Mid-Atlantic Championships 2011

A good competition for us.  It felt like the best we've ever danced.  Our placements were good - we made 3 of 4 finals, and had a 3rd place in Sr1 Silver Standard, 6th place in Sr2 Silver Standard, and 5th place in Sr2 Gold Standard.  We were 9th in Sr1 Gold Standard.  Altogether, these were our best results yet.  Changing our dance frame and the technique differences that has created are starting to pay off.

On the "still to work on" side, looking at the video shows that there are still some fundamental things that need fixing - I kept dropping my right elbow.  I think I was letting myself get too centered in turning figures.  And, darn it, I was looking down still in the promenade sections of the tango oversway---I was even thinking - "look up".  Of course, when I watch the video, I see the things I did wrong, rather than the things I did well.

Judges' marks were all over the place - which also suggests that we were being inconsistent in how we danced.  One dance may have been rated anywhere from 2nd to 7th depending on the judge - which may mean either something particular the judge looks for, or what we happened to be doing when the judge was looking at us.  More fodder for Karen at our lessons for the next few weeks.  

We have six weeks until Nationals, so there's time to focus on a couple of key points (like more of "stay left") between now and then.  I think this also calls for some routine gym time between now and then.  Dancing silver and gold means more dances, and I was about done in by the time we were finished.

The weekend was fun.  The new venue was beautiful (North Bethesda Marriott).  We had the largest floor we've ever had for a competition, and this only used half of the Marriott's Grand Ballroom.  It was great having David's sister, Kathy, come with us again this year.   There was beautiful dancing to watch while we weren't dancing ourselves. 

Stash report - week 9, February 27

It's been a busy week.  I did get my Johnny Jump Ups quilt quilted, and used some stash to make the binding.  I got that applied on Friday afternoon, and started stitching it down before we had to leave for Bethesda.  That will be my project for this afternoon - to finish that binding, so the quilt is done.

IN this week:                  0 yds
IN YTD:                    11.0 yds

OUT this week:         0.44 yds
OUT YTD:              20.37 yds

NET for 2011:           9.37 yds BUSTED


Check out Judy L's blog to see how everyone else is doing with their stash report for the week.

Stash report - week 8, February 20

I got some sewing time yesterday, and made progress on my #10 - the fall tablerunner.  I hope to have that finished today.  Yesterday I got it quilted and made and applied the binding.  It's ready to have the binding hand sewn on the back, which I plan to work on during the road trip to Delaware for the women's basketball game.

Once I got the tablerunner to the point I wanted it, I put borders on my Johnny Jump Ups top I started last weekend.  I also made and loaded a backing for it, and picked up batting and quilting thread in a pretty yellow King Tut.  I think I'm going to do a meander with butterflies for the quilting.

The 2 yds in were a purple crocus print intended as a border for the Johnny Jump Ups, but I decided not to use it for that, and instead used stash.  The purple crocuses ended up on the back of Johnny Jump Ups, along with some green from the stash.

Since the borders, most of the backings and bindings were all from stash, I made a nice dent in my stash report for the week:

In this week:                    2 yds
Used this week:              7.25 yds

In YTD:                          11 yds
Used YTD:                     19.92 yds

Net for 2011:                   8.92 yds OUT

Stash report - week 7, February 13

I decided to start a new quilt yesterday, and used all stash for the top, so I my numbers are moving in the right direction.  I got Kim Brackett's new book, Scrap Basket Sensations - I like all the quilts in it.  The "Flowers for Nana Girl" reminded me of pansies - so I cut that from all purples for the flowers, and added yellow centers.  I used leftover sage greens for the background, and a dark green for the leaves.  All of the cutting was finished yesterday, and I got the blocks put together.  This morning I made the pieced sashing, and got the top put together.  Now I need to look in the stash to see what I can find for a border.  I have a top of pretty Johnny Jump-Ups.

My report for this week:

In this week:                    0 yds
Used this week:          2.78 yds

In YTD:                           9 yds
Used YTD:               12.67 yds

Net YTD:                   3.67 yds OUT

Stash report - week 6, 6 February 2011

I finally pieced the backing for my NYE mystery.  I cut up the blocks of the Spot Loves Colors panel and pieced them randomly into strips of the tone-on-tone red, green and blue left over from the top.  I also cut and prepared the binding.  The quilt is loaded on the longarm ready to be quilted.  I think I'm going to do a meander that is color words.  I need to look in my thread drawer to see what would be good for this.

As for my stash, I had a coupon from the LQS for fat quarters at a volume discount, so went in planning to get 20 fat quarters (at $1.50 each - good price).  But all they had were some blenders - the batiks weren't included in the special.  I had wanted to get some pretty prints.  So all I got was the batt I needed for my NYE mystery. 

This week's numbers:
In this week:                     0 yds
Out this week:                 2.13 yds

In YTD:                           9.00 yds
Out YTD:                        9.89 yds

Net for 2011:                   0.89 yds OUT - I'm actually in the "busted" category :>

Check in with Judy L to see how everyone else is doing this week.

UFO #6 Complete

Judy Laquidara of Patchwork Times is running a UFO Challenge for the year.  Each month, she picks a number, and you are challenged to complete that number UFO on your list.  I have my list with my top 12 selected on my sidebar.  January's number was 6.  For me, #6 was a wallhanging I made as part of a challenge on the Yahoo group, The Quilting Post.  We had a particular challenge fabric we had to use.  I chose to make a fractured panel out of the fabric, and used that as the focal point for a "stained glass window" or "garden gate" style quilt. All it needed was quilting and binding.  I finished the binding the first week of January, but it took me until this past weekend to actually get all the loose thread ends clipped.

Here it is finished:

And a close-up of the "fractured" panel in the center:

This is done by cutting multiple repeats of the same section of fabric, and then subcutting each one from a slightly different starting place, then sewing those repeats all together.    The side panels are of the challenge fabric.  I really like how this turned out.  I took it in to the office on Monday and have it hanging on my office wall.

See how everyone else did with their January challenge here.
February's number is 10 - for me, my fall tablerunner.  I need to trim the sides, quilt and bind. So that will probably be my sewing for Saturday - maybe I can have it ready to hand stitch down binding during the Superbowl.