Mountain Fest Quilt Show Challenge

Hey all,

At the last minute, I decided to do this challenge.  I bought the fabric last Spring Break, on my way home from seeing Sue & Bill Harmon with a swing by to see my brother's family Ed, Katrina, and Jackson.  After visiting them, I detoured to Pigeon Forge to the Mountain Fest Quilt Show on the way home.   While there, I decided to buy the challenge fabric as I had been so impressed with the entries from our guild members last year.   I hated it.  And I didn't really like the theme, war between the states.  When are we going to let that go?? OK Southerners, I know we fought with honor, but we were on the wrong side.  All people should be free.  And yes, I know that we in the South like to say it was not over slavery, but state's rights, but the right they went to war for was the right to own other people.   Wrong.

So I set the challenge fabrics aside, and every once in while, I would pull it out look at it, google quilts from the civil war era and then put it back away.  Never could come up with a good idea.  I wanted to put Jacob's ladder blocks down the center, with red down the middle to represent the blood spilled,  but didn't know what else to do.  Last guild meeting when Judy and CC brought their quilts, I was motivated to try again.

Part of the challenge is that it is supposed to be made up of 30% challenge fabrics.  And when you read the rules in detail, it says you may need to add fabric in order to make this requirement.  Oops...did not read that till too late!  Also, you have to use 3 out of 4 of the challenge fabrics.  Well I was originally going to eliminate the striped grey/beige as it was super ugly.  Now I realize I will have to include it, in order to make the 30% rule, since I have no more of the other fabrics.   So every block and border I created, I stopped and figured out how many square inches were challenge and how many not challenge.

Bogie and BeCall inspecting my work.

Without the inspectors!!

So here is my top, it has some problems, so do I finish?  I probably will, but not sure if I will put it in the show.  One problem is that I cut the split rail fence block I was making too small I wrote down  cut 5, finish 4.5, then cut I it at 4.5!!! Why??  I don't know.  So I put red down the center, so now from a distance it looks like a swastika!  Why didn't I notice that when it was on my design wall??  Another problem, the muslin is much lighter weight than the other quilt fabric and seems to ripple and pull.  Should have done like my friend Sandi says and starch, starch, starch!!  What a bunch of whining this morning....

On a happier note, look what arrived in the mail this week...

Thanks Bonnie!!  That was quick work after being gone for so long!!