My Blue Heaven in Fairborn ---

Yes, the class that had no display sample because I left it at home!

I am augmenting a new rule for myself. Before quilts are folded and placed into bags or unpacked at home and put away --- fold everything RIGHT SIDE OUT!

I know exactly what happened….I know the My Blue Heaven quilt had a tan/plaid backing on it. How similar is it to “other” quilts with “other” tan/plaid backings?

There was a fabric sale and I bought YARDS of woven plaids and homespuns to be used as backings for scrappy quilts…..and it is so easy to think that one quilt is another when you just see a “familiar” backing for a blue/neutral quilt.

But I’m not beating myself up over it anymore! I had some great students who had sewn test blocks, and between the blocks and the patterns everyone had – we were good to go. The only thing I really miss was the reaction of students getting up close and personal with the quilt and the actual fabrics in it, and hearing them say things like:

“I remember that one!”

“Oh, I had this one in green and red too!”

“You actually put THIS IN THERE?!?”

“I never would have used that as a neutral next to this one”

“Oh this piece, brings back so many memories for me!”

“How come I never saw THIS fabric before when I swear I’ve seen them all!?

Along with our Nebraska Contingency, we had a couple early risers who left the house before 6:30 am, in INDIANA --- to drive all the way over to take today’s workshop. I knew I knew their faces…I just couldn’t place them from where!

The photo at the top of this post ---me crawling around on top of the hexagon medallion and pointing out various fabrics and where they came from, how long I’d had them --- came from the Indiana Contingency! Thanks for sending this very glamorous (HA!) photo!

They came to my visit in Davenport/Moiline a couple months ago! I recognized the smiles, but thought it was because they were in Columbus, a couple weeks ago --- I’m pretty good with smiles and faces and familiarity, but you take them out of the surroundings where I saw them last, and I could have just as easily ran into them at the grocery store last week in NC ----Gosh I am so brain dead, but as we talked and visited, the stories they told me in Moline on how they got their first group together to go on retreat, and the fun they had all came flooding back, and they found their place in my muddled memory, and we made some NEW memories – all 29 of us thrown into class together!

So let me present to you ---without benefit of a class sample quilt – just what everyone dug into in yesterdays My Blue Heaven workshop!

		My Blue Heaven, Fairborn, OH 2012 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

The lecture last night was great--- without an empty chair to be found, and standing room only. It was fun presenting several of the new quilts from String Fling and getting people all excited about looking at their humblest of scraps in new ways with a new light shining on them. You could see the ideas flowing!

A highlight for me was meeting Amy, who has been instrumental as a block tester for Quiltmaker Magazine ---and we got our picture together --

I also had the priviledge of meeting Cathy Young, of Young’s Jersey Dairy! Who know that she was a Quilter! I had ice cream at her place on Monday eve --- she came to see the quilts on Tuesday – is that kismet, or what? She was thrilled about yesterday’s blog post – and agrees on the yumminess of the smores flavor!

Today is “Cathedral Stars” and YES I HAVE THAT QUILT! ((Oh, I’ll beat myself up about leaving the class quilt at home for a long long time I have a feeling ---))

Today is my last day in Fairborn --- Thursday --- I'’ve got a road trip to Ashtabula!

Have a great Wednesday, everyone!