Holy smokes, am I stoked! I got to see the cover of my new book for the first time today. My latest quilting book, \u201cQuick Little Landscape Quilts,\u201d makes its debut this fall. In fact, I\u2019m so happy, I feel like doing cartwheels across my lawn. I said I feel like doing cartwheels, not that I will do cartwheels. Hell would freeze over and pigs would fly if I attempted a cartwheel at my age.<\/p>\n
Seeing the cover of my new book got me to thinking about my \u201cThursday\u201d quilting group. Without them, the cover quilt for my new book, \u201cDryer Lint, Etc.,\u201d would not be in existence.<\/p>\n
You see, my funky little \u201ccover\u201d quilt, is constructed primarily from dryer lint. Call me crazy, but I like to use \u201cfound\u201d stuff in my quilts \u2013 anything that imparts realism works for me. Lucky for me, my Thursday \u201cpals\u201d save their colored- and felted-wool dryer lint for me. (Note: I have enough to last me for centuries so no need to send me yours.)<\/p>\n
We \u201cstitch and bitch\u201d together every other Thursday and we know each other so well, it\u2019s like we have formed our own support group, minus the shrink. Through \u201cthe best of times and the worst of times,\u201d we are there for one another. If one of us needs technical advice on a quilting project, we are Johnny on the spot with multiple solutions!<\/p>\n
When I first attended Thursday group, I used to sit next to my dear friend, Ivy Tuttle, and watch her hand-quilt. Ivy is one of those rare quilters who \u201ccrab\u201d quilts, meaning she can quilt any direction with precise, teeny-tiny stitches. Although I never mastered \u201ccrab\u201d quilting, with Ivy\u2019s tutelage, I eventually became a decent hand-quilter. A long-time Kent resident, Ivy is one of the most creative and talented quilters I know.<\/p>\n
The other day, she showed up at Thursday Group, with a huge pile of original hand-appliqu\u00e9d quilt blocks. Ivy is creating what she calls a \u201cJournal\u201d quilt with blocks depicting every-day occurrences in her life for an entire year. These meticulous blocks portray incredibly happy, joyous themes as well as sad occurrences.<\/p>\n
Studying Ivy\u2019s blocks, I laughed and cried and was amazed at her ability to represent some her daily experiences in cloth. I count myself fortunate to have Ivy as my friend, as well as all of my other \u201cThursday\u201d friends. Thank you, dear friends, for your friendship!<\/p>\n
If you are a solitary quilter, think about starting your own group with like-minded quilters. You\u2019ll be surprised with the long-time friendships you will make as well as all of the other \u201cperks!\u201d<\/p>\n
Happy stitching!<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Joyce Becker is a Kent resident, longtime quilter, quilting author and a columnist for the Kent Reporter. Let us know what you think! Send your comments to Editor Laura Pierce at lpierce@kentreporter.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Confessions of a quiltaholic: My Thursday quilting group of friends
\nHoly smokes, am I stoked! I got to see the cover of my new book for the first time today. My latest quilting book, \u201cQuick Little Landscape Quilts,\u201d makes its debut this fall. In fact, I\u2019m so happy, I feel like doing cartwheels across my lawn. I said I feel like doing cartwheels, not that I will do cartwheels. Hell would freeze over and pigs would fly if I attempted a cartwheel at my age.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":216,"featured_media":6317,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-6316","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-life"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6316"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/216"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6316"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6316\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6316"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=6316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}