Come Stitch With Me

This was the view from our hotel room. Absolutely breathtaking! Worth every penny. Didn’t matter how cold it was, I sat on the balcony with a mug of tea in hand, soaking up the sound of the waves pounding against the surf. This girl has missed her beach time! The last time I stepped foot on a beach was pre-COVID. Far too long!

Hubs and I had a relaxing weekend in the OBX eating our fill of seafood and seeing the national parks. My fave was visiting the lighthouses from Currituck to Bodie Island to Cape Hatteras. Going during the off-season means fewer crowds and reasonable hotel rates, but many attractions are closed for the season. We still found plenty of things to do and places to eat.

There is a quilt shop in Nags Head that is open all year round – The Rusty Crow. Our welcoming committee consisted of two good sized Bernese Mountain dogs. After the obligatory pats on the head and back rubs, we were allowed inside. This shop’s focus is on wool applique with plenty of specialty threads, buttons and other handwork notions. The other side of the shop is devoted to a selection of current Moda lines, OBX and nautical themed fabric, plus dressmaker and home dec fabrics. I picked up a really cute piecing, applique and embroidery project book called Gossip in the Garden from Hatched and Patched, based in Australia. I’ll be making use of my Stick N Stitch for the embroidery transfer. I’ll also substitute raw edge appliqué in lieu of the needle turn appliqué called for in the pattern. Honestly, that is the only way I’ll make this quilt. 🙂

Speaking of quilty travel, Mountain Quiltfest in Pigeon Forge has released its class schedule for June. Riley Blake Designs announced that Garden of Quilts will be September 13-16, 2023 at Thanksgiving Point. And finally, The Featherweight Shop has 3 separate FW retreats coming in May at the Missouri Star Retreat Center in Hamilton, MO. Not into bunking with strangers? There’s a FW maintenance class being offered by a different instructor (not affiliated with The Featherweight Shop) at the Kansas City Quilt Festival in mid-June.

Now for my dilemma – quilt show in Charlotte, NC or quilt shows in Ft. Walton Beach and Pensacola? All three shows are the same weekend. I’m thinking beach time!

As a relative newbie to my quilt guild, this is a question I’m often asked when I meet fellow guild members for the first time.

I do not own a long-arm.

I was asked the same question by a member sitting next to me at a recent guild meeting. I responded that I didn’t and she quipped, “Well, don’t buy one.” Seeing the surprised look on my face, she mentioned that several guild members had a long-arm machine but didn’t use them enough to justify the expense. Her recommendation was that I turn in my completed charity quilt tops (lap & twin size) to the Community Service table and let the committee take care of the quilting and binding as several members in the guild donated those services for free. I should continue to quilt anything baby quilt size and smaller, but send anything larger out to a long-arm quilter. I’d be more productive and enjoy the parts I like about quilting (planning & piecing) more.

This seasoned quilter is very astute.

I already send out anything larger than a lap size. The last quilt I sent out was a full size quilt and it cost about $200.00 to be machine quilted. It will take me 6-8 hours to baste and FMQ a loopy meander on a lap size quilt. E2E quilting with a fancier design would cost about $75.00 per quilt and no basting required! Definitely something to think about.

One of my retirement goals is to take the long-arm training certification class offered by a local quilt shop ($100) so that I can rent time on the longarm machine. This is more to satisfy my curiosity than anything else. If I do enjoy the process, it would be worth it to buy blocks of time to complete my own quilt tops rather than invest $30k or more for my own long-arm set-up.

If I could get a straight stitch machine with a tall head, stitch regulator and about 15 inches of thread space, I MIGHT be tempted to buy it.

Sewing and quilting tend to be a solitary activity. I love to listen to audiobooks, podcasts and the radio when I’m working on a project. I’ll text pictures of my progress to a friend or two along the way. I don’t have a TV in my sewing room. I will bring the laptop to my sewing room for an event on Zoom, but the laptop normally stays in our home office because my husband and I both use the the laptop on a regular basis.

One quilter in my Friday Sew Group constantly mentioned her friends, Kimberly and Pat. I thought she was talking about two of the ladies in our local sewing community. Nope. She’s talking about Kimberly Jolly from Fat Quarter Shop and Pat Sloan, the quilter. Both ladies regularly livestream on Facebook and YouTube. My friend schedules some of these events on her weekly calendar. She spoke of plans to meet with some the NC quilters from Pat Sloan’s online group. What fun!

Since COVID, I have craved in-person quilting events. A monthly table runner group got started at Stitch N Quilt and then Pat closed her shop. I could go sit & stitch over at The Cotton Farm, but it closed in mid-November. Fortunately, a core group of ladies from Stitch N Quilt’s table runner club found a space at the public library. Many of the ladies in this group will tell you how much Friday Sew Days mean to them. I’m there at least two Fridays per month. I’ve debated joining the quilt guild a few of them belong to, but it’s a night guild. Our Friday meeting spot is about 3 miles from where the guild holds its monthly meetings. What takes 35-40 minutes to drive on Friday mornings would take double that in rush hour traffic. I’ll think about it. The guild I did join is closer to home and meets monthly on Fridays during the day. It’s a large guild (300+ members) which means great programs and learning opportunities, but I’ve only met two people who are close to my age. I’ll try a bee group or find a volunteer opportunity to meet more folks.

Back to my Friday Sew Group. One Friday, we streamed FQS live during our meeting time. Several ladies were away at a guild retreat, so I think 4 of us showed up to sew. It was an absolute hoot listening to my friend’s comments as the program aired. The online quilting community is much bigger than I realized. My husband will tell you I don’t watch much TV. I’ve deliberately limited my time on social media because of all the craziness. The NYE quilt a long I did with Stitchin’ Heaven had 15,000 people registered according to the hosts. I know “2,000 watching” was showing on the YouTube live feed. Surprisingly, I did feel connected to others out there in the virtual quilting world.

Since then, I’ve put together a YouTube playlist of quilters & such to stream while I work in my sewing room. I’ve yet to attend a livestream event in real time, but it is fun to listen to the replays in the background as I sew. I feel like I’m quilting with friends – even if they are virtual.