I was lucky enough to be invited to teach for the Quilt Symposium of Alabama www.qsai.org/. Paulette Burgett was the teacher contact and she was simply a delightful lady. She had everything very well organized. The seminar was hosted by the Heartland Quilt Guild. The volunteers from the guild work tirelessly to have vendors, a judged show, transportation for the teachers to and from the hotel and so very much more. And they make it look easy. But, those of you who have done anything like this know it is a lot of very hard work. The seminar was held at St. Bernard’s Retreat and Conference Center in Cullman, Alabama. This town was hit really, really hard the beginning of May with tornadoes. The ladies explained there were about 30 tornadoes that touched down within a small area. Here are some of the things I saw on my way from the hotel to the conference center.
I was shocked when the ladies told me that only 2 people where killed during this massive storm. If you saw the total amount of devastation you would have thought hundreds of people where killed.
The location for the seminar, though just a short distance from this massive damage, was untouched. The conference center had just a couple of trees knocked down.
On the final day of the seminar there was a thunder storm that came through Cullman. I guess this tree came loose during the big storms and decided to fall over onto the electric lines on Saturday. It knocked out all of the electricity on campus. The good news was that the electricity, which meant the air conditioning also (with 95 degree temperatures) was only off for a short time and it happened during our lunch break. The electric company came to our rescue.
The ladies from this area were real troopers. I think holding the seminar was just what they needed. To enjoy themselves for a couple of days after some difficult times was a good thing. My heart goes out to all of those who lost their homes and/or family members.
Here are some of the ladies hard at work during the Folk Art Fantasy workshop.
Here are just a few quilts from the show that I thought you might like to see.
This is called “When Mom’s Away….It’s a “Bad Dog” Day.” The maker is Sherrie Cahill. It made me smile.
This was actually a Best of Show winner from the 2008 show. It is called “Purple Mountains Majesty” and the maker was Mary Grace Brown. I thought it was just beautiful and great workmanship to boot.
This miniature quilt made by Cheryl Clabough is called “Tropical Paradise”. Cheryl said she made this in a class with George Siciliano. It was very impressive.
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Sewing room update. The drawers are in and the security system is in. Tomorrow the painters arrive and next Tuesday the carpet comes. Things are rolling along nicely.
I leave Friday for my next teaching trip to Appleton, Wisconsin. Should be another fun adventure.