This past week has been a very, very busy week for me. I started the week going to Fort Wayne, Indiana. It was my first time to visit Fort Wayne. I thought based on the size of their airport Fort Wayne was going to be much smaller than it actually was. On my first evening in Fort Wayne several ladies from the guild invited me to join them for a “potluck” dinner. Each of the ladies who attended brought something to eat. And they all knew that I ate vegetarian and they were most accommodating. The meal and the company were excellent. My guild contact, Jan Johnson, is going to be sending me some of the recipes which I will share with you in a future blog.
On Tuesday I taught a 3 hour workshop on designing applique blocks and borders and gave a lecture that evening. Then on Wednesday I taught a 6 hour machine applique workshop. When you see the pictures below you can judge for yourself but I think these ladies had a good time and learned a lot. They look like happy campers to me.
You can find more information about this guild by visiting their website www.appleseedquiltersguild.com/ I know I have mentioned this before after visiting other guilds but I think Fort Wayne might just go down as doing the most charity work of any guild I have attended. I’ll grant you that I don’t always know the total amount of charity work each guild I visit is doing but I do know the Appleseed Quilters are certainly doing more than their share. Keep up the good work ladies. This guild also has a lot of little “bees” as they call them. Since the guild is pretty large they opted to form smaller groups (“bees”) that meet in a more intimate atmosphere so the members bond a little better than if they only see each other at the larger guild meeting. Great idea ladies.
Here is one of the not so fun things that happens during my travels. Sitting on the runway of the Fort Wayne airport for an hour because of problems in Chicago, which is where I had to make my connection late Wednesday evening. But, I made good use of the time. I finished reading the book I mention below.
One thing that I was excited about that was unrelated to my quilting adventures this week was a book that I read. The Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group marketing people apparently check to see if people are writing reviews, etc. about their authors. Well, one of their marketing people, Adrienne Sparks, noted that I wrote a review on Pat Conroy’s book called “South of Broad” in my blog. Adrienne wrote and asked me if I would like an advance copy of Pat Conroy’s new book “My Reading Life” which is due to be released the beginning of November. I was very excited to be one of the first people to read this book. And I would highly recommend it. After reading several of Pat Conroy’s books over the years it was a pleasure to see how he developed as a writer. He writes about the books and people who have had an affect on his writing. After reading this book I think that Pat Conroy might possibly be one of the best read authors of all time. He talks about how if he liked one book from an author he would devour all books written by that author. I do understand that mind set. I too find that once I find an author that I like I go back and read all of their previous books. I just wish I could find as much reading time as Mr. Conroy. It is no wonder, with his extensive reading library, that he is able to use some of the best descriptive words. Thank you to Pat Conroy for this glimpse into his reading world and too Adrienne for sending me an advanced copy. What a thrill.
On Thursday I drove to Paramus, New Jersey to present 2 lectures and a workshop to the Brownstone Quilters Guild www.brownstonequilters.com/ Another lovely group of people. It took me a little under 4 hours to make the drive. If the New Jersey Parkway was not so congested the drive could be made in close to 3 hours I think. But, as always, I was listening to a good audio book which does make the stop and go traffic not as bad. (I’ll fill you in on the new Nicholas Sparks book when I finish it.) This was my second visit to the Brownstone Quilters. I had been there probably ten years ago. Boy, that reminds me just how long I have been doing this. The guild was very welcoming and took great care of me while I was in Paramus. The workshop chairperson had been reading my blog and on the morning of the workshop there was a chai tea latte sitting on my table. I am so spoiled. I love it. I just love those kind of surprises.
One of the greatest gifts I receive is hearing the complimentary comments of the students as they leave the workshop. It does my heart good to get such great comments. I put a lot of work into preparing for my workshops because I want to ensure that all the students have a good day. One lady said “You don’t know what you don’t know until you know it”. Every applique teacher uses different techniques. I only teach the techniques that work well for me. But, I am a firm believer that if you really want to learn about applique you should take classes from as many different teachers as you can. We all present the information in a different way and sometimes you might not be ready for it but the next time it might just get through to you.
This week I’m off to Connecticut via the Rhode Island airport. Should be another interesting adventure.