are you a joiner?

That’s my nametag in the most recent issue of Quilter’s Home. Cool, right? Even though they spell my name wrong and have me listed as being from the wrong guild, I still love it.

In all my excitement over finding the Modern Quilt Guild, I’ve been feeling a little guilty about my other guild, Valley of the Mist Quilters. About a year ago, my husband’s work schedule changed, and I had to kind of give up the guild because I just couldn’t make any of it work, and I couldn’t really rationalize a babysitter to go to guild meetings.

When I joined, I dove in. I took on a lot of jobs, volunteered for a lot of stuff, really wanted to get involved and meet people. I’m glad I did. I don’t think I would have met half has many women or participated half as much during my involvement if I hadn’t.

I’m really off topic here.

I don’t think I ever really found any kindred spirits as far as fabric or pattern were concerned, but I made LOTS of friends and learned tons of techniques. Things like the importance of color value, creating my own patterns from drawings using drafting tools, needle-turn applique (which I stink at), freezer paper/starch applique…who knows what else. Lots of good stuff. I think there’s room for all of it.

I always kind of thought of it like church. You listen to the speaker, and maybe they’re going on and on about something you’re not down with…fire and brimstone or women as the weaker sex. You tune out. THEN there’s a gem of truth that helps you in life, like Prov. 13:3 - which I struggle with :) But you know what I mean. And I’m really not just talking about the speakers that come to the meetings. I’m talking about the members of the guilds that have been making quilts for 40 years. Those girls have skills.

So, modern is awesome. I want to make those quilts. But I want to join all the guilds and meet all the quilters and take all the classes and soak it all up!

The fact is I probably won’t get to go to this new guild much more than the old guild, BUT I’m excited about the possibilities. That’s the important thing today.