My closest quilt was right around the corner from the bazaar, so I dropped off my bag and grabbed my phone, and walked over to my closest quilt, Counting the Hours. And I stopped dead when I saw the blue first place ribbon hanging on it. I finished this quilt at a retreat last January, and a friend told me I had to put it in the show, that it was perfect for the guild challenge (for scrap-buster quilts). So I did (crossing my fingers). I thought the quilt turned out really well, but knew that Civil War fabrics aren't for everyone. I was hopeful, but I never expected to win. I was in tears.
I snapped a quick photo of the ribbon and quilt, and walked back to my friend with tears in my eyes. She took one look and asked what was wrong, and I showed her the photo. "I won a ribbon," I said. She gave me a big hug, and her daughter walked back with me to take a picture of me and the quilt.
As I headed for my second quilt, I ran into the show organizer. "Did you see it?" she asked, with a big smile on her face. (This quilt ended up in the wrong category, and she made sure it would be judged in the right category. So when it won the category, she was thrilled. She said she wanted to tell me in the worst way, and had to be satisfied with knowing that it all worked out.)
The next closest quilt was supposed to be in the miniature category, which has a 25 x 25-in. maximum size. It ended up a quarter inch too big. Bummer. So instead, I entered it into the challenge category, since it's another scrap-buster quilt. I named this one "Best Friends," because it's made with a classic pattern called the Friendship block. I love everything about this quilt, and I took the time to quilt it by hand (which I really enjoyed). When I walked around the partition, there was my quilt with two ribbons hanging from it: Second place of the challenge quilts, and third place for hand quilting. By this point, I was getting seriously teary, and incredibly happy.
On to the second gym, and my last two quilts. Best Friends was in plain sight as I walked in, with a ribbon fluttering from it. Oh, my... third place in the small bed quilt category. Of all my quilts, this was the one I thought had a decent chance for a ribbon.
The last quilt is a game board quilt, which I call "Checkers, Anyone?" It was my only entry in the miniature category, and there it hung, with two ribbons. And finally, I burst into tears. This little quilt won third place in the miniature category (which doesn't mean a lot, since there were only three miniatures entered). But it also got first place for hand quilting, and that does mean a lot.
I just stood there with tears running down my face. I was stunned, and incredibly happy. It was an amazing, fantastic, wonderful feeling... and one of the best days, ever.
. . .
Tomorow I'll post photos of some of my favorite quilts from the show.
Congratulations! Your quilts are beautiful.
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