My First Quilt Show

CarGuy and I spent last evening going through some of Auntie's papers. Among them was the program/quilt guide from the 1991 Fabric of Legacies quilt show. This show is a benefit for Crossroads: safehouse for battered women and their children and is still going strong and raising thousands of dollars for Crossroads. It is in it's 27th year and is now a juried art quilt show. It has really changed from it's humble beginnings.

I entered the third quilt I ever made into this show in 1991. Paula, the quilter's "step-grandmother started this quilt sometime in the 1940s. It took five tries before Paula could get the setting blocks drafted correctly. The Double Wedding Ring blocks also survived the Big Thompson flood in July 1976."

We were not allowed to expand or write a dissertation for an artist's statement. Just a short little paragraph. So here is the back story on this quilt.

The 'melon' pieces of the quilt were found in my mother's stash during clean up of my parent's house after a flood. They sat in my stash for several years until I decided I could make this quilt. I had 2 complete quilts under my belt, so I could do this. Right? The center of the rings or even a template of them was not to be found. I decided that drafting one was the answer: after all I was a graphic designer and could do this type of thing. It took me five tries to get the right dimensions, I kept forgetting about seam allowance and it was such an odd shape, but I did it! Using a muslin that was similar to the center portion of the melon shapes, I hand stitched it together.

I had never heard about measuring down the center of the quilt to figure out the dimensions of the borders and it shows. Do you see that lovely ripple along the bottom border? The sides of the flimsy stretched as that border was being attached. Blithely, I proceeded to paint the flowers and leaves onto the top. Then the quilting was added: all hand quilted using the same flower design as the painted flowers through a polyester batt that is now bearding. Meh.

For all it's flaws, I love this quilt. Would I take out the stitching and remove the borders to make it right? Not on your life! After all, when it is on a bed, the ruffly border does not show, especially when that one border is against the wall.