Provenance

Rhythmic has arrived safely back from Paducah and I am thrilled to have this very cool label to sew on the back:

Paducah 2015 Semi-Finalists

AQS Quilt Week in Paducah opens today and even though I am not there, I am thrilled that Rhythmic is.  You can see the complete list of semi-finalists here. It's no small thrill to see my name among a veritable who's who in today's quilt world.

A new requirement for the show this time was that odd-shaped quilts - which mine appear mostly to be! - be mounted on a separate black backing to make hanging the quilts easier for the show organizers.

I was very unsure of how to go about doing this, and whether a single layer of black cotton would even support the weight of the quilt without puckers, but Beth from Mrs. Pugsley's helped me find the perfect fabric, one with just the right heft to support the quilt.  Basically, I measured the quilt, cut the backing a bit larger and hemmed the edges, using the hanging sleeve instructions for Paducah at the top. Then I machine stitched with black thread through my quilt at the edge of the binding to attach it to the backing. It could only be stitched along the top edge as the bottom had to be left free for the judges to see the back of the quilting. I've had my fingers crossed that this backing was properly done...otherwise, the quilt would not have been hung.  Rhythmic has had a fabulous year;  you can download the pattern here to make your own.

If you are lucky enough to be attending the Paducah show, I'd love a picture of Rhythmic to see where it's hanging.  It's in the wall-quilt, domestic machine quilted category.  Congrats to all the quilters who made the amazing winning quilts!  Here are the WINNERS!

More Rhythmic

I had some good news a while back I have been slow to share, but here's an excerpt from the press release:

Paducah, Kentucky, USA – Amherst area quilter has been selected as a semi‐finalist for the 2015
AQS QuiltWeek® – Paducah, Kentucky, April 22‐25, 2015, at the Paducah Expo Center in Paducah,
Kentucky.
Karen Neary has been chosen to display the quilt, RHYTHMIC, along with 404 others in the annual
contest, now in its 31st year. Three quilting authorities will judge this elite group in Paducah,
awarding first‐, second‐, and third‐place prizes in 16 categories, along with nine overall awards.
Winners will be announced at the 31st AQS Awards Presentation, which takes place at the Carson
Four Rivers Center in Paducah at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 21. Cash awards totaling $125,000
will be granted, including $20,000 for the Janome Best of Show; $12,000 for the BERNINA Machine
Workmanship; $12,000 for the AQS Hand Workmanship; $12,000 for the APQS Longarm
Workmanship; and $5,000 for the Moda Best Wall Quilt. Regardless of how RHYTHMIC places in the final judging, all semi‐finalists’ quilts will be displayed at the show, which is expected to draw more than 30,000 people.

Rhythmic has had a very good year, and the pattern has been extremely well received.  I am thrilled to have this quilt as part of the AQS Paducah show.

Roundabout Back Home

Returning from an out of town trip, I found my Roundabout Again quilt had arrived back from Paducah. Tucked neatly inside the pages of the show book, was this wonderful label which I will proudly stitch to the back of my quilt.

What a fabulous keepsake;  thank you AQS for dotting the i's and crossing the t's.  

Now it's time to do laundry and pack up for Saulnierville! 

My Friends At Paducah

I am always so grateful for folks who generously offer their time and talent and willingly share pictures of shows where my quilts hang.  It takes the sting out of not being able to attend.  Yesterday I received two sets of photos from travelers who made the trek to Kentucky;  for both of these lucky women, the AQS Paducah Show is an annual event.  These first ones came from Gaile Smith, whom I have the pleasure of knowing in real life as she attends our Fibre Arts Festival each year.  Thanks, Gaile!

I taught a workshop on this very quilt last October which Gaile attended so I feel very pleased she got to see it hanging here. I hope she felt a connection to the quilt. Gaile tells me that she sat on the plane with Renae Haddadin who, along with Karen Kay Buckley, won Best of Show.  She learned that these two took a year each to make the top and then a year to longarm quilt it. Wow.  What patience... 

The following pictures are from Lynn, who pens the Nebraska Views blog.

I love the one to the left - do you suppose that was the winner in the Small Wall Quilts category?  I'll have to wait for my show book to arrive to check it out.

Lynn got brave and stepped in front of the camera to share this one of her with the quilt.

A sincere thank you to both Lynne and Gaile for these wonderful photos. 

Paducah 2013 Winners

The list is up!  You can read the names of the winners here. Congratulations to all, especially Renae Haddadin and Karen Kay Buckley who received Best Of Show.  Even though Roundabout Again is not on the list, I am still thoroughly thrilled it gets to hang out with all these awesome quilts, and hope that folks visiting the show will enjoy seeing it.  Lynn and Gaile:  I am looking forward to your pictures!

Ready,Set...

Hubby and I decided to take a short jaunt to Maine this week.  It was complicated to figure out the best driving days as our snow forecast was so changeable from one moment to the next.  Before we left, I made sure everything was in place and ready to send off to the Paducah show.  I revamped the hanging sleeve as per their very precise instructions and made a label for the back.  It was a very simple one, done in Word on the computer and printed on a treated fabric sheet.  

After rinsing off the excess ink and allowing it to dry, I laid it face down on a piece of plain cotton and stitched around the edges, leaving an opening to turn.  It was hand stitched to the back of the quilt.

Someone told me you are not supposed to have a label on the back of a quilt that goes for judging, but no where in the very explicit rules from AQS did it say this.  My last quilt that went there sported a label and it was not disqualified, so this one has one as well.  Any thoughts or comments on the label issue?

When I went to get tissue paper to put between the folds, I discovered that instead of sheets of tissue, I had shredded strings that looked like Easter grass.  Thank you Polly and Maddie for doing such a thorough job on the tissue paper...as well as on the padded bubble mailing envelopes which were stored on the same shelf...

The rules for Paducah say that the quilt needs to arrive between March 29 and April 5 to qualify.  That's trickier than it sounds when you are mailing from another country as the package may well get held up at Customs.  I checked at the main Post Office last week for their advice and have decided - taking into account shipping times, Customs, and the Easter holiday - my optimal day to mail is Monday.  But what about the snow...and if our travel back got delayed...?
My last will and testament to those remaining behind...MAIL THE BOX!!!

The Mailman Came...

...and left this big envelope:

Could it be...?!?

It was like opening my acceptance letter from university a million years ago.  I held my breath, and then I saw that magic word:  CONTESTANT!!

 My Roundabout Again has been juried into the 2013 AQS Paducah Show in April!!!

Ecstatic is not a large enough word to describe how I am feeling. Apologies to those friends who got awakened with a giddy phone call (well, you should have been up any way by then!) or received one from my almost-dead-constantly-beeping cell phone...(and I can't imagine what my husband's secretary thought was happening!)

You can see pictures of the full quilt here.  The show runs April 24-27 in Paducah, Kentucky.  I am off to charge my phone, I think I've got a few more calls to make *-)
Edit:  You can see the entire list of semi-finalists here