Local quilt show: observations

I misspoke. You can argue a negative all you want; you cannot PROVE a negative.

I apologize; it's getting late in the day, I'm tiring quickly, pain levels are on the rise, and my concentration is going out the window, hence I'm falling into bad form.

Doc

I haven't seen a blue light at K-mart for a long time, and I shop there with some regularity.

Julia > Lets keep these stores sorted, John, the "blue light"

We haven't had a K-mart in lots of years. One of my favorite memories at shopping there was the dear old lady that for a decade or so announced the specials. When she said, "Attention, K-mart shoppers" over the p.a. system in a thin, weary, quavering voice in what sounded like it could be her very last breath, we were always tickled. Her "I'm not going to survive this announcement" tone even made the toddlers smile. Wonder if she was for real? Polly

"Julia in MN" I haven't seen a blue light at K-mart for a long time, and I shop there

Is K-mart going the way of Woolworths? Maybe it was to hard to compete with Wally's World, and it is a shell of it's former self.

John

Hi Cindy,

In a local show here, you can enter any quilt, and there's a box on the entry form. If you check the box, your quilt is eligible to win, but it will be judged. No judging - no prizes, but you can still show it off, get comments/feedback (from viewers) and exposure.

Yes, that is exactly what I wanted to do. But "they" won't let me.

Cindy

I've always wished that quilt shows had a special section just for sharing. It could include mistakes (though you wouldn't want to encourage a lot of that), a surprise color melody, a radical use of an old block pattern, easy crib quilts, special hugs for the military and so on. Not competitive level - just for sharing and display. I'm easy. I am delighted to see the beginners in the 4-H club show. I guess there may be a good reason not to have a 'display only' category but it sounds great to me. Polly

I'm confused, someone wrote >

John, you say you're a traditionalist, but the Baptist Fan is about as traditional as you can get. Ditto the Clamshell. And neither of those respected piecing seams. Take a look at the sites that result when you search quilt history in Google books. Lots of books with illustrations of handquilted quilts.

--Heidi

You crack me up, Polly, from your screen name to your pithy post. And I agree with you.

This thread has got me thinking, and I'm trying to postpone doing something else right now, so I'll chime in. When I first bought my first quilt book and, some time later, started cussing over my first patchwork design, my SO and I went to get my tires rotated at the local tire shop and discovered that the wife-half of the couple that owns the tire store had taken up quilting.

Now, the couple that owns the local tire store are old friends of my family. Their daddy was a friend of my daddy. If Daddy was missing from our house, he was probably at the tire store gossiping. It's just that kind of town. And I think the world of these people. I love going to the tire store to see them. They generally have children and grandchildren behind the counter and new pictures of the patriarch's hunting and fishing trophies. Rita and her daughter are generally working on painting scary faces on dozens of pumpkins or decorating Christmas trees made out of foam core or whatever, depending on the season. The whole family is wild about local high school and semi-professional sports. I'm telling you, they know how to enjoy life.

Now, Rita's quilts at the tire store were made out of the cheapest conceivable material based on the simplest possible patterns, with appliques of ducks and deer and baby motifs. Rita could probably churn out at least two of these quilts a day, because Rita is reeeeal good with a sewing machine. And I guarantee that Rita's friends are very glad to get them as gifts. Heck, *I'd* be glad to get one as a gift, because I'd just be glad to see Rita and get ANY gift from her. (I was thinking about this when I read the thread about the Wal-Mart quilt the other day. If I love a person who gives me a tacky gift and if I believe they just don't know any better, then I'm grateful. On the other hand, I wouldn't appreciate a diamond ring from my sister, to whom I have not spoken in years, because she's evil. There's a big difference.)

My SO asked me as we left the tire store, "So why don't you get together with Rita to quilt?" My SO doesn't know anything about quilting. I just said, "We do different kinds of quilting," and that was the end of that.

Now, if there was a local quilt show with a category for the most prolific or most beloved quilter, Rita would probably win in both categories. If there were no subcategories in the show, I doubt Rita would win -- I doubt Rita would *enter* because Rita is pretty astute about life in general, but if she did show her quilt, I would hope nobody would dis it in her hearing.

If I don't like the criteria for accepting entries to or judging a given quilt show, then I feel I would have a couple of choices: either get on the jury or keep my mouth shut at least until I get home. If I do get on the jury or whatever group makes the decisions about the shows, and the other members don't agree with my opinions, then, hey, I lose, and I might as well keep my mouth shut and live to argue on another day. And if somebody enters lame-o quilts, who am I to call them lame? Far better to say, "Way to go!" If they ask my opinion about their quilt, I hope I have enough tact to say something to the effect of, "I'm a fan of traditional quilting, with all the complicated piecework and the ornate hand-quilting. Like that one over there. But good for you for completing this project! Glad you're here. There's room for all kinds!"

Henry James said, "Three things in human life are important. The first is to be kind. The second is to be kind. And the third is to be kind."

Edna Pearl

Glad you like my online name - for obvious reasons I need to cloak my identity. I enjoyed your thoughtful post, even if you were procrastinating. Procrastination is good; one day the thing that Must be Done will go away. It could happen. As to being kind, my sister signs her posts with:

'Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.'

Every time I see it, I'm glad for the reminder. Polly

"Edna Pearl" You crack me up, Polly, from your screen name to your pithy post. And I

The K-mart here seems to be doing okay. I hope they're able to keep it open, as the other discount stores are farther from the core of downtown. I refuse to shop at Wal-mart if I have any other choices. We also have Target and ShopKo (a similar regional chain). I buy most OTC meds and other general stuff at K-mart because it's convenient and the prices are as good as or better than other places. They have very nice garden plants in spring. It's a decent store and the cashiers are always pleasant.

Julia in MN

Our local quilt show is only for display -- no judging at all, except for the viewers' choice awards. Our entry forms do ask for the name of the quilter as well as the name of the person who made the top.

Julia > I've always wished that quilt shows had a special section just for

Our show does allow quilts to be entered without being judged, as well as those that will be judged. We also have a kids' quilts section (all of the entries win a ribbon) and a section for first quilts. I'm really glad we have all of those options. :)

Woolworths became Walmart just as the Jupiter and Kresky(sp?) stores became K-mart. The old 'dime store' companies bought one another out and reemerged as 'discount department' stores. This happened due to many factors like the old dime stores being located in dieing downtown areas and active business moving to the then new by-passes, the old stores just did not have the floor space needed to house the levels of inventory needed, lack of easy parking in the old downtown shopping areas (of course customers now probably walk further through the hugh lots now in use and wear themselves out walking around several acres of store to accomplish a simple shopping trip). I am sure there are lots more reasons for the changes in the type stores being offered. This is just the bit of history I remember.

K Mart bought Sears (I think) a couple of years ago. Both now sell the same brands. After or just before the buyout, a lot of K Mart stores closed their doors. Anna Belle in Palm Bay where we have the sole K Mart store remaining in Brevard County.

I don't think we have any K-Marts left. We lost Woolworth's way back in the mid-80's. Target seems to be going strong, with "super stores" now, like Walmart. Does anyone else remember the dime stores called "Ben Franklin" and "Kress"?

Sherry

We still have K-Mart here. And I do indeed remember Ben Franklin and Kress, both of which lasted for a long time in the small town in Arizona where we used to live. In fact, the fabric for one of my first quilts came from Ben Franklin. The fabric is falling apart, unfortunately; I bought it before I knew about the different grades of greige goods.

We still have a Ben Franklin. It's about 30 minutes from me but that's ok.

Howdy!

Kmart hauled themselves out of here years ago; however, they didn't remove their ads from broadcasting. Mr.Blue Light (he's Special!) is their pitch-bulb:

R/Sandy - quilting away in sunny, scorching north Texas

Howdy!

Returning from Ft.Worth today, coming down ol' Mansfield Hwy, there it is: Polly's Tavern. Building has seen better days, but there was quite a bit of traffic in the parking lot. Said to myself: "Of course! She prob'ly comes by to give quilting lessons & deliver cover-ups to the needy little ones."

R/Sandy- remembering a couple of bumper stickers at the truck stop: "be kind to your kids: they'll be deciding when to pull the plug" & "be kind to your kids: they'll be picking out the coffin" ...so endearing...