What’s happening: September 2023 Version

Whew, it’s been a busy month. Not a lot happening on my sewing table this month, but there has been lots of other quilty-action happening. I was originally planning multiple separate posts about Garden of Quilts, what I’m working on, and a fun birthday party sale, but in the words of Inigo Montoya: ” No, there is too much. Let me sum up.”  So here is a quick sum up of what’s been happening around here!

September is always a busy month. Which is both great and not-great. It’s my favorite time of year seasonally and I love getting back into a routine and school schedule. But it’s also the one time of year that I teach at the Riley Blake Garden of Quilts event, so there’s some extra stress in planning and prepping for those events.

This year we lucked out with a stunning weather both days the gardens were open. Couldn’t have been better. (Quilt in top photo Flowering Wreath quilt by Freebird Quilting Designs made by Melissa Ray.)

Here’s some highlights and glimpses of the 2023 show. (Click on individual pictures to see them up close.)

I gave a trunk show this year and had a bit of an adventure getting myself and 30+ quilts down into the venue.

Fortunately there were golf carts to help. But my containers kept sliding off the seats. So finally I MacGuyver’ed a system using my laptop cord to tie the straps of the Ikea bags full of quilts to the golf cart. I only lost one quilt along the way (stress!) but fortunately it was one of my pine hollow quilts and the person who found it knew it was mine. whew.

Other highlights of Garden of Quilts was seeing quilts made using my patterns (like this Regent Street Union Jacks made by Laura deLannoy) and meeting other quilters in person.

Some were new friends who came and said hello after my trunk show, some were work colleagues I’ve only ever talked to before via Zoom. Others included meeting Peggy and Gloria from the Brown Sugar Stitches Quilt Guild in Atlanta, GA as well these amazing ladies from the the organization Wrap the World With Quilts.

I also got to finally meet one of my humanitarian heroes in person: Courtney Kimball the creator and heart behind the organization One Common Thread Quilts.

I was so excited to see them as a part of the Garden of Quilts event and to even see their maker’s quilts hanging on display in the Gardens!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

After a very busy week/month with teaching, speaking and all of the other events, (not to mention starting a new weekly volunteering gig at the High School, taking pictures of 16 kids in our son’s Homecoming Dance group, a husband out of town, etc. etc.) this week has been all about catching up. On rest and on mess.

I finally put away the 20 quilts that were still siting in Ikea bags in my living room. After finishing a bunch of deadlines, I was feeling excited to do some “just-for-fun-sewing”… until I walked into my disaster of a sewing room. So this week has been all about finally digging out and cleaning up all of the accumulated piles from the past 4 months. (Because, let’s be honest, summer was a blur as well.)

Here’s a little “before” – or at least part way through the clean up.

And here’s the after. Or at least, progress. It always feels good to finally clean up, organize, and put away projects from the past few months so I can start with a fresh slate, so to speak.

One more September thing to share! Missouri Star Quilt Company is celebrating their 15th Annual Birthday Bash in Hamilton Missouri this weekend.

To celebrate, Missouri Star is giving my readers 15% off your entire order when you use this link. (Discount taken at check out, no code needed. Only good for one order per customer.)

I stocked up on some Art Satchel storage bins (perfect timing for my sewing room reorganization!), some Magic Pins (my new favorite pins), and some gorgeous low volume Essex wovens. Again, 15% off your entire order from Missouri Star when you use this link.

And with that, I’m excited to finish up this clean-out project and do a little for-fun sewing. I pulled out my scrappy log cabin blocks that I started last spring. They look so pretty on my design wall and this feels like the perfect time of year to get them finished!

Fingers crossed!