Last Sunday was PWP (Party with Patrick) and Thimbleberries groups day.  By 10:00 AM my day had already started poorly.  Didn't sleep well the night before, bad news from a real estate client, etc.  I would have given a lot not to have to have gone in to the shop on Sunday.  But I didn't have a choice so I got dressed, gathered up the refreshements I had made (Patrick Lose's Pitachio muffins and Irish Coffee) and went in.

My mood continued while I set up.  I hoped the day wouldn't drag on too long.

Quilters started to straggle in about 12:30 for the 1:00 PWP class.  Happy and planning and looking forward to the day's class they pulled me along with them into their happier mood.  We sat in class and learned from Frank, we talked and snacked.  They shopped, I cut fabric and we all laughed.  It was like a mood elvevating drug to have them all around me.  Before I knew it I was happy, too, in their fold.

What is it that happens when quilters get together?  What miracle of fun and creativity lives where we gather?  I don't know the answer to that but I do know that I have never experienced a group of people more willing to share of their wisdom and experience - and their laughter.

Thank you to the PWP and Thimbleberries clubs for helping me (making me!) do a 180 degree mood turn-around last Sunday.  You made my day!

We all purchase things over the internet.  It's easy, it's private and you can do it late at night in your pajamas.  But what's the internet doing to local small businesses?

I had some troubling information yesterday.  Apparently Sewing Machine Doctor on Kirkwood Highway outside of Newark is closing its doors... internet sales claim another small business.  Consumers today rant about the lack of customer service.  There are even commercials now showing "Peggy" the Slavic man answering multiple phones in a shack in what looks like Siberia.  Then the commerical goes on to promise you that your customer service issues will be handled locally and with all due consideration if you use their product.

I've taken my machines to the Sewing Machine Doctor be repaired for years.  Friends and customers of MFQS go there for new and refurbished machines.  They have good service in a timely fashion.  Debbie has always been helpful and informative.  But now she's closing her doors because too many people purchase their machines from Amazon or other online sources.  What happens when they need product support?  I guess they'll call an 800 number and talk to "Peggy".

Most of you know in addition to owning My Favorite Quilt Shop I'm also a Realtor licensed in Maryland and Delaware.  That's what I do on my "days off" at the shop - help my clients buy and sell homes.  But the internet is all too invasive in that career as well.  Sellers wonder why there are so few showing on their homes.  It's the "good news-bad news" of the internet.  When an agent uploads everthing they know about the property along with 30 photos of the house what's there to show in person?  I once had the listing of a beautiful home in rural Kent County, MD.  It was nearly new and showed beautifully; lots of pride of ownership and meticulously maintained.  I did everything I could to drive buyers to the property but in the year I had it listed we had only one in-person showing... but we had over 12,000 hits on the internet!  That was 12,000 people who never stepped into this beautiful home because they felt they had already "seen" the property.

What I'm saying to you is this:   I know the internet is convenient and private and I sometimes buy fabric online or look at homes online myself but nothing takes the place of seeing, feeling and experiencing something in person.  Get out there and get personally and physically involved in the hunt for the perfect fabric - or the perfect home.  Touch it, see it, smell it and experience it.  Let's not let online purchases take the fun out of life and the life out of our small businesses.

I was talking the other day to a customer about her first quilts  Pretty much every quilter I know feels that their first quilt doesn't warrant showing.  The finished product they were so happy with originally is an embarrassment now.  More recently made quilts have seams that are better matched, sewn straighter, points are pointier, etc., etc.  But first quilts are like old photos...  they show us what we were, how we've changed and have a beauty of their own because of it.

Last July I turned another decade older and my husband, Tom, threw me a terrific party.  I got to make up the guest list and my daughter, Claire, worked out most of the details.  The food was fabulous, the service impeccable.  On each table - buffet, bar, appetizers - Claire had put a photo of me that had been taken at some point in my life.  Now that's an accomplishment in itself.  I hate having my picture taken.  Inside I'm a tall swan-necked blonde.  The image that always comes out of the camera is much shorter, chubbier and not at all pleasing.

The picutres claire chose spanned over 40 years of my life.  There was my high school graduation photo which I had had taken twice I was so displeased with the outcome.  Then there was a photo of me with my first child, then a Christmas morning many years ago, one laughing with friends, posing with one of my sons, one in costume when I was in a play.  I remember how disappointed I was with what I looked like in my wedding photo but one of my friends looked at it and said, "Wow, Lauren, you were a babe".

There were probably 20 photos in all and none of them were an embarrassment to me - indeed I was suprised at how attractive I had been at different stages in my life.  It was sad... how and why did I miss feeling good about myself all these years? Always so critical... always so disappointed.

That's how our quilts are.  I rarely hear anyone say, "I'm so pleased with how this looks, how it turned out".  Remember, you are the only one who knows there are any flaws.  Others don't see the seams that had to be ripped out and resewn 3 times.  They don't see that the green fabrics don't really match or that the pink had to be changed half way through construction because you ran out of the original fabric.  The puckers are lost in the beauty of the whole.  What others see - what I see when I look at another person's quilt - is the personality of the quilter.  Sometimes, depending upon choices of color and pattern, I can see a glimpse of the quilter's life journey.  I see laughter and tears, frustration and contentment.

So I challenge you all not just to show your early quilts but to delight in them.  They were the beginning of your love affair with fabric - its color, pattern and texture... the joy in owning it, touching it, cutting and finally sewing it into a big warm embrace. 

Well, the quilts are in - and they're lovely!  Most of you know about our "Line By Line" Challenge where 23 people picked the name of a fabric line out of a hat last April and committed to making a quilt from at least 3 yards of that line.  Some participants groaned when they saw the fabric lines that were way out of their comfort zone but most tackled the project with a good attitude and expectation of a true challenge.  17 quilters turned in finished projects.

We had a wine and cheese reception last Friday evening for all participants.  It was fun for those quilters to meet each other, see everyone else's quilt and talk about their personal challenge.

Please come to the shop during the month of September and vote for your favorite quilt... just a "viewer's choice" - we're not concerned with perfection.  Just vote for the quilt you find most pleasing.  One vote per person and, sorry, no online voting.

Here are photos of the entries (in no special order):

We'll be kicking off another "Line By Line" challenge in January.  Consider being part of the fun!

 Like most of you out there we lost power for a while last weekend.  Six hours over night and into the late morning, then again in the afternoon for 2 hours.

But not to worry...  I had a new notions bag!  What a wonderful way to spend the day - especially when activities are limited by the lack of electricity.

In preparation for the outtage I had taken all of my personal sewing items home from the shop: sewing machine, notions container, threads and several project bags stuffed with UFO's, odd pieces of fabric and half-done patterns.  I gathered them all in my sewing porch with 3 boxes of plastic bags (quart, gallon & 2 gallon sizes) along with my new notions bag, and in that way I spent several happy hours organizing, sorting and planning.

I am very task oriented which means my personality often won't let me leave the shop or even go to bed at night unless the task at hand has been completed.  I remember when I first started quilting about 5 years ago... I declared to my new quilting friends that I could never begin a new quilt without completely finishing the first.  HAH!  During my private little "hurricane party" on Sunday I found 18 projects that were in various stages of completion!  From pattern and fabric ready and waiting in a bag to half appliqued pieces to 1/3 of a bargello heart.  What has happened to me?!  I'll tell you what's happened... I've become a real quilter - with so many ideas and plans that some nights I can't sleep.   And like a real quilter if I run into a snag with one project (lack of a necessary fabric, for one) I start another project, pick up on the first one when I can and finish them all in some sort of staggered order.

Oh, all of my projects will get finished.  I'll just have to live to be 120 in order to get them done!

I used to dislike quilt panels... I thought they were cheating... it's not a "real" quilt unless the whole top is pieced. Then I became familiar with the beauty of a whole quilt  where the quilting itself is the artwork on a solid piece of fabric.  And somewhat later I learned the value of a quilt panel.

I liken quilt panels to greeting cards.  I'm not a fan of the sing-song contrived rhymes of store-bought greeting cards.  And unless your marriage and/or your relationship with children or parents is idyllic, there's very little out there for you.  But once in a while... every now and then... you find the perfect card.  I found the perfect birthday card for my husband, Tom, for his birthday in March.  It said exactly what I wanted to say - what I would have said if I had written it.

And that's the same way with quilt panels.  Sometimes you find a panel that conveys exactly what you want to convey... the warmth of hearth and home in autumn, the frozen beauty of winter, the quiet joy of Christmas, the riot of color in a summer garden, heartwarming words of friendship.  Why force yourself to create false beauty when you find the perfect expression of your feelings in a panel?  Add a simple border, a not-so simple pieced border, or frame small panels and sash them together for the perfect quick finished project. 

Right now at the shop we have 29 different panels in stock.  Maybe one of these with strike a personal note or feeling.  Then let it be your starting point for the October 29th class, "Quick Quilts - Working With Panels". 

Click here http://www.myfavoritequiltshop.biz/search?q=panel the current selection.

I had an interesting week last week - to say the least.  My husband, Tom,  was out of town again- this time to Montreal continuing work on the corporate aviation problem that had previously taken him to Pennsylvania and Connecticut.  We had spent the only weekend day we have together going from store to store in search of a bedspread for the bed in our newly set-up guest room.  Monday morning before he left Tom brought the little bureau that needed painting into my sewing porch putting an ocean of white drop cloth underneath it for me.

The next two days were busy.  When Tom goes on a business trip I have great expectations for what I should accomplish at home while he's gone.  Last week I wanted to border and hang the long curtains in the guest room (these curtains would hide the shelves and narrow work surface I formerly used for sewing and still need for storage), paint the little bureau and attach new hardware, make 4 blocks of "Sylvia's Bridal Sampler", work on and return several boomerang blocks and make 2 different flavors of homemade ice cream for a small moving away party we were having at the shop for one of my regular customers who has become my friend.  I also had to meet with a real estate client on Monday evening after the shop closed.  I was taking a paper piecing class at the shop on Thursday (needed to plan, choose and purchase fabric for that) so I switched the schedule around so I would be working on Wednesday which was my usual day off and I still had to respond to several internet inquiries about our Rehoboth rental.  I hadn't been able to make it to the library during open hours all week to get a book on CD which is the only way I get to "read" anymore.  I'd been eating poorly and going to bed bloated and guilty each night promising myself a diet of fiber and fresh vegetables every tomorrow.

I worked all day at the shop Monday and Tuesday got home exhausted both evenings at about 8:00 and fell asleep on the couch in front of the TV both nights.  By Wednesday morning I hadn't really accomplished anything.  The bureau and drop cloth were still in the middle of the floor, no blocks were made, no fabric chosen, the house was a mess. 

I had gotten up early so that I could put the borders on the guest room curtains and hang them and at least cross that one thing off my list but as I sewed I felt overwhelmed.  My new sewing space was half done, the guest room was half done, several quilts were half done.  There were bills to be paid, accounts to be balanced and phone calls to be returned and the shop opened at 10:00 AM.  As I finished the hems on the curtain borders on Wednesday early morning I prayed.  I talked quietly out loud about feeling overwhelmed.  I asked for super-human organizational skills.  I asked to have time slowed down.  I asked for some how to be relieved of the pressure I felt to accomplish everything right now !

Fifteen minutes later while hanging the finished curtains I fell and broke my arm.

And now time has slowed down.  The bright pink cast makes it impossible for me to remove hardware from the little bureau in preparation for painting so I covered the thing with a pretty tablecloth, pushed it into position on the porch and threw the drop cloth away.  It's very difficult (though not impossible) to sew but I can still easily pick up incomplete quilt tops and piles of fabric and put them into project bags in the armoire.  I've enjoyed the half-finished porch more than I can say - sitting quietly on the day bed for many hours over this past weekend I've finished 2 books which prop nicely on my lap and are held open by my cast.  I type with my right hand and the index finger of the left so I can answer e-mails and write this blog but all pressure to complete anything quickly is gone.

My prayers were answered.