Pass the crying towel

I’m bummed. The Giants lost the race for the Wildcard. I will be in mourning until February 14th. The pall won’t be lifted because of Valentine’s Day but because that is the day that Giant’s pitchers report for Spring training.
You didn’t believe it when I said I was a die-hard Giants fan, did ya?

One of these days, I am going to make a Giants quilt. I saw a great one back in 1995 at Pacific International Quilt Festival, otherwise known as PIQF. It was an opportunity quilt that you could buy tickets for and one lucky person would be the winning ticket. I was sure that it was going to be me, and they never called me! I’ve never been so disappointed in all my life. It was a great quilt — deeply coveted. It was of a baseball diamond with players, fans and baseball facts on it. It had Dave Dravecky’s signature on the pitcher’s mound. He lost his pitching arm to bone cancer when he was in his prime. He was then and still is a real “stand-up” kind of guy. The Jewish have a word for a guy like him – “mensch” which means a real honest-to-goodness genuine man. A real life hero.

I still covet that quilt. I would like to see it again one day and just get a picture of it that I could look at once in awhile. When I go to PIQF on Thursday, I’m going to ask around at the guilds that will be there to see if I can find out who won it so maybe I can get that picture. The guilds will all have new opportunity quilts this year, and I will buy tickets and they will not call me this year either. I have no doubt. But I do love to support the guilds and I love their quilts. Here is a picture of a beautiful opportunity quilt that I didn’t take the opportunity to buy a ticket for at last year’s PIQF, much to my regret.

Ok, so a few days later…

PIQF has come and gone. It was a great show this year! I took 221 pictures of quilts and quilt detail that I want to remember. I bought tickets for two Opportunity quilts that I just couldn’t pass up. I have acquiesced that I am helping to support their quild because I still know, even as I was filling out the ticket, that I will not win. It’s ok.

Now my focus will be turned to another quilt show, “A Bountiful Harvest” which is just 2 1/2 weeks away. Sometimes I sign off my emails with this optimistic verse “Turning up the heat as I sit on the burner”, which is what I am going to do first thing tomorrow morning. All of the entry forms are in for the quilt show, so now starts the sorting part to figure out where they will be displayed. This is the part that I live for. How else would I be able to be immersed in other people’s beautiful quilts?
It will take us 4 days to set up the show and 3 hours to take it down. It doesn’t seem fair does it?

I will add pictures from PIQF shortly that were inspiring. I spent three days there and by Saturday I saw quilts that I would have sworn were just added to the show. I don’t know how I missed them on my eighth lap around the building, but I did! I actually voted for my favorite quilt this year. It was #1112.

“Tree of Life” was made by Judy Coates Perez depicts Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. She won First place for Machine Quilting. You may have missed this fabulous quilt. It was on the back wall of the main show room. It’s not very big — maybe 36 x 45. The thing that made it so spectacular is that it is a “whole cloth” quilt, meaning one piece of fabric. She painted every single bit of detail, making it look like it was patchwork and applique, putting print into the different colors she used for the “fabric”. She then quilted in fine detail with gold thread — extremely difficult to stitch with. The piece is a masterpiece work.
I always come away from PIQF thinking, “I’m not worthy” and conversely “Next year, I am going to have a quilt to enter!”. Did you come away from the show thinking that maybe you could enter? You should… there were many quilts in the show done by locals who are just like you. Think about it.

Happy quilting!!

Annie