May 2, 2023: VQF Cancelled; Prep Work; Decisions!; Book recommendation; More Buds

Greetings dear readers! I received the sad message via email Sunday evening that the Vermont Quilt Festival is canceled 😥. This was only 2 weeks after hearing that my quilts had been accepted for exhibit. The stated reason is financial. Although they didn’t go into details, they mentioned that the cost of everything has gone up and I think they must have realized that their projected attendance wasn’t going to cover their costs. This has always been a show heavily dependent on volunteers and I suspect they’re harder to come by these days. Vendors are less likely to travel unless they are sure they’re going to make money. I wouldn’t be surprised if the VQF is done for good 😥 and I think regional shows not run by major organizations like AQS, IQF, and Mancuso may struggle and/or close. Local guild shows still have the potential to thrive as long as they are enthusiastically run by guild volunteers. The VQF has been very good to me over the years, allowing me to share my work with a larger audience and honoring me with many awards, including one cherished Best of Show. I haven’t entered a national level show since 2017 and will need to think about whether I want to go back to that…. Meanwhile, Golden Glow and The Inner Reaches of Outer Space, which were going to be in the show will stay put on the display rack in my living room 😊:

Without my machine this past week, I focused on hand and prep work. I cut all the pieces for the next 8 baskets and appliqued all the basket handles:

These are all ready to go now when I get the machine back – hopefully later today.

I made 3 hexagon stars:

And the 4th – and LAST ONE! – is ready to be stitched together:

Several more inches of the Sweet Journeys border is quilted:

I cut out all the pieces I need for the corners of the donation quilt, as well as the strips for the narrow brown border:

BEHIND THE SCENES (i.e. not my quilting life😊): Decisions!! Life is full of them, every day, big and small, inconsequential to life changing. Although I prefer to focus more attention on finding satisfaction and joy and appreciation in the daily life I actually have, it can be interesting to consider the infinite ways things would have been different if certain decisions had been different. E.g. the college I chose to attend had a profound effect on every aspect of the rest of my life, including my career and meeting my husband. College choice has been on my mind because our grandson just chose the Honors College at the University of Vermont to study environmental science and engineering next year. We’re proud of him!

Al and I recently made a major decision – it was not an easy one! – to get on a waiting list for a local CCRC – “Continuing Care Retirement Community”. There is a 3-5 year waiting period and we hope we’ll be healthy enough to wait for more than 5 years, till we’re in our 80’s, before we feel the need to move. The independent living section has lots of wonderful amenities and several people I know who have moved there (including 2 quilting buddies!) love it. And they have assisted living and nursing care if needed down the road. It’s sobering to think about what one’s options are once physical decline makes home maintenance and other activities harder and harder, but it’s not good to just ignore the topic! We don’t have long term care insurance and feel that we won’t be able to rely on family for much help, so this seems like a good option for us.
We have another big decision facing us as well. Two days before our Costa Rica vacation, I was rear-ended by a pickup truck on the way home from shopping. His fault, no injuries. However, because my car was 11 years old and had 121,000 miles on it, the estimated cost of repairs exceeded what the insurance company deemed “do-able” and the car was declared “totaled.” The damage didn’t look that bad and the car was still driveable, but we were unable to convince the insurance company it could be fixed.😥. So, now we’re looking for a car. I’d love to get a hybrid, but they are currently hard to find, so we’ll see…..

I have an important quilting decision to make as well. There are 3 big quilts in the “ready to be quilted” pile. Here are bits of each and long time readers will remember these:

The quilt top in the front is “Time of Plenty” and has been completed since August of 2020. Once “Sweet Journeys “ is finished, I will start hand quilting this one, hopefully some time this summer. Of the other 2 – “Maple Leaf Rag” (completed a year ago) and “Stormy Weather” (completed this past November) – I am pretty sure I should have at least one of them machine quilted and invest in a very good machine quilter. Otherwise, it could be years before these are done. Which one should I choose for machine quilting first? Hard decision!! Feel free to weigh in if you want 🙂.
I’m reading a book I can recommend:

I’m not far into the book yet, but the writing is beautiful. And if you haven’t read Hall’s memoir, “Without A Map” which came out several years ago, it’s a must read!!

I’ll close out this post with some more spring buds:

Also, in my browsing around on Instagram before I go to bed at night, I came upon Martha Walker’s post at @wagonswestdesigns showing her winning quilt from the recent AQS Paducah show:

Isn’t it gorgeous! For me, it checks all the boxes for a wonderful quilt – combination of piecing and appliqué, circular designs, the red green and cheddar color combination, and a fabulous vine border with leaves, flowers, berries, and birds. Fantastic! Would love to see it in person.

Be kind, be grateful, and cherish each day, Gladi