Quilt Guild

Last Monday I had the pleasure of attending the Northwest Quilters guild meeting for the second time. There is quite a large group of active quilters - so it's really fun. First they go through the business - which is as exciting as you might imagine - but here's where the crafty folks pull out their hand work (and how I spotted the knitters). After the business there was a short break where we could chat & also vote for the winner of a quilt challenge. All the challenge quilts were hung up around the room so it was kind of like a mini-show. While not every quilt was to my taste, there were some really spectacular works. I wish I had brought my camera!

After the break there was a presentation by a quilt artist - Ellen Anne Eddy (yes, the quilting world has it's celebrities too!).

This is her "In Imagio Dei" - In the Image of God... her self portrait.

She was quite a crack up, and showed many really amazing pieces of art. We even got to pass them around and look at them up close - which was refreshing because usually with quilts the rule is 'look but don't touch' and for many of us with fiber obsessions - that's not easy!! It's hard to appreciate the quilts without seeing them in person - they have so much texture and the colors are so vibrant. I also really appreciated her attitude- that making art is a birth-right and not something for just 'artists', the way she expressed herself through her art, and just in general her relaxed & playful attitude towards quilting.

Anyway, after looking at all the challenge quilts, and after examining the art quilts, they did a show & tell where anyone could stand up and show of their current quilt projects. The first gal who got up worked at a popular quilt shop in Salem... the beautiful quilt was a store sample. The next quilter who got up pointed out a few of the fabrics which she had created using a sun-dying technique and commented that those fabrics would be in a new line of fabrics coming soon to a quilt shop near you. Another quilter was showing off just a few of the 140 doll quilts she made (of the 500 she plans to make) for a children's charity. One of the last quilters showed off a quilt she made after taking a class from Eddy and talked about how she'd been really inspired...went over and gave her a hug after showing off the beautiful quilt.

Now, prior to going to the meeting, Sally & I had been curled up on the couch keeping warm with Pink Lemonade. As I was getting ready to leave I literally just pulled it off the couch and stuck it in my bag - cat hair & all to bring with me so I could show a couple of friends who would be at the meeting & had only seen pictures of it. I made the mistake of showing it to one of those friends during the break, and she was quite insistent that I get up and present it during show & tell. As they were doing show & tell she even came over with the intent to drag me up there. But I couldn't... I just couldn't! How could I show my little cat-fur covered couch quilt after all that? Seriously it would be like going to a pot-luck with Caprial & John and bringing mac & cheese from a box. Now I love mac & cheese - I'm not ashamed to tell you. But there's no way I'd bring it to that pot-luck!

Fortunately she relented and I was saved from mortal embarassment. But it made me long for a quilt group like my knitting group. Granted, my regular knit-night is not a knitting guild... it is so much more casual. A few of us hang out at the yarn shop, knitting, noshing, and gossiping. Everyone in the store (staff & shoppers a like) are really friendly and I feel completely comfortable wandering over to a stranger and admiring their project, every once in a while we'll get together to see a 'celebrity' knitter, or go to the yarn festivals.. but mostly we just hang out and knit. So as much as I enjoy the opportunity to go to the quilt guild meeting and get inspired... I need to find something much lower-key for showing off my humble quilts!