serendipity

I’ve been overusing that word in the last few days, and hearing a lot of John Cusack references in answer, but there’s no other word for it. I’m feeling good about things…so good, I went out and bought a few quick pick lotto tickets! But that’s not what we’re here to talk about.

I got hired by my company! So now, instead of being a consultant, I’m an official employee on the payroll. Still part-time, which is perfect. I truly have THE BEST JOB EVER.

Then, my kid finally got into a preschool! I was about to give up - I’m on waiting lists all over town with no nibbles, and I called the top of my list in hopes that there had been a little movement. School #2 said, “Oh! I was just going to call you today! I have one spot for you!” Whew! That is a big relief…I hope this works out!

I was doing my normal eye-candy-foraging on ohfransson.com, and read her post about the Portland branch of the Modern Quilt Guild. I followed the link and found the national page, which led me to the LA branch. So I joined! I lucked out, and was able to make it to a meeting and met a bunch of cool girls, saw a bunch of awesome quilts, and am really looking forward to getting to know everyone better. Then I found out there is a little local guild forming! So exciting. I’ll probably hardly ever get to go to the meetings, but they have a weekend sew once a month, and I think I can swing some of those.

I just wanted to mention this quickly. These girls are doing something awesome. Pioneers! Bringing together modern quilters who have already been grouping informally online for a long time…sharing ideas, forming bees, etc. This is happening because there is a real gap in the industry where modern quilters are concerned!

I recently went to the Road 2 CA quilt show and not one vendor had any Denyse Schmidt fabric for sale. I don’t know how many vendors were in the vendor mall, but there are over 100 listed on the site. Not all of them sell fabric, of course, but still. Not one had Denyse Schmidt, and I’d say she’s easily one of the most popular fabric and quilt designers of the modern quilt movement. Another popular designer who was nowhere to be found was Heather Ross. I did see a couple Mendocino prints, but only one vendor. CRAZY. I saw about a billion reproduction prints from every time period…except my own! So that’s a bummer. The industry is not keeping up with the whole audience. And what’s happening is that the fabric manufacturers and the book publishers see the writing on the wall - or internet - but the trade shows and traditional shops seem to be a few steps behind.

One thing I did see was some of the Gees Bend solids and the kits. Now, how can you make a pattern for a Gees Bend quilt? I mean, doesn’t that defeat the whole purpose? Watch it…or we’ll take the magic right out of those beautiful quilts.

Alright, that’s enough of that.

One last good fortune… our family in the Dominican Republic is safe and sound, which is awesome.

I hope to do some sewing this week. I hope you and yours are doing great. I wish all the babies in Haiti were wrapped in quilts right now.