Another Go

I figured while I was still riding the crest of my blue ribbon wave I should enter another quilt show. The thing is, I never thought I would win a blue ribbon at a State fair, at any quilt show really. It all goes back to my first quilt show I attended. It was a national quilt show that happened to be held that year in Omaha where I lived. The quilts there were tremendous, the best efforts of the best quilters not in the county, or the state, but the whole country! That set the bar pretty high. I thought then if that is what it takes to be an award winning quilter, then I will have to be content with making quilts for their own sake. That notion was compounded by visiting the local art museum at the same time as the quilt show where they had on exhibit the top 100 quilts of the century. You can only imagine the quality and craftsmanship that was on display! Seeing that level of skill was daunting, but also liberating. That was when I adopted the quilting motto " My quilt, my rules" and went about the the next 10 years quilting the way I wanted to, in my lap without a hoop or a frame. If I never planned to enter my quilts in a show, and my sole purpose in quilting was for the joy of it, then why force myself to learn techniques and styles that were not comfortable or natural for me? What I did not realize was happening as I went about making quilts my way was that I was actually becoming good! So winning a blue Ribbon this year was not so much accomplishing a long sought goal, as it was realizing a long abandoned and never fully owned dream. It spoke to the possibility of what I am actually capable of and so with that in mind a few weeks ago I submitted a CD with pictures of my miniature crazy quilt to the National Quilt Society's BIG show in Paducah, KY. Just say the word Paducah to quilters and they will know you mean THE QUILT SHOW in Paducah. I thought it was a little bold, a little ambitious, but why not? Its a juried show, so even being accepted will go down in my book as a win, heck...the fact that I produced something I thought was worth the attempt is a win! I think its ironic how the superlative quilts that I saw all those years ago that made me think I was not up to the task of award winning quilting actually freed me to grow into producing that very thing.