Atlantis is going to AQS Charlotte

Not too long ago, I filled out the form to enter my little wholecloth quilt, Atlantis, into the AQS Charlotte show that will be at the end of July. The way it works is you enter online and then they tell you if you are accepted. Well, I got the email early this week. I'm in! Atlantis will be hanging up in Charlotte, viewed by all sorts of famous quilters. I'm so excited!

I've only had two quilts on display to the public: my Italian Village quilt was in the last Forsyth Piecers and Quilters show and my fish quilt, which I entered in the So Original Solids Challenge. So this is really exciting for me. I'm not anticipating any ribbons. I'm too critical and I keep seeing every flaw. But everyone has to start somewhere, right?

I've been quilting up a storm these past couple of weeks. I'm loving the ease of pantos, but I've discovered that I can't take good photos with my lights shining down on the quilts. Of course I realized this after having returned several quilts to their owners. I did manage to find a few good pics, just glimpses really.

This one is Eleanor's. I quilted one just like this for her on my George. She wanted this one done the same way. I was a little nervous about echoing these swirls freehand, but once I eased off on my death grip on the handles, things went a lot more smoothly.

Betty made this t-shirt quilt for her granddaughter. Normally, I'm not a huge fan of t-shirt quilts. They tend to be a little dark and heavy. Betty did a beautiful job on this one. All of those colorful borders really make this a lovely quilt.

Della made this adorable quilt for her grandson. Love those little bees!

Here's another cool panto, Bauhaus, on Karen's quilt. I was worried about all those straight lines. I keep hearing how hard it is to do straight lines on longarms. Seems a little strange to me. I feel like short straight lines are easier for me at this point than curvy swirls.

Still trying to figure out the best way to do little pebbles. Some people have told me that the micro drive handles are the way to go. I'll never look back, they say. Use them for everything. Still feels weird. Definitely something to get used to. But then again, Judi Madsen at Green Fairy Quilts doesn't use micro drive handles and her pebbles are amazing. I watched one of Jamie Wallen's videos on Youtube tonight and he said you should have your left hand on the micro drive handle and your right on the top handle. So maybe that is the way to go. Lots of practice anyway;)