Beautiful Ohio was entered in the 2010 ANG Seminar, my first time submitting any needlepoint to be judged. I was thrilled it took a Second Place ribbon in the Adaptation non-professional category & shocked when it won the Princess Grace Award.
It was the only piece I didn’t ask to be critiqued (I submitted 3 others that I’ll blog about in the days to follow). Apparently, being on 18 count & use of a special technique described by David McCaskill during a class (and explained below in my artist’s statement) made the difference. Considering the state motto of Ohio (“With God, All Things Are Possible”) and not believing I had much of a chance to win a national award, the outcome seems quite ironic.
My Artist’s Statement (required for this category) follows:
I had recently become reacquainted and enjoyed using the tent stitch on a small piece. So, when I saw that one of the competition categories was for the Princess Grace Award using only the tent stitch I decided to design something to pay tribute to our host city, Columbus, Ohio.
I googled Ohio, read many interesting facts, and learned why the cover of ANG Seminar 2010 magazine depicts a cardinal for the state bird, a lady bug for the state insect (who even knew states select bugs!), a scarlet carnation for the state flower, a buckeye for the state tree, and the nearby Scioto River. Before I knew it, I located a variation of the Ohio Star Quilt Block pattern by Janet Wickell (http://quilting.about.com/od/blockofthemonth/ss/ohio_star_var.htm).
Then, the design came easy enough when I considered the Ohio flag. I started the center with the red circle within a white circle (although nobody is certain if the white “O” stands for Ohio) and surrounded it with blue like the flag. And, the eight-pointed star stood out nicely using red surrounded by the white like the stripes in the flag. Normally, the four corners of the Ohio Star Quilt Block are all plain but I like the variation. So, I used a red, white, and blue overdyed thread (Wildflowers) placed within Flair (a tubular ribbon) for the half triangles which was a technique described by David McCaskill during a tips and tricks class.
As I write this in July, I am looking forward to enjoying some tomato juice (the state beverage) especially in the form of a Bloody Mary in October in the Buckeye State (the state nickname). Perhaps, I’ll be sitting on the banks of a river (‘Ohio’ is derived from the Iroquois Indian word meaning ‘good river’ or ‘large river’) listening to ‘Beautiful Ohio’ (the state song).
I don’t know if “Beautiful Ohio” will win an award or not but “With God, All Things Are Possible” (the state motto).
I’m back from Columbus Ohio, all unpacked, & ready to blog!! The seminar was a great experience. I can tell it takes a lot of effort in advance & during but it is well worth it! While I’m used to writing trip reports for work & writing in my travel journal, I know you don’t want to know what happened every day but I have to share my first impressions of Seminar.
Unfortunately, my husband, Bill & I arrived late on Saturday so I missed the first-timers get together. All we saw at the bar that night was all the hairdressers sporting some wild outfits & hairstyles for their 3 day affair. But, I got up early to volunteer at the hospitality desk. I enjoyed that & can honestly say that anyone should consider spending at least a shift there. It is easy & fun. Luckily, Barbara Richardson was working there too & informed my husband about the Jack Nicklaus museum in the area because the weather was a little iffy for the first few days of the week when he was planning on golfing.
I shopped briefly at the bookstore which must be more difficult to work at than the hospitality desk because I got charged $5,124.00 for 2 June McKnight booklets! Thank goodness for the void key. Then, since Sunday was our 23rd wedding anniversary, we wandered the North Market & had a wonderful scone for breakfast, went to a used bookstore, & a few antique stores in Columbus for a few hours (& to get my husband oriented to the area).
The exhibit area opened Sunday at noon & I hadn’t known that the ribbons would be awarded that soon. So, when my husband & I wandered in later that day, we found that Beautiful Ohio (on my blog) had received a Second Place ribbon in the Adaptation non-professional category – boy were we pleasantly surprised! This is the first time I submitted any needlepoint to be judged. I submitted 3 other pieces that I’ll blog about in the days to follow but they didn’t win anything. I did get very thoughtful, useful feedback on those pieces from the judge’s critiques (which I was given on the last day). Well, it wasn’t long until the Welcome Banquet. We sat with some folks from various parts of the country & enjoyed chatting with them. Even though Beautiful
Ohio qualified for the Princess Grace Award, since it was a second place winner, I was shocked when it won the Princess Grace Award. What a wonderful surprise!
We topped off the evening by meeting & having a drink with Josie, a fellow stitcher, her husband & my husband’s golf partner for the trip, Tony. What a nice couple! And, thanks again to you both.
Over the whole rest of the week, it was so nice to put names with so many faces of stitchers & teachers. And, in halls & elevators, I heard “Oh, you’re the Melita who blogs all the time.” more often than I expected! I’m glad you enjoy it as much as I have been. So, thanks for telling me – I really appreciated it.
Pat Rusch was gracious to take over in Lois Kershner’s absence for our Landscape class. I learned several things regarding perspective & implied lines which made driving home more distracting than usual – as I do most of the driving & was looking as much at the terrain as the road!! I created a stitch guide, selected threads, stitched some, & look forward to reading the booklet in more detail now that I’m home. I’ll finish Santacicle first though so that I can get it to the finisher in time for Christmas.
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