Quilting opens many doors

I met so many wonderful ladies at the guild coffee. These ladies were a total blast to be around! Their experience and insight was/is fantastic! I brought my simple straight forward quilting pieces for show and tell and then there were the pieces that they brought in for show and tell, all I can say was WOW! I got to sit with such a great group of experienced quilters and I felt very welcome there too. I don't know if I was the youngest person there but I certainly looked and felt like it, LOL! But seriously, everyone there was VERY nice and I did feel a true sense of being genuinely welcomed into the group. I was thrilled that I got to meet the sister in law of one of the ladies that I have craft group with. I met Donna's sister-in-law Carol-I can not say enough nice things about either of these women! And just as a little side note- not a single one of them asked me what my husband did or what his rank was, this is just as it should be. Come to think of it, not a single one of them talked about their spouses or children... just quilting!

I came home feeling seriously motivated and energized by just being around such talented quilters. I met up with a group of ladies at the Quilt Connection to see what they have left. You see, the store is moving to a new location (closer to the highway) and they are having a HUGE clearance sale so they won't have to move so many bolts of fabric. I bought some Fat Quarters, I've got some ideas for a great table runner and I needed some Autumn colors for it Ü. After I came home I right away started working some more on Hannah's quilt. The next 4 hours seemed to fly by and before I knew it, I was done with the top piece, I had cut the border strips cut am getting ready to sew it together. The next part is sewing together all of the 2½x8½ strip that will make the 2nd border and to miter the corner pieces-eek! I can't believe that I'm kicking this out so quickly!

Now trust me this has also been a mental workout in math and patience. No matter how evenly and accurately I think that I've cut and sewn a piece of fabric, there's been something on every row that has had to be taken apart with the seam ripper, trimmed and sewn back together (no joke). I have to go slow and be patient, getting mad at ones self serves no purpose here. The issues arising in my quilting was/ is nothing that I could have foreseen, I measured and sewn exactly as the directions in the pattern dictated. I've prayed for God to grant me patience and understanding a lot over the past 2½ to 3 years and each time the Lord has given me a situation or a physical thing to do that requires patience (sometimes it requires more stamina than actual patience). So not only do I get a great lesson in being patient, I also have something to show for it!

When you think of God and having him answering a prayer there are a lot of ways in which we as human beings can interpret things, as for me...I think that the Lord brought quilting into my life at the perfect point in time. He knew that the majority of my close friends will have moved away at some point this year and that I need to fill my heart and my time with something else that would not leave me feeling empty or lonely. I have to give this one to my new friend Carol, "To be with people that have the same interests is simply wonderful!".