As the season creeps along, approaching Samhain (or Halloween), it always makes me smile when I see the change in decor that graces all the houses, cars, clothes. We've decorated our house (blow up grim reaper, and some flickering light Jack-o-lanterns), and a little inside too (the seasonal quilts hung, a few decorations set up). We don't go 'ALL OUT' like we used to when our son was little, but we still enjoy it. Sadly, we live in a neighborhood with few trick-or-treaters - Ours is a busy street (it's a residential street with only one stop sign, that has become a thoroughfare for people who want to avoid the lights on the main street). Add to that the fact that we live near the upper END (literally) of the street, and the last 3 houses on the block have nothing across the street (no homes, just a long fence), so the kids walking up the street, usually stop at the fence, (2 houses down from us), cross the street and work their way down again... they never make it to our house. We get only 2 or 3 groups of older kids each year, almost never the younger ones. We always have candy and goodies just in case, and my husband takes the leftovers to work the next day... (There's usually a LOT of left-overs)...
Going back a week to my trip to PIQF, I have to say I was a bit disappointed. There were FAR fewer vendors compared to last year, and fewer quilts too. And yet, the show was still aMAHzing!!! I managed to get through all the vendor booths buying nothing but a single pack of hand sewing needles for my EPP project. The quilts that were on display were mostly awesome. The Best in Show quilt was astounding, I cannot fathom how you make yoyo's the size of my pinky fingernail! Look at the 2nd picture - the detail shot - yes, some of those edge loops are yoyos! and the detail shot - yes the sashing is all tiny little yoyos!!! I was blown away!
And so many incredible displays of various genres and wonderful quilters. The Afrifaces display was overwhelmingly beautiful!
But...none of that was why I was disappointed... The quilt I had entered into the show, and was 'guaranteed' by UPS to arrive by the deadline of Oct. 9th... didn't arrive til Oct. 13th... How it took 7 days to travel 320 miles, I have no idea (it's about a 5 hour drive!). UPS really dropped the ball there. Sigh. I was almost in tears when I found out (after viewing the entire show and not finding my quilt). It did get appraised, as that was prearranged, and didn't require that it hang in the show for the appraiser to do her work. So a slight benefit, but not enough to ameliorate my disappointment.
Okay, rant over, I'll recover and because of the finish date of the quilt, it will still be eligible to hang at PIQF next year. If it gets accepted next year, I am going to ship it FedEx!
