A Day Late and a Dollar Short

I have written previously about not entering quilt shows. There are abundant reasons not to enter and very few incentives to enter for me, but I saw a blurb in the newest edition of AQ magazine about a show featuring oak leaf and reel quilts in their ongoing series in Paducah about new quilts from old patterns. There was a website address and information about the ongoing contests so I went there.

Okay. Turns out I could never ever enter a national quilt show because the instructions indicate that the quilt goes to them and doesn't come back to the quilter for two years. That's if you don't win anything or aren't exhibited. It also turns out that the current contest is the same quilt pattern (or any of its other variations) that I am making now. Unless there is some subtle mind control message (joke) in quilting magazines, I didn't choose this pattern because of the contest since I didn't know there was a contest.

I picked the pattern a long time ago and held off making it because I don't usually make pieced quilts and this one had bias pieces and curved pieces and tricky piecing. I finally challenged myself to make it because I couldn't decide on my next applique project after the Album. It has been fun as well as being instructive--not a bad thing at my age.

The other funny coincidence of the new quilts from old patterns contest (which turns out to be an ongoing project of the folks in Paducah but I don't pay attention to that stuff) is that last year's block was Oak Leaf and Reel. I made an Oak Leaf and Reel quilt from very old blocks that I wrote about before (10/22/14). I purchased the blocks from an established dealer and they were very old, approximately 1840-1850. I know there are all sorts of taboos from quilt historians about messing with these old blocks and old fabrics but I think I was both sensitive to the history and careful with the product. That quilt remains one of my favorites.

 If you want to know more about how this was deconstructed and reconstructed, you can go back to the 10/22/14 entry, but in the meantime please enjoy this classic style quilt made from old blocks but faithful to the original.