In case you follow me closely ... yes, I left retreat Thursday morning for the 3+hour drive home with a stop at Staples to pick up copies for the guild and a side trip to deliver them before picking up clean pajamas and hopping into Mr. Lakeside's vehicle to head north.
Whereas we had a dusting of snow in Mid-TN, this is what greeted us in Indiana:
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| Residuals from a 5-inch snow |
The Midwest Fabric Study Group has held its November meeting in Shipshewana, Indiana for the last several years. It was a bit of a haul for me when living in Nashville, but an even longer haul now that I'm about 2 hours further away. I've missed most of the meetings since the move and really wanted to go this year, but I couldn't find a travel mate. Mr. Lakeside to the rescue!
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| Digging for FQs at Lolly's |
We made the obligatory trip to Lolly's Fabric Shop on Saturday and Mr. Lakeside was most helpful in finding some yellow fat quarters in the big canoe. The town is completely decked out for Christmas. This was our view from our room at the Blue Gate Inn (yes, same place Bonnie Hunter was last weekend):
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| View from Room 308 |
Our study sessions were very interesting, starting with ethnic textiles on Friday night. On Saturday morning we saw examples of "multitudinous" pieces (in the thousands!) and had Fun with Poly and Ester. In the afternoon we learned more about hexies and drunkard's path. My favorite session was about Mary Gasperik, a Hungarian immigrant in the early 1900s who was a very prolific and award-winning quilt maker. She always put her own spin on her quilts, even kit quilts. We were fortunate that one of her grand-daughters brought a small group of her quilts to show.
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| Mary Gasperik quilt (shown with permission) |
Mary came from a family of tailors so that may explain her accomplishment with a needle. The shading on those birds is embroidery! (Apologies for the wonky photo; it's hard to get a decent shot with 60 quilt historians around the table.) I haven't shown other quilts because I didn't get permission from the owners.
Sunday morning sessions covered garden maze and log cabin. Dinner with an Amish family on Saturday and a spirited silent auction rounded out the weekend.
If you have the slightest interest in quilt history, I recommend you search for a quilt study group in your area. Midwest is one of, if not THE, oldest regional group, but now almost every state or region has one. Contact me if you want more information.
sounds interesting - I'm surprised everything was decorated for Xmas already though - a little early :) but I bet pretty
ReplyDeleteShishe has a big town lighting to-do the first weekend of November every year. It draws many tourists to their quaint town.
DeleteWhat a treat!
ReplyDeleteSounds like some excellent study session topics!!
ReplyDeleteWhat fun! I'd love to visit there. I grew up near (next state over) to the Lancaster area in Pennsylvania and spent a lot of summers camping nearby. I'm fascinated by Amish culture and traditions. :)
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