The Personal Connections in Cincinnati

I've written about some cool finds....but the best by far were some of the people I met while in Cincinnati.  I stayed with Lois Grabowski...below on the right.  She was an absolute delight and she even cleaned her house and her sewing room before I arrived.  Talk about an excellent host....she already knows I can't offer the same in return.

We were invited to Jill's house for dinner on Friday night.  Jill, from Jill Quilts Blog, had invited several other quilters to stay at her home for the Festival.  By the end of the evening the house was full of wonderful women all sharing about the good times, purchases and one even shared her baby son with us....it was definitely a highlight of my trip. 

Jill made a great dinner for us....and speaking for myself....I probably had too much....it was so good. 

 Regina on the left is from Up State NY and the sister of Susan, from South Carolina, below.  Lois is on the right in the photo above.  These gals are all friends because of the internet....I think that is so cool.

 Susan took her turn with holding baby Charlie.....gotta love those baby smells....so sweet and precious.

 Carolyn, above, and Marj, below, are also from South Carolina.  The three gals belong to the same Guild, The Busy Bees.

Given I used to live in Irmo, South Carolina, we had some fun things to talk about.  These gals had brought all of us a gift....I was floored.  Check out these fun bags we got to choose from (below).

 Look at all this fun stuff and it was all made by these gals.  The fun drawstring bag came with a note pad, bottom right, a rotary cutter carrier, back center, and a stack of charm squares.  The charm squares were put together with a Palmetto Tree pin....the South Carolina State Tree.  The charm squares consisted of 6 different fabrics:

Palmetto trees - State Tree
Yellow Jessamine - State Flower
(Boiled) Peanuts - State Snack
Peaches, SC grows more than Georgia,The Peach State
Clemson University fabric and the
University of South Carolina fabric

I just loved this photo of Susan smiling....I remember people smiling so much more when I lived in South Carolina....maybe it is just my memory...but it sure seemed to be the case.

Regina was doing some show and tell....that was lots of fun.....later more ladies came and some were bloggers too.  The gals from South Carolina told us they have a tradition in their guild.  When they travel they bring back everyone a 6 inch charm square that represents their trip.  I loved this idea....perhaps not the entire guild....but how about a few friends?  One lady forgot her underware on a trip so she brought back everyone a square of fabric with panties on it....another got lost so her's had road signs on it....and the list went on and on.  What a great tradition for a meaningful girlfriend quilt.

I honestly don't recall seeing a stash of a quilter....not a designer...but a quilter with such a fun collection of fabrics as Jill has.  The quilt below is just one that she is in the process of finishing.  Each one of her dogs has their own quilt....now that is what I call impressive!!  LOL

 There was some talk of Lois and I ending up behind bars during the trip.  Believe it or not....we did end up behind bars....the bars of the gate leading up to Lois's grand estate (ok...I'm embellishing a little bit). 

 Someone had locked the gate one night so we were actually stuck behind the bars....so it is true....but it was a gate :)

 Lois says she is a beginning quilter.  She may be new....but she is no beginner....let me tell ya!  Check out what she did with "just a few squares from the scrap bin."  This is her dining room table folks.  I loved it....almost as much as I enjoyed that she also has a devil may care attitude.  I don't mind photos of me straight out of bed on my blog....neither does Lois....now that is a woman ya just gotta love!

She is holding the bed scarf she made for her bed....you should hear how casual she is about her quilting....this is just practice.....meanwhile I'm thinking...."Girl if this is just practice.....I'm never showing you my work....nope....not gonna happin."

 This is just practice quilting.....I'm still chuckling about that one.....and of course I had to meet the famous Haywood Janome.  He has tattoos....I loved it!!!

Remember those silk embellishments I bought from Artistic Artifacts?  Lois bought some too....we weren't sure what exactly to do with them....she had her's draped around her neck like a scarf.  It did not take too much convincing to get her to wrap it around her head like a turban.....oh the laughter....my soul needed it too.

Before I close...I had to show everyone the way Lois keeps the wind from coming through the door.  We have wind all winter long coming through our front door (6,000 dollars to replace, no thank you very much).  Kindred spirits....how do you stop the wind?  With a Grabowski Wind Wienie that's how!

You sew the vinyl into the edge of the wind Wienie and put heavy Velcro on the door and on the Wind Wienie as pictured below.

Stick it there and close the door.  Not only is it fashionable....but it really works too.  My kind of solution :)

I was sad to leave Cincinnati....at the same time I was excited to get home to my family.  All I could imagine when I saw this group of female motorcyclists is that they too were quilters.  I bet they have quilt block tattoos on their bodies someplace.  How about we start a quilting biker babes guild?  I don't want to be the president....but I'll surely be a member.  I'd be willing to learn to ride a motorcycle....one with three wheels!

I imagined this to be me....wrong color hair though.

Before I close I have to share a story one of the gals at my guild shared.  Two large groups took a bus to Cincinnati for the Festival.  On the way home one of the bus drivers said they just had to take the gals to a excellent ice cream parlor.  It was in a college town.  Many ladies got off the bus to go in and get some ice cream.  One of them overheard some college students walking by.  The one kid says to the other, "I wonder what this big bus is doing here?"  The other one replies, "I think they brought the people  from the old folks home to town for ice cream."  We all laughed so hard when she re-told this story.....Laughter is so good for the soul isn't it?

Back at the ranch the co-workers were very happy to see their mommy....first thing they said when I got out of the van was..."it's mommy.....yeah."...hugs and then "what did you bring us?"

Smiles,

Kelly