bluemeadowdesigns

Our trip to Fort Wayne

There is SO MUCH to catch up on, that I almost don't know where to start. We had the most amazing trip to Fort Wayne to teach, then we had to come home...do laundry...fix the computer problems...do more laundry...get the kids ready for school next week...and try to ignore that fact that it feels like fall outside.

So let me start with our trip. We were teaching in Bluffton Indiana, so we flew into the Fort Wayne Airport, which is right next door. Apparently it was easy to spot us as the 'tourists' because we were taking so many pictures at the airport.

But from reading all of the touristy info that was available, we learnt that this was the home of Johnny Appleseed. Yes, he really was a real person.

We were brought down to teach in Bluffton by three quilt shops. They had decided to do our Love Joy Peace sampler quilt as their project, and to our delight, each shop made the quilt in VERY different colors. We loved seeing this, because it shows how different the same project can look. Which is your favorite version? We had 30+ students, and many of them picked their own colorways, so we spent half of our time teaching and guiding, and the other half of the time I was drooling over their fabric choices.

What I don't have space to show you, is all the quilts that were hanging around the room. I was inspired by their color combinations, and great quilting designs. This area of Indiana definitely has a collection of quilters who understand and embrace the new, bolder, fabrics that are coming into the market place. They understand how to put fabrics together, and their projects reflected their skills.

The result of seeing so may great projects, was that we had

to take a few trips down to Mary's quilt shop - Quilt's 'n Gifts. It has been a while since I have been in such a well stocked, and diverse quilt shop. This is a shop that has it all. The fabrics were very current, and tempting, and she had a great selection of patterns, and other notions. Cori and I worked very hard to restrain ourselves from taking home bolts of fabrics. It's a good thing we knew how much room we had in our luggage. But what is the best feature of Quilts 'n Gifts? The staff. If you are ever having a bad day, just go there and hang out with their staff. Even if you are not a quilter, it would be a good place to go to find friendship.

We were teaching at the local golf clubhouse, which was a great facility. We had plenty of space, good food, and a wall full of windows, that gave you this to look at.

I love quilting, but with a view like this, it was easy for me to get distracted.

We had a large group of quilters...some were experienced...some were beginners...and some were only 5 weeks old! This was baby Katie, and she is officially the youngest student that we have ever had in class.

And baby Katie never had trouble finding a pair of arms to hold her. Cori is so talented that she can teach, and baby sit at the same time. We wrote four books while having four babies, so guess the instincts of quilting and holding babies is pretty ingrained by now.

The following day, we were back at the golf clubhouse, but for a different reason. The room was full of quilters, who came for a wonderful Sunday brunch, and to hear us speak about some of our quilts. When we travel and talk about our quilts, we usually take along a powerpoint presentation to show examples of our work, and how we have designed some of our quilts - but we also take about a dozen quilts with us to show. This can be hard, because out of a collection of 125 quilts, only a few can fit into our 'quilt luggage'. (And what's with the new luggage prices at the airports?)

So we had another enjoyable day surrounded by quilters. That evening we relaxed by taking a nice walk around Bluffton, and enjoying the beautiful city. It was a good way to unwind, and relax, before we had to get ready for our our 5:30 am drive to the airport.

So, THANK YOU BLUFFTON for a great weekend, that we are still talking about. And don't forget to send us pictures of your finished quilt projects! We love getting those. And we hope to see many of you again.

-Cori & Myra