Here it is Tuesday...I got to spend Saturday at the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show. It was a long day...up at 6a.m. for a two hour drive to Sisters. The show starts at 9 a.m. We walked around for 2-3 hours...and then back to the shuttle, back to the car and home. Good seven hour trip, anyway you add it up.  The Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show is a big event and it has really spread out to include the entire town. Seems like more businesses participated by having quilts hung outside their business...But, it is along hike. A side note...I do not walk far or well, due to a back injury. So, by the time I have walked with the aid of my cane from one end of the town to the other and then back again, I am done. And my quilts...well, they were at opposite ends of the town. We were dropped by the shuttle behind the famous Stitchin Post Fabric Store. So, the first thing we got to view were the quilt blocks...YEAH! I got to see mine, with a white ribbon. This year, they had a top winner and four runners up. The sad part is that out of 167 blocks, there were only 70 from the United States...the rest were from Japan. Come on American Quilters, we should be able to do better than that. But, the Japanese blocks were beautiful and another look into quilting designs. My big quilts, was hanging not too far from the where that blocks were. I could see it across the parking lot. Now, where was my other one. I had decided that I would walk until I found the second one...at the other end of town. So, we stopped at Dutch Bros for a coffee and rested...then back across town. The past two years they have added a shuttle service from the high school. It is great..we don't have to drive around and around and around looking for parking. And, then the long walk into town. Park at the school, get in the van and you are dropped in the middle of the activities. But, it was such a fun day...the weather cooperated and was not blazing hot. Now, I am awaiting the return of my quilts and my winning (fourth runner up) block!

Yesterday, July 10, 2013, I got a very exciting phone call. First some background. I have never been a person that enters a lot of contest. I am just a realist and I know that winning is an over rated thing and only one person is going to win that item. Well, now that is out of the way....I entered the quilt block contest for the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show in Sisters, Oregon. It is a very big thing in the summer. It attract a large group of people. The week before the Saturday show (always the second Saturday in July) there are classes and activities...quilters flock to Sisters to take part.
So, this year, I entered the quilt block contest...I paid $10 for the fabric to construct the blocks. It comes in two different colorways, so what the heck...get both=$20. I was surprised when I got the fabric...a legal size envelope...I opened the envelope and to my surprise both colorways were mailed in the same envelope...looking further, I noted that I had received a 10x10 inch piece of background fabric and four coordinating fabrics that measured 6x6 inches. Now, the next question was "I am suppose to make a 9.5x9.5 inch block out of these fabrics and it is due back by June 15, 2013. Well, I hung in on the design wall....this was going to take some thinking. I wavered back and forth between a conventional block or a whimsical block...I made up my mind and I changed my mind. When the time came, that I had to make a decision. So, I gathered my tools and my heatnbond and sat down to design a block. The first one..was probably the easiest, I had to spend more time thinking about the second block. A side note; I also decided to hang two of my own quilts in the show. It is just a fun thing...no prize expected. I was also working on one of those quilts. But, I digress-back to the blocks. So, I decided that my blocks had to fit the poster of the quilt. So, the first one had contained a tree and some fish. The second one was a bit more difficult. But, in the end, I got them both done and sent in by the deadline. Now, the waiting game. Some blocks, very few, were displayed on facebook...and I kept waiting. I went back to read about the quilt block challenge and found that they were not going to pick the winner until the week of the show activities and the Quilt Advisers (teachers for the classes) were going to make the finally decision. Now, there are only four spots to fill...The top block was the only block to take a money prize, but there are still three other spots.
Too my surprise, I got a phone call from Sisters, Oregon...I better take this one...I answered and the nice lady on the other end told me that my blue block, the one I had the most difficulty with had come in fourth place. WAIT! It did what...I was beyond excitement...for taking fourth place. I will get a ribbon and I will be awarded some of the other blocks to make a quilt...how great is that! It is not about the money or the ribbon...it is about having nationally know quilters/teachers pick MY block as one of four top blocks out of 167 entries. I just felt like they would probably call back and tell me that they made a mistake..but, they did not...I cannot wait to go to the Quilt Show this Saturday. I will be taking a number of photos of me with my displayed block...I CANNOT WAIT! I am picturing my blocks below. And, I will also put in a picture of the two quilts that I sent. I am still on cloud nine....



 





Thanks for reading!