Stiches of My Life

   

In 2014 I went to my very first quilt show. To be honest I didn't even know what that was much less what you do at it but there isn't a lot to do in this town so I went. I was mesmerized from the moment I walked in the door. When I arrived I received a program book talking about the quilts with a set of gloves because you were welcome to touch the quilts but only when wearing the gloves. This rule was highly enforced, trust me on that. There was over 100 quilts on display hanging all over the Civic Center.  I was so fascinated by these truly amazing art pieces that sit in our closets or on lay on our beds. In a short eight hours I soaked up all the knowledge I could from anyone that would talk to me. I started with Teri Walker. She owns a local quilt shop in town called Country living Quilts. WOW she is a wealth of quilting knowledge. She took me right under her wing and seemed so happy to show me the basics of this underground world I knew nothing about. I also found out our little town actually had two quilt shops. Next, I moved on to Kristy Vandegriff and her mom, Nell Linton. They showed me the different pattern styles and what binding a quilt meant.

As I finished walking around admiring all the quilts I noticed lots of vendor booths selling quilting everything. Of course I didn't know what half the stuff was, but people were eager to show me. That year a quilt sold for $2000.00 and a few appraised for over $1000.00. Yes a lady gets paid to appraise quilts. Who knew?? As I was leaving and thanking Kristy for a wonderful day she said, "I bought you something." It was an Elf on the Shelf piecing kit. I was so excited and immediately had big plans. I was going to make three quilts for the kids for Christmas. Keep in mind the quilt show was in October of that year.

A few weeks later Kristy took me shopping for the back material for the quilt and we discussed how I was going to piece my quilts together. I thought this is going to be so easy and fun. I never stopped to think about the fact that I had never sewed anything in my life. So I informed Kristy I had never sewed and I suck at math. You would be shocked at how much math is in quilting. We started with sewing 101. After working on my first quilt a few Sundays it was clear one quilt was all I could get done in this time frame. I truly had no idea how hard it was going to be. I was thinking wham bam done.  That year I did finish one quilt and to say I was proud of it was a understatement but NO kid was getting that quilt. I would have died if they spilled something on it or were dragging it around on ground. That year Matt bought me a sewing machine for Christmas and it still isn't out of the box.

Fast forward to 2015 and with the Jewett Quilt Show show approaching I entered my quilt to be displayed. It wasn't as glamorous as many others but I was so proud of it. I took third in the First Quilt Category and I was beaming with excitement. I also volunteered that year to do hospitality for the judges. I walked with them, never saying a word, just them extra sheets of paper, food, water and moving their chairs around for them so they could sit and look at the quilts. The knowledge I got from that experience was priceless. I encourage everyone to attend in 2016

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So here we are. It has been almost a year since I made my first quilt and I thought making another quilt would be great thing to add to my 40 day countdown. Matt's brother is getting married this weekend and so I volunteered to make them a quilt for everyone to sign, like a guest book. Of course my first phone call was to Kristy asking could she help me and the second was to Teri. These ladies make it happen in the quilting world. We got together on fabric and piecing. Kristy gave up a few Sundays to help me. I had to rip a few seams out and redo the layout a few times but the finished project is perfect. I can now say I have finished two quilts in my life and I am so proud of both of them. I picked it up today from the quilter and had to share.