Quilting under pressure

that's what I have been doing since Sunday evening after I looked at my quilt entry notebook that afternoon and discovered that the AQS Iowa show entry deadline (post mark date) was today May 20th. Good thing I have several tops painted and waiting and best of all, I was happy to find one that met the size requirements. I pressed it and sandwiched it Sunday after I finished facing a class sample for a group I will be teaching to in Atlanta.
That done, I began to quilt only to take part of the day on Monday off to see the shuttle launch . Then I took a great deal of the day on Tuesday off too to go Quilt Shop hopping.
Wednesday saw me sitting and quilting and quilting and quilting with a 2 hour break to have coffee with a friend after lunch. When I got back from my coffee break I went back to quilting with earnest. At that point I was really doubting that I could meet the deadline. But I kept at it. Thursday I quilted until there was in my estimation only about 2 hours work left to finish the quilting part. At midnight, I went to bed.
Today I got it done. Blocked it. Squared it then realized that if I faced it I would be one inch short of the minimum size. So instead, I decided to bind it instead. Not a permanent one, but one good sewn on with basting stitches and good enough to take images of the piece so I could get to the post office before they closed so my entry would be postmarked today.
If the piece is accepted I will put a quilt show quality binding on it and a top sleeve. If it is not accepted, I will face it as I prefer to finish my work.
The deadline for Houston is July 1. The minimum size is 48" square. I'd better get started on creating something from scratch because I don't have anything that size ready and waiting to be quilted.
Quilting under pressure. Oh well at least this time I have weeks instead of days.