I woke up early on Saturday morning, I was both excited and intimidated at the same time. I had made up my mind a few weeks ago, after drooling over all of the
gorgeous quilting at our Guild show, that I was going to get more serious about the relationship I have with Sundance, it was time to take it to the next level. At the encouragement of a friend, and member, I decided to check into visiting a quarterly meeting of the
Carolina Longarm Association. There was a meeting on Saturday, I talked to
Quiltkeemosabe about riding along and she agreed; she was standing in her driveway at 7 AM when I pulled up in front of her house, and off we went! We discussed what we thought the meeting might be like, and who we expected to meet (famous quilters!), as we drove the one hundred
plus miles to the meeting place. We arrived early, I had allowed more than plenty of time to get there by 10 AM. As it turned out the meeting was a working meeting, there was business protocol before a delcious pot-luck lunch and we helped to make show ribbons for an upcoming longarm show in the afternoon. Before I knew it it was time to go, but not before show and tell;
always my favorite part of any meeting! This lovely couple showed two of their quilts; she pieces, he does the quilting!
This wonderful Giant Dahlia quilt was quilted using arc rulers, it was just beautiful!
The drive back home was a happy one, the two of us discussed what we'd seen and who we'd talked to. There had been lively conversation with new friends throughout the meeting; quilting ideas and plans for scheduling smaller, local, get-togethers flowed like water. My excitement and intimidation from earlier in the day had been completely replaced by pure energy; the next meeting is scheduled closer, geographically, it will be a hands-on program on background fillers. Quiltkeemosabe and I will definitely be in attendance for that one, we're official card-carrying CLA members now, we pulled out our checkbooks and joined before we left the meeting; we're serious... and we're energized!
Life is Good!
10 comments:
Congratulations and good for both of you . . .
Good for you!!! Love that feeling of moving forward toward something fun and creative and exciting!!!
You will be earning ribbons for long arm quilting soon I bet too.
I'm just the "wingman"
I applaud your initiative! Whatever you do, you do it well. I admire that!
Wish there was something like that near me for "midarm" quilters. I need energizing, too. : )
Okay, friend, let's see if this is contagious! There's no long arm in my future, and lately I have been thinking more and more about trying to machine quilt on Bernina. I've done just one baby quilt five or six YEARS ago, and while I didn't ENJOY the process, it wasn't dreadful either. I have three charity tops to put together and have purchased floss to tie them. Can I muster up the courage to machine quilt ONE of them? Can I make it a goal to do this before we go to Richmond on May 11?
A long arm is not in my future (unless I win the lottery) so I will have to energize myself with a quilt retreat weekend coming up. My quandry with those getaways is that I always want to start something NEW rather than taking UFOs lurking in my sewing room. I will, however, this time be taking a number of those dreaded UFOs because that pile is getting higher and higher to the point that it distracts me to no end. Let's hoping that next Monday will reveal at least two or three more projects completed!!
What Nane said :)
The quilting part for traditional quilts is still a place where I get stuck. Art quilts, no problem. I know just what I want to do. But a bed quilt? I crash land on the planet Duh.
Looking forward to seeing what you learn!
Sounds like much fun!!! It is so good to meet with others that inspire us! I have a couple of classes to take this month at AQS Paducah! I am always intimidated by the teachers because they are so awesome, but you know, they are all so friendly, helpful and so down to earth! Quilters are just really good people!! When I leave the classes, I always feel like I might EXPLODE!! Very inspiring!!! Glad you are having so much fun! I know you feel the same way!
I glad it was well worth the trip!
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