Victoria Quilt Show Part 2

I have some more photos to share. I was able to do some editing on the pictures, so hopefully they will be a little better than the last batch. 

I believe I have enough pictures for one more quilt show post. I did notice, however that I apparently failed to take pictures of the collage quilts the kids made at the class we taught. I’m going to text a few people and see if anyone else has a picture of them. 

I took a two-hour nap Sunday, and slept all night Sunday night. I was too tired to sleep Saturday night, and my hips were hurting, so I only got two hours of sleep then. I feel pretty good now. In fact, I got up yesterday morning and went to my cardio class. I could have easily talked myself out of it, but then where does that end? I think it’s best to keep moving if I can. 

Victoria Quilt Show 2025

The quilt show is officially over, and we are all pretty tired. But first, let me say the steroid shot I got in my finger earlier in the week helped me so much! I did the demo on Friday of English paper piecing, and of course that is hand stitching. I was a little concerned that my finger would give me problems, but all was well. I still can’t straighten it all the way, but I keep pushing it back with the other hand to exercise the muscles, which should help eventually. It takes time. 

Anyway, I think the quilt show was a success! The vendors were happy with their sales, and we had good attendance. I took pictures of the quilts to share here on the blog!

Unfortunately, I was too tired to edit the pictures. I will try and edit the rest of them before I post them. 

I have church today. I need to get to the church by 7:00 am to unlock the doors. We are planning to transition soon to one service per Sunday instead of an early service and a late service, and it can’t happen soon enough for me! We really don’t have a high enough attendance to justify two services, and it’s too much work for the volunteers (church council, usher/greeters, music and worship team, etc.). I’m hoping the transition is successful and will work for everyone. 

Quick Update

I have been working long days on the local quilt show. Thursday was our set-up day, and I was at the venue from 7:00 am until 6:00 pm. We have to get the floor taped off first so that the company who puts the poles and drapes up can get that done. Then we hang quilts. Then the vendors come in and setup. I am the vendor chairman, so it’s important to me that it all goes smoothly. Here are some pictures of vendor booths. 

Everything looked great! 

At 4:00 pm, the sponsors get to come in and hang their ribbons. Good news—I was awarded ribbons on three of my quilts. (I entered four.)

This is the one that didn’t get a ribbon.

I really didn’t expect it would. It’s an easy pattern made from a layer cake, so I wasn’t surprised. I was surprised, though, to get the three I did get. Surprised and very, very happy. 

The quilt show opened to the public yesterday, and it went pretty well. Another long day. Guild members do demos all day (at least the ones that are willing to do it!) on different techniques. I demoed continuous bias binding and English paper piecing. The demos only last 30 minutes, so not too strenuous. I had made little take-home kits for the English paper piecing. Each kit had 7 squares of fabric and 7 hexagon papers.

I have a bunch left over! I will have to figure out what to do with them. 

I will have more pictures tomorrow or the next day of everyone else’s quilts. 

Down To The Wire

I am working like crazy to get things done. I got the double wedding ring quilt finished yesterday. I had to remove some stitching and requilt it, but it got done.

I didn’t trim it as I don’t know how she wants it trimmed for binding. She had asked me to bind it, but I told her I wouldn’t have time before the quilt show to do extra work. Here’s the interesting thing: she is a beginner quilter! Can you imagine doing this pattern as one of your first quilts? The blue pieces in the middle weren’t quite flat, but it’s still quite an effort for a beginner. 

Luckily, I had time to start on mine. 

I also had time to make the binding and the sleeve. I worked until 5:30, and then I decided I needed to go home and fix something to eat. I bought a steak a few days ago and didn't feel like cooking it right away, so I knew I needed to go ahead and cook it. I seasoned it and air fried it for 10 minutes. It was good, and I had some leftover potatoes and squash so I heated that up. 

I am going to try and get my binding finished today. Betty is going to come over Monday and sew the sleeve on since my trigger finger is acting up. It’s good to have friends! Especially good friends. We have a funeral at church at 2pm today, and I want to go. It’s for the daughter of a couple in my church. I didn’t know the daughter, but the parents sit in the row in front of me, so I want to be there. (We don’t have assigned seats, but you know how that goes!) Their daughter was only a few years younger than me, but she had Parkinson’s disease and had become totally disabled. I baked a cake to take to the reception. Other than that, I will be finishing up projects for the quilt show. At least I hope I will!

Happy Friday

I wish I had more to share. It’s been a crazy busy week, and the Labor Day holiday got me all confused. I have spent the whole week trying to figure out what day it is! Most of the days have been meetings and paperwork, so not much sewing. I did get four placemats made. 

They are from the pattern I shared a few days ago. 

I used four fat quarters from the Billy Reue Kaleidoscope collection from FreeSpirit Fabrics. By the way, Billy Reue will be a featured guest at our quilt show next week. He is doing two presentations on Saturday. His sister Yvonne is a member of our guild, and he will be here for a visit, so we lucked out on that. 

Other news: I have an appointment to get another steroid shot in my right hand for the trigger finger. I had one a few months ago, and I was hoping I wouldn’t need another, but unfortunately, my finger is hurting and locking up again. It’s gotten painful enough that I am willing to get the injection. When I had it done to the left hand, it ended up taking three injections to clear it up completely. I tried to cross stitch a few nights ago, and my right hand said “no”. I am scheduled to do a demo Friday at the quilt show on English paper piecing, and I get the shot Wednesday, so I should be in good shape. I need to make up some samples, and I will need to do that this weekend, so I’m not sure how that will go. I’ll take some extra strength Tylenol before I start! 

I will be quilting all day today. I have a double wedding ring on the frame that is giving me a lot of problems. I need to rip out some stitching and was going to do it yesterday, but ran out of time. I have one of my own to quilt that I want to enter in the show next week. If I can just get it quilted and bound, Betty said she would put the sleeve on for me. Wish me luck on getting both quilts finished. 

New Week and New Month

I was so ready for August to be over! It’s been a little too challenging, and I’m glad to see it go. Our quilt show is September 12th and 13th, and once that’s over, it’s all downhill. I went to the tv station this morning to tape a segment about the quilt show for Community Crossroads. One more thing I didn’t want to do that I needed to get behind me.

Now for the good stuff: I finished this one

I love it! It will be hard to let it go, but it has already been promised to a church in Refugio. I asked it I could get it back for the quilt show, and they said “probably”. LOL. I went ahead and sent in an entry form, so I sure hope they will. 

I also finished my top for the Summer Challenge. 

I had a great plan for this one (story of my life!), but I ended up running out of time and decided to just get it finished so I can be entered into the drawing. 

It doesn’t have to be quilted for the drawing, and it’s not. I barely finished in time. Sarah will do the drawing today. She published a nice note on Facebook about why she chose the Jacob’s Ladder block. 

Why did I pick the Jacob's Ladder pattern for the summer challenge?

Glad you asked...

Jacob’s Ladder is a vivid dream that emphasizes God's nearness, the accessibility of the divine, and His promises to Jacob and his descendants.

In the New Testament, Jesus alludes to Jacob’s Ladder in John 1:51, saying:

“You will see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

This suggests that Jesus himself is the ladder — the direct connection between heaven and earth.

As we can see in these quilts the "ladders" are going in all directions. You can get there from here. Jesus is there for you! Loved this challenge and the meaning behind it.

I love it! I’m so glad she posted her reasons for choosing that block.