The Truth and Whole Story

My biggest dream is to have the modern quilts I make be modern enough to be accepted into QuiltCon. That's the truth of it.

But too often for comfort, I find out that I'm missing the mark. If my quilts aren't accepted into QuiltCon because QC receives too many entries, the fact remains that three jurors are choosing the quilts to be accepted. Many more quilts must rejected than accepted.

As much as I try to keep my expectations low, I've learned I'm going to be disappointed.

More than ever, I'm asking myself... Why do I enter QuiltCon? After my more than 40 years of making quilts, I think I enter to find out if my original designs are modern enough. 

This year I entered six quilts into QuiltCon 2020 at $15 an entry. While two entries were specifically designed to enter in the show, I submitted several entries because I thought: "What the heck? Why not try?"

QuiltCon accept/reject emails arrived this morning. It seems I must continue to look for that illusive "something" that makes for an amazing modern quilt. 

One quilt of my six entries was accepted.

It's the quilt I spent the least amount of time making! It's the quilt that thought I wouldn't make for our Central Florida MQG challenge!

It will be displayed at QuiltCon 2020, from February 20-23, in Austin, Texas. 

👍 "L Cabins" (name courtesy of my Ocala friend, Nancy) 43" X 48"

L Cabins is made entirely of solids, and is straight line, walking foot quilted. I like the way a picture makes it look dimensional, but in person I don't think it looks quite like this.

Five of my six rejected entries have already been seen in previous blog posts. 

👎 "Broke the Rule: Jewels" 32" X 39-1/2" 

This is the Indah batiks quilt I thought to make for the QuiltCon Challenge. Unfortunately, I didn't follow the rules - to add only solids to the prints that were provided. I added other prints. Too late I discovered my mistake, but entered the quilt into another category.

👎 "Artificial Sweetener" 31-1/2" X 31-1/2

I made this quilt for a Central Florida MQG challenge. It's the first time I've put together a truly improv quilt. I used colors I don't normally use, and some ombrés. It's ruler work and free motion quilted.

👎 "Carousel" 33" X 33"
This quilt is a result of playing with the ten degree wedge ruler and Christina Cameli's book Wedge Quilt Workshop. In fact, I've taught two workshops to make this quilt. I especially like this one because of the two-colors of hand-quilting in the center.

👎 "Owl Always Love You" 58" X 68"

This is the second time I entered this quilt into QuiltCon. It was also entered (and rejected) for the modern quilts display at the International Quilt Festival in Houston. 

Owl Always Love You holds a special place in my heart because it's based on grandson Austin's artwork. Here's the story behind it. I'll now finally give the quilt to Austin.

👎 "Motto" 63" X 66"
No one has seen this quilt. I made it in July and kept it completely under wraps because I knew its message would be controversial to some people. Whether QC jurors rejected it on design merit, or because of the message, I'll never know. But I am most proud of this quilt which was inspired after reading the news in June 2019, that South Dakota passed a law that our national motto was to be placed on public school walls by the fall 2019 opening of school.

Here's the description I submitted with this quilt:

In March 2019 South Dakota joined a growing number of U.S. states passing legislation that public schools are to prominently display our national motto. Visual reminders reaffirm our historical heritage, and encourage patriotism. Three fonts represent how we view these important words. Silver gray letters symbolize our nation's foundation; dark gray letters are those stenciled on public school walls; and green letters represent our currency. 

Motto letters are pieced and foundation paper pieced into an improv-pieced background. This is domestic machine quilted. 

I spent many hours making this quilt. The background is entirely improv-pieced. 

Two different fonts were foundation paper pieced. 

The currency print was the most difficult to make, as I used a basic foundation pieced alphabet and then individually added serifs to each letter.  

The quilting is a combination of walking foot quilting, ruler quilting, and free motion quilting. I used a difficult-to-quilt design as background behind each letter. Believe me when I say that I buried hundreds of thread tails because of so many stops and starts. 

In November I spent most of an afternoon taking photographs of my quilts for submitting to QC. No fancy equipment here! I sat the camera on top of a pile of containers to get it level with the center of the quilt. 

When I say I put my heart into my Motto quilt - In God We Trust - that's the truth. The whole story. In God I trust is who I am. That's why today isn't an easy day. 

These rejections have me thinking about what quiltmaking means to me, and why I continue to make quilts when I certainly don't need them - 80 to 100 quilts are in the top of our closet. Making a modern quilt challenges me, and I embrace that aspect of the process. Making quilts also, for me, is about fulfilling a relentlessly strong urge to create. Will that ever go away? I guess today has made me pause to realize that there's no need to enter my quilts into shows, and it's probably time to stop throwing my money away on entries. 

The truth is, that above all, making quilts is about interacting with people who make the process enjoyable. The very best part of quiltmaking is the friendships I've made through the years.

Bless you all! Linda