Monday, September 15, 2008

The Show Situation

I was all fired up about quilt shows last year and decided I was going to enter pieces in ten shows in 2008. That started to fall apart when I missed the Sisters entry deadline by a country mile. Then, the Pacific Northwest Quiltfest in Seattle turned down Labyrinth, which was fine. Then, the Northwest Quilting Expo here in Portland first accepted Labyrinth, then said it was too big, and then two people from the Expo were telling me too different things, and it became more of a hassle than I wanted to deal with in summer. And by now I had missed the deadline for the Columbia Gorge show and figured, eh, who needs it.

Meanwhile, I turned forty in August and threw myself a birthday party featuring, among other things, a retrospective quilt show upstairs! It was fun to "curate." I started with a properly somber-sounding exhibition title:


The hallway walls were festooned, if that's the right word, with quilts of various vintages.


And the bedroom showed off another several pieces.


So, it was a fun and fairly easy to show things off.

I had pretty much decided to punt on entering any more shows for now, but my mom suddenly got fired up for me to enter the fall shows in and around Hometown5000, so I humored her. You have to humor your mom. So, a few pieces hung in a show this last weekend. This morning, rather incredibly, alert reader The Calico Cat sent me this link:

www.flickr.com/photos/jerrylovesquilts/2858241234/

...which is really pretty amazing, as to the best of my knowledge Calico lives about 2500 miles from Hometown5000. I had forgotten I even had a quilt in a show, but I did, it was photographed, the photo was posted on the internet, and Calico happened to see it, recognize it, and tell me about it. What are the odds?

The bad news is, they hung it sideways. The good news is, it doesn't matter.

Next Weekend

If you happen to be within striking distance of the beautiful South Coast of Oregon and feel like catching some quilts NEXT weekend, I'll have two pieces in the 2008 Festival of Quilts in Gold Beach. It's Saturday and Sunday at something called the "Event Center at the Beach"; I've been told it is one of the better local shows in the Northwest.

9 comments:

floribunda said...

Love that maze quilt! I can't help think that it must have been insanity putting it together... but all the more reason to do it.

The Calico Cat said...

From what I have seen...
the Pacific Northwest Quiltfest in Seattle turned down Labyrinth
I can't believe it...

Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson said...

What a neat idea to have a birthday quilt exhibition. I never would have thought of that.

Your quilt looks every bit as good hung sideways (but didn't they look for a hanging sleeve?).

It is a lot of WORK entering quilts in shows, but they if nobody did it we wouldn't have any shows. I'm too old to care to do it so I'll leave it to youngsters like you.

gl. said...

now i feel dumb: i was admiring the quilts, but didn't notice they were supposed to be an exhibit! doh!

Bridget said...

Cool! Way to celebrate yourself!

Miri said...

Wow!

Unknown said...

Excellent idea! One I might haveta steal, too. I kinda look at my rolls of quilts and wonder what the heck I'mma do with them.

Anonymous said...

Wished I had read your blog earlier - I was at the quilt show in Gold Beach but didn't notice your name. Do you have photos of the quilts? Maybe I'll remember seeing them.

E's mom

jovaliquilts said...

I cannot imagine anyone turning down Labyrinth. Goes to show you how crazy the world is. Incredible that Calico Cat saw it online.

Loved the quilt retrospective for your birthday.

I've had computer woes (resolved by finally getting a new computer), so I am finally catching up on blogs. Photos just would not load on the old machine. Happy quilt season!