I'm a Winner

*photo heavy post*

I won the Mayor's Choice award at the IHQS for my Flower Patch (pattern available from For the Love of Geese) quilt! It's a subjective award, but it was what I was hoping for when I entered, so I am thrilled. I feel more legit now. LOL. One of the white glove volunteers asked me if I knew the mayor. The answer is no, I've never met him. I also can't vote for him because I do not live within the city limits. So there. 
The judges were Linda Scholten and Sue Cortese. The judging was not very judge-y. One of my friends volunteered during the judging and she said that while they may have been more critical in their verbal comments as they viewed the quilts, they were careful to only say positive things for the written feedback. I was hoping for more specific feedback, but here is what I got for Flower Patch:
  • Color and value distribution help move the eye.
  • Piecing is generally accurate.
  • Machine quilting technique is good.
For Macaws:
  • Repetion of Macaw pattern and your use of proportion creates and holds interest. {I'm not sure what they mean by this. I made this exactly as directed in the kit and had noted in my description that it was a kit. 🤷🏻‍♀️}
  • Back art is appreciated.
  • Piecing is accurate.
  • Machine quilting design is evenly distributed across quilt top and is well done.

From those comments, they thought Macaws was better done than Flower Patch, and I can see why. I had two places on Flower Patch where the intersections were obviously off--one bird beak that I couldn't get right no matter what, and one intersection where I just never noticed until I was attaching the hanging sleeve two days before quilt drop-off--, and I used a design on Flower Patch that has backtracking, which usually is not exact. Macaws was my most technically perfect finish last year. 

I thought my Flower Patch quilt looked very different from any other quilt there. It seems like a lot of "show quilts" are very similar. If you've been to the AQS Paducah, maybe you understand what I mean? You can check out the gallery of winners here. Margaret Solomon Gunn's quilt was truly amazing and I'm still surprised it didn't win Best of Show. 

There were a wide variety of quilts at the show. I really enjoyed the "Inspired by Endangered Species" special exhibit quilts. 














This one won first place for small pieced quilts and it was amazing! The squares are 1/2" finished.
Look at this quilting!
This was the one I voted for as Viewer's Choice. It was really nice and it didn't get any ribbons. The maker is Sharon Engel of Colorado.
Back to my personal things, I am still on track for my OMG. Here are this week's blocks for the Loves Me, Loves Me Not QAL.
Of course I've been quilting some quilts, too.

Pat's, quilted with Charming Feather. Thread is Glide Wheat and I picked Quilter's Dream Blend for all of her quilts this time.

Another of Pat's, quilted with Sugar and Spice and Glide Caramel thread.

And one more, quilted with Stardust and white thread. I still need to fully bind all three of these.

I quilted my own Board & Batten quilt with Scratch Modern. I used Quilter's Dream 80/20 in white and Glide white thread.

Charlene's Board & Batten is in progress. She picked Hooked Up for her quilting and Hobbs 80/20 batting. Glide Tar Heel (blue) is the thread.
I was going to share a bunch of daffodil pictures, but this post is already really photo-heavy, so I'll just share two. I was so surprised that I had a bunch of crocuses bloom this year. Usually the rabbits eat them while they are still buds.

3 comments

  1. I'm just so happy for you for winning the award!! How rewarding! Both entries are very beautiful! Your choice of design on the macaws really evokes the feel of their tails being all flowy and fluffy. It's interesting to see what the judges' comments are. I have no experience in this area at all! Maybe someday in the very far future I might try entering something in an official competition but I have so much learning to do until that day!
    Oh the crocus! ForEVER my favorite flower, mostly because they evoke memories of my mother, when I was little and watching for them to appear. I planted tons of them years ago but very few come up now. I can't decide if the chickens somehow dug up and ate the bulbs or they just weren't very good ones.
    As always, I love seeing what you've been working on!

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  2. Congratulations! My favorite is the quilt! That was a beautiful pattern that the blogger did. I wanted to make it but do not do paper piecing and in the middle of getting quilts ready for 2 quilt shows. Have a great week-end! Hard work pays off! Hugs

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  3. Congratulations on the award for the Flower Patch quilt! I've always liked the colors in your quilt, so nice and bright. Happy stitching!

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