March Cal-Co Quilter's Guild Meeting Part 1; Japanese Tsunami

Even though it has been such a busy couple of weeks, I attended the Cal-Co Quilter's Guild meeting in Battle Creek last night.  I didn't go last month, because I just couldn't pack one more thing in my schedule.  I felt the same this week, but I felt I really needed some "ME" time, so I got Sweet Pea to a sitter (Papa Pea teaches on Monday nights) and went.  I'm glad I did!  It was good to see Linda, Patti, Pat, and to meet some new people tonight.  And it was fun to just relax, for at least an hour and a half with friends!  Everyone wanted to go out for a bit after the meeting, and so did I.  But I had to go get Sweet Pea at the sitter and get her to bed...as well as myself...I always have 7 am meetings on Tuesdays, so it means getting up at 5 am for me.  And, I have the Kalamazoo guild meeting Tuesday night!  Usually these meetings are in different weeks, but they happened to fall in the same week this month.

I took a bunch of photos at the meeting to share with you.  Some of them aren't the greatest, because I wasn't sitting all that close to the front.  So, some of my photos are grainy.  Please forgive me!  (I'll get that DSLR one of these days, and then I'll magically take great photos, right?!)

This guild does Show and Tell right up front.  Man, you don't dare to be late for a guild meeting, or you miss some Show and Tell (like I did last night!).  My Kalamazoo guild does it at the end, so this is an adjustment for me.

Just as I walked in, Linda The Quilted Pineapple, was showing her tumblers quilt.  I love this quilt. It's really scrappy, and I love the colors!  It looks even better in person and has a pretty, dusty blue fabric on the back.  Just great.

Here's a little close up of her quilting.  I think it's just gorgeous.  I can't believe she just barely got the longarm and is already this good.  I bow to you, Linda!

This was a neat quilt.  The gal said that her 80-something-year-old mother did the redwork embroidery in the center.  Then, each of the gals in her quilting group added a border.  Finally, they all tied the quilt.  This was donated as a charity quilt.  So pretty.  Red and white just works every time, doesn't it?!

I wish I had caught the front of this quilt.  It was all the Cat in the Hat fabric that I've seen in the quilt shops and thought was cute but I had no idea what you'd do with it to make a good looking quilt. I mean, it's pretty wild fabric!   And the front of this was soooo adorable!  But the ladies were just whipping through Show and Tell.  By the time I would get my camera on, pointed, focused, etc, they'd be moving on!  ARGH!  (Papa Pea would just make fun of how slow I am with the camera!).  But, even the back of this was cute, so I grabbed a photo of it.

 Next, it was time for the guild to crown its "Quilter of the Year."  I really liked this.  I've never seen another guild do this (and I've belonged to what...two other guilds...so that's not saying much!  haha).  The gals in the guild all nominated individuals who should be Quilter of the Year.  It was based on quilting skill, longevity in quilting, service to the guild, and so on.  Each Quilter of the Year had to put together a little bio about themselves, and then the guild members voted.  I'm not sure what honors and privileges Quilter of the Year comes with, but clearly, you get this awesome crown and lovely purple boa to wear.  This is Judy.  She's last year's Quilter of the Year and is getting ready to announce the upcoming Quilter of the Year.

And here she is, crowning Rita, the new Quilter of the Year.

Passing the boa to Rita.

Getting the crown "fitted."

Rita said thank you and then tried to talk, but she was pretty speechless and quite teary.  It was very sweet.  Congratulations to her!  How wonderful!

Our guest speaker was Nancy Conn, owner of a store in Charlotte, MI, called The Hen House.  She specializes in hand-dyed wools and wool applique.  She brought tons of cute wool stuff to show us.  But this post is getting sort of long.  So, I think I'll do another post about all the cool wool stuff.  She gave some great tips on wool, too, so that will be included in the post.  Come on back tomorrow for more on that.  Until then, if you'd like to visit Nancy's store website, click here.  I really want to go to her store sometime.  Linda says it's amazing.  We want to take a rug hooking class there, and Nancy was so sweet.  She said if we have a small group (and we have a group of 3) who wants to do a class, just let her know and she'll do it when it's convenient for us.  How great is that?!  You really have to see the cute stuff she brought.  I went crazy for a few of them!

Hope you're having a good week.  I'm coming to the end of the craziness (I hope) at work in a few days.  I am looking forward to an opportunity to catch my breath momentarily!

I hope everyone is keeping the folks in Japan in your thoughts.  I have friends there, as well as some friends here who have family there.  I e-mailed my friends and so far, they are okay.  But poor Yoko was visiting her sick mother in the hospital when the quake happened.  Because all the trains stopped, she had to walk 90 minutes to get home.  Yoko is near 70 years old.  But she is the toughest, little, tiny woman you'll ever meet.  I can just picture her trudging home!  And Yosh, her husband, told me books were flying off their bookshelves at their home for several minutes during the quake.   He said it was very scary.

Here's a photo of Yosh holding Sweet Pea at our professional conference in May last year.

There is some really amazing footage of the tsunami wiping out an entire town in about 6 minutes. I thought it was absolutely amazing and so--well, frankly, disturbing and frightening.  Six minutes!  Barely enough time to get out!

It just seems to be getting worse over there, and my heart aches for all of the Japanese people.  I wish I could do something that I felt would help and make a difference.  In the meantime, remember to continue to count our blessings here, at least for now!

Until next time,

Mama Pea

P.S.  I am sorry I'm so behind on reading all your blogs.  I just haven't been able to keep up!

Comments

[Maggie Szafranski]

We do a quilter of the month, but no crown or boa. It basically is a showcase of that quilter's work. I'm in charge of the committee that handles that....we may add a boa or tiara!

[Linda]

The night went by too fast! I felt like we hardly got to visit! We'll have to change that!! It's so sad in Japan. Yes, my thoughts and prayers are there. Yosh and Sweet Pea look so cute together.

Thanks for the lovely compliments. Very generous.

[Sue]

Loved the quilt display. I saw Linda's on her post and yes, she is very talented with her quilting.

I love Nancy Conn! How cool that she came to speak at your meeting. I need to get down to her store again here real soon. I love her store and wool! I also love her hand-crank sewing machines.

Thanks for such a neat post!

[Cathy Buel]

Thank you for sharing your guild with me. I didn't Linda (Quilted Pineapple) lived in Michigan too. I hope you friends in Japan stay safe. Hugs

[Melissa]

Looks like you had a very nice time at guild! I really should start going to the meetings, get myself out of the house. LOL I love Nancy and her shop too!

[Aunt Pea]

I love the idea of a royal Quilter of the Year, it's so good to see people celebrating their art and their friends. Your Quilting Guild has a great thing going!

[Johanna]

Ah, I love the quilter of the year idea! It is so wonderful to acknowledge what someone has done for the quilt guild or what progress they have made.
As to Japan, it is aweful. Just seeing the pictures made me tear up. And I don't even want to imagine what people there are going through or will go through...

[Patti]

I didn't know Nancy would start a class with just 3 people. Linda has been wanting to take the rug hooking class but it's always Friday night. I have date night with family and friends on Friday. Would love to do a rug hooking class with you and Linda if we could come up with a better night. My heart aches for all those in Japan. I can't wrap my brain around it.

[Lynn]

I feel so helpless watching those horrifying videos from Japan. Water can be sooo destructive! I knew that, but to see it happening is another thing all together.

Glad you got to go to the guild meeting. I know how you feel. Sometimes I don't want to go either because I don't feel like I have time, but there is something about getting together with friends and looking at quilts that just makes me feel better!