Read the Directions

It's that time again. Time for my biennial stab at the Holy Grail. Quilt National, that is. I could go back and count how many times I've entered but that would just make me feel worse. And along with Quilt National are the entry deadlines for Materials Hard and Soft in Texas and CraftForms in Pennsylvania. All with September deadlines. I have enough of an inventory of work to enter so I'm not scrambling to finish something. Usually at this point in August I'm scrambling to finish Quilt National entries. But this year I planned ahead and started thinking about it and working way back in January. I have a number of pieces that I have held back from entering anywhere and even have not posted them on my website. Wouldn't want to break any of the rules. Except.....

My plan was to make something BIG that would make an impact. So I did. This is it.

Now you may be wondering why I'm posting this picture since I've held it out of circulation for so long. Because while I read the instructions for prohibitions on prior publishing I neglected to note the size restrictions. This piece is eleven feet wide, too wide to enter. Not just a little bit too wide, but two feet too wide. I could insert a whole lot of swear words here, but I'm trying to keep this clean so my Mother won't be shocked. (Hi, Mom!)

I toyed with the idea of cutting it down to fit but dismissed that - it would ruin the piece. So this piece will get entered somewhere else, someplace with a great big wall. Luckily the oversize-ness was pointed out to me in June, and I have had enough time to make another piece. Which will not be posted here. I would have been quite distraught to discover it's too big at this point, as I'm filling out the entry form, and it's too late to do anything about it.

The replacement piece is just under 7 feet wide, still big enough to make a statement, but well within the size restrictions. I'm tired of making great big pieces, they're a pain to get through the sewing machine. I'm going to stick with medium sized for a while.

Meanwhile, if you are in Staunton, Virginia, you can seem my work at Amazing Art Quilts. If you are in Springfield, Missouri, you can see my work at ThreadLines. And if you are in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, you can see my work at the Rehoboth Art League.