The snow is nearly gone and the mud is here! Should be in the 60′s this weekend, but maybe with rain, which is not a bad thing.

Yesterday I quilted most all day, I NEED to get this dog quilt finished; I don’t remember ever spending this much time on one quilt. Not so much the hours, but the calendar time. I guess I just need closer deadlines to keep my nose to the grindstone. I tend to get distracted. It’s coming along, though and a few more dedicated days will do wonders. I am planning a couple more projects which I hope will be smaller!

This week has been good! I finished two pieces.

“Cloudy With A Chance Of Rain” 31 x 24″

You may remember this one without the borders. I think they give it a little more presence and help the binding to blend in better.

The sky fabric is a hand dye painted piece that really depicts a Kansas summer storm rolling in. The horse is a figment of my imagination but the shed is real! It was a lucky day when I found that batik for the rusty roof!!

This was made for the”It’s All Kansas” exhibit at The Topeka Art Guild Gallery and needs to be delivered today for a show running through Oct and Nov.

The next one is not due for a week or so but now I don’t have to worry about it. It was made for the “Inspirations” exhibit in Topeka, that collaborative exhibit of artwork inspired by local photographers. Here I was inspired by two photos by Tammy Patterson, both with cows and turbines and the hand dyed Shibouri fabric used for the sky. Tammy and I have paired up for this annual exhibit since it began three years ago and have won the People’s Choice” awards both previous years, first with “Colorado Kids” and last year with “Majesty”. She is an amazing photographer! Those can be seen on my website in the Gallery.

“Prairie Power” 27 x 30″
If you followed the making of this one you may remember that I had bound it in black and was not happy with that. You can see that by following the link above. Changing it to blend with the scene is better, I think.

I got THE call last week! The call from IQF – Houston that my entry this year has won one of the eight top awards!! This comes with cash of at least $5,000.00, plus transportation and lodging for the show. WOW! I’m excited, it was certainly a surprise! They don’t tell which award, you have to wait for the official ceremony.

So I decided I’d better get busy and make them a donation piece for their Silent Auction. This was still on my “to-do” list but time was running out. Now it is a priority.  This is inspired by, but not the same as, the winning quilt. It uses some of the same fabrics and some different ones.

I seem to run on deadlines. So much time has been wasted since returning from the trip to Maine this summer. Perhaps “wasted” is the wrong word as I have done other things, like gardening, but quilting has been on the back burner. A couple of weeks ago with the deadlines approaching, I finished changing the binding on the turbine piece and started the quilting on the KS scene – that is what I was doing when I got THE call……

Sunday afternoon I cut the grass pieces. I don’t know when I will get the time to sew them, but there is no rush, it’s not due til Oct.

I have been doing a lot of computer work, getting the things ready to send in for the Seasonal Palette portfolio. I thought they had to be there by the first of June but no, it’s the first of July. So for once I am ahead of the game as it is going out today!!

Last year I missed the entry deadline for Houston because it is June 1 and that just seems too early for a show that isn’t til fall. So I prepared that for this year, and it will go out today too. I wanted to enter “Longhorn Splashdown” but it I goofed and entered it somewhere else so it will not be available. Again – Houston requires the work to be there in August for an October show, so it messes with my mind. This is the last year that one will be eligible to go there, too. Juggling these things is a full time job!! I couldn’t do it at all without my spreadsheet to keep track of everything.

I’m still moving kind of slow. and not getting a lot done. I did prepare a back for the Seasonal quilt and got it layered and pin basted. I had purchased a panel to use on the back as I thought it would be a good thing to show that I did not just use a whole panel on the front, but that I cut it up and pieced it in.

A little bit of the top is peeking in at the bottom, but since it was made larger than the finished size, that will probably get trimmed away after the quilting.  That piece of blue fabric for the majority of the back is one of the first pieces of fabric I bought way back in the 80′s when I started quilting! It was the perfect color for this purpose.  The batting I am using is Matilda’s Own Wool.

I have spent the better part of three days now quilting on it and have about one third of it finished so I think I am in good shape to meet the deadline.

Friday I finished the quilting ( I thought!) and blocked the quilt, prepared the back, binding and sleeve so it would be ready to finish Saturday. Ooops! I forgot to quilt the orange areas. legs, feet, beak plus a little bit of the sky. Finished that and by evening I was hand sewing the binding to the back, Sunday morning I took the pictures for entry, even though the binding is only partly sewn, it looks finished from the front. It finished at 51 x 42″. Looking back, I see that I started the quilting on Jan 19, so it took 10 days  to get it done.

Sunday afternoon I met friends for brunch and a matinee performance at Topeka Civic Theater where we saw “The Last Days Of Ballyhoo”. It was good but made me miss entry day for the Topeka Art Guild’s next show. I had planned to get in on Saturday for an early entry but was just too busy. So this will be the first time in all the years I’ve been a member that I will have nothing there for the next two months!

Sunday evening after dinner, I did the online entry for Celebrate Spring, so now it is out of my hands. I had been trying to think up a good name for it, but faced with no more time and an empty line, I typed in “Harrier Hunting”. It will do. It was entry # 48 with a couple of days to go.

Yesterday I tried to update my blog, but WordPress would not let me in!

Last week was pretty busy and I only found time to work sporadically. Time is running out though and I was determined to finish the Harrier on Saturday which I did!

I was not happy with the way the tail sort of disappeared and it is hard to tell the tail from the wing (which I hope will be remedied with the quilting) The leading edge of the tail feathers are seen at an angle and so they do not stand out as much. I laid in some snippets of white which some Harriers actually have and I thought that it would be worth working another day to unsew and add in an edge of white to the tail feathers.

I think it was worth it!  Love that sky which is a hand dyed fabric that I  got at the Kaw Valley Quilt Guild fall sale.

Today I will start the quilting.

Last summer when I got he books caught up, I had every intention of keeping up. But did I? Of course not! Now here I am having to do 6 months worth in a few days so I can file my sales tax by the 15th. Since the state put me on a yearly basis this past year I didn’t have the deadlines to keep it up, and unfortunately deadlines rule my life these days.

So, there has been precious little sewing time. It took all of Saturday morning just to do his feet! And a few stolen hours here and there to get to this point:

I think changing to a darker color around his face might pop it more:

Now that Thanksgiving is over with, it’s time to get back to work.

I got my entries in for both Lancaster and Paducah, and for good measure, Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival which isn’t even due til late Jan! It feels good to be ahead. In reviewing the upcoming list of shows and contests. I see that if I am to have anything for Celebrate Spring this year, I’ll need to get started as the deadline for that is Jan 31.

I finished off the Alaska piece with a faced edge and will enter that in the local Topeka Art Guild Christmas sale where nothing can be priced over $100.00. I was prepared to have nothing there, but remembered this piece which everyone who sees it seems to like.

Since it is fused applique and is not in my “real” style, I can let go. It is about 15 x 21″ and really is nice and squared up, the photo is a little keystoned.

I got acceptance from “Road To California” for “The Merchant’s House” !

Thanks, everyone, for your comments! Great to know that the Lancaster deadline was extended;I will certainly get something entered – and maybe even Paducah at the same time. Early would be good!

Rose, I love your mending strategy. The 2 pairs of jeans were brand new and just needed shortening. The work clothes will never go out of style and needed their useful life extended one more time. Yeah!! It’s done.

Now it is time to set my sights on Thanksgiving – shopping today, starting the cooking tomorrow, we are the “go to” house..Wishing you all a happy turkey day with much to be thankful for.