Quilters Guild Region 7 - Regional day

Now I have a brain again, I guess I should tell you about the guild regional day at the weekend. Hmm I suppose being on the committee I should always give the guild it's official title. Oh well, maybe by being a bit slack I will make the guild look more approcahable and friendly (aka I am not going to type that much just to refer to an organization). For non members, a regional day is a meeting usually with a speaker and traders where you can meet like minded people. I can't talk for all the regions but region 7 which covers Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Northhamptonshire, has great regional days, and area days for that matter. You don';t even have to be a member to come along (but if you are you get a discount on your entry fee).

Being my first event as a committee member I felt I had to do something useful, so I volunteered to be hostess for Gwenfai Rees-Griffiths, sounds pretty safe doesn't it. A couple of days before I realised I had no idea what I was supposed to do. Well, nothing our esteemed leader couldn't deal with, I got a a crib sheet of instructions almost instantly. Where would I be without her to rely on? All I had to do was meet Gwenfai, and help her with any setting up, bring drinks that sort of thing. Of course on the way there I did realise I had a small technical problem. I had no idea what Gwenfai looked like. I have a terrible memory for people, and names at the best of times. In the midst of a cold there was just no chance. I figured it would work out somehow and I wasn't going to worry about it.

I did very quickly realise why you want a drag racer on the crew for a quilt event. we expected 140 people and had parking for about 20 cars. My job was to fit all the cars into the spaces available, without blocking the road to the doctors surgery. OK, so this is just like finding the perfect fabric for a project the realising it is 2" too short, and spending the rest of the day working out how to make it fit right. I do that all the time. I am also fairly used to putting cars into too small spaces, and I was so thrilled when I did get everyone in. Even better they all seemed to get out again without a huge problem. I am sure I shouldn't have found it that satisfying, but I did.

The traders were Fourshires books, and Sunflower Fabrics. I actually got a chance to chat to them both and they are really nice people. I was especially pleased to be able to talk about astrophysics with the man from Fourshires, sorry I didn't get his name. It isn't often I get to talk about the more techie things I've done. Sadly I missed a lot of the first talk with was Shirley Bloomfield, "Baltimore with an English Twist", every time I went back into the hall I started sneezing and had to run away. that is why I got to get to know the traders more, but I would rather have heard the talk. It wasn't a talk that really grabbed me from the title, but having seen how modern and English her quilts are I was much more interested. So much so that I think I could see me doing a Baltimore style quilt at some time now. Yes hand sewing and all! If you haven't seen her work I recommend you do, she has added a great twist to a very traditional quilt style.

At some point Gwenfai snuck in and I had to be rounded up to do my hostess duty. I am not convinced it counts as a duty, it was a lot of fun. I got to 'keep her company' also known as have a chat with the guest all on my own, what a treat. Even bringing in the quilts wasn't onerous. Gwenfai has made her own bags they each hold several quilts and have nice long handles. They are quite similar to the blanket bags I bought but much better made and more robust. I think I will have to get around to making my own. Once the stage was set and show and tell done Gwenfai got down to the serious business of talking. Well maybe serious is the wrong word to use to describe her talk, it was very entertaining, I will always think of quilters as a breed and her as the best of breed, you'll have to go and see the talk to finds out why won't you. I am grinning just thinking about it. Of course with the talk came my other terrible task, I had to handle all of her quilts. See terrible, a dreadful imposition. OK so I am not fooling any of you am I, it was great, even though my arms ached at the end of it. Holding up the quilts means you get to see the quilting really up close. It was very inspiring. I love her piped bindings. At least that is what I think I would call them, I may be about to be corrected. At some point I think I will have to try them for myself. What I liked about them was how firm they make the edge of the quilt. I suspect they will help it to hang well on the wall. I have just remembered I was going to ask her a question, I think she mentioned doing something to the bottom of the quilt to make it hang well and I was going to ask for details. I guess I will be having to go to another of her talks too.

For those of you on quiltart you may remember a while ago a discussion about speakers having to sit through show and tell and whether they would object. I too the opportunity to ask a more experienced speaker what she thought. She agrees with me, it is great to see what other people are making. Whatever stage they are at in quiltmaking it is always interesting. Beginner means not encumbered by rules and conventions, thus more likely to do something new and exciting. Being dumb enough to stand on the stage and speak doesn't mean too dumb to be interested in what is going on in the world of quilting :)

I know I have missed out a lot in this write up, it was a fun and busy day. It would be great to have even worse parking headaches at the next event, if that means I get to see more of you. The next Regional day will be 6th October in Leverstock Green, feel free to get in touch if you want more information.