It was three forty five---A.M.---when I finally crawled into bed. The challenge top was finished, sandwiched, ditch stitched. Two sides of the binding were stitched down. And my eyes felt like two holes burned in a blanket by a chain smoker with palsy. Shortly after six a.m. [having not exactly bounced out of bed] I stumbled towards the shower.
I think it was my son-in-law who said a shower is as good as three more hours of sleep. Let the record show I am not convinced!
On to the kitchen. Must have tea! Locate needle. And thread. Stitch down curves on four corners. Stab finger repeatedly with needle. Curse softly under breath when pesky knot forms and will not be undone except by scissors. Necessitating waste of five more precious minutes, struggling to re-thread what seems like rope through the tiny eye of the needle.
Make mental note to call psychiatrist in afternoon for earliest possible appointment to have head examined.
Time racing by. Dash to bedroom. What to wear? No time for dithering. Grab hundred year old green dress. Pull over head. Good call. One piece of clothing. One problem solved. Add blue batik scarf. "Blue and green should never be seen," the boys jeered at me. So now I wear them together just to be contrary.
Friend coming by at nine. Gather bits and pieces. Go wait in driveway. No sign yet. Plop down on ground. Whip out sewing. Five minutes of stitching is five minutes of progress. Cars passing by must wonder about loon in green dress sitting sewing in middle of driveway. But a woman's got to do what a woman's got to do. And this woman signed up for the 2009 guild challenge*. Which must be handed over in half an hour.
Which begs the question: Why do I do things like this? Is it because of the rocks in my head?? One can only speculate.....
Finally, friend's car turns into driveway. Early morning quiet suddenly shattered by loud cackling. Laughing her head off at sight she beholds. Racket brings OC to door to see what disturbance is about. Shakes head bemusedly upon finding that now there are two loons in front of his house, where before there'd been only one.
Friend drives, I stitch. Five minutes from destination last stitch is in. Done!! Hand it in at door in prescribed anonymous paper bag. Guild meeting proceeds while challenge organizers hang entries at back of hall.
Time to vote! Best of show goes, hands down, to our resident super-quilter/amazing artist/creative genius, Shirley. Her entry is a symphony of exquisite design and workmanship. Think I'm exaggerating? Have a look:
And then there were the rest of us. But not enough of us. I, for example, won a first place ribbon in my category--machine-pieced, hand appliqued. Hold your gasps of admiration. Mine was the only entrant in that category. Makes it a little less impressive, no? How could I not win? Similar tales in other categories.
So, the challenge was disappointing this year, since there were so few entries. But it was not wasted effort. The whole creative process of fabric selection, designing, redesigning, and putting together an original creation in cloth, produces its own exhilarating high. Its been a few days. I'm finally coming down. And now, after the fact, I'm going to hand quilt it. But slowly! And not sitting on cold concrete in the driveway.....
*Note for quilters:The challenge was to construct a quilt, minimum size 26" square, using a recognizable amount of the challenge fabric and up to 5 additional fabrics, in a design that included a star pattern into which participants had to incorporate a nine-patch. Many found it a bit daunting, hence the poor participation.
