Sew...I Raised my Hand for an Extended Show-n-Tell

It’s been a minute since I presented a newly finished quilt during our Show-n-Tell part of my quilt guild’s monthly in-person meeting. Since my time and projects are based on T-shirt quilts and other clothing-related memorabilia, it’s the nuts and bolts of my quilting for the past 25+ years, not so much the fancy-schmancy quilting, though I still love to create those one-of-a-kind quilts, too. While these paid projects (thank goodness) are on my plate and screaming for attention at all hours of the day, I still try to sneak in a “me” quilt or another quilting endeavor where there’s not a T-shirt in sight.

Sew, when a program chair asked for volunteers to show previous works, despite the age or whether it hung in previous quilt shows, I raised my hand to participate, along with two others.

Yesterday, I went back to my carefully curated quilts and selected six to show. Of course, they all had a little story that went with them, and, with a touch of humor. I mentioned how each quilt came to be and why I created it. I felt good to briefly chat them up and “show off” many years of sewing and creating (my oldest one shown here - all hand sewn/needle turned applique - was started in 2001, and finished and hung in one of our quilt shows in 2004). Oh, and I started down the rabbit hole of quilting in 1987, the best decision of my life, because, frankly, quilting has been the proverbial lifeline in my adult life (I'm not kidding).

I am thankful that one of my bee-mates took photos (Thanks, Karen), so I could share these quilts and hopefully brighten someone’s day by Manufacturing Sunshine in quilts!

Photos: 1) Psychedelic Applique 2004 (Peace); 2) Confetti Quilt - 2010 (domestic machine quilted it during the back-to-back blizzards - February 5-6, 2010); 3) The Best Daughter's high school graduation quilt - 2010; 4) The Best Daughter's First Apartment Quilt 2015; 5) The Boo Crew (second one made since I 'lost' the first one?); and 6) It's Buggy - 2013.

bSoleille!

Terri