Rising Sun Quilt Fest

Hard to believe that it's been almost a week since I've posted anything.  There's been quite a bit going on in my quilting world as well as in my non-quilting world. 

The quilt I entered in the Rising Sun Quilt Fest didn't win any ribbons (boo hoo) but I learned a valuable lesson!  Be careful in the category you choose for your entry.  Now this may sound like a no-brainer but it's not always obvious to me which category I should choose.  Understand that I've entered a grand total of 2 quilts in 3 different shows so I'm still new at figuring these things out.  So I entered the quilt in the Machine Quilting category since that's what I am, right?

When Morning Gilds the Skies

Metallic thread emanating from center of the "sun"

Because I did such a nice job on the piecing (if I do say so myself), I perhaps should have entered this in the Pieced category.  The blocks were paper pieced, a technique that local teacher extraordinaire Lois Griffith made very easy to understand. She gave us great tips about improving our paper piecing technique and I'm no longer scared of this technique. I think another quilt using New York Beauty blocks will be in my future.

Misty swirls in the wake of sunrise.

Although I was particularly pleased with the way the variegated thread and metallic thread in two different areas of the quilt added different highlights to the quilt, I can see some areas where the quilting could have been improved - some of the circles perhaps more concentric.  As much as I appreciate uniformity in some quilting designs, I also enjoy the irregularities that sometimes creep into freehand quilting as I think it adds interest.  The rays emanating from the sun in the upper left are metallic thread as are the swirls in the upper right part of the quilt.  The remaining thread is a trilobal polyester variegated thread that has some sheen to it but is also slightly darker - the morning mists surrounding the rising sun are sometimes murky. 

Understand that Rising Sun is a dinky Ohio River town.  They do, however, have a relatively vibrant arts community including a wonderful art quilter and the Quilt Fest was being sponsored under the auspices of the Ohio County Historical Society.  While there were several quilts (I'm guessing maybe 35 - 45), there were also miniature quilts (4), dolls, wearables (maybe 6), purses, ceramic things and a hodge-podge of other stuff.  There were also multiple quilts entered by the same person - several local quilters had two or three apiece and one well-known quilter from Kentucky had three entered and another on display that won last's year's Best of Show award.  Guess who cleaned up on the ribbons???

Comments from the judge were complimentary along with a note to improve my binding technique so it was a worthwhile experience for me.  The quilt is actually closer to square than it looks in the picture - taking pictures is an area where I can obviously improve greatly.

Something else fun happened - subject of tomorrow's blog.

Cheers.