I have been invited to show my quilts to my second sister’s quilt group at church. This is the first time I have ever done a formal Show and Tell of my work. I’m accustomed to having guests ask me to show them what I’m working on (in my bedroom/quilt studio), but I’ve never done a program of this sort for a guild or bee or quilt group.
I have to thank these ladies for getting me started on my Spring cleaning! I’ve pulled quilts from the backs of couches and the walls and the storage cabinets in the great room, from my bed, from the quilt rack in the bedroom, from my closet and my mother’s closet, and from the closet in the guest room! Most of the quilts have been run through the dryer on air fluff to remove dust and lint.
Second Sister also asked for quilt tips, and I’ve posted those in an earlier entry. I’m taking one medium-sized tote bag with things like my favorite pins, needles and thread, and the magazines I consider necessary. I’m also taking the size olfa cutter I prefer and a new turntable mat I’ve fallen in love with for sub-cutting patches. One of the items is a piece of screening, the kind you use for summer screens. If you have a fragile quilt, like a crazy quilt, you lay the quilt on a carpet, and lay the screen over it, and hand vacuum it. It gets the dust off without damaging the fabrics and embroidery.
I counted, and last night I bagged up 31 quilts and tops . I have a crazy quilt and a scrap quilt to bag, and I’m debating whether or not I’ll be taking the family crazy quilt from 1890. My grandmother did six over-sized crazy quilt blocks to which I added a backing for safety. The fabrics are very fragile. Some are starting to disintegrate. I may choose to leave it at home once I’ve inspected it.
These 31 quilts are not every quilt that I have in the house. While my walls are really bare at the moment, I still have several antique quilts, and many wall hangings that I’m not taking. I wish I could take the Sails and Whales quilt that I’m doing for Dear Husband, but it’s pinned to the rollers for the quilt frame, and it’s just too long to pack.
I organized the quilts into categories to decide what to take. Early work, Mystery Quilts, Bee Quilts, Crazy Quilts, Half-Square Triangle Quilts, and One of a Kind Quilts were the divisions that made sense to me. I just realized that I could have borrowed TWO signature or album quilts from Elegante Mother, and the Hand-print Quilt in the hallway, and the box of batik hands that I’m doing for the next generation, to talk about genealogy quilts. But…..enough is enough. I know there’s going to be complaining when we have to carry everything in, and back out.
I’m going to give my digital camera to one of the ladies and ask her to take pictures of the quilts as they are shown. It will be the first time some of these quilts will have been photographed. I need to bring my quilting journal up to date.
I don’t need to have you wish me luck; this is a subject near and dear to my heart. But, you can wish me smooth sailing. The ladies will probably have to tell me that it’s time to go, long before I get to the end of what I want to share. Isn’t it wonderful to be able to share something you love?