A Day With Amie

I've been rather absent from my blog recently, and I have to just say that I have two reasons for it. One, it seems I've been rather busy lately and finding time to sit and blog was just too hard to manage. Two, when I would find myself with some extra time on my hands, I just didn't really have the interest in doing it!

The ebbs and flows of writing, I suppose...

Anyway, I am excited to finally find time to tell you all about the fun day I had on Friday. My dear friend and former student Amie came down (from Columbus) with her machine and her projects, and we spent the day sewing together! Well, most of the day; we did take a little field trip for a portion of the afternoon.

Sweet Amie was just zipping along on this Sock Monkey baby quilt that she made entirely from scraps in her stash. The quilt will be donated to the homeless - I think through a charitable group at her school or church.

Here is her finished quilt, with the binding attached and the clips in place. She was looking forward to an evening in front of the television to stitch the binding down. Doesn't it look great?

She brought with her a couple of her recent quilt top finishes. These just blew me away - they are gorgeous!! What inspirational quilts to see!

This Amish quilt was a block of the month at one of the shops in Columbus that she frequents. What a beauty! All those blocks are gorgeous, but I seem to be most enamored with the inner border of triangles. How cool-looking is that!?!

We have draped it over the family room couch, so we aren't able to see the whole quilt, but it is clear that this will just look stunning on a bed. What a statement.

The next quilt is also draped over the couch, so again, you won't get to see the entire thing, but I think you won't mind.

A Christmas quilt! Don't you just love it?? I could so totally go upstairs and start on this right now! Amie said it was really fast to go together. Beautiful!

Can you see that there are some blue pieces in there? I think that adds a lot of pop! to the regular red and green of Christmas colors. What a great quilt for the holidays.

Our little field trip was ride over to Chillicothe to visit Old Town Fabrics. Amie, from Chillicothe but a resident of the Columbus area for 30 years, hadn't yet been to the new shop. So off we went, and I think she was impressed! Who wouldn't be? It is such a spacious shop and the fabric variety is impressive. Their classroom space is open and bright, and the number of samples they have on display is definitely inspiring for shoppers.

Speaking of shoppers, I knew they were offering 20% off on all their precuts, so I stocked up on a variety of neutrals. One can never have too many of those!

So, my day with Amie was a smashing success, one that I hated see come to an end. She headed out around 4:00, hoping to beat the Columbus rush hour traffic - which I doubt she did - with a promise to get together again next summer. I let her get away without giving her the little bag of scraps I'd saved for her postage stamp quilt. Dangit! I'll be putting that in the mail this week.

The day was yet another example of the beauty and wonder of the quilting community. By sharing this wonderful hobby with so many friends, we inspire one another, we encourage, we stretch our boundaries, we create - my goodness, the fellowship pays so many dividends. How grateful I am for these dear ladies!

Happy Quilting, Friends!