Embarking on a Saga

When I was not confiscating contraband items from school children this week I started to look into some quilt competitions for The Ostrych. I sent off my registration for Festival of Quilts just in time for the deadline then studied the requirements for Houston. The IQA show is juried but if successful, the quilts would have to be in Houston in mid August when FOQ is in full swing. I considered entering 4 quilts to each show and renaming each set of four a "Quostrych" but when I laid them all out it bothered me that they are all slightly different sizes. I think I can get away with this with the full set of 8 but 4 slightly different sized quilts seemed odd. I have decided that the answer is going to be to make 3 new pieces that are all of the same size for Houston and enter a conventional Triptych. All I have to decide now is whether to make 3 identical pieces in different coloured shiny fabrics or create 3 entirely new quilted carvings.

If they don't make it into the show then I will have some items that I can sell to help fund a quilty trip. Alternatively, I have the germ of an idea developing… perhaps I should just work my way steadily through the periodic table but not necessarily to a self-imposed ridiculous deadline.  It would be like a Norse Saga that keeps growing over time. I am frustrated that some of my projects are still on the back burner because I have not managed to clone myself yet. The Totem Poles and the Armoured Horse seem to have been mothballed for now and my Australian version of Bewitched is no further forward, and Freya's giant hexagon quilt is still in pieces.

I have a few customer quilts to catch up with and there is a steady stream of supply teaching taking me out of my workshop for at least 3 days each week. I completed a quilt for a customer who had made her Church Minister a special retirement wall-hanging.

I had a great day in Fochabers teaching a group from Speyside Quilters my Wild Wholecloth Workshop which they all seemed to enjoy. They worked very hard to burn off the wonderful pavlova and fruitcake that was served with coffee.

I was also side-tracked by helping Fergus with his guitar practice looking up chord demos on Youtube. Admittedly, I have been occupied obsessively restoring my blog on WordPress – using old notebooks to rewrite missing pieces and tidying up the photos and text so that it all looks more cohesive. I really don't suppose that many readers will want to trawl right back to the beginning but looking back has been a fascinating experience for me. My quilting life remains as chaotic as it ever was but it is interesting to see how ideas formed, developed or were simply abandoned.  I seem to have written rather a lot in 4 years; almost 110 000 words actually! I have noticed that other bloggers don't seem to ramble on quite like me. I simply need to apply the same discipline to writing patterns and I will soon deal with The Book that is constantly looming over me like an albatross.