Quilt Shops and Quilt Meetings

Did you ever get your chops all polished up for something, and then have it denied you?  Do you go on craving it for days... weeks... months on end?

Well, I wanted a funnel cake from the State Fair.  But... Larry had gotten himself something to eat at a convenience store before he got home that day, so he wasn’t hungry at all ---- even though they had Red Velvet funnel cake.  I’m not too awfully fond of cake.  Funnel cake, however, is another matter!

I should’ve just gotten some, whether Larry wanted to share it or not.  Or maybe I should just make some. 

I know, I know!  I’ll make some – and eat it all except for several small crumbs, enough to let him know what it tasted like... and then say all innocent-like, “But you said just last week that you didn’t want any!”

(giggle)

Nah, I’m not that mean. 

Not that ambitious, either.  I have a better idea:  I’ll finish Mark and Jamie’s wedding gift!  And when that’s done, I’ll quilt my customer’s quilts.

When the wedding gift is finished, I have a couple of customer quilts to quilt. 

That sounds funny – ‘quilts to quilt’.  Seems like they could’ve come up with a new and unique verb for it... like, oh, say, drebonkuréte.  “I’m going to drebonkuréte this quilt.”  “I can’t come to your party, because I’m drebonkuréting.”  “I drebonkuréted a quilt this afternoon.”

Or maybe...  hmmm...  ‘quesinorio’.  “I ‘quesinorioed’ a quilt.”

Much better than “I quilted a quilt.”  Don’t you think?

Somebody wanted to know where I came up with those words. 

“Outa the right rear quadrant o’ me ol’ grey mattuh, apparently,” I told her.

Here’s a shot of the clowns I was with (i.e., Larry and Victoria) last Monday at the Nebraska National Forest at Halsey.

Speaking of my customer’s quilts...  They didn’t show up as soon as I expected them to, and then one day Larry found them on the garage steps!  I never go out that door, and the garage is full of construction materials for the house.  Thank goodness he saw the box.  Aggravating, that the delivery man would put that box out there, clearly an out-of-the-way spot, and not even so much as leave a note on the front door telling me the location of the box.  It was not in the best of shape, either.  The tape was coming loose, and the flaps were partially open ... but the quilts were safe, thankfully.  That box needed a whole lot more tape.

Tuesday, I went to Grand Island to pick up the Graceful Garden quilt, and also planned to go to a few quilt shops before coming home, to pick up the free patterns they were offering for what they call the ‘Row by Row Experience’.  It was the last day they would be free.  Most of the patterns are nothing I couldn’t engineer on my own, but it’s fun to look in different shops, see all the pretty quilts they have hanging on their walls, and get all sorts of ideas.

I left home at 10:20 a.m.  I would have plenty of time, I thought, since the Exhibit Hall would be open until noon.

I almost guessed wrong.

First, because there was a lot of traffic, it took an hour and ten minutes to get to Grand Island.  I wasn’t sure which road was the best, since Larry drove it the other two times, and took different routes each time – and I had been doing stuff on my laptop part of the time, not paying attention to our course.

No problem:  I put the address into my Jeep’s GPS.

Problem:  it took me to the back side of the fair buildings.

I set out for the opposite side.  Traffic was thick and deep.  I passed State Fair Boulevard without seeing it... turned around and headed back.  Finally saw it... had to cross traffic... and then I was bumfizzled and bamboozled by all the carnival workers’ trucks and vehicles and half-apart carnival rides scattered hither and yon on the fairgrounds, making the place look like a moonscape, with no recognizable landmarks. 

The clock kept ticking.  I was going from calm... to worried... to frenzied... to frantic.

And then, finally, there was the building.  I found (with difficulty) a place to park, jumped out, and rushed through the front door.

Only it wasn’t the front door.

Later, I would see that the side of that humongous building (about the same size as the town of Columbus) was nearly identical to the front of the building.

Inside, I turned in what I thought was the right direction and started trotting.

I trotted past people with vans and trucks and enclosed trailers, gathering up their displays and merchandise.  I trotted past partially-dismantled exhibits that I would’ve loved to stop and look at.  And I kept trotting, in what I hoped looked like an energetic, decisive, self-confidant manner, so as not to look like one of those clueless li’l ol’ ladies who lose their cars in parking lots.

Many crucial minutes later, I got to the end of that huge building.  There were no quilt exhibit rooms in sight.  It occurred to me, Look up, you twit! – maybe I’d be able to see those 93 small quilts depicting the counties of Nebraska, on permanent display around the tops of the walls at the front of the building.

I looked up.  Squinted.  Peered to the far wall, some 1,302,287 miles away.

Yes!  There they were!  At the opposite end of the building.  Aaaaaaaa.

And then, just to make things a little harder on myself, rather than just trotting back down the same side of the building, where someone might notice that I was the same hapless individual who’d been trotting the other way, mere minutes before, I scampered (in a decisive, energetic, and self-confident manner) to the other side of the building, and then began trotting to the front.

I rounded a couple of corners and dashed through the door into the quilt display room at precisely 11:59 a.m., and not a moment before.

Whew.

I mean, WHWHWHEEEEWWWWWW.

“Are you looking for a quilt?” a man asked pleasantly.

I smiled and nodded and tried hard not to huff and puff.  It would be real good if I managed to collect my quilt and get back out to the Jeep before pitching over in a heap.

I signed my name on a paper, offered a piece of ID, thanked everyone who was so generously doling out compliments, thought resignedly, Well, guess I don’t get any monetary award, since I already got one from the County Fair, then picked up that huge, heavy quilt (with a big, pretty, purple rosette and ribbon on top!), tried not to stagger, and headed out the nearest door.

This, of course, meant that the Jeep was not in the expected place.

Fortunately, my sense of direction outside is a whole lot better than it is inside.  With nary a misstep, I went around the building and marched straight to the Jeep.

I sat there for a minute or two, sipping coffee, putting on sunglasses, and typing a new address into my GPS. 

And then I was ready to go, none the worse for wear.  Or at last not much the worse for wear.

I went to quilt shops in Hastings, then York, and then Seward, a total of about 235 miles.  So I got three more of the free row-by-row patterns, and bought a Bernina seam ripper in York – haven’t had one of those since Calico Kitty batted mine down the heat register in 1986.

I was just turning the corner at the junction of Rtes. 92 and 81 west of Rising City to head north toward Columbus when I saw a big boom truck coming around the corner from the opposite way.  It was Larry.  I grabbed my phone, called, and offered him the rest of the Tostitos Scoops and the Tostitos Salsa Con Queso dip I’d gotten at the last convenience store.  He didn’t need them; he’d just gotten himself some chips at the last convenience store he’d stopped at.

This photo was taken near the Platte River.  There were three pelicans on that sandbar.

Before going home, I stopped at Eakes Office Supply for blank business cards and a white paint pen, the latter to paint out a few stray embroidery stitches that had inadvertently gone through to the back side of the lighthouse quilt.

When I got home, there were heaps of clothes to wash, so I gave the new dryer its first real, honest-to-goodness try-out. 

It worked great, and it was so nice to be able to actually dry clothes at night time.  Doesn’t work so well, hanging things on the line overnight – we’ve tried!  I had three loads of clothes done in short order, and was very thankful for the new dryer.  Larry rubbed soap on the stiff metal latch, so it was easier for me to open and close.   

That night, Caleb sent me a picture of himself and Maria on the route heading up toward Yankee Boy Basin in Colorado, and a video of him driving their red Jeep through a creek where the road branches and one fork goes on up and over Imogene Pass. 

He asked, “Recognize any of this?”

I replied, “Yes, but I don’t speak to people who go where I wanna be and then brag about it.”

He must’ve taken me seriously – I haven’t heard from him since.

(Not really.  We had a nice visit after church yesterday.)

Wednesday, Dorcas wrote to tell me she’s feeling better; she and her husband Todd are expecting their first baby in February, and she’s been getting the nursery ready.  She’s been crocheting things that she sells or donates, too. 

I replied, “I’m glad you’re feeling better.  It’s so much fun to prepare for a new baby – but hard to do all the things you’d like to do, when you’re off your oats!” 

Then...  “Remember when you and Hannah were little girls, and you each decided to make crocheted bonnets for a couple of new little cousins, Ann and Lynette?  Neither of you had a pattern, so you both decided to wing it. 

“Hannah’s would have perfectly fit a large, thick encyclopedia.  Yours would have fit a miniature donkey, ears and all.  I always tried hard never, ever to laugh at my children’s sincere attempts at art or crafts – I well knew the feeling of something not turning out at all as I had intended!  But I tell you, that was one time I had to try really, really hard, because those bonnets were absolutely hilarious.

“You’ve both improved immensely since then!  :-D”

That day, I started preparing for the appliqué technique demonstration and trunk show for the quilting group my former teacher had invited me to.  I wrote to and called several friends and family members, asking for things I’d made and given them.

This makes me nervous!  (Giving a quilting/appliqué demonstration/tutorial, that is, not borrowing back things I gave people.  That only makes me slightly embarrassed.)

Once I got everything prepared properly, though, I wasn’t nearly so nervous.

I wrote to Hester, “Could I borrow the Graceful Garden pillows, too? – even the little doorknob hanger?”

She gave consent. 

I then asked, “What if the ladies at the quilt group have a pillow fight with them?

“The cadets at West Point, New York, had their annual pillow fight last week, but a bunch of them, instead of wearing their helmets, put their helmets in their pillowcases.  End result:  24 concussions, 1 broken leg, 2 broken arms, 3 dislocated shoulders, and several broken ribs.  ‘Appropriate investigations are being conducted,’ the article related.

“Can’t you just see a bunch of ladies sprawled all over the floor, limbs at odd angles, pillows scattered around losing their stuffing, sewing machines tipped over, irons dangling by their cords from ceiling outlets, chairs upended, doughnuts splatted against the walls...”

“Canes and walkers wrapped around people.......” added Hester.  haha

Since I’d never been to a quilting group, and hadn’t the faintest idea what they usually do, I called my former teacher, Margie Sergent, and asked a raft of questions.  She probably remembers me doing that when I was 12, too!  Then I looked for a pretty design to draw up and photograph in all the various appliqué steps, so I could give the ladies a printed tutorial and not have to take all the time to actually do it while I was there.  They would not be bringing their sewing machines to this meeting.

Mrs. Sergent told me that, when ladies began learning I was coming, another group decided to come, too.  Instead of 20 ladies, there might be close to 40.

I found a picture of irises that would make a good appliqué, and began drawing.  I would print templates along with the instructions, too, so the ladies would have a pattern with their instructions. 

Then I printed some business cards, front and back:

I typed up instructions for the method of appliqué I usually use, then set about figuring out what order the pieces of the irises should best be glued down, and numbered them accordingly.

I was surprised by all the notes from people who, upon hearing I was going to a quilting group meeting, advised me to relax, be calm.

I am relaxed and calm, can’t anybody see that???!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thursday, I pulled out some fabric and started putting the iris together, taking pictures as I went along.  It’s important to contrast fabric colors at the proper places... and coordinate them at others.  It’s partly instinctive, partly learned by experience, knowing which to do where.

Speaking of fabrics and colors in a quilt...

When I was a child, we had a dear old neighbor lady who made ‘quilts’ (term used loosely) for the needy.  She put anything and everything together:  fine silks with tent-quality canvas, stretchy single knits with boiled woolens.  The pieces were all sizes and shapes, and the colors ranged from neon orange to lime green to pale blue to dark olive to light pink – you get the idea.

She’d wash those oddly shaped ‘quilts’ and hang them on the line for all the world to see (she was not a proud person), and one day when I was about six, I asked my mother, “Why do the poor people have to have such ugly quilts??”

My mother, a real lady, a preacher’s wife, and one who rarely let a derogatory remark about anyone cross her lips (they had to be really, really bad before she’d breathe a critical word), replied, “I don’t know, but that’s why they blow out their candles when they go to bed.”  

(So they can’t see those quilts, she meant.)  hahaha

That evening, I took some supper to my brother:  tender, delicious beef roast from Schwan’s, a couple of baked potatoes, mixed vegetables, Roma tomatoes from Victoria’s garden, and lime jello.

I had to take another time out a little later to take photos of the beautiful sunset.

The iris block was showing every sign of turning out well.  I was beginning to get excited about this new adventure!  I glued all the pieces down, and then hit the hay.

Friday, I decided to draw up a simple mug rug pattern with three appliquéd hearts, in case the ladies thought the irises were too difficult, or in case they’d like something simpler to practice on first.  I laid the heart templates on leftover strips that had been previously sewn together for another project, to give it a bit more interest.

My motto:  Don’t just hike; marathon!  And smell the roses whilst you’re a-marathonnin’.  (Should be a word.)  In fact, don’t just smell, take a photo of them!  And plant more.  ;-)

After finishing the mug rug, I stitched down the irises appliqués, took pictures, added them to the tutorial, and proofread it.

I might’ve gotten it printed that night, but Larry talked me into going to town with him to buy a McFlurry.  Or a turnover.  Or both.  (He didn’t have to talk very hard.)  We like Blizzards better, but the Dairy Queen was already closed.  This was the first time we’ve been to McDonald’s in years.

When Victoria was about 3 years old, we drove up to the mic at McDonalds or Burger King or Runza or somewhere and were asking the children what they wanted.  They were ordering chicken wraps... Swiss burgers... etc.  Victoria was in a State of High Excitement, as it was a rare treat to go to a fast food joint.  She thought we were ordering milkshakes rather than sandwiches, and she suddenly poked her head out the window and shouted directly into the mic, “I WANT BURBABY!”  (She meant, ‘blueberry’.)

Larry got struck so funny, he could barely place the rest of the orders. 

We said ‘burbaby’ instead of blueberry for a long time after that.  Still do, now and then.

Late that night – early Saturday morning, really – I uploaded my tutorial to scribd.com, then used the links provided to put it on my blog.  I first tried it with Google Drive, but there was some sort of compatibility issue, and even when I did get the link to work, my pdf file wound up with the formatting all messed up.  So I tried scribd.com, and it worked the first time.  Why didn’t I give up with Google Drive and try Scribd hours earlier?  Answer:  because I’m too stubborn for my own good, that’s why.  Here is the downloadable pdf:  Appliqué Tutorial

Saturday, I printed 45 copies of the 8-page tutorial.  And then a riveting dilemma of fastening proportions presented itself:

I was about to staple together the pages of the freshly-printed tutorial, and after two staples, being a persnickety, obsessive, compulsive person (but slaphappy and happy-go-lucky, too, in order to be well-balanced, you know), I thought, What’s the best angle to put a staple in a stack of papers? and then I thought further, Of course there is doubtless an article on the web somewhere addressing this exact issue.

I looked... and...  Yes!  There was! – The Perfect Angle to Staple Paper.  The writer of this article did tests with staples at 0°, 22.5°, 45°, and 67.5°.

Someone else wrote this:  “Some birth defect who used to work in our office used to staple things right in the center of the top.”

So I guess I shouldn’t staple anything top middle, hmmm?  (snerk)

According to Mr. Google, I could give you 38,200,000 more links to look at on this subject.  I’d like to, but... siggghhhh...  there are just too many other interesting things to do today.  So you’ll have to make do with the one.

I stapled at a 45° angle, just as I’ve always done.  And it looked downright spiffy, too.

A lady – a very nice lady, I must hasten to add – wrote privately to me to explain quite seriously that she truly didn’t think anyone would mind which direction I put the staple into the papers.

Hummm.  Did I look somber and solemn to you when I typed all that malarkey?!

I washed the king-sized flannel Log Cabin quilt that I made quite a few years ago, as I planned to take it to the meeting, too.  The ‘logs’ are ½” wide (finished size), and the top has right around 3,800 pieces in it.  Would you believe, at the time I made that thing, I had not heard of rotary cutters or mats, and knew nothing about strip quilting?  I actually used posterboard templates and Fiskars scissors to cut the pieces, t.w.o...a.t...a...t.i.m.e.  It’s still one of our favorite quilts.  Actually, it’s the first quilt I ever made for us to keep.

That afternoon, I started on my great-niece Jamie’s wedding gift – a table runner and placemats.  I’d thought to use linen – but the piece I wanted was $23/yd.  And I needed four yards.  So I bought good quilting cotton instead, on sale at $8/yd.

Every other square has five pleats in it.  I have a little more than half of them done.

Yesterday, I finished collecting things from people that I planned to show at the quilt group meeting.  Looking at all the things I’d borrowed back, I thought I had enough to keep all the ladies at the meeting until midnight, if I waxed eloquent about each and every piece. 

We went to Hannah’s house to get the world map placemats and a panda mug rug.  Joanna, not having heard what I was going to be doing this evening, asked (somewhat carefully, trying to put words together politely), “Why are you getting all these things together?” 

I told her, “Well, I just decided everyone had had them long enough, and now I want them back!”

She stood there a moment, not changing expressions, a very slight smile on her face – and then she straightened up and saluted me.  haha  She’s such a funny little thing.

Hannah gave us a couple of pork steaks and two slices of banana nut bread that Joanna had made.  Mmmmm, scrumptious.  When we went to Loren’s house to borrow his August Bouquet quilt and the matching pillow, he invited us in for ice cream and cookies. 

His is one quilt I won’t be borrowing again to enter in any fairs.  It’s irreplaceable, after all, since Janice did the cross-stitching.  Loren very much treasures it.

That is the quilt that made me happiest to give somebody, of all the things I’ve ever made and given away.

When we got home, I posted the pictures I took at the Nebraska State Fair, including photos of the many beautiful quilts they had on display:  Nebraska-State-Fair-at-Grand-Island

Today’s the day!  The day for the quilt group meeting, that is.  I’ve never been to one before.  My Jeep is absolutely chockful of quilts large and small that I borrowed back from people to whom I gave them.  I’ve got to get out there and put everything into a semblance of order... and carry a few more things out, too.  Mustn’t forget the tutorials I printed... or the iris block... or the hearts mug rug...  I have enough things that if I get up in front of everybody and totally go blank, I can just sweep an arm at everything and say, “Well, it all speaks for itself!”

Oh! – Victoria just brought the mail in...  AND!!! – I got a check from the Nebraska State Fair!  How ’bout that.  I thought I must be out of luck, since no mention was made of it when I picked up the quilt. I saw tags on other quilts with a list of their monetary awards, and thought, Well, hmmmph. Just see if I enter anything in the Best of County Division at the State Fair again!!! I thought perhaps it precluded me from getting any money award, since I got some from the County Fair. The State Fair judges didn’t give me a written critique, as I already got one from the County Fair. Boo hoo, I wanted one!

I sent a note to Larry regarding my windfall, and he replied, “Well, we broke even, then.”

I responded, “YOU did.  For me, it’s all pure profit!  Just like when I sold potholders – and Mama and Daddy bought all my supplies.  :-D”

And...........  Here’s his answer:  “Yeah you got it.  :-}”

Monarch butterflies are sailing through the front yard by the dozens (unless it’s the same three or four, doing laps), enjoying the flowers.

Victoria has been to the bank, the grocery store, and Menards this morning.  She got all sorts of things for painting her room.  Last night she downloaded a 3D Home Design App and played around with it.  She wants to paint one wall a light purple, the others pale lavender. 

It’s 20 ’til 6!  Time to get ready!

Everything’s in the Jeep but the Harvest Star quilt on my bed – because Teensy’s sleeping on it.  He’s been asleep on my bed all day long.

Okay, time to upend the cat.

--- --- --- --- ---

Actually, what I did was to pull back a corner of the quilt, exposing the fleece blanket, which that big ol’ kitty loves, and then I carefully scooped him up (he’s biiiig) and veerrrrry gently laid him back down on the fleece.  Yeah, I spoil the stuffin’s outa my kitties.

I’m off to a quilting group meeting!

Uh, what if I get the wrong room – the meeting is being held in the old hospital building – and wind up giving a trunk show to a bunch of baffled employees and patrons of the Columbus Food Pantry?

***

9:00 p.m.: 

I’m back, I’m back!

I printed several extra patterns/appliqué tutorials to take with me to the quilt group meeting last night, and I have 12 left over.  Anybody want one, snail-mail?  I’ll send them to the first 12 who ask.  If a 13th person asks, she gets the one that has one page slightly misprinted. 

In a month, I think I might put a price on the pattern and offer a new flower appliqué, free for a month.  I have a whole quilt in mind...  We’ll see.

The meeting went swimmingly, and was very enjoyable.  There were about 35 ladies there, and they were all so nice.  They asked me to stay, if I’d like, for their own show and tell after my little spiel was done.  When the leader (is that what she’s called?) asked, “Anybody want to go first?” somebody yelled, “Good grief, NO!” and everybody burst into gales of laughter.

You know how people are always telling us quilters, “Never point out your mistakes!”?  Well, I have a little piece of slightly conflicting advice about that:

When you’ve been asked to give a little tutorial and trunk show to ladies you don’t know, and they seem a bit put off by quilting/appliquéing they probably consider ‘over-the-top’, it’s time to start pointing out your trouble spots and telling funny stories about your various quilting calamities and disasters – and what you did to remedy the problem.

I told them how, when I went to join the three sections of the lighthouse quilt, one section was ten inches (!!) longer than the other, because I had not been perfectly accurate with the 190 quarter-inch seams.

“So I took them all out and redid them,” I said, amidst sympathetic ‘ooooohs’.  I gestured at my former teacher.  “Mrs. Sergent taught me to be precise!”  And everyone laughed and nodded.  She has that reputation.  I had no trouble seeing that everyone loved her, just as we students had, so many years ago.  So... if I loved Margie (“Seems disrespectful, calling her ‘Margie’!” I exclaimed, which made them laugh again), then the ladies liked me.

The leader of the quilting group let us see a beautiful color-graduated quilt top she is making of flagged pinwheels – using fabrics she had hand-dyed.  Another lady showed a 3D fabric-folded pinwheel quilt... and another passed around the row-by-row patterns and kits she had gotten – in Alaska!  I want to go to Alaska someday.  She told of sneaking into an already-closed quilt shop by blending in with ladies who were arriving for a class... and of getting caught back in the aisles of fabric bolts.  So funny.

Yesirree, I enjoyed myself!

And now I must work on Mark and Jamie’s wedding gift.

,,,>^..^<,,,     Sarah Lynn    ,,,>^..^<,,,