The Deseret News Home and Garden show is next week. They decided to have a quilt exhibit and contacted the Utah Quilt Guild. I wouldn’t call this a real quilt contest since they aren’t going to have professional judges, just the general public. My oldest son wanted to put his quilt in and my husband wanted me to show off the quilt that I made for him. I should explain that my husband’s quilt has a flannel back and we have a beagle who likes to sleep under the covers. Ever since we got Mr. Darwin, he’s burrowed under the covers at night. I’ve got him trained to where he just burrows under the top blanket on the bed so I don’t have to share sheets with him. The top blanket has been the Marine Corps blanket for my husband; flannel and beagle hair mix far too well.
So this weekend I’ve been trying to get beagle hair out of flannel so that I can take it down to the show. Last night, I decided that it was good enough. I wouldn’t take it if this were a professionally judged show but where it’s just people walking through voting and the main purpose is to encourage people to quilt, well that’s a different story. So I dropped off both my and my son’s quilts off and attended the guild meeting where I saw beautiful quilts where the speaker said we shouldn’t be using the quilts that are hand made. My grandmother would just spit at that thought. A quilt is a utilitarian tool. There are some beautiful art quilts out there but when I can’t match a seam or make a perfect point, it is better that I make utilitarian quilts. After all, the ones that I make for charity are being used, why shouldn’t the ones that I make for me be useful too?