Ocean Waves Quilting: Lots of Ribbons at Ninigret Quilters Show

Been a while since I've posted but it's been beyond busy. Early in September the national non-profit of which I'm a member and Coordinator of the Judge Certification Program for, the National Quilting Association, voted to dissolve the association. The Certified Judges decided at that point to form their own non-profit organization, so after forming a Transition Team to get this to happen, I've been more than busy working with the team, answering the questions and concerns of the Judges, working on the website (which isn't cooperating), etc... you get the picture.

So.. the quilts I entered into the Ninigret Show in August had to get done as well for the judging day the first week of October - no pressure there - LOL! Not to mention that 3 of them weren't really complete yet. They each needed quite a lot of piecing, applique and lots of quilting.

The show was this past weekend and my quilts and the quilts I quilted for others did very well. Here's a bunch of pictures and a description of each quilt.

The oldest quilt in the bunch was begun in 2002 as a BOM from a quilt shop in TX. It's a pattern that I fell in love with at the Houston show and it will be the first quilt to make it onto my own bed - sans Westie.

Garden Finale received two ribbons on the judging day: Best Machine Quilting - Track - Master and Best of Master. At the show is also gathered a Vendor ribbon from Just Quilts in Bristol, RI and Viewer's Choice! I've never had a quilt receive the Viewer's Choice ribbon - a thrill.

Here's a closeup of the quilting that I designed and stitched out - majority of it free hand. The quilting is best seen from the back of the quilt so the white glovers had a busy weekend.

My scarab beetle quilt, designed in a workshop with the amazing Jane Sassaman last December, was the last of the quilts finished before the deadline. I had fun designing the quilting for "Himself" as you can probably tell. He received two ribbons: Best Applique - Master and Best Color - Master. Jane's applique technique is great - esp when you do it correctly, which I had failed to do on a previous quilt that has the softness of a brick...

A quilt I designed and made for Quiltmaker magazine and was in their March/April 2015 issue, "Spot On", also received a ribbon - Best Mixed Technique - Master. The circles were appliqued on for the magazine, although if you know me, I much prefer using the freezer paper frame, starch, school glue, heat - set, stitch method... It is a stunning quilt.

My fun little 'Monsters" quilt won a ribbon for Innovative - Master. Viewers said that is made them smile...The little monsters are pieced into a contrasting fabric frame first, then the frame is pieced into blocks created from just one 40 strips jelly roll. The only leftover is about the size of half a block. I found the perfect border fabric at Colchester Mill Store in Colchester, CT to carry out the grey scale theme.

I had a a quilt from 2005 that I also finished for the show. It was begun in a workshop with Jan Krentz at A Quilter's Gathering in Nashua, NH, aged for many years, also made it out the door as a bag of blocks to quilt guild donation table a couple of times but is finally done. So hard to get back into a project when you have let it sit this long but the book and classroom instructions helped me finish it without too much ripping out and restitching.

An exciting weekend filled with fabulous quilts, time spent with friends, and helping DH Bob vend his Singer Featherweights. If the number of people getting their Featherweights ready for some serious sewing this winter is any indication - it's going to be a long, snowy winter with massive amounts of fabric consumed and a serious need for spring replenishment of stashs!

Two quilts I quilted for customers did very well too.

Donna's quilt won Best of Show - Artisan as well as two additional ribbons!