Today, I feel like a threshold was crossed. Monday and Tuesday, I was just getting acquainted with the other quilters, but today, at least for me, the women here were beginning to feel more like friends. Especially Karen. I opened up and told her my life’s story and she listened in a deep way. She used to be a nurse and she has that sort of compassionate feel about her. She’s been sitting across the sewing table from me every day, so I have talked with her more than the others, but they are all very friendly.
There is a term quilters use for projects that they start and don’t finish – UFOs (Unfinished Objects). Most of what was brought this week were UFOs.
You may recall that Miriam was working on the Dala horses yesterday, but today she worked for a bit on another UFO. Again, she is hand stitching around each small object on this quilt and it’s tedious work.Nancy and Carol admiring Miriam’s work
It’s nice being able to share what we’re working on and everyone here is so encouraging! Miriam is an artist who has taught all kinds of craft and quilting classes. From what Karen said, Miriam is such a good teacher that there’s always a waiting list to get into her classes!
Nancy is continuing with her red and white quilt. It was supposed to be a wallhanging, but she is now making extra blocks to try to make it into a bed quilt to give to her grandson for his wedding.After the others went to bed, I went around and photographed their progress for today. The blocks on the left are what Nancy was working on. The ones on the right are what Carol was working on.Carol is the hospitality expert in the group. Every morning, she gets up early and makes coffee for those who drink it. She keeps track of the menu for the day and gets up from her sewing to heat it up. After everyone has eaten, she clears the table and rinses the dishes to put in the dishwasher. She puts the rest of us to shame! Others are beginning to try to do the cleanup after meals so she won’t have to. I’m sorry to say, I haven’t done as much as I should.This was dinner tonight. From left to right – Carol, Nancy, Karen, and Miriam. Miriam will be leaving us tomorrow morning.The others had beef and mashed potatoes, round carrots, and salad. I had the salad and cute little round carrots along with black bean soup. For dessert, they had brownies and I had frozen banana whip.
I have been making progress on the projects I brought with me too. The way I have ordered my days here, I work on the hand quilting during the day when the light is good, and then in the evening, I’m working on some charity quilts made of fleece and flannel squares I got from someone. I finally finished the hand quilting this afternoon!
This is from a panel I had in my stash for several years. My cousin-in-law, Sue Brim, put the window frames on for me in December 2019 and I have been hand quilting it ever since whenever I’ve had a chance. I showed you a detail of the quilting in my last blog. This is now ready for the binding and maybe a sleeve on the back so that I can hang it. Then it will be done!The small lap robe on the right was as big as the one on the left before I sewed it together. It takes me a long time to arrange how I want them to go together. Trillium Quilt Guild encourages members to make small quilts for charity. Some of them are given to the fire department to give to the people they come in contact with when taking them in an ambulance. Another group is called HELP. They help women and children get out of domestic abuse situations. I think others are given to the elderly or people in wheelchairs to cover their legs and keep them warm. That’s what I envision for these.
As I said, Miriam will be leaving us in the morning. The rest of us will be leaving on Friday morning. I seldom get to experience being in the company of women for a whole day, let alone a week. It has been a really good experience for me!
