Saturday, September 11, 2010

On the road, again!

Travel season has begun! I am posting from gate E24 at Charlotte Douglas International Airport, awaiting my flight to Atlanta. Thank heavens for airports with free Wi-Fi! Of course, I have 3 books with me, but that's what I do on the plane. I hate to run out of reading material before the end of my trips, so I ration out my reading accordingly. I also have my 4th of July Tablerunner to quilt (big sigh of relief when my needles and scissors made it through security), but I thought I'd check out what was happening in blogland, first.

Besides, I got 3 (almost uninterrupted) hours of sewing in yesterday afternoon, putting the blocks from my Great Great Grandmother's Quilt into a top. Ta-da!

I love it! This is a quilt top that will definitely become an honest-to-goodness quilt sooner, rather than later.

I finished sewing it together just in time to make it to the tail end of our Quilt Guild Business Meeting (there were some very satisfying 'oohhhs' and 'aahhhs' during Show and Tell when I held this flimsy up - I'm not above wanting my work to be liked by others!), and in plenty of time for our featured speaker, Mrs. Jane Hall, foundation piecing expert. She brought quilts and slides and her sense of humor. She was prepared; I was not. I brought my camera case, but the camera was at home next to my computer. Doh!

Luckily, you can see her quilts on her website. My favorite that she brought last night was one of her most recent, Vinas Viejas.

You really have to see it in person to appreciate the complexity, though. Those borders have so much depth and texture because they are PIECED! Just awesome! I enjoyed her talk, and am envious of those in my guild who are doing an all day workshop with her today while I fritter away my time in the airport. Just know that there is a workshop that I WILL NOT MISS - Bonnie Hunter is coming to our guild in February. I don't care what is happening in the world of college admissions on that day - I will be at that workshop! (OK, everyone, all together now, knock on wood.)


Going on this trip today is not all bad. Tonight, I will be staying with my quilting buddy, Nancy, who moved away in June. On Sunday and Monday night, I'll be staying with one of my buddies from back when I lived in Atlanta, and one night will be Girls Night Out with my twin sister's college roommate who has been a friend of mine for many years. And I don't have to cook, clean, taxi anyone around, etc for 4 whole days! Both boys mock-cried and clung to me when I left this morning, but they'll be fine. And I'll be back home on Tuesday night, and our reunion will be sweet all around!