Columbia and Raleigh

Well, I had a pretty busy--and nice--weekend. We got up early on Saturday and drove to Columbia for me to do a trunk show for the District 4 State Group there. What a great group! About 4 years ago, one of the members, Sandra Baker, decided that it would be nice if they had an annual gathering so everyone in their district could get to know each other better. They also invite everyone from all the guilds in their area to come so they can be introduced to the state-wide organization. It has gotten better each year. Being part of the larger state group is a benefit to everyone as the members meet and exchange ideas with folks from all over.

I took three suitcases full of quilts--along with my husband, the heavy lifter, and showed and talked about them before lunch. Everyone was so receptive and had wonderful questions and comments. I was going to have my husband take pictures; however, when he found out that he would be the only guy and there were volunteers to hold the quilts, well . . .he scadoodled. In all, it was a four hour meeting and everyone had such a good time, that it didn't seem nearly that long.

After the meeting, we drove on up to Raleigh so I could get two quilts appraised the next morning by Jane Hall. She is such a gracious person and has been so encouraging and helpful to me. She is an expert in foundation piecing and had just finished the first draft of a book the day before I got there. On top of that, she had just gotten back from teaching at the Road to California Quilt Show, amongst other things. In this picture, she is looking at my quilt and deciding how to write up the description on the appraisal form.

So, now I'm back at work on my tumbling blocks. You know, I haven't even made a DENT in my scrap bins!