May as well

Two days ago I received notification that my PQ1 had been juried in to a quilt competition!  Although I have already blogged about it on the other page (www.truenorthquilter.blogspot.com), I felt I may as well add a word here, too.

I totally expected to see another "no thanks, but good luck in the future" letter in the mailbox, as happened earlier this year.  That rejection note appeared on the day the AQS stated they would begin mailing out notification letters...so I was prepared to see the early bird envelope in my mailbox last week.  I truly was. 

Not that I was being a fatalist, mind you, but I suspected the minds behind the jurying of quilts into/out of competition for the AQS were skewed in regards to PQ1.  In fact, I had already begun accumulating a list of new shows to enter it into in hopes of having it seen further afield than my own backyard.

So it was with some curiosity (and major trepidation) that I checked the mailbox (some six hours after the delivery truck drove off), only to find absolutely nothing in regards to the quilt show.  Same thing on Saturday - so I went through the weekend trying really hard to not think of it in any way, shape, or form.  Then Monday arrived.

Brian snagged the mail and brought it to the house saying, "You have something from AQS."

My heart skipped.

"Is it thick or thin?" I asked him.

"It's neither, sort of.  It's a large flat envelope," he answered, and I flew up the stairs.

It was a strange way to send a "no thank you" note, so I let myself become a little excited. 

"CONGRATULATIONS! The jury has accepted your entry, [PQ1]: Let It Begin With Me, for further consideration in the 2013 AQS Quilt Week contest in Grand Rapids, MI....Your contestant name badge and ribbon are enclosed," the top page read.  Yippee!

OK, so after receiving hugs from Bud, and crying a bit, I poured over everything in the packet - over and over and over.   Later, I sent out a quick text to family and friends to let them know it's finally happened, and then began receiving texts and calls of congratulations.  It was a good day.

I now need to completely remove ALL signs of cat hair from the quilt, check it over and clip stray threads, then make a small adjustment to the sleeve I have been thinking of making (to make the corners and sides hang without waving at all).  Once that's done there are other items to deal with...and a small mound of paperwork to immediately fill out and send back before the quilt is packed up and shipped to AQS.

Holy Moses!  Guess I may as well get back to work then, eh?  :)

Anyhow, that's my week so far, hope your week is going well.  More another time.