A LQS that I have never been to because it's a good 40 minutes drive up the mountain on a skinny, winding, goat track-worthy road that leaves me with a cold pit in my gut if I have to drive it puts on a quilt show every year with the proceeds going to the local CFA (fire blokes). I decided on a whim to enter 3 of my quilts so I filled out the entry forms and dutifully watched all the Youtubes on how to fold your quilts to minimise wrinkles. And rehearsed the folding...daily!
The day of delivery came so I carefully folded my quilts and drove up the mountain....missed my turn off and had to then drive another gazillion miles before I found a safe place to turn the wretched car around to then drive the gazillion miles back to the LQS. I must admit to feeling quite a pang of nervousness leaving my quilts with someone else...would they look after them, would they lose them, would they not bother to hang them in the show, would they laugh at my work, would someone spill acid on them, would a wild mountain dog break into the quilt shop and tear my quilts to pieces or maybe even have a litter of feral puppies on it.....Lord, I was a mess by the the time I had driven home I can tell you!
The day of the show came and off I went to actually find the hall where the show was being held....you see, I had been so consumed with the sheer enormity of entering the show I had completely not bothered to try to process the information about where it was being held....I only had a very vague idea of where it was but filled with seperation anxiety for my quilts, and a print out map from Mr.Google I was steeled and determined to drive forth and arrive there...somewhere...eventually......
How excited was I to arrive and see my quilts up on display with all the others. I was thrilled, absolutely thrilled...it was like being a penguin on your own since birth and then suddenly finding all the other penguins on the other side of the ice berg! I walked around oohing and ahhing at all the exhibits and bought another Judy Neimeyer pattern (I admit, hand on heart I have a fpp addiction here!) but the best thing of all was listening to other people critiquing my quilts. Positive and negative...both delighted and enthused me. I felt I had come home, that people who knew my craft and love were appreciative of my work, and supportive of my efforts and understanding of my flaws. A wonderful experience...and just what i needed at that time in my life.
And then I couldn't wait for the show to be finished....I hung around home moping until the designated time for collection arrived. I wanted my babies back home, smoothed out, lovingly put back up on the wall and "oh so casually" thrown over my couch. I was validated and content.