tiny project, big possibilities

There's a lovely little shop in Burlington, VT called nido, filled with a nicely curated collection of fabrics, books and yarns. I do love to pop in once in a while when I am in the "big city". Last summer, Phiona, the effervescent owner of nido asked me if I would be interested in joining a few other folks in starting up a chapter of the Modern Quilt Guild. It's a bit of a drive for me, but I thought once a month might be just right, creating an opportunity to find some kindred spirits.  After several meetings, we all agreed to join the national group in the new year. As of January first we are now an officially sanctioned group. Look here for the sparkling new website, with our wonderful logo designed by a member. 

Meetings are a mix of guild business, show and tell, a demo and some social time. I do love show and tell best, these women know how to quilt! Many of them are younger than I, with energy, careers and families that remind me of the days when my days were over-full.  I look forward to some of the community outreach and education we are committed to doing.

Our "homework" for this past meeting was to create a name tag to wear at meetings. Folks who have been long time readers of sewandsowlife will see that I recycled one of my brooch ideas to create this name tag. I used my own shibori/indigo dyed cotton, a scrap of green linen, some old canvas and some bits of birchbark from a downed branch. I wrote out my name with a purple temporary marker and stitched it in embroidery floss. There's a giant safety pin stitched on to the back.

Other members did beautiful paper piecing and embroidery. It was fun to see how different folks "captured" themselves with their creations. Next month one of our members will talk about her participation in the Spoonflower design challenges. 

Hooray for new connections and inspiration!