'Nuf Said :: A Reflection on Quilting

June 23 2017,

Are quilts appreciated? Is there a point of creating quilts? Does it make me happy? Why do I do it?

I wrote the above sentence on June 15th, 2017. This was right after my local quilt guild show. The quilt that was on displayed did not get bought - and also only one quilt out of fifteen were bought at the boutique.

Yes people come up to me and say they love my quilts, but they don't put their money where their mouth is. So I was selling the  word series and expletive series for $85.00 a pop, a bargain I thought - but obviously it wasn't attractive enough for people to buy. I also tried to sell "Blue Moon" and "Directionally Challenged." They both also came home.

Thank God I don't make a living off of quilts. I simply can't.

Anywho, fast forward a week later to today. I was surfing on facebook and noticed that the Vermont Quilt Festival had recorded their awards ceremony. I watched. First came the yellow ribbons, these are quilts that received 88-91 points. There were 68 yellow ribbon winners. The past two years my two quilts received yellow ribbons. My name wasn't announced, bummer - I must have screwd the quilt up badly.

I fast forward to the red ribbons, these are quilts that received 92-94 points, and there were 43 red ribbon winners. I heard a few people's name in my quilt guild and my name wasn't announced. I continued watching it. The next was the blue ribbons, these are quilts that receive 95-97 points, there were 28 blue ribbons awarded. Yah - I don't belong in that category. I fast forwarded to the end of that section and I heard my name. Wha? I rewinded back to the category, and yes, I heard it right, my name was announced in the blue ribbon category. Oh. My. God. A. Blue. Ribbon. Note, there were 7 purple ribbons awarded, these are 98-100 points.

I continued watching. Yeah, the rest is going to be boring, the usual people are going to win ribbons. I listened. Then there was this category call "Best Graphic Quilt" and they said C603, I stopped. That's my number. Wha? Wha? At this point my jaw dropped. I turned around to hubby - and said, I just won another ribbon. Oh. My. God. I was flying.

I remembered the feeling when I got the news that one of my quilt got photographed in a quilt magazine call Simply Moderne without me knowing. That's how I was feeling.

So I continued watching the program. Blah blah blah. The judges award. So the first judge came up on the stage. She started talking about how she likes modern style and abstract quilts. check. bold color. check. improvisational pieced quilt. check. blue and yellow and little subtle pops of color. check. And it was my quilt, "Going on a Trip 2". The judge was Christa Watson.

Ok. Speechless. Breathe.

I did a happy dance, high-fived my husband and did more happy dance.

Three ribbon, one quilt.

I am glowing. I'm taking a bus trip to Vermont tomorrow to see the show. Will report back with pictures.

Quilt & Bitch