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For the first time, my kids and I submitted quilts to the San Mateo County Fair, which ran June 9-17, 2018. The Creative Home Arts exhibit hung nearly 400 quilts and the Youth division had a few more. An air conditioned building with over 400 quilts!? Why haven't I been coming for years?

My kids each submitted their Kids Quilt Round Robin quilts: R's animal themed quilt, My Animal Quilt, and G's sports themed quilt, My Sports Quilt. Since they were both in the age 5-8 category, each of their quilts received a special award ribbon.

 

I submitted five quilts, and two of mine won ribbons! I thought readers might find it interesting to view the feedback I received from the judges, so I have included photos of my judge's evaluation forms (omitting the judge's name and scribe's name for anonymity). Judging occurred on June 1, 2018. I've also typed the comments below the photo of the form to make them easier to read.

 

The first two were mini quilts in the Modern Quilt division: i Mini and Not So Mellow Yellow. I am really proud of i Mini which I made for issue 3 of Curated Quilts. Not So Mellow Yellow was created for the Mellow Yellow Project Quilting challenge and I included it because of my scrappy binding.

"Strong visual impact. Pattern design makes this quilt pop. Matchstick quilting motif adds to overall impact. Facing very well done."

 

"Use of color in this quilt enhances the overall effect. Strive for accuracy in piecing. Improv piecing adds visual interest. Pieced binding well done."

 

My Island Batik Color Wash mini was in Specialty Quilt Techniques in the Raw-Edge Appliqué class. This was my March Island Batik project. (It still needs a finished blog post of it's own!)

"Well done! This quilt is beautiful. Piecing is precise, quilting is beautiful, and thank you for paying attention to arranging your fabric composition by perfect value. It paints a beautiful portrait."

 

My Wonderlust Ombre HST received Honorable Mention in the small quilts class of Pieced Quilt/Machine Quilted. This pattern is based on my popular Ombre HST tutorial, originally designed with solids in mind. I like how I was able to use prints (well, blenders) to achieve the ombre look by considering their values.

"Rich use of color. Placement of light and dark fabrics creates intriguing composition. Quilting design adequately supports quilt but doesn't add to overall visual success of quilt."

 

In the division for Quilt Top Made by One Person/Professionally Quilted by Another my Meadow Mystery quilt won first place in the large quilt class. This was a mystery quilt designed by Cheryl of Meadow Mist designs. The pattern called for four colors. I'm most proud of my fabric choices, all pulled from my stash and scrappy within each color. Tami of The Quilted Lemon quilted it with Modern Curves. It's such a happy quilt and it reminds me of the Marin retreat I was on with SCVQA while I finished piecing the top. :-) I love how projects can bring you back to a time and place.

"The piecing on this quilt is absolutely accurate. Well done! The quilting is beautiful. I'm not a fan of reverse binding, but it's well done."

 

It was so nice to view the show. I enjoyed seeing so many quilts made by friends and guild-mates. Here are a few!

Mel Beach's Spinning Stars won first place in Large/XL Modern Quilts as well as Best Modern Quilt.

Joelle Lambert's Line Dance won third place in Small/Medium Modern Quilts. I love this quilt that Joelle made for the Spring 2018 MQG Riley Blake Challenge. It was a treat to see it again in person.

Jaye Lapachet's Planned Improv won an Honorable Mention in Large/XL Modern Quilts. Jaye began this quilt in my Planned Improv: Scrappy Squares workshop last Fall. I love Jaye's color choice for this project.

 

After viewing the quilts the kids and I enjoyed the afternoon at the fair, with tasty food, the magician show, the acrobat show, pig races, and the kids science zone!

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The issue 5 call for entries to the Mini Quilt Gallery of Curated Quilts closes today and I've finished my (well, our) submission just in time.

I'll start with that "our" part. This color palette is not my typical palette. I purchased the Kona solids Shadow, Yarrow, Metal, Sunny, Moss, and Windsor just to participate in the challenge and they sat there, waiting for inspiration to strike. I had an idea, but unfortunately I'd seen that another maker made a nearly identical piece. On June 10th my son walked into my sewing room and I said, "I need a brilliant idea. I need a brilliant quilting idea." He responded, "arrange them lightest to darkest for me," and got to work.

His initial idea was to color block with six large rectangles. Then I filled him in on the theme of Connections/Improv. We discussed what improv meant and settled a plan. I would cut the fabric into quadrilaterals with scissors and he would arrange them on the design wall. I cut a few of each color, and as he filled the space he instructed me to cut particular colors to fill in the gaps he had.

I did all the piecing. I enjoyed the puzzle of putting together his design. It includes straight seams, smooth curves, and a set-in seam. We had to add a couple pieces in the top right to keep the project large enough for the challenge.

Then I went back to G to discuss quilting. I knew I wanted pretty dense quilting (but not matchstick) and I had four matching 50 wt Aurifil colors to use: Yellow #2135, Dove #2600, Medium Grey #1158, and Medium Delft Blue #2783. If I'd had all six colors I would have been inclined to quilt tone on tone in each section. I'm so glad I didn't. I asked G what area of the quilt he liked the most and wanted to emphasize. He liked the lower left, so I made that the focal point of my quilting. My quilting was done by walking foot and random color changes. I really like the effect.

I love that this challenge allowed me to connect with my son. It was the perfect size project for us to work on together. It finished at 10" x 10", with a faced binding. Thanks for the inspiration, Curated Quilts! Congratulations to all the other makers who have submitted their mini quilts. 121 so far!

You may have seen my i Mini that I created for the Minimalism challenge in issue 3 of CQ. (Fun fact, it's currently hanging in the San Mateo County Fair.)

G has made 5 of his own quilts. Check them out:

I've linked up to Needle and Thread Thursday and TGIFF.

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I'm throwing down the gauntlet for June! This month I need to finally finish my son's bed quilt. It's been over a year since he finished a twin sized quilt for his sister and he's still waiting for me to finish his quilt. It's been in progress for... a long time. Fabric was cut for the project almost three years ago. Eek! The quilt top was finished pretty promptly, but it languished at the quilt top stage. (Why did I not send this one out for long arm quilting!? Actually, I know why. I was married to my plan for thread color and quilting motif. I should have been more flexible.) It's been basted for a while and quilting has begun. But free motion quilting a twin sized quilt on my domestic machine is a little daunting.

It was also my December 2017 OMG to finish it. I started the quilting with Aurifil 50wt Marrakesh Variegated #3817.

Wish me luck!

I'm linking up to June OMG on Elm Street Quilts.