When show quilts retire...

Lying in bed last night I thought I should show you some pictures of my retired show quilts. I am often asked what I do with such big quilts, well the answer is I use them. Once they finished the tour of duty some of them go into service on our bed. Some obviously are only designed to be on the wall and others are waiting to be sold, but the rest get to work. As soon as 'Burning Chrome' Came back from the NEC it went on the bed. I can assure you it is a very good bed quilt, works a treat. It had been the quilt I was going to show you but the cats had other ideas. It is in the washing machine after someone failed to keep hold of their breakfast this morning, but that is really my point. The quilts are pampered and fussed over for a period of time, them they come back to Earth and are really loved and used. This is why I am quite happy for people to touch my quilts when I do talks, these are working quilts they take far worse on a daily basis.Here you can see 'Ginko Typography' undergoing some serious sleep testing. It is looking promising though as three experienced testers find they can sleep quite well on it.

As 'Burning Chrome' is indisposed (well actually in di spin right now) 'Ginko Typography has stepped into the fray. You might have seen this quilt at Sandown 2006, it was the only show it went to because it is so heavy I couldn't afford to ship it anywhere. Sandown I can deliver by hand. As you can see it is on the bed and being appreciated by my cats. Looking at it I think I actually prefer the lived in look. I think the quilting looks a lot more interesting after the quilt has been washed and dried a few times. This is because I don't pre-wash my waddings and this quilt has two layers in it so have very clear quilting now. Maybe we should have a show category for most successful bed quilt that can only be entered by well used and loved quilts. I think it would be great fun to see what is really out there working for a living. In fact if you put up a picture somewhere and let me know I will post a list of real working quilts here. I am sure I am not the only one who wonders what is on peoples beds and sofas.

Professional quilt judges at work

Here you can see my most critical judge taking a closer look at the quilt. Of course the fact that he is even on it shows this one has potential. For some reason my cats are pretty good at identifying my successful projects very early in the process. If the cats don't go near it then it has problems. It's odd and I don't claim to understand it but I take more notice of it that I used to. I do wonder if it is something about how I am interacting with the piece that attracts or deters the cats.

Things they don't tell you about quilting

So lets start with the good news. I've got three quilts packed up ready to deliver tomorrow. I wanted to take a good picture of "Ginko Typography" today but it rained almost constantly. That's Wimbledon starting for you. I guess the one on the bed is good enough for identification, and as I am taking it straight to the show it should manage to get hung and I can get a good picture then. If they turn all the lights on this time.

Loki is proving to be tricky. I don't want to fold or roll him as he has a lot of trapunto and is tending to crease. He is just too big to fit in the clear bags I use to move quilts in. Also I know the show will try folding him up to give him back, they did last year with Skadi :( Not a lot I can do about it though so I guess I have to try not to worry.

The nudes have been given VIP treatment and bring me to the first thing no one told me about quilting. You need a respirator. I have a huge cardboard tube and I needed to cut a bit off to pack the nudes. No problem, have hacksaw will travel. As I start I see very fine dust, fine wood pulp and glue, hmmm that has to be about as good for you as MDF dust and off I trot for my respirator. I bought it for when we work on the fuel dragster as it gives off some nasty fumes but I use it far more for quilting. Indigo dying needs nasty chemicals as does natural dyes, so add it to my list of essential art tools :) I got the nude wrapped in canvas and wrapped onto the tube, discovering the second thing no one saw fit to mention. Weight lifting is not only advised it will happen. The tube a, canvas and quilt turned out to be remarkably heavy. I am so glad I am not trying to post this one. I figured as it was going to couriers warehouse I had better prepare it to withstand anything.

I followed that weight lifting with some more. Folding Ginko should be a strong man sport not only is it heavy it is stiff too. My back says I should avoid folding it in future. I am so glad that I have sent them a warning about this quilt, and I will mention it to the people who take the delivery as well. I really hope they don't try to hang it on a flimsy frame. I can't wait for next winter and the chance to have this on the bed.

Finally Miss Baltimore is almost ready to pack. She still needs her label but it only got printed at 10pm so it can wait till the morning. I have tried to take some pictures of her but they aren't great. I either need to be able to take it outside or buy a flash that works with the wide angle lens. Funnily enough I prefer having the sunny day for this job, then I can spend money on fabric not more photograph equipment. I am fairly pleased with her, but she creases really badly, and it seems to be impossible to get them out. I am hoping some will come out while she is rolled and the rest will drop out. I suspect they won't but I have run out of ideas to fix them. I didn't think the quilting showed up very well in the pictures of the front so I have included some of the back as well. Her face really doesn't look that scary from the front. I still haven't added any more quilting to the face. I think the only way to put more in would be to add diagonal lines over her whole face. The mock up we did on the computer looks OK but not great. If in doubt leave it alone, I hope that works.

Things to consider at the design stage.

I am sitting in a laundrette watching a washing machine, there are many more fun things I could be doing had I been more careful when I designed my quiilt. I have two quilts that I can't wash at home so they don't get used as much as I would like. The first was a very early quilt, before I had seen one other than my own so it has vey fat polyester wadding in it. I had assumed that as king size duvets fitted in my machine it would. I was nearly right, but closing the door on my (front loading) machine really is essential before washing so nearly won't do.

Still a mistake like that I can live with. We all have to learn sometime and while we are we can't expect everything to go smoothly. The other troublesome quilt is rather more embarassing, I should have known better. I have a very large bed and I was bought enough fabric to make a quilt to really cover it. I came up with a design and checked it would fit on my (at the time new) longarm. It did, just. I thought as I was going to be putting a lot of quilting patterns on it it would be nice if they showed up well, and as I needed a winter quilt I would use two cotton waddings in it. Now this is the point I could have saved myself a lot of trouble. I had the top, and the back and the waddings. If I had just checked they fitted in the machine I would have only used one wadding and had a much more useable quilt. I do love 'Ginko Typography' but I wish I didn't have to spend an hour watching it wash.

Published Author

I've done it, I am really published., OK it's only a magazine, and it isn't a terribly long pattern but I am excited. I am a subscriber so I got my copy yesterday but it will be on sale in the shops about Wednesday. For those of you I have promised copies to that is when I will get them and send them out. Given I had been told it had been changed I am surprised by how close to my original it is. In fact I would have to get the original out and compare it to be sure what had changed. So if you get Popular Patchwork Issue 2 2007 keep an eye open for Under the Rainbow.

I tried to wash Ginko Typography this morning. It is a big quilt with 2 waddings in, but I thought it might fit my machine. Remember that in the UK most machines are front loaders and don't have massive capacity. Well I was nearly right. It is about two square feet bigger than my machine. I guess I will be finding a laundrette. I've never used one so it will be a new experience for me. Hopefully not too scary. I have no idea how long it will take or how much it will cost, but I can't see an alternative. wish me luck.

Will I ever learn.

I keep promising myself I will photograph all my work before it leaves the house, but I keep failing. This time it wasn't terribly exciting, but I still intended to photograph it and post the pictures. I guess I will have to go back to the shop with a camera. At the weekend I made my sample up for my speed quilting course. It is a reversible single bed quilt, and I am rather pleased with it. One side is Lonni Rossi Ginko fabrics in black and red, and reasonable adult. The other glows in the dark, as it is made from Halloween fabrics, bats, spiders and ghosts. It's very silly, and a little disturbing when you find it in the dark unexpectedly.

Today I have been being trained up on a couple of Husqvarna sewing machines. It should be helpful when I am demonstrating the Sapphire and get asked tricky questions. I suspect I will still get a lot I don't know the answers to, but at least I can say I have tried to learn about them. I also got to have a play with the Embellisher. It's a fun tool, and I really must find time to play with mine.

It has also been a day of paperwork. I've been trying to sort out my entries to the Great Norther Quilt Show in Harrogate, and Scottish Quilt Championship. They've been fairly easy from the point of view of choosing quilts and writing the statements (which I mostly kept to 30 words, I just can't break the rules), but tricky for posting. I've juggled them to be mostly light quilts, which will help the costs, but it is still going to be very pricey. It also says on the forms that return postage will not be refunded, which blows my idea of saying post them then collecting them if I win anything. My current plan is to try and find someone to collect them for me and post them back to me. I have no problem with paying the actual posting cost and compensation for the time taken to do it, it's just that having them all sent back individually is really pricey. I think I will also try calling the show organizers and see if they can help. I guess the forms are designed for people to just enter one quilt which would work fine, so they may be able to do something.

I haven't mentioned, and I should have, Grosvenor have greatly improved their quilt handling process. I was pleased to be handed back my quilts unfolded at Malvern, but at Sandown I got to see them taking the quilts down. They handled all the quilts with white gloves, each was taken down onto a covered table then rolled or folded as appropriate. My quilt were returned rolled exactly as I would have done it myself. I guess they have taken on board the feedback they have had. I am really thrilled, there aren't enough shows for us to lose any but at the same time we can't risk good quilts to bad handling. I have been giving clear instructions for each piece so they know what needs extra care and what doesn't. I figure they are trying to help me so it is only fair for me to try and help them.

Now I have a little wholecloth on the frame that really needs my attention. Night night.

Pretty in Pink - front

Before the quilt went off today I look a lot of photographs of it. It has gone from something I didn't quite understand to something I am very proud of. I think it is the best longarm quilting I have done so far and I wanted to make sure I had a good record of it. Isn't it typical, I put a show quilt on the frame and mess it up, a child's quilt that will be used and loved I manage to do really well. Oh well these things happen. I did hope it might be that I suddenly had found the secret formula, but no. The next quilt used the same threads and a similar pattern, the thread broke the tension shifted and in general it was a bit of a nightmare.

Still back to this one, which is a far happier tale. The pattern for the center of the top is based on my 'Ginko Typography' quilt. I've been thinking about making a pattern from it but I like the more free form approach I currently use to make it. The design brief said pink and floral, so we decided to go for machine applique flowers. These should stand up to hard use and have a lovely puffy look. I wanted to keep quite a lively feel to this quilt so the flowers are places quite randomly but only on the most visible area of the quilt.

To take the pictures I laid the quilt on my bed, it is intended to fit a single with some overhang all the way round. One of the borders should fall neatly on the edge of the bed, different borders depending on width of the bed (I hope). It is very tricky fitting a bed other than your own, you can't just nip up and try the top. I thought the picture with the nude in was amusing. It shows the range of my work quite nicely and somehow the two quilts seem quite happy together.

The binding re-uses the fabrics from the inner two borders. I had planned on using a white piping but it seemed too harsh, the pale pink sits much better with the rest of the quilt.

Exercise

I am exhausted, long weekends are hard work. It's been a very productive weekend for me though. The quilt I showed you yesterday is progressing. I'm sure I once heard that small repetitive movements were more tiring than larger movements. Well in the case of longarm quilting it seems to be the case. There are a lot of areas of very dense quilting and they are mostly filled in with a zig zag. I can do about 30 minutes of that type of quilting before I have to have a break. It's surprisingly tough on my forearm. I guess it is because the movement is coming from my elbow to get the precision to fill in the areas I want. Ho hum. Still I am thrilled with the effect and I've nearly finished this stage of the project. When it's done I can move on to filling in the background which should be more varied and a lot quicker.

I've also managed to get some gardening done, and a washing line up. Both are more impressive than they might sound. I burn very easily so going out during the day in the weather we have had is interesting. It was something of a necessity though as one of our cats decided to throw up on the quilt that is on the bed. It was actually quite funny as I had just watched an episode of "The Quilt Show" where they had been explaining that traditionally quilt were used and when the cat threw up on them they had to be washed (hmm I wonder if that is what gave the cats the idea?). I had just commented I must be a pretty traditional quilter then as I think quilts should be used, then I went into the bedroom and found the mess. Of course it's the only quilt in the house at the moment the rest are in storage ready to do talks. It get better it is one of only two quilt's I own that don't fit in my washing machine. However I had noticed the quilt has got a lot softer and thinner with use (Ginko Typography) so I thought I would give it a try. It now fits, just. It saves a trip to the laundrette which I really don't have time for right now. However I didn't want to put a quilt that heavy straight into the tumble drier on a hot sunny day, that's just daft. So time to get a washing line, or indeed a rotary airer. I found one that claimed to be a complete kit. I assured me I would be able to take it home, install it and put up to 4 loads of washing on it (it even came with pegs). Surprise it worked! The rain held off just long enough to get everything dry too.

On the way in with a washing line we noticed the hedge cutting frenzy in the street. Of course we felt obliged to have a go too. The hedge looks great, but we need a new broom. I used it the head fell off, no biggie I put it back on. Tet used it and the handle broke in two! He really doesn't know his own strength. On the other hand as I type he is on the final stages of getting two of my patterns ready to send off to the printer which is very cool. Both of the patterns are designed to use ombre fabrics. One is "Dawn and Dusk". It was the first pattern we produced ourselves. It was a worrying pattern with very slow sales to start with but in hind sight I think that was my lack of marketing skills rather than any problem with the pattern. It's sold out it's first print run, hence the reprint. The other pattern is "Under the Rainbow". This was initially made for Popular Patchwork and I have always told people to contact them for a the back issue to get the pattern. They have sold out of that issue so it's time to produce my own pattern of it. I am really looking forward to them arriving. My short patterns are printed in full colour double sided on one sheet of A3 paper. This is then folded down to an A5 booklet. I like the fact that you can't lose any of the pages as there is only one sheet. It also reduces the possibility of me forgetting to put everything into the bag. Either the sheet is there or there isn't a pattern. Hopefully people using the pattern will enjoy it too.

Midwinters Eve

I am finally getting into the holiday mood. Just as well given tomorrow is midwinter. I've not got much done this evening, but I guess I get some time off. I am going to try really hard not to do any work tomorrow, I don't see me managing it but I'll try. Thanks for the suggestions about my Etsy shop. I've followed up on most of them now. Including putting a link in my side bar.

Tomorrow we will be doing our festive thing. We have a goose thawing and all the vegetables. This year for the first time I won't be doing all the cooking, which is exciting in it's own right. I've got a new quilt on the bed, well an old quilt but it is the first time we have used it. It is Ginko Typography, the quilt I made this time last year in preparation for the really cold winter we didn't have. It looks great on the bed.

Too holiday and distracted to write more now. Have a good day tomorrow folks.

Research, thought planning and design

I wish I had more pictures for you but this weekend has been another planning and thinking session. I've been giving a lot of thought to the next class coming up, which will all be done using the Square in a square ruler. It looks to me that we will end up with quite a lot of blocks by the end of the day and I need to think of a way to make those into one finished item. This has meant trying to fit many different sizes of block together into a design. It is surprisingly difficult. I think if I was just doing it for myself I would make the blocks and then lay them out on the bed in a design. This would show up some areas where I need filler which I would then just cut on the fly. This probably wouldn't please other people as a solution though so I will have to some up with a fixed design. I am also a little concerned by my fabric choice. I really want to make the sample in the Ginko fantasy fabrics I have, in black red and gold. They look great but will it put people off?

The other design problem I have been kicking around is the Transformations challenge. It is very good timing, I have been looking at transformers recently and saying I wanted to make a quilt based on the idea. Now I get the perfect opportunity do you think I can come up with anything, of course I can't. I think the problem is I want the transformer design to move of do something, maybe even be three dimensional. The challenge requires something more two dimensional. I guess I will have to keep thinking. At least I have some fairly simple quilting to work on today so my brain can work on these problems while I do something else.

Quilt Labels

Some one on one of the mail lists I am on was asking about quilt labels, what they look like, what information you put on them. None of these have a great amount of information on them, but I hope it would be enough for them to find their way home even if we moved, as the URL gives a way to contact me. For quilts that I give as presents I always put on who I made it for, when and sometimes why. If the quilt has a story that goes on the label too. I like the label to tie in with the quilt as well. It doesn't show well in the photo but the Ginko's label is black (ish) so it doesn't glare on the black background. For 'See Sound' my PCB quilt the label is green with brown writing. I also like to have a design element from the front on the back, Bicameral's label has the same border as the front, and 'Delta Blues' main design element is a treble clef.

As you can guess from the picture, Gems 2 doesn't have it's label yet, but after a lot of handsewing we have everything else done on the 'Pair of Gems'. I will put the label on tomorrow then over to sir for the final trim and de -lint. Which means I now only have one quilt outstanding for the NEC. 'See Sound' is giving me a few issues. Tomorrow I am on a mission to find a cheap microphone, ideally with a built in pre-amp. This should improve the sensitivity enough that I can hide the mic inside the fabric replica and people can walk up to the quilt and talk to it or clap to make it light up. Hopefully I can find a cheap toy with this in and cannibalize that for my quilt, failing that I will have to look at building them from scratch. At least I can go to Toys-R-Us and claim I am working :)

Show Update

This morning in the post I got a card. Apparently someone had sent me a letter without enough postage so I would have to go and collect it and pay 1.05GBP to get it. Odd I think I wasn't expecting anything, but off I go. Guess who. The show organizers.

When I asked them to "destroy the entry forms for Harrogate and refund any money" guess what I was hoping they might do. Nope they tried to send them back in the envelope they had for may judging sheets. The entry form all have photographs attached so are quite heavy and I had only supplied postage for the judging sheets :( Still on the bright side they have returned my entry fees, which came to nearly 70quid so I am glad to have it back. I guess this means they have my letter and have read it. There is no reply included.

The judging sheets show that 'Loki' was a flop but there are no comments so I can't really tell why. Interestingly one judge gave 8/10 for technique while the other gave 4/10. So either I did it pretty well or pretty poorly. Who knows. I do find it interesting how people given the same judging instructions come up with wildly different marks. I assume there are guidelines for how you asses each aspect of the quilt so surely the results should be similar? According to these judges, 'Loki' is the worst quilt I have ever put into a show, based on the marks.

'Miss Baltimore' however did fare better and I even have comments :) I love comments on my judging sheets positive or negative. The whole point is they tell me what I could do more of or change. This one among other things comments on the fact that the background shows through the palest fabrics, which she feels mars the effect. She is bang on. It does, I don't like it either, but I couldn't think up a solution. I am pleased she paid enough attention to notice and cared enough to write it down. So if by any chance that judge reads this, thanks. Also both judges felt it was a very good interpretation of the theme, which means a lot to me on this one. The marks place this as equal top of my quilts, along with 'Star of Scotland' which is the rainbow star quilt I posted yesterday.

I've no idea about 'Ginko Typography' they didn't send me any sheets for it, or for 'Delta Blues' which was re judged there. I could try sending them another SAE and asking for those, but I think I am going to let it go. I don't want more charges. Keep your fingers crossed for a reply to my letter. It could happen.

Can you see what it is yet?

So can you? No point for Mr_Twig guessing, he knows. I would be interested if other people can though. It is so obvious to me, but then I am obsessed so it would be. Bonus points for knowing it's name.

The first picture shows my quilt storage. I've been asked several times this week where my quilts like when they aren't off at shows, and here is most of the answer. The art quilts are all hanging from a photographic backdrop stand. I found these were half the price of quilt stands but otherwise identical. As you can see it happily supports a lot of quilts. I have used two lengths of string to add extra rails and increase my hanging space. I don't actively rotate these quilts as they come and go the light exposure evens out over all of the quilts. The room is often dark and the curtains are always closed.

Behind/under the frame is a double wardrobe rail. It is a cheap plastic clothes rail. It has really wide poles and would not work for me to hang clothes on, most of my hangers wouldn't have a big enough hook. For quilts though it is great as it offers more support. These quilts I do move about and refold. I don't want the bottom ones to get creases set in them or the top ones to fade. The black, blue and red quilt is Robin's first ever bed quilt. It was made to colour coordinate with my car.

Finally in the bottom right you can just see a blanket bag holding 'Ginko typography'. This is just to keep fluff of it until the weather cools enough for me to put it on the bed. I am not sure about these bags as long term storage, but for this they seem to work well.

There you go, that is where quilts live. I do also have some hanging around the house, but it is a very compact and full house so I don't have space for them all.

Where to see my quilts in person

Given quite a few of my quilts are or will be out and about I thought this would be a good place to list when and where.

National Quilt Championships - Sandown - 29th June to 2nd July

• Miss Baltimore
• Loki
• Ginko Typography
• Chrysler - South West Challenge touring
• Delta Blues - Spring Challenge touring

Festival of Quilts - NEC - 17th to 20th August

• Union Jack
• Nudes Triptych
• Tread Lightly
• See Sound
• Pair of Gems - 2 person entry with Robin

Great Northern Quilt Show - Harrogate - 1st to 3rd September

• Peek-a-boo
• Harrogate Spa
• Wild Africa

There will be more coming but these are the ones I have finalised so far if you want more information about any of the quilts or shows leave a comment and I will see what I can do.

Textile Arts - Quilting

I spend most of my waking hours quilting. Probably not in the way you know it. I do make some bed quilts but recently most of my work is more arty, it is made to hang on the wall. Today I have been finishing a portrait of one of my cats. It will be in the Sandown quilt show in just under 2 weeks so I was starting to feel the pressure. I've entered 3 quilts into this show, another one is a bed quilt called "Ginko Typography", which is the one in the picture. I really only made this one for myself, it was never supposed to go to a show. I used it to practice with my long arm machine so it doesn't have the greatest quilting on it. I changed my mind about showing it after I took it to a quilters guild show and tell. Everyone seemed to really love it so it hasn't made it into use yet. Unfortunately as I didn't expect it to be a show quilt I didn't put a hanging sleeve in when I put the binding on, so I had to hand sew a 105" sleeve onto the back. Still it is done and ready to go to the show so I feel like I am making progress.

The final quilt for Sandown is for the theme category, "Baltimore Beauties". A Baltimore Beauty is a specific style of quilt but as soon as I heard the theme it said something quite different to me, I saw a 1950's beauty pageant contestant. Finding a source image wasn't easy. There is surprisingly little around and modern women just aren't the shape I was looking for. It was the end of April before I found the look I was after which didn't leave much time to make this quilt. I've still got a little work to do on the top but hopefully I can start the quilting tomorrow.

To save petrol (and to make this all a little harder) I thought it would be a good idea to deliver my entry to the Quilt 2006 competition at the same time as the Sandown entries, so I have to finish that as well before the 27th. I thrive on pressure honest :) This quilt is actually 3 quilts each showing the same image of a nude. They are each in different colours and techniques and show how the image is changed by the technique used to produce it. They are now complete except for hanging sleeves and labels. I will be submitting them mounted on metal rods which I need to cut to size and put fineals on. This a particularly nerve wracking entry as it is my first attempt to get into a juried show. I have no idea how many entries they might have or how many will get through. Realistically it probably won't make it but it is the best piece I have made so far so I am still hoping it might get selected. Even if it doesn't it will still be shown at the NEC just in the pictorial category instead.

Sandown

You know some days just don't read the script let alone follow it. The short story is I will be withdrawing my quilts from Harrogate. On the bright side it means I have some 'spare' quilts I can try putting into US shows. The reason is I am not prepared to let the company running the show anywhere near any more of my quilts until they review how they handle them.

I've been trying to work out how to make a quilt that would be likely to come back from the show in the same condition it went. We think that an absolutely rigid quilt (think thick sheet metal of perspex) that is smaller than the brown bags they want to store them in, where you can both deliver and collect might make it. I've been unhappy for a while that they post your quilts back to you in a brown paper bag. OK it is a thick bag but I don't think they are going to be waterproof. It rains here and our post office isn't perfect about keeping packages dry. I tried sending the quilts in waterproof bags but the organisers can't keep any packing so that didn't work. I have been thinking about only posting washable quilts, but I love making the art quilts and they aren't going to stand up well to washing. Maybe the only option is to travel to every show.

I didn't want Miss Baltimore folded, once folded I can't get the creases out. So I made her a roll to be put on. It is padded and has her name and mine on it. No problem they just have to put it back on the roll, all should be fine. I watched the quilts coming back, having a roll just means your quilt has to be crushed more to fit it in the bag with the roll. I tried to watch and ask for it to be rolled but was told i had to move and they would fold it. It doesn't matter and it isn't for long. Nice to know it doesn't matter to them. I rather hoped I would get it back in the same state I handed it over. That wasn't going to happen it looked like it had partly unrolled while waiting in a stack of quilts to be hung so had got crushed anyway. I lost it at this point and they decided they could roll it for me.

Loki a 15"x20" quilt came back folded in 4 then shoved into a bag folding it into 8, then a quilt was put on top of it. I did rescue him quickly and I am hoping he will recover. If not I guess I can make him again. Oh and the certificate for winning the longarm award was screwed up in the bottom of Miss Baltimores bag. Maybe I can iron it, although I am not sure I want to. Do I really want to remember this complete shambles?

I will be writing to the organisers tomorrow, outlining my concerns and withdrawing my quilts. I've got a few ideas to offer to improve the situation.

• Less haste more speed, stop running around so much and take some care over taking the quilts down.
• Ask for people to help with taking the quilts down.
• Train the people packing the quilts how to do it with the least damage to the quilt
• Let the quilter take down and pack their own quilts
• Put a waterproof covering around the quilt being posted
• Consider using storage devices other than the standard bag. Not all quilts will fit it without damage and those that don't fit get dirty because they are not allowed any other covering.

If anyone knows of guidelines for handling quilts or has tips on how to manage quilts at show I would be very pleased to hear about it. There were a lot less quilts at this show than last year and I can't help thinking that poor care of quilts can't help. I wasn't the only upset quilter, just the most vocal and the most prepared to step in to protect my work. I know some quilt can take any amount of folding crushing and general abuse, Ginko Typography is more likely to hurt the person moving it than the other way around, some can't. Fused trapunto creases very badly and doesn't recover.

I also retrieved 'Delta Blues' which is very grubby :( At least it is washable :) Sadly 'Chrysler' is still with them, and I feel very bad about it. I wish I could have rescued it too.