I Talk...

 

I gave a talk to the Seabreeze Quilt Guild in Exeter NH last week. It was a glorious day, sunny and unseasonably warm. They wanted me to talk about my letter quilts, so I did. I brought fifteen quilts, including Too Much Chicken (behind me).

One of my all time favorite letter quilts is the Quick Brown Fox.

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I watched Project Runway from the very beginning, although I stopped after a few years. I always loved Tim Gunn's trademark phrase, "Make it work." He meant to use what you HAVE, not to go out and buy more stuff or change your mind. 

It reminded me of an Arthur Ashe quote I found in my notebooks as I was working on my talk. "Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can." That would make a great word quilt.

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Naturally I brought the Not Paper Pieced quilt.

Afterwards, a lady game up to me, "I almost didn't come tonight, because I couldn't see any point in putting letters on a quilt. But I'm so glad I did. I am so excited. I have SO MANY ideas. You have totally inspired me."

Afterward I got this text from the program coordinator from the quilt guild. Made my night.

One of the really nice things about the evening was that my mother was able to attend. She had never heard me speak before.

I wrote a tutorial about making free pieced letters. It's enormous, but comprehensive. You can get a copy here, if you want to make letters yourself.