Friendship in the Blogosphere

I did the senior thing. Went on a day-long bus trip to Jacksonville (Florida) and found that, disappointingly, I fit right in. I wasn't too young, as much as I hoped otherwise. I had the pleasure of sitting next to Barb who lives in a retirement community about an hour from The Villages, so during our five hours of travel time (2-1/2 hours each way) we had plenty of time to get to know each other. 

In Jacksonville, I went to the quilt show - QuiltFest - an annual collaboration among seven area quilt guilds. Photo-taking is permitted, but publicly posting pictures of quilts (as on a blog) without the quiltmakers' permission, isn't. It was a nice show.

The quilt award ribbons were right up my alley. Someone sure spent a lot of time making these. Every one was well-constructed, and even embellished with beads. 

The palm tree theme (Such a refreshing change to see palms wherever I go - even at quilt shows!) carried over to tables in the eating area. Again, it looked like lots of work went into the making of them.

Possibly the most enjoyable part of the whole day was spending time with Lora, a blogger-friend from near Ocala (DragonflyQuiltworks.com) who I had the pleasure of meeting in person. How is it that we feel comfortable hugging someone we're meeting for the first time?! Lora and I had a wonderful time hanging out together, looking at and critiquing quilts, as well as stopping at all the vendor booths. It was even more fun to look for fabrics when it turns out we like the same ones.

Here we're standing in front of a pretty batik quilt made by Pauline Williams-Banta (shown with permission). Lora and I might meet up again when I visit a Gainesville MQG meeting.

Though the vendors weren't stocking much in the way of modern fabrics, I managed to buy 9-1/2 yards of it! Now washed, pressed, and ready to be sewn, you wouldn't know from looking that I shopped with the intention of reloading my stash with orange. Note the two aqua pieces on the right. I am totally smitten with this print called "painter's canvas," by Laura Gunn. Since the show I learned it comes in other colors, including orange.

At home, these fabrics arrived by mail from Marie-Madeline Studio. Great sales going on there last week - 40 percent off. It was definitely stash-building time.

Sewing-wise, here's a glimpse of what I've been working on the past few days. This is one of eight beach cabanas that will appear on a beach-themed wall hanging that's now on my design wall. Each cabana is made from a different fabric given to me in April by Iowa girlfriends - and with the challenge to use all eight prints in a quilt.

When it's finished, one might also see a palm tree in this project. Linda