
i just did something new.....put on a little quilt show for our little town. i was approached by the local museum, which is also a state park, to get a quilt show started that will hopefully grow into an annual event. i was hesitant.....could i manage it when i can barely keep up with the day to day?
i didn't want my family to suffer.
i decided to accept the challenge, and do my best, in a relaxed way (my new mantra for life - no more stressing myself and my family out). we didn't want something bigger than we could handle. and it probably turned out just right for our first time. we had 16 great submissions, and i was very excited to find that almost half of them were from kids 17 and under - and they were GOOD! so we had awards for a junior category also. our judge is a certified quilt appraiser (there are only 90 in the U.S), who grew up in our small town.

my quilt, "nauvoo: the city of joseph", is on the left, and tashi's quilt, "under the sea", is on the right.

she won best design in the junior category.
i finished "gracie sue" (center) in the nick of time, but not really. i was quilting, binding, and adding a hanging sleeve, up to the last minute for the submission deadline (after quilting on it as we flew over 5 states and drove through illinois and iowa on our trip), and had to settle for less quilting than i planned. and the judge noticed that. i plan to add more quilting now (squeeze that in between the 7+ other quilt projects that i have going) it was a bit of a conflict to enter my quilts in my quilt show, but we really needed the submissions. i told the judge to ignore them. she didn't. she did give the "best hand quilting" award to my nauvoo quilt, but in turn she was more stringent and honest on my judging sheets. i am grateful for that. if i was judged, i wanted honesty. i had asked her to go easy on everyone else, because most were so nervous to enter, and afraid of what the judge would say.
we gave three awards each for the adult and junior categories, and then a museum choice, and a viewers choice. my nephew is voting for his favorite on the top photo. and the prizes have cash awards (except mine).
yesterday lexi and tashi helped my clean up the show, and bring home the 14 antique quilts that i also displayed. afterwards, we all quilted together in their room - their idea. yay! it made me happy. i LOVE to quilt with my girls. tashi worked on her flower garden quilt with miniature pieces that she is minutely hand piecing. lexi worked on a cute throw made from charm squares. i worked on the antique quilt that i am restoring - see photos at the end of
this post (also see "gracie sue" in the beginning).
lexi's camera captured tashi showing her "true" feelings as she discovers that her quilt won a prize. they love these silly photos.

tashi's creative little quilt was a winning quilt in the junior category at the tokyo great international quilt festival in 2005 (the largest quilt show in the world). so this was actually not her most exciting moment ever :)