I won a ribbon! and show report (long)

> Our quilt show in general was a great success. More about that later.
> Now I must brag----I won a blue ribbon, Best Pieced Bed Quilt for my
> Civil War Love Letters quilt. This is the quilt with 121 foundation
> pieced blocks based on the book by Rosemary Youngs. Yes, I know you
> want a picture but that would require updating my web site which
> hasn't been done in years.

Congratulations, Susan! And yes, we *do* want a picture. <G>

>Our quilt show in general was a great success. More about that later.
>Now I must brag----I won a blue ribbon, Best Pieced Bed Quilt for my
>Civil War Love Letters quilt. This is the quilt with 121 foundation
>pieced blocks based on the book by Rosemary Youngs. Yes, I know you
>want a picture but that would require updating my web site which
>hasn't been done in years.
>I served as chairman of the raffle basket committee. The raffle
>baskets made about $2400. Big money makers were anything with fabric
>and the American Girl Doll. The guild purchased a doll after our
>request for a donation from the company was denied because our charity
>was not for a child under 12. Guild members had fun making clothes,
>bedding, etc. The second highest money maker was the batik basket.
>Bright's, novelties and 1800's followed in that order. I had pushed
>for baskets without a quilting theme but they didn't do very well. In
>the future I would recommend a "Night on the Town" basket with gift
>certificates to local restaurants and maybe a generic teen basket with
>their type of gift certificates. Even the baby baskets didn't do very
>well. The baby girl basket had a size 2 quilted jacket and a crib
>quilt along with a stuffed animal and bedtime books. The baby boy
>quilt had a hand knit sweater and a quilted play mat along with the
>stuffed animal and books. All the baskets looked wonderful thanks to
>my friend Docia who owns The Quilt Merchant in Winfield, Illinois.
>Display is one of her gifts. I gathered the stuff, divided it into the
>themes and she arranged each basket so that everything could be seen.
>She is amazing.
>The weather was our friend. We have had a stormy start to the month.
>Thursday afternoon set-up was dry, sunny with temperatures in the low
>60's but very windy (more about that later). Friday was beautiful
>which brought the dedicated quilters from longer distances. It was a
>great day for a drive. Saturday was too rainy to work in the yard but
>dry enough that you didn't mind going someplace. This was great
>because if Saturday had been as nice as Friday everyone who worked
>during the week would have wanted to spend the day in the yard. This
>would have been our first good Saturday since the snow melted. For
>those of you who live in no-snow zones there is always a mess to clear
>once the snow melts. Attendance was up 150 over our last show in 2006.
>About that windy set-up day. . . .One of my quilts almost blew away as
>it was being carried inside. A friend was helping me carry my quilts
>into the show. There were two stacks in the back of my van, the larger
>two quilts in one stack and the miniatures in a second stack. My
>friend took the larger quilts then told me to pile the miniatures on
>top. That was my mistake. When the wind caught the top miniature she
>didn't have a hand on top of the pile. Each quilt was in a separate
>clear plastic bag which had been given out at our last guild meeting.
>I had laughed when they gave me such a large bag for a miniature but
>wanting to cooperate with the sign-in committee I dutifully put each
>miniature in a bag. The wind caught the top bag and it just sailed
>across the parking lot. The miniature quilt came out of the bag with
>the bag sailing one direction and the quilt another. Of course this
>miniature was made with 30's feed sack fabrics and solid white. When
>I reached the miniature it was wedged under the rear wheel of a car.
>Trying to stay calm, I just shook it out and walked inside.
>Fortunately there was no waiting line so I calmly checked in all but
>the dirty quilt and ran home to rinse the mud off. The front is OK.
>The back has a few shadowy stains left. I will try washing again to
>see if those marks will come out. The quilt was dry by morning and it
>hung in the show.
>The entire show was a nice break for me. My husband worked from home
>on Thursday and Friday. Thursday I was only gone from the house for
>about an hour. Friday I left at 7:00 a.m. and returned at 9:00 p.m.
>Saturday I was gone from 8:30 to 5:30. A friend stayed with Mom on
>Friday. My sister came Friday evening so was there with Mom on
>Saturday. Sunday was Mom's 94th birthday. My older son cooked a great
>birthday meal for her. My younger son brought his new camera to take
>special pictures. We had to move a few things to get an uncluttered
>background for the pictures. I had just dumped everything in the
>living room when I returned from the show Saturday night. Sorry I
>don't have a picture to show you but Mom enjoyed her day.
>Monday I finished the raffle basket paperwork before I forgot things.
>Yesterday I cleared the mess from the living room. Today I can get
>back to work in my studio when Mom is napping. Life is good.
>Susan

> Our quilt show in general was a great success. More about that later.
> Now I must brag----I won a blue ribbon, Best Pieced Bed Quilt for my
> Civil War Love Letters quilt. This is the quilt with 121 foundation
> pieced blocks based on the book by Rosemary Youngs. Yes, I know you
> want a picture but that would require updating my web site which
> hasn't been done in years.
> I served as chairman of the raffle basket committee. The raffle
> baskets made about $2400. Big money makers were anything with fabric
> and the American Girl Doll. The guild purchased a doll after our
> request for a donation from the company was denied because our charity
> was not for a child under 12. Guild members had fun making clothes,
> bedding, etc. The second highest money maker was the batik basket.
> Bright's, novelties and 1800's followed in that order. I had pushed
> for baskets without a quilting theme but they didn't do very well. In
> the future I would recommend a "Night on the Town" basket with gift
> certificates to local restaurants and maybe a generic teen basket with
> their type of gift certificates. Even the baby baskets didn't do very
> well. The baby girl basket had a size 2 quilted jacket and a crib
> quilt along with a stuffed animal and bedtime books. The baby boy
> quilt had a hand knit sweater and a quilted play mat along with the
> stuffed animal and books. All the baskets looked wonderful thanks to
> my friend Docia who owns The Quilt Merchant in Winfield, Illinois.
> Display is one of her gifts. I gathered the stuff, divided it into the
> themes and she arranged each basket so that everything could be seen.
> She is amazing.
> The weather was our friend. We have had a stormy start to the month.
> Thursday afternoon set-up was dry, sunny with temperatures in the low
> 60's but very windy (more about that later). Friday was beautiful
> which brought the dedicated quilters from longer distances. It was a
> great day for a drive. Saturday was too rainy to work in the yard but
> dry enough that you didn't mind going someplace. This was great
> because if Saturday had been as nice as Friday everyone who worked
> during the week would have wanted to spend the day in the yard. This
> would have been our first good Saturday since the snow melted. For
> those of you who live in no-snow zones there is always a mess to clear
> once the snow melts. Attendance was up 150 over our last show in 2006.
> About that windy set-up day. . . .One of my quilts almost blew away as
> it was being carried inside. A friend was helping me carry my quilts
> into the show. There were two stacks in the back of my van, the larger
> two quilts in one stack and the miniatures in a second stack. My
> friend took the larger quilts then told me to pile the miniatures on
> top. That was my mistake. When the wind caught the top miniature she
> didn't have a hand on top of the pile. Each quilt was in a separate
> clear plastic bag which had been given out at our last guild meeting.
> I had laughed when they gave me such a large bag for a miniature but
> wanting to cooperate with the sign-in committee I dutifully put each
> miniature in a bag. The wind caught the top bag and it just sailed
> across the parking lot. The miniature quilt came out of the bag with
> the bag sailing one direction and the quilt another. Of course this
> miniature was made with 30's feed sack fabrics and solid white. When
> I reached the miniature it was wedged under the rear wheel of a car.
> Trying to stay calm, I just shook it out and walked inside.
> Fortunately there was no waiting line so I calmly checked in all but
> the dirty quilt and ran home to rinse the mud off. The front is OK.
> The back has a few shadowy stains left. I will try washing again to
> see if those marks will come out. The quilt was dry by morning and it
> hung in the show.
> The entire show was a nice break for me. My husband worked from home
> on Thursday and Friday. Thursday I was only gone from the house for
> about an hour. Friday I left at 7:00 a.m. and returned at 9:00 p.m.
> Saturday I was gone from 8:30 to 5:30. A friend stayed with Mom on
> Friday. My sister came Friday evening so was there with Mom on
> Saturday. Sunday was Mom's 94th birthday. My older son cooked a great
> birthday meal for her. My younger son brought his new camera to take
> special pictures. We had to move a few things to get an uncluttered
> background for the pictures. I had just dumped everything in the
> living room when I returned from the show Saturday night. Sorry I
> don't have a picture to show you but Mom enjoyed her day.
> Monday I finished the raffle basket paperwork before I forgot things.
> Yesterday I cleared the mess from the living room. Today I can get
> back to work in my studio when Mom is napping. Life is good.
> Susan

NEED to see it. <BG>