A Day In The Life

I have been thinking about all the talented people that I've met, just because I'm a Quilter.
When I first joined our Guild, Paula Nadlestern was our Guest. Her work is fascinating. Her challenge is to make each of her blocks look as though it is something you would see while looking through a Kaleidoscope. And she succeeds. During her presentation, she showed pictures of her apartment in New York City. She did not have a fancy studio, in fact she did all her tiny piecing at her little kitchen table. I was amazed.
Velda Newman came to our Guild when I was a new member also. Her work is bigger than life, but it is true to life. The butterfly Quilt that she brought with her was perhaps sixteen feet long. It was covered with butterfly's. Each butterfly, in relation to the others was exactly the size it would be if it were sitting next to which ever butterfly that was next to it. Some very small and the Monarch, as I recall was the largest. I could not believe I was getting to look at such marvelous work. She stayed in my home so EC and I could look at the Quilts, up close and personal.
She had her newest Quilt with her, "Bassin", that was covered with Bass. That's fish. My husband is a Bass fisherman and he really appreciated the work that was involved. I think the next year she entered it in Quilt National in Ohio and won a first place.
Laura Wazalouski has been a Guest at our Guild and also in my home. She taught me about fusing a made me a lover of "wonder-under". Her work is amazing and so is she. Any woman that can stand in front of a room full of strangers and burst into song - songs that she made up- is a 'Wonder Chic'! They are songs about herself and her work. Songs of the 'Chicago School of Fuse' and the friends she has there. Amazing!
This year alone, Sharon Schamber visited our Guild. Sharon has to be the greatest Longarm Quilter that I have ever met. I cannot imagine how she does her work. It is so 'over the top'. And yet, there are Quilter's out there that match her work and exceed it.
The bar has been raised each year that I have been a Quilter. In the years that I have Quilted, the Longarm has been accepted, machine Quilting has been accepted, Art Quilts are the norm, and it seems to have changed before my eyes.
This is a wonderful Art Form that we have chosen.
Let's all go make a Quilt!
We'll talk more later,
Carol Ann, Quilter