I’m always a little nostalgic this time of year. I see the yellow school buses and kids on the street corner waiting to board. All of the school supplies are out at the stores. The parents are purchasing them by the buggy load, with a gleam in their eye. They know that soon the long summer chasing kids will be over and school will once again usher their little darlings into the arms of knowledge and get them out of their hair…
When I was teaching, by this time in summer, I would have at least two months of lesson plans under my belt and be more than ready for the first class on the first day of the school year. This year I was slightly taken aback when I saw the large Thomas Built buses rolling past my house this week. Had school started back already? Where had the summer gone?
And I’m booked solid for September. Between the quilt shop and new classes and my guild, it’s holding that this month will be just as cray-cray.
I am excited about two classes I’m taking. The first is a Christmas table runner and placemat set with Gloria Stickney. She uses the square-in-a-square method, and while I have used this method before, this is the first time I’ve sat in on a class. We’re working with the diamond technique, and that’s a first for me, too. Shelle, Janet, and I are taking the class together. I’m really looking forward to it, as all I have to do is show up and sew. The kit is pre-cut.
The second class that I’m enrolled in is Lorraine Covington’s National Quilt Judging Association class. While this won’t make me a quilt judge (there still would be a lot of work to do before I could bear that title), it’s a stepping stone and everything I learn will make me a better quilter.
The High Point Quilt Guild has several opportunities to get out in our community and promote quilting. While I can’t be at every one of these events, I do plan to be at several. All this leads to the fact, that for this month my quilting time is way too limited for my liking. But October means Quilt Retreat and Quilt Retreat means four uninterrupted days of piecing and fellowshipping. In slightly over 50 days, I and thirty of my closest quilty friends will be at Haw River State Park for a long weekend of sewing. I have three quilts I need to cut out and get ready for this. Somebody tell my boss I need a couple of days off to get ready…
In the meantime, I have something to show for my time. Remember the Hand Print Quilt I shared back in the spring that some of our guild members help make for the teacher that had cancer? Well, it was featured in the High Point Enterprise last weekend. I can’t tell you how much joy I got out of helping the kindergarten class make this for their beloved teacher. The fact that she so obviously cherishes it makes it even more special. Quilters do truly get just as much out of giving of themselves in the quilt as the recipient gets out of receiving the quilt.
And I have had time to paper piece some more squares for my Farmer’s Wife Quilt. I have one more to go and then I’m going to start putting the top together. There are more squares to make, but I’m about at the halfway mark and want to begin the top’s construction before I make any more. It will help me see how my color wave is working.
Have a great week and a wonderful Labor Day weekend! Keep something under your needle!
Love and Stitches,
Sherri and Sam