wazoo!

Pretty dull looking now, but bloomingly wonderful soon.

More freezer paper bits. Thank goodness there is Victoria and Pride and Prejudice on PBS tonight. No football here!