Or was it the fifth day???
Hmmm. More quilting with friends, in Colorado this time. I saw lots of big sky highway. 
And I got to spend some wonderful time with friends. Quilting and laughing and being.
Filled up the well of creative inspiration as well as Quilting sister and friend treasured time.
What more could a girl ask for?
More quilting time with friends!
After a retreat in the winter, and an excursion to Phoenix for quilting, I made it to Virginia for…. You guessed it – more quilting with friends!
It was wonderful to see and reconnect and hang out with very dear friends in Virginia. I was part of their spring quilt retreat for the guild I still belong to in NOVA. Wow – what a wonderful time. I won’t say that I was incredibly productive, because…. I wasn’t. I did get some quilting done on my visit, but alas, it was very much about friend time and getting that infusion of quilting sister time.
I really am fortunate to say I have quilting friends all over North America. And, I learn from each one of them, and glean enthusiasm and energy, I also am comforted by the familiar banter, and new friends joining in the fun. Laughter until we cry, hugs and smiles, and become updated with each other’s journeys through life.
I feel like this is almost like the quilt version of Sheldon Cooper’s “Fun with Flags” from the Big Bang Theory TV series. Well – not quite. I didn’t convince any significant other to help host a web series of “Fun With Quilts”. Lol.
Okay – a little diversion for December. My quilt adventures did include a fun retreat with friends earlier this year, and I did have great fun enjoying the snowy weather, along with getting some quilting done. It was a mixed media group of friends – everyone was working on something different, with a couple of us working on quilting. It was great fun getting to quilt with a dear friend from high school. It almost felt like time had stood still with us visiting. It was nostalgic, but oh so cool to think that XX years later, we could get together and quilt. Not exactly what we had envisioned in high school. Notice, I did not put the exact year in. Attribute that to it being over 2 digits in years ago when we used to hang out together. This is also due to the fact that if I distract myself by reminiscing, I’ll never finish this blog post (refer back to previous blog post about what I learned in my 40’s). Lol.
A fun fact about that weekend was that my friend’s daughter was to join us, but was unable to make it. The very first quilt I completed was a gift for my friend’s daughter when she was born. It blows my mind that we have come full circle and both enjoy quilting now, even bringing it to multiple generations, and that the “threads” of friendship go beyond the memories we shared in the past.
The focus on quilting this year really was about the experiences, moreso than the level of completion. Albeit I did get a few things done, but the richness of the time came from laughter and creating new memories. The quilts continue to be carried from one activity to another, gaining depth and soul from each moment of unfolding, discussion, and adding a few more stitches.
Okay – so I am officially a day behind, so there will be 2 blog posts today, or maybe I’ll just combine the two. I am taking a page out of another quilt artist’s book – blogging daily for a month. I did this last year – for a lot of personal success I would say. Let’s try this again, forgiving my tardiness from yesterday.
I started a new job just over a week ago – another leg of my journey. I needed a “reset”. And, I am enjoying the journey. It always teaches you something about yourself. And, I can use this daily reflection for a recap on how my quilting journey has gone this year and what this has taught me about you myself as well as my quilting.
First and foremost – many of my vacations this year surrounded quilting. It was purposeful. I don’t belong to a local quilting group yet (yes, my own fault, and several excuses as well) and so I spent some time with quilting tribes at other locations. I needed the infusion of the quilting tribes that I am a part of. Some of the tribes are small, with membership in the single digits, while others are larger groups with much different energy.
My first quilting expedition involved joining a dear friend in Phoenix for some days of fun in the sun, great visiting, and some piecing a project that we are both doing. Her version is going to be very lovely. Some greens, burgundy, taupe, pinks…. Mine – lots of wonderful batiks in purples and oranges, and colour. Lovely colour. I’ve blogged about this project orviously. This is a long term project. Not one for the faint of heart. Mind you, it will result in a queen sized quilt.
The link to an image is here : Tula Pink Butterfly
It will be great fun…. But the process and time spent with friends is even better.
More tomorrow on my 2017 quilt adventures….
Great Scott Quilting 