Ingrid Whitcher

There are some times in life that bring unexpected and wonderful joy. This past week our guild – the Pensacola Quilter’s Guild held their biannual quilt show. I entered 3 quilts this year, none as big or elaborate as in previous years, but one of them was very close to my heart. My middle child has a love for all things reptiles, especially frogs, and I designed this quilt with him in mind. I started piecing the middle of this piece about 2 years ago – and then added the leaf border about a year later.

Here is the quilt in its very early stages.

To my amazement, I received my first perfect score in a show. Our judge, Anita Shackelford, was a very careful and thorough judge. I had the privilege to observe her judging several of the quilts in the long arm category and was thinking to myself, “Did I make sure the quilt was flat?”, or “Did I double check the mitered corners of my binding?”. Shocking to see a perfect score!!

Anita was kind enough to take a picture with me right after they announced that I received the Arlene Gutzeit award for meticulous workmanship. You can receive this award only once and it has only been awarded to machine quilters now twice. Arlene’s family started this award in memory of their wife/mother.

Logan even let me take a picture with him – big deal for a teenage boy.

This award come on the heels of receiving some news about some health concerns. It is so wonderful to me how the Lord gives us times of unexpected joy in the middle of our troubles.

A big thank you to all the wonderful guild members and my dear friends and family who have been such a source of encouragement to me over the years and especially to Mrs Hicks who finally made me get over my shyness and join the guild.