At the end of 2011 I was making a sample quilt for a houses class I was planning. I was making my houses quilt into a quilt of the Four Seasons. Julie was following my work. "I like your houses," she wrote, "but I want to make some barns." I told her to go for it, that they were the same basic thing.
I suggested she draw them out first so she'd know where she was going and how she could figure out how to build them.
Well, Julie took the idea and ran with it. She made a spectacular quilt, and you can read all about it
here, among many other places. Julie not only shares her story about that fabulous quilt, she shared the occasionally painful process it took her to make the quilt as special as it is.
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| is is my Mom and the sock kitty Millie at the AQS show in Syracuse NY in 2015. |
The quilt won awards and traveled around the country on exhibit in many AQS shows. It's Julie's story, and you can read it on her blogs,
here and
here. I was thrilled to have been an inspiration to her.
Julie and many other quilters had made "Low Volume Quilts". I thought they were lovely and subtle, but for me they were boring as hell. I'm pretty sure I moaned about them to Julie with alarming regularity. I didn't want to make a typical low-volume quilt. I wanted to make a quilt that would thumb my nose at the concept. I wanted to make a word quilt, and when I found the right quote, I did it.
While this was happening, I had been asked to speak and teach at Quintessential Quilts in St Louis MO in the fall of 2013. It was a busy year for me.
I went to the Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington DC that spring.
I spent a few days in California in September with my son and his then girlfriend. This was the trip where I met SewGirl, and brought the
four-letter word.
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| Julie put a countdown clock on her blog. |
I was working on my speech, my class, and the logistics of getting to Missouri with a boxful of quilts. At one point, Julie said she would attend, and drive the five hours from her house to St Louis. Since I didn't want to send my quilts halfway across the country to just anybody, it was agreed I would send them to her. She and her husband Larry would photograph them, and then she'd drive to St Louis and I'd see her at the class.
I chewed on that for a bit, and then I wrote to Julie... "What if I flew to Memphis instead of St Louis? I could stay at a hotel that night, and then you and I could drive to St Louis together? I'd get to meet you in person, and we could get to know each other on the drive up there?" Julie agreed, and said I could stay her spare bedroom.
So on Thursday October 3, 2013, after I got off a plane at the Memphis airport, I walked outside and toward a car that had this sign on it, waiting...
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| Look! I'm in Memphis! | | |
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It had been over five years, and I finally met my best friend in person.
3 comments:
You covered a LOT of ground in this post -- whew! (and I like my glasses now a lot more than the pair I was wearing in the last photo AND that I've let my hair grow out a bit more). Looking forward to the next installment!
Life sure is a funny journey at times. I am glad there are such special times that they are anchors when things are not so good. I did get to see Julie's barn in person at an AQS show and bought the book, but haven't been able to break the barrier in starting. I always dreamed of living in a barn for the art and open space, but looking like that will not happen.
Wow Lynne, I didn't realize it had been so long since I met you! You have been one busy lady since then. I have so enjoyed following your blog and seeing all your creative process. It has been so generous of you to share as much as you do! Perhaps one of these days when you are in CA visiting your son we can arrange a visit. ( Both my kids headed back to the west coast so I don't get out to the east very often anymore.)
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