Quilting Fun

My First Real Quilt

I haven't written anything here in over a month because things have been hopping here.   First, I completed a 5 week course on beginning quilting and have had homework to do each week.  Making mistakes at just about every step of the way and having to pull stitches out and redo made it take longer than if I could follow directions.  However, I'm the kind of person who learns by doing and the mistakes have helped me learn why there is a right way to do it.  Despite it all, I was able to finish my first quilt in the allotted 5 weeks and, despite it's imperfections, I love it.

Quilt Back

Our instructor, Linda Hungerford, was excellent.  She is an experienced quilter whose passion is modern quilting, but her class effectively taught all the basics needed in the creation of any quilt.  She will be conducting several all day seminars on free motion quilting in the fall, and I've signed up for the one in October.

I have also gotten involved with the new Eastern European genealogy special interest group.  Their first meeting was held in June.  As it turned out, questions came up about 2 topics I am very familiar with, Dropbox and Cyndi's List.   As a  result, I presented these topics at the July and August meetings.

Custom Fidget Quilt

While all this was happening, our Fabric Fun Arts and Crafts group Fidget Quilt project has taken off.  The local newspaper sent a reporter and photographer to interview us and they ran a great article with 3 photos in the paper about a week ago.  Then they followed up with a second volunteer salute in the Sunday paper.  As a result, we've been getting lots of calls  It's wonderful.  We have delivered fidget quilts to 3 area nursing homes and to almost a dozen individuals caring for loved ones with Alzheimer's.  (I'm particularly proud of the one pictured here. It went to an Irish Catholic mother of 10 and grandmother of 27. The pocket contains a rosary for her.)
 Yesterday I received a call from the Community Educator for the Alzheimer's support groups in the tri-county area. She is going to spread the word about what we are doing, so we have an opportunity to help even more people. I am very excited, but it's going to be a bit of work.  Over the past 2 weeks I made several quilts specific to the life of the person who was to receive it and that has taken up some time.  It was worth it.  The ladies in the group continue to bring me new fidget quilts every week, so I will have a stash available to give to those who call.

I have found a real home with the Fabric Fun Arts and Crafts group and a volunteering effort I can embrace with a passion.  The ladies in this group are creative, always willing to help each other and willing to learn new things.  I feel like I have found a group of women who  will be friends with for the rest of my life.  One of the many things I love about the Villages is the fact that, with all the different clubs and special interest groups, it is easy to find friends with similar interests.