When I moved to Chicago three years ago, I had no intention of searching out a quilt group. My attitude was sort of, 'been there, done that'. I had little interest in committee work and felt that my online quilting community was serving my creative connection needs just fine (thank you very much!). But one Saturday during our first month there, Dorothy appeared at my door, inviting me to a meeting of her local group. A friend of the previous owner of our house, she had heard that a quilter was moving in. And so, to be polite, I stopped by at a meeting several weeks later.
The group is, I imagine, like many across the country. Started during the quilting boom of the early '80s by a bunch of energetic, passionate quilters, it has continued to be an active group, though the pace and scope of activity has slowed somewhat with the ageing of their original membership. They meet weekly in a local community center, bringing handwork and lunch for a day of stitching, and are happy to keep the group as it is, mostly dear old friends with the occasional infusion of new blood by happenstance or invitation. Lucky me!
Dorothy and Mary M.
At the beginning, I would stop by every couple of weeks to stitch and chat, happy to find people who spoke my language. As time went on, I realized through show-and-tells and conversation that this was not your run-of-the-mill group...they knew quilting, its literature and its history, had attended many of the big shows over the last 30 years and taken workshops with many well-known contemporary quiltmakers. As more and more cross-references with my quilt history became evident, I told them I knew I had found 'my tribe'.
Carmel and Ebie
I have very few photos of the group through my years in Chicago...mostly just our annual Christmas photos and a few shots of women sitting around folding tables in our very unassuming meeting room. As I reviewed my archives, I find there seems to be a trash barrel in every shot!
Mary Pat and Sheila
Before I left, the group threw me a little going away party, one of their not-to-be-missed potluck lunches, and gifted me with a stack of signature blocks. Because of my uncertain departure date and members' summer vacations, it was held a month or so before I actually left, which made it much easier for me to enjoy, knowing that I wasn't quite leaving yet. During lunch, a few friends lamented that they hadn't yet gotten around to showing me quilts that they had referenced in conversation through the past months; quilts that they wanted me to see, pieces they knew I'd just love. That was remedied the next meeting.
Mary B., Katherine, Karen, Barb and Kathy Smith
When I walked in that afternoon, Kathy Smith jumped up and said, 'I was wondering if you'd be here today...I'm running home to get those quilts I wanted you to see' and off she went. I can't think of a project Kathy has ever brought in that I've been lukewarm on. We share the same design aesthetic and I couldn't wait for her return.
This wonderful quilt (above) is her interpretation of an antique quilt she had admired...before Kim McLean's Stars and Sprigs version. The fabrics were all familiar, lots of Roberta Horton plaids and early Rothermels. I hated to see her fold it up, but more awaited.
When this quilt top was unfurled, I almost keeled over. From Kathy's UFO pile, this piece is a replica of an antique quilt that I recognized from an old Quilt Engagement calendar. Is there a pattern for this?, I asked. 'No, I just traced it off'. A friend owns the original.
*Swoon!*
As Kathy unfolded another WIP, other members started reminiscing about their own quilts and group projects from the same years while I was just trying not to pass out from sheer quilty visual overload.
When this one was opened up, I thought I recognized it from an old book but although the block design was adapted from it, the quilt design is Kathy's. How about that sunburst motif? These personalizations of all of Kathy's projects is one of the things that I feel makes each so special.
But wait, there's more! Actually, you'll have to wait for another post. On my very last day, prompted by the fun we had looking at Kathy's pieces, more fabulous quilts were shared. I got lots of photos, but looking at them now, I'm a little uncertain about who made several and want to secure permission to post them, with attribution.
So now I leave the group of 40 or so and join a short, but stellar, list of inactive members, including Barb (Fun with Barb) and Diane (Persnickety Quilts). It was difficult to walk away from such a group of quilters, but it was most difficult to walk away from my group of friends. Warm, welcoming, funny, talented...I take with me many happy memories of afternoons around the tables. Tuesdays just won't be the same.
