Road Trip

Back in October 2013, I had flown to Memphis so I could drive up to St Louis with Julie. I crossed the mighty Mississippi for the first time (not in an airplane).

As you can see, the sky was a big part of the landscape. It is not like that at all in New England.

This is something else you don't see much in New England. A straight road that goes on for more than 60 miles. Straight and flat. I'm pretty sure I wore Julie's ears out by commenting how STRAIGHT and FLAT everything was. You could just see forever.

There's nothing like a five hour drive to get to know somebody. Julie and I had not yet been in the habit of having monthly two hour long telephone conversations (that would come much later.) It was really the first time we would spend any kind of time together. It's a good thing we hit it off right away. You know that feeling like you meet somebody and you feel like you've known them forever? And you can talk about anything and everything and you're comfortable? That's what it was like for Julie and me. We seemed to have the same sort of rhythm. I'd say, "Not now, but in the next half hour or so I'm gonna need a pit stop and to get out and stretch my legs," and Julie would say something like, "yup, me too." And when it came time to find a place for lunch, we were both comfortable with whatever we found. And when we took a wrong turn, neither one of us freaked out about it, we just said, Oops, I think we shoulda taken that other turn...

We talked about family and quilts and I don't know what else. I do remember we talked about the class on free pieced letters I would teach the next day. At one point Julie said, "Well you've made over a thousand letters..." and I said, NO! Not THAT many! So I got out my notebook and I counted.  Yes indeed, I had made over a thousand.

When you travel with a sock kitty, who represents a REAL kitty, and is essentially the reason you're on this trip, this is the type of pictures you take.

But when you're with somebody who GETS IT, like Julie did, THIS is the kind of pictures that get taken. (Proving once again that sometimes you need somebody else to open your eyes to some things.)

It was Julie who pointed out these birds. "Oh look, Millie... lunch!"

In St Louis we met up with Cherie who had hired me to teach and talk at Quintessential Quilts 2013. Cherie was THRILLED to meet Millie. Cherie had been following Millie's blog for years, and followed me onto my quilting blog when that started a couple of years later. That's how she knew about me, and asked me to be the speaker and teacher at QQ2013.

And people think I'm joking when I say if it wasn't for Millie I wouldn't be here. Like my friend Tracey used to tell her hubby when he'd get upset at their cat Monty... "No Monty, no Millie. No Millie, no Lynne."

I'm tellin' ya. You can't make this stuff up.

This is the class photo, taken at the end of the day. That's Julie in the middle of the back row. Julie was an extra set of eyes and ears. She'd keep an eye out for a student who was stuck, or confused, or who needed my attention "Lynne, Karen needs help." Or "Show them the Ruler Trick."

After class, Julie and I went out for dinner, and met Brenda who told the story about how her mother made chicken and... Well. You're gonna have to go read it. It's right here.  Julie was right there with me when the idea for the chicken quilt, Too Much Chicken, got started.

For me the highlights of the trip include the dinner where I got the idea for the Chicken quilt, and the next day, when Julie and I... well. You'll just have to wait and see.


If you want to make your own free pieced letters, you can get my tutorial here, at my Etsy shop. It's an instant download so you can get started right away.


Oh, Julie Sefton made the "Flying Monkeys" quilt. I've asked her to write a blog post about it so you can read it. I don't know if she will, but you can find Julie's blog here.

Julie & Me

My best pal Julie (that's her on the right) and I have known each other since August of 2008, and we have met each other in person twice. This photo, above, was taken the second (and last) time we ever got together. This was taken in June 2014 at the Zimmerman House in Manchester NH. Julie came up to New England that summer to see the Quilts in Color show at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.

I was thinking last night that I should tell our story, since so much of it has happened online and behind the scenes.

Julie helped me to achieve one of the big goals on my bucket list, a visit to the Gateway Arch in St Louis MO. It was one of the highlights of my life, and I will never forget it.

A German tourist took this picture of us that day, in October 2013.

This is Julie with Glorious, the diamond quilt we designed together in 2018.

This is Julie (left) and Chris Ballard, who quilted my quilt Letters From Home, in 2009.

This is me in 2010 with Obsolescence, the quilt Julie made for me as part of a swap.

 Here is Julie in 2010 with No Rules for Julie, the quilt I made for her for the swap.


Way back when when she and I were discussing the idea of swapping quilts, Julie was very particular and very specific about what she wanted. What did I want? "That green quilt you are making. That's very you," I told her. "That's interesting" she replied, "as I am just coming to realize that green is a signature color for me."


So how did Julie and I first get connected? She wanted me to make a Gizzy quilt for her tuxedo cat, Angel (Julie is holding Angel in one of the pictures above.) What did I make?

Yeah, I knew what I was doing last year when I ordered the book GREEN, for her for Christmas.

Even though we have been together twice, and we live 1127 miles apart, we talk on the phone about once a month (in marathon 2 hour conversations we literally schedule in advance), we are now in contact quite frequently. We probably text two or three times a week, even if it's just to share pictures of our grandkids, but usually it's to comment on what we are doing in the quilt studio.

Julie and I have a long story, and it's pretty nifty. I will tell the story over the next few days. We have shared some of the same life experiences (we became grandmothers within months of each other). We have inspired each other, and we have helped each other. We get ideas from one another, and we give each other honest critiques. I always want to hear what Julie has to say.

TODAY is the Day

I tell people all the time that my cat Millie changed my life. They always look at me like I'm crazy.

Not that I give a crap.

Not any more. I just figure they don't know the whole story, so they don't really understand. It's old news to me. After all Millie has lived with me over 7 years, but it's still an amazing story.

If it wasn't for Millie I wouldn't be on my way to meet my best pal Julie today.  We've only been commenting, emailing, and talking for over four years. We live 1250 miles apart, and today I'm bridging the gap.

Today I'm leaving on a jet plane. 

of course, "Millie" is coming too.

Undignified

There's something very undignified about putting your carefully folded quilts inside a space bag and then squeezing the air out of it.  But these quilts and flimsies are about to embark on a very long journey and I have to protect them. Each quilt has a document showing its photograph, title, size as well as my contact information, the insurance valuation and where the quilt is to be delivered. (They are stacked this way because if I stacked them correctly, the addresses would be visible, and we can't have that!)

It's going to be very weird not having them hanging in my house for the next few weeks, but Julie will certainly enjoy their visit!

My quilt, Letters From Home, has been enjoying an extended visit at Julie's house for the last few months, and after St Louis it will be returning home with me.

The Quick Brown Fox will be staying with Julie for a few months. It's my favorite.

except for Nine x Nine, The Black Cat's Rules, The Black Box...

Heh.

The Black Box

These really aren't great pictures. The room has really crappy light, and the camera didn't flash, but it's finished, and here it is hanging in my bedroom, which is the only wall in the house big enough for it. I'll get some other photos later.

If you want to see the quilt in person, you'll have to visit Quilted Threads in Henniker NH, where it will be on display from April 6 until April 19, or you will have to attend The Quintessential Quilt 2013 in St Louis MO, where I will be teaching a workshop on Saturday October 5 and speaking Sunday October 6, 2013.

Of course, Kathy will get a private showing when she visits me later this year. Kathy visited last summer while I was working on it.



Btw, for anybody who does not know, this quilt is completely original, designed by me, Lynne Tyler. It is totally free pieced, which means it was made without patterns or templates. It was most definitely NOT paper-pieced.

The quilt was quilted by the remarkable Chris Ballard, who does the most extraordinary free-motion quilting. If you can believe it, I just tell Chris to do whatever she wants. Actually, this time I told Chris she could do whatever she wanted as long as she could guarantee me that when I revealed the quilt at QQ2013 later this year, that 200 ladies would fall off their chairs in astonishment! Did we have a good laugh about that!

I Washed It

At one of the classes I taught a few weeks ago, I took a good look at my quilt, Letters From Home, and realized it was dirty. There were some dusty greasy stains across the top edge, and some spots along the edges.

Now, this quilt hangs in my house, just outside my kitchen.  It doesn't get any sunlight, but it has been rather active during it's 3 year life. It's been to Tennessee, to Washington State, to Quilt Market in Houston, to Quilted Threads in Henniker NH, to work with me, and anywhere I can show it off, so with all that, it wasn't really a surprise to me that it was a little soiled.  So I washed it.

In my usual cavalier fashion, I just tossed it in the washing machine (cold water, permanent press cycle) with some detergent and a color catcher.  When it came out, I tossed it in the dryer on low, then took it out when it was slightly damp and let it dry flat.  After a week, I hung it back up. It looks lovely, with the quilty wrinkles a lot of quilters like.

I'll bring it with me to Quintessential Quilts 2013 in St Louis next year, and after that I think I might take it down and let it rest.

Meet Me In St Louis!

Really! I'll be a speaker and workshop leader at The Quintessential Quilt 2013 in St. Louis, Missouri the weekend of October 5-6 2013!

I'll talk about My Life in Quilts and how it all changed when I adopted my cat Millie.  I'll have as many quilts as I can stuff in the biggest suitcase I own, including this one that my friend Julie made from my orphan blocks.

I'm really excited!  I'm looking forward to meeting you!

See you in St Louis!