Where Does the Time Go?

It flies when you're having fun.  That's where it goes.

Since my last post...

1. Judged the Gate City Quilt Guild Quilter Show in Greensboro with Lorraine Covington.  I love judging with her for so many reasons.
2.  Helped Sew Original set up the smallest vendor booth ever.  We can pack a lot of great stuff in a small space that's for sure!

3. Finished a T-shirt quilt (with Bonnie's and her longarm's help) for Jaynie and Dante.  It's on it's way to Cape Cod right now!

4. Went on a greenway hike with Leanne and Bonnie and discovered the God's Acre at Bethabara.  It sits on a hill, hidden in the woods - very peaceful and wonderful.  I do love to wander the graveyards.

5. Had a wonderful sew day with Leanne in the barn - a celebration of her last few days before her new job. I've been working on a king size chicken quilt for a friend in California and the barn was a perfect place to finish the top.  We also went to lunch at Sander's Ridge where another friend, Starr, is the chef.  Her pimento cheese will make you swoon.

6.  Had another sew day at Bonnie's to get the chicken quilt quilted.  We ended the day with pizza and a couple of movies for a binding fest.  Shelby took turns, snuggling up to the chicken quilt and to Bonnie's Florabunda.  She wouldn't tell us which was her favorite but...

7. Quiltkeemosabe and I took a class on doing cathedral windows by machine.  Sarah Chin of Blueprint Textiles taught the class based on her pattern.  It was great fun (even after I realized I was old enough to be Saras mother).

8.  Spent quite a bit of time as shih tsu furniture while doing hand applique.

 9. Met another quilting rock star - Tula Pink who was fascinating...not to mention I'm in love with all of her fabrics.  Here's Tula, me (and shelby) and Lee when Tula and Karen Gray dropped by Sew Original.  Later, Tula did a program at Graylyn where we got to see her new fabric lines and here her incredible story.

 10. Came home one day and met the neighborhood hawk up close and personal.  How creepy is it that he's looking right at me?

11.  Serviced a gazillion sewing machines.  Here's a hint...occasionally remove your stitch plate so you can get the lint out...before it become structural.

 12.  Celebrated Missy's birthday (won't say which one but it has a zero in it) with dinner at Fearrington House.  Her husband treated our bee to dinner then Cyndi and I (and Shelby) got to spend the night at Chez Missy.

Even though she said no presents, I couldn't resist...I found this kit in Pieceful Hearts Quilt Shop in Lisle, Illinois.  I added "Friendship is a sheltering tree" because it is...

13.  Laura and I went to NC Quilt Symposium in Cullowhee and I took a couple great classes:

Border solutions with Cindy Williams

Machine quilting with crazy threads with Carol Taylor

 There will be more on Symposium because that little adventure needs its own post.

14.  Been instigating with new friends and old friends - there will be sales opportunities in the near future - but more on that later too.

15.  Gave my machine maintenance program at the Heart of the Triad Quilt Guild which was great fun.

16.  Bought a new Bernina 580 and a serger...yes I have lost my pea-pickin' mind.

17. Celebrated my Dad's 70th birthday by sitting around the kitchen table with him, my mom, my brother, his wife, my husband and Shelby...telling stories on each other.  It was perfect.

18.  Been incredibly stressed out and overwhelmed.

19.  Lived life and dreamed big dreams.

20.  Thinking it's time for some of those big dreams to become something....stay tuned....

As  Mrs. G. says...life is good.

Adventures from the Road

Last Wednesday, Laura and I were in Portsmouth, Virginia to judge the Tidewater Quilters Quilt Show. They were a wonderful group of ladies and we got to see some gorgeous quilts. At the end of the day, I had a stack of quilts in my Judge's Choice "pile". I finally settled on this one, a gift for a caver. I loved that the quilter added stalagmites and stalactites in the outer border.

On Friday, we headed to Camp Caraway for the North Carolina Symposium Board annual retreat. Laura and I are new board members this year so this was our first chance to meet everyone and take part of a board meeting. Friday night we gathered to make ribbons for the upcoming Symposium, then Saturday all day was a business meeting. Saturday night was show and tell and unfortunately, we had to leave after that so I could be back in town for a meeting the next morning. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting everyone. These are women on a mission and I like that A LOT.

Sunday afternoon, I just couldn't stand it anymore. Shelby and I got in the car and headed to the Blue Ridge Parkway. We went for a hike at the Linn Cove viaduct. Not far up the trail you can sit on a rock and get a picture like this one. Really. I took that picture yesterday.

I'm not sure how far we went after that but it was far enough to not see another soul for a while and not be able to hear the cars on the parkway. Miss Girl is quite the little hiker. She climbs up these rocks like she's part mountain lion.

When we got back to the visitor's center, we met Luke, the Biker Dog and his dad. Luke rides everywhere on the back of this Harley...everywhere...he's been across the country a few times on that bike. He was something else.

There were lots of folks out enjoying the Parkway. Could it have been anymore beautiful? I don't know how.

After a little more driving on the Parkway, we stopped in Boone to 1. plug my phone in so I could let my dad know I was out of the woods and not to send the park rangers looking for me and 2. get a cool drink. This was Shelby all the way home....think she was pooped.

Me too...but happy...very, very happy.

Longarmers and Fall Festivals

Fall is my favorite time of the year. There's something in the air that I love. It also tends to be unbelievably busy. Lots of shows, fairs, festivals - there's no way someone could complain of boredom around here, that's for sure.

Last Wednesday, Laura and I had the privilege of judging the Carolina Longarm Association's annual quilt show in Clemmons, NC. They had 95 wonderful quilts and were so great to work with and so organized. It was a tough show to judge but we enjoyed ourselves immensely. In this particular show, we judge only the quilting - not the piecing or applique or binding appearance or workmanship - just quilting. You would think that looking at just one aspect of the quilt would make it easier to judge but the opposite is actually the case. Plus this is such a talented group of quilters, we literally had to look at the quilts with a magnifying glass. By the time I got home, I was pooped.

I did get a chance to go by the show on Friday to see the quilts hanging and get to enjoy them as a spectator. It really was a wonderful show. Here's just a few.

Friday afternoon, I helped Nane and Go Postal set up for the quilt show at the new Yadkin Cultural Arts Center. We got all the quilts hung and then met Dave at The German Restaurant in Yadkinville. (It's really out in the middle of nowhere but worth the drive if you like German food.)

Saturday I walked through the Yadkinville Harvest Festival to get to the Cultural Arts Center to hang out with Nane, kb, Quiltkeemosabee and a few other folks that paid visit. The arts center is incredible. It'll make you wish you lived in Yadkinville.

We were set up in the classroom space at the front of the center.

Here's the front of the building - right on Main Street.

The real action is to the side of the building. There's a stage and a courtyard and art studio rental space...which I covet deeply.

The building is a work of art all itself.

Just one more thing to share...Congresswoman Virginia Foxx came through the quilt show and just loved kb's quilt. I asked if I could get a photo of her with the quilt because I knew how much it would mean to the quilt maker and she very kindly obliged. (If you know anything about my or kb's political views, you know just how priceless this photo is.)

Adventures in Ohio

For the second year, LauraQuilts and I served as judge's aides at the NQA Annual Quilt Show in Columbus, Ohio this past week. We worked like rented mules (as Laura likes to say) but we had a blast too. We got to catch up with folks we met last year and meet new friends.

We took off up the road last Saturday, stopping at The Woolen Willow in Williamston, West Virginia on the way. Sunday morning we were in the judging room at 7:30 a.m. and helped out by doing such wonderful jobs as scribe's aide, fanner, reader, runner, and holding room aide. Here's what the holding room looks like...kind of like a morgue actually.



It's amazing how they get through 400 quilts in two and a half days. Judging finished up Tuesday afternoon and then we helped with photography. This part is brutal work but we have a blast. Every one's more relaxed because the judging is over and the show is about to begin.

After the photography was done, a group of us treated ourselves to dinner and a beer together at Barley's Pub. My sides hurt from laughing by the time we heading back our hotels.

Wednesday morning, we helped hang ribbons and then Laura and Rosemary, a CJ Candidate from Maryland, and I went on a road trip to Marion, Ohio to visit Good Wives Company. Afterwards, we had lunch at The Warehouse in Marion. Yummy.


Rosemary knew of another little quilt shop along the way back called Serindipity. It was very sweet and I found some cool novelty prints there.


THEN, heading back into Columbus, I saw a sign from Graeter's Ice Cream and the car just served right off the highway and into the parking lot. (Our long distance bee member, OhQuilter, introduced us to Graeter's a couple of weeks ago and we just couldn't pass up the opportunity to corrupt Rosemary.)


Wednesday evening was the Preview Party, which starts out with a banquet then they open the doors to the show so we can see the quilts and shop. Here's me and Scott Murkin actually behaving ourselves at the banquet.


Here is one of the Best of Show quilts. They were all incredible.


Here's the highlight of the week though. I entered a quilt in the show...the first really national show I've entered. There were 40 quilts in the Duets category (Theresa DeWalt, the quilting goddess quilted this quilt for me). My quilt won an Honorable Mention.



No, I have not stopped grinning yet.

A Whole Lotta Happy

That's this year's State Fair quip. I got two days worth this year (after not having been to the State Fair in about 20 years). On Wednesday, Laura and I observed the quilt judging (well, we helped a bit too. It's hard to just stand there for 6.5 hours).

There were 107 quilts in the running this year. Here's a few waiting to be judged.



Here are the ribbons waiting to be hung.


Two of the judges and one candidate take a look at this very sweet pink elephant quilt.


And, y'all, this quilt was incredible. It's inked not applique (inklique, if you will) and exquisitely machine quilted. I later found out the maker (and quilter) is a lady some of my buddies here are hiring to do their quilting. Expensive but worth it.


Here are a couple detail pictures.


Here's Marcell checking out this very cool African-themed quilt. Is was drum-shaped.


A detail of a cute quilt using a discharge technique (maybe, I need more education on this). She attached the articles she used to make the faces as embellishments in the border. I thought of Karen when I saw this. Maybe she can teach me?


Okay. The big mystery of the day. No, it's not in the quilt category. It was a couple of tables over in the crocheting department. There were tables full of beautiful table cloths and afghans, etc. Then there was this cake.


Those are plastic eyeballs, worms and spiders embellishing the sides...and weird rubber ducks on top with the feathers. It had to have been a lot of work but yikes. Sometimes the card attached will give some incite on the origin of an item. All the card on this one said was that the duck with the green cape and SD on his chest was the Head Duck.

Huh.

On Thursday, I had to drive back to Raleigh to deliver my grant applications so Dave went with me. He's lived in NC all his life and had never been to the State Fair. It was opening day; therefore, it was cold and drizzly. Actually, it wasn't that bad. The cold wasn't obnoxious and the drizzle was only now and then. We covered most of the fairgrounds. They've changed things just a bit since the last time I was there so we missed a couple of things (like the poultry tent and the sheep and pigs) but the rest we saw. We didn't ride rides - one, too expensive and two, I'm not as brave as I used to be.

Here's what some of the quilts looked like set up in their display.

Back in the garden section, they have this guy on display. I remember reading somewhere that a design student from NC State took some orange barrels off the road somewhere and make this guy. He got in trouble for it too. (Stealing orange barrels is a crime I guess...kind of like picking the wildflowers from the highway medians. ) I'm guessing someone else thought it was funny, let him off the hook and decided to display his work at the fair. Personally, I think this guy is hysterical.
I thought this looked cool...but I'm still not getting on it.

I asked my husband what he thought of the State Fair, seeing it was his first time. "It's big" he says. "There's a lot of stuff" he says. "He liked walking around and seeing all the displays" he says. What made me happy about the fair? It was fun to see things that matter to people...things they are passionate about and proud of like their quilts, their pound cake, their photography, their blackberry jam, their entomology box, their cows, their pottery, their giant rabbit or even their wacky eyebally crocheted cake.