Road 2 California

I've just realised I haven't posted anything about my quilt that went to the Road to California show.

I entered three quilts, Mother, Phoenix Rising and Bad Rain. Only Mother and Phoenix Rising were accepted, and they shipped to the show early December.

As you can see they made it OK. They didn't place in the show, the judges feel I need to work on my raw edge applique technique, but apparently they looked great hanging.

I was especially pleased that they had hung the phoenix so the front and the back can be seen. I am very please with the back of this quilt, although I hadn't intended it to be reversible, hence the hanging sleeve not matching the backing. At least it wasn't a calico sleeve. Just before the NEC I ran out of black fabric so a few quilts did get very odd sleeves. Looking at the pictures you can see that the wings are built up in sections and each feather is quilted individually. The ash (grey quilting at the bottom of the quilt) also shows up a lot better on the back than on the front.

Now I am just looking forward to them coming home. I do miss my quilts when they travel and the phoenix especially so. Thanks to everyone who has sent me pictures of these quilts on display. It is appreciated, it's sort of like getting a postcard from my quilts.

Backside and progress

Two pictures for you tonight (this morning?) This first one is the back of the quilt that has spent the day occupying our bedroom. It is Phoenix Rising, now happily rolled up and almost ready to ship to Road to California. I love the back of this quilt because not only can you see the quilting but you can see that is was put together feather by feather, and where the feathers overlap so does the quilting. Of course when the quilt is at shows very few get to appreciate it, especially as the best of the quilting is high up. If I get a chance I will try and photograph the whole of the back, but it won't be for a while.

Here we have the quilt I am currently playing on on the frame. As you can see the feathers are growing and the background filling. It's slow work and I am now on my third needle. I haven't been breaking them just wearing them out. I also realised today that there is as much thread in this small pieces as I usually use on a double bed quilt. Given I have only quilted a piece about 12"x80" that's a lot of thread. It's also very hard work, lots of very small movements with a big machine is good exercise. I'm glad I will be seeing my osteopath next week. I can certainly tell I am learning a lot with this one, which is good as the next is already planned and I think I have the fabric to make it too. I will have a break between this one and that though as I will need a rest after this. I have several customer quilts that will be a nice change, and even pretty detailed work is going to seem quick for a while.

Road 2 California

I finally gave in and called them. They are usually very prompt with notifications and I was getting really worried that my entries might not have got through even to the jury process (I had some issues getting them submitted). However the entries did make it, and were considered. Two of my three quilts have been accepted for the show. Phoenix Rising and Mother will be going to the show, so I had better sort them out with labels and get them packed up. Bad Rain unfortunately didn't make it. It's a shame I thought it would fit in well there, but they have said that this year they had to reject quilts they would have liked to have had due to time and space restrictions, so I don't think I can feel too hard done by. At least now I can stop worrying about it.

Busy Busy Busy

Well as we know your best decisions are made when feeling less than your best. No! Well it had better turn out to to be true. Yesterday I finally had time to go and look at the gallery again and start planning what will go where. The good news is that I had mostly remembered things correctly and I have almost the right amount of work to do the space justice. Even allowing for the extra room I have for the private viewing. However I had underestimated one wall so a very large piece I had been putting off is now needed somewhat urgently. Not a crisis, just and irritation. So last night was mostly spent preparing the biggest pictorial pattern I've ever done. It's kinda daunting, not difficult so much as huge. I am struggling to see where I am going to start in putting it together. Still I am sure it will come to me at some point.

I also found out last night that I need a dollar account. I said a while ago that as soon as I won some dollars I would get a dollar account as I do quite a lot of business in dollars. Well I didn't know that there is prize money for my awards at Road 2 California. I am so chuffed. Of course if I payed them into a UK account I would have to pay the bank rather than get money but that isn't the point. I've got real money for a prize, and that doesn't happen often. I only found out because the winners are up on the Road 2 Ca site now. They are great pictures and well worth a look, here.

Oh my!

Well what can I say. I've just got some Internet access back and the first thing I find is these pictures. Thank you to Linda Card for taking these for me. Without her I wouldn't have had a clue.

I have to admit that when I saw an email congratulating me I thought the person was mistaken. I had been asking for pictures of these hanging at Road 2 California, just after someone else mentioned winning. So I could see how it could happen. So I went and had a look for pictures...

The rest I think you can see. I was stunned by 'Nude with Rope' getting an award (which I think is a second place) but then seeing a ribbon on 'Guide Me' I just didn't believe. Still other people can see the ribbons in these pictures so I will assume they really did get the awards.

Thrilled doesn't cut it. I cannot say how pleased I am to have collected my first American ribbons. I guess I have top try and build on it now. I have realised I can't enter 'Nude with Rope' to Houston next year, I have already committed it to other shows, maybe 'Guide Me' will get to travel some more.

I will also be interested to see what the appraisal says for these two. They are the first quilts I have had the chance to have appraised, so I have no idea what to expect. I assume that getting awards can only help right?

Now I think I am calm enough to have some dinner and relax.

Some successes

Well my quilts have headed off to the show. I won't know until the 27th if they are there safely but I am trying not to worry about it. It was a good collection the driver actually seemed to know about the paperwork. He checked everything for us and found an error, which was great as it will hopefully save US customs from getting upset and stopping my package. I am also pretty certain he won't have marked it as a permanent export so just maybe it will make it. On the other hand it wasn't cheap. It cost 140 GBP to ship 2 quilts to America on a 3 day service. The problem is the show only fives you two weeks for them to arrive and there are a lot of holidays in the delivery window. I think they are only actually accepting quilts for 9 days and most shipping options aren't that precise. Still at least it will be a lot cheaper coming back.

Yesterday I had a very interesting chat with the author of "The Morello Letters", Duncan McNair. He was signing books in Borders bookshop at Brent Cross and I was trying to find a member of staff to help me. I guess he had been there rather a long while but it worked, he sold me a copy of his book, which is actually pretty funny. Anyway, it was interesting to talk to him about publishing options, he said very much the same things as the quilters I have talked to. I find it interesting that the interaction with publishers is much the same for very different styles of books. I had assumed that the illustrated instruction books would be harder to work through than a novel, but apparently not. I am sure there was a time when I would have been a little intimidated by a published author, but having spoken to everyone I've come across this year seems to have made them more human. They have all been very down to earth and very friendly people. I hope Duncan does really well with his book, and will write many more.

I've also found time to play with my new thread. the metallic did indeed just work. I haven't even changed the needle. I then tried the holographic film thread, which I think is called Glitter. I wouldn't normally even try this sort of thread, I know it is trouble even with a metallic needle. Being lazy and prone to tempting fate I though I would just try it on the longarm with the standard needle. Would you believe it, it worked. It amazingly well behaved, it would be happier with a thread net and I had to rig a way to hold the spool horizontally but other than that it's great. I am so thrilled. Now I just have to plan a quilt to use it on.

Hmmmm

I only had three goals today,

• Be home to receive a package of threads
• Join the Library
• Post two quilts

Now that doesn't sound too bad does it. Even better I had called the company shipping my quilts earlier in the week so they are expecting them and would have all the right paperwork. Well they might have if the helpful staff member had been there. Selling me a cardboard box was beyond those who were covering the shop today. The concept of a 'temporary export' and 'special paperwork' really was quite out of the question. So I left with quilts in hand to try and find someone else to ship them. I do have an account with DHL but I am not too keen on using them again. So after much research I will be setting up a Fedex account tomorrow and hopefully they will go then. Of course that is quite a long way from ideal, I had other plans for tomorrow, but I have to get these quilts to Road 2 California.

While we were messing around with trying to find a courier and arrange all the paperwork (there seems to be more each time I do this) I entirely missed my chance to join the library. I am starting to think it just isn't supposed to happen. I keep planning on joining but I've only once made it to the door and then found them to be shut. Well I guess they appeared to be shut as I assumed it was Wednesday, the day they are closed all day but just as I arrived home I realised it was actually Tuesday so they should have been open. Maybe it will be better for having to wait for it. I am so pleased to have found a close library with a good selection of audio books, I am sure I will keep trying until I do manage to join.

There were bright spots to the day though. I did manage to be in for the postman, and I got a huge box of very pretty threads. Having declared I would never use metallic threads again, Deloa let me try some on my machine. They worked like a dream, so as soon as I could I ordered some. I have a wonderful blue and a purple, I can't wait to play with them. I also ordered some holographic threads. They were sample prices and it says they will work on a longarm. Now, I know Superior don't usually lie, but I would be very cautious about using this on a domestic machine. Still I have it and the suggested needles so we shall see. I am hoping I will have time to play on Saturday, but I don't promise anything.

I was also very impressed with the customer service lady at Quilters Newsletter Magazine. I ordered my subscription online three years ago, and I am fairly sure I typed my address correctly. Somehow it and my name have been wrong all through my subscription. Every so often it has annoyed me enough to try and get it corrected, but no luck. That and the fact that the renewal notices don't apply to overseas (relative the the USA) subscriptions had convinced me to let the subscription lapse. However I gave it one more try, and I am reassured that this time either it will be corrected or someone will be looking into it. They were also able to offer me a good renewal price so they kept my business. I guess that shows the power of good customer care, even when something has gone wrong.

So with things looking up and plenty to look forward to playing with I think it is time for bed. Take care of yourselves, eat well and keep warm over these long dark nights. Those in the southern hemisphere enjoy the sun and make sure you send it back to us.

Two fatties

Bounce bounce bounce, two fat envelopes arrived on my doormat today. 'Nude with Rope' and 'Guide Me' will both be off to California.

Excited, me, well maybe just a bit.

Skinny Envelopes

Well it looks like I am the lucky recipient of the first of the skinny envelopes from Road 2 California. I think the post has been super efficient as I wasn't expecting to hear anything until the end of next week. This first letter was for Decadence, who will not be going to California now. Still I can at least hope the others might have got in, and the rejections were sent out first. Realistically it is probably that the others are just taking their time in getting here.

I do like the way Road 2 California reject entries. They seem to send out the international rejections first so if the post is being bad you should still know about the same time as the US entrants. It reduces the risk of false hope which I really like. Also the letter itself is nicely worded. I know it will be a form letter, but it is a nice form letter. I can't put my finger on it but somehow it makes me feel good about having tried to get in and I am looking forward to trying again next year. Actually I think I do know what it is, it doesn't even imply my work wasn't good enough. It is more a case of it didn't add to the range of quilts they would be able to show the public in their very limited show. They seem to take the blame for it not getting in, and I think that is lovely. This might be one of those moments when I don't feel a need for truth. I am sure they don't have time to write a long review of each piece so this might just be the best way to do it.

Now I will keep my fingers crossed for a fat envelope next week.

Onwards and upwards.

My bank has finally sent me a new bank card only 2 months late and I have been making good use of it today. The most positive feedback I got from the Festival of Quilts was for my 'Winter Star' so I am going to make something else in that line. So I've been buying up black fabric like it is going out of style. Hopefully it will arrive about the same time as the bulk order of black thread and I can start playing.

I looked at entering 'Nude with Rope' and 'Decadence' into the Pacific International Quilt festival, but I realised at the last minute there is a theme, "All the World's a quilt". I can't see that they fit that so I guess they will have to wait for Road 2 California. I would love to have another wholecloth done in time for that too, but it will depend on when my orders arrive.

My other show decision for today was how to ship my next round of quilts to Grosvenor Exhibitions. I have one I need to finish before it goes but the others are ready now. Should I post the ones that are ready or wait and send them all together. It's tricky. I would like them out of the house but I think I will have to courier all of them, at which point it will probably be a lot cheaper to ship them all together. I never thought I would be desperate to get quilts off to shows, but I would really like some space back. Funny how things change isn't it.