Sometimes, good stuff happens.  And sometimes, you get to say thank you in person.  And sometimes, things come full circle, and you keep on going and quilting and enjoying.  All that happened on Show and Tell night at the Vermont Quilt Festival this year.  (And yes, that was –gulp, hanging my very red face– two months ago!)

One of the most exciting and nerve-inducing moments for me at Vermont Quilt Festival  came Saturday night, at Show and Tell.

With Mary K. Ryan at VQF 2012. I ordered her pattern in 1990, finished it about a decade later, and 22 years after starting it, got to have my picture taken with Mary and “our” quilt! I’ve never shown this quilt at a big show before, and still have goosebumps from getting to tell the story and the thunderous applause when I unfurled it on the show and tell stage. PS–if anyone got pictures of me up on stage holding the quilt, please write..I’d love a jpeg!

Back when I was newly-booked to teach there, I was chatting with Missy Lackney, the education chair, and shared that one of my favorite quilt stories involved a Vermont quilt designer, Mary K. Ryan, and a quilt I made from one of her patterns (link is to a wholesaler…sorry, I couldn’t find an online source!).  Missy told me that Mary rarely teaches now, but would be teaching this year and I should share my quilt on the Saturday night event…. so for over a year, I looked forward to sharing my second-ever quilt top (tho it took another ten years to finish quilting it!).

To begin at the beginning, I learned to quilt in Bolivia (while assigned to the US Embassy) and then in Libreville, Gabon (on leave without pay while hubby was deputy Ambassador, so I wasn’t allowed to work under him in the chain of command–what a shame, I got to sit home and quilt!).  While on transfer in 1989 from Bolivia to Gabon, I learned there were quilting MAGAZINES…what a concept!  I promptly subscribed to Quilters Newsletter Magazine.  I then discovered I could order back issues, so I got every one they had, back to 1984!  I pored over EVERY issue, reading everything I could to learn.  On the back of many issues was the Polyfil advertisement with a large bed quilt featured with this note:  To order this pattern, write to us at XXXXXX.  I was in love with the quilt, and had no idea a Mariner’s Compass pattern was supposed to be difficult–not something to make for your second quilt!

So I promptly wrote away to order it.  Now–our mail came and went via Diplomatic Pouch:  secure but sssssllllllooooowwwww.  It took about six weeks for a letter to reach the US Mail system, and usually another 2 months to get a reply if someone answered promptly.  So 3-4 months after I sent away for the pattern, I get a letter back from PolyFil saying:  you can order a wall hanging version of this quilt by writing directly to the pattern designer, Mary K. Ryan.  {insert banging head on wall!}  So I wrote away again, saying I hoped so much it was a full-sized pattern as I wanted to make the big quilt.

Oceans Alive, my version of Mary K. Ryan’s Mariner’s Compass pattern. The published pattern is for the center medallion. Mary had made the quilt bed-sized, and I wanted to also. It took quite a while, but I did it, and I still love this quilt as much today as I did when I made it.

When the reply came, it was for a 28×28 inch wallhanging only, but to my UTTER astonishment and delight, Mary included a hand-written note!  Alas, the note is downstairs and I’m still on a walker and not able to go downstairs to find and photo the note…but I have it and the pattern! Mary told me how many yards I’d need, how many running inches of the fabric for the inner borders, how to enlarge the pattern by 125 percent to make the center medallion (I would NEVER have figured that one out on my own!).  I had also discovered Mary’s quilt was featured on the COVER of QNM in the mid 1980s and had back-ordered that issue.  So with Mary’s instructions by my side, and a ruler that measured in millimeters, I measured the known width (of the compass border) with inches, then figured out how wide that was in millimeters (the size on the photo on the cover), and did the math to figure out how large things should be!

I made cardboard templates from cereal boxes.  I started outlining onto the cloth with pencil, but soon discovered the pencil dulled quickly and I could see my sizes would be wrong.  So,  because I didn’t know better, used my rotary cutter to cut alongside the cardboard templates!   I soon discovered that I was cutting into the cardboard, so I put my plastic ruler on top to get a nice edge.  …And proceeded to cut out several hundred compass points!

Paul’s cat Brandy (dearly departed lo these many years) supervised cutting on the dining room table.  My cat Cassy (dearly departed lo these many more years) supervised the piecing and eventual sleep-worthiness of the quilt.  I got the entire top stitched while we were in central Africa.  I was SUCH a newbie to quilting, I didn’t even know the points were supposed to come to the edges of the circle!  Miraculously, when I learned this fact years later I went to look and most of them did!

Serendipity happened when an oceanographic / environmental group sent a “donate to us” mailing with a coloring book with dolphin and orca whales in it.  How perfect for quilting motifs!    But it was central Africa.  Even with the air conditioning on at full blast, I had to sit under the quilt with a lap hoop, and my hands would get sweaty with just 20 minutes of hand quilting.  So the quilt got set aside for almost ten years.  By then we lived on San Juan Island, Washington, (where we could see the orcas from our deck!) and I set myself the goal of finishing the quilt in time to enter into the County Fair, where it won Grand Champion that year!  I was so I excited I wrote to Mary to tell her of “our” win!

Detail of my quilt, Oceans Alive. Begun in 1990 in Gabon (West Africa), finished about 2000 in Friday Harbor, Washington. Pattern by Mary K. Ryan.

Fast forward another decade-plus.  My heart was pounding and my palms were sweaty as I waited my turn to Show and Tell at VQF.  I’m OK with speaking to a large quilty crowd, but this was different:  I knew Mary would be in the audience!   Show founder Richard Cleveland was doing emcee duties, and I mentioned to him as I approached the microphone that I needed to tell the story first, then show the quilt.  I left out the details of which ad/company and what design—until I said “What a wonderful welcome to the wonderful world of quilting, that the designer should write  to me like that!  So with great thanks to Vermont’s own, Mary K. Ryan!”  and we unfurled my quilt to what sounded to me like thunderous applause and oohs and ahhhs and gasps….I was SHAKING!  But I made it through the story without crying or losing it….and I was thrilled!

At the end of the show and tell, I made a beeline for Mary moving against the tide of departing quilters (and I had never met or seen Mary….Richard C. pointed her out to me from the dais as we showed the quilt….turns out she is on the board of VQF!) and we got this picture of me with Mary and “our” quilt!  I’ve never shared this quilt before at a large regional or national show…just locally.  Since I’m now known for art quilting, I was so nervous and so happy at the reception and being able to surprise Mary with the story and the quilt.

I’ve got goosebumps all over again….thanks for reading this far and letting me tell all of this story.  I now know that such incredible generosity as hers happens in the quilt world quite regularly, but I didn’t then….and I’m so glad I had such a warm welcome to this world of ours that brings us all such joy.  Thank you, Mary K. Ryan!

Just a quick note:

I’m teaching at Vermont Quilt Festival this weekend…leaving this morning (Wednesday) for classes Thursday through noon Sunday.  If you are there say hello if you spot me… I will likely have frizzy hair and a happy smile!   I’ll try to blog from there or when I get home with class pics.  I have SO MANY things I’ve done that I want to share with all of you, but I’ve been so busy DOING them that I haven’t had time to blog.  Will try to remedy that as soon as I’m home!   Hope to see some of you in Vermont!

What better pairing than a great exhibit  (of which I am proud to be a part) AND an opportunity to help “Kickstart” a great new chapter in the Why Quilts Matter series.

I’ve blogged before about my quilt, Strength and Calm, which has been juried in to the Rituals exhibit that will debut this summer at International Quilt Festival Long Beach then travel on to the mega-kahuna-mecca of quilts, International Quilt Festival in Houston (where I will also be teaching again! would love to see/meet some of you in my classes!).  Well curators Leslie Tucker Jenison and Jamie Fingal have been running a fun and fascinating glimpse into the lives and personalities of the artists who have made the quilts in this year’s exhibit.  Today is my turn!  So to read more about it, go here.  Thanks to Moore‘s Sewing and Havel (as in those wonderful scissors) for sponsoring the exhibits!

Speaking of sponsoring, I was starting to read some old QuiltArt digests, and discovered that Shelley Zegart has launched a new project, a companion guide to the WONDERFUL DVD series, Why Quilts Matter (click here to read lots more about the series).  I’m thrilled to say I’ve just made a donation to her fundraising campaign on Kickstarter.  You can click on the widget (the doohickie to the left) in the sidebar of my blog or go here to help support this effort and read more about it.

A student's class sample... compare this to the unstitched version in the top-left of the four-squares (below)

We had an absolute GAS in this class!  I was so thrilled at how the students took my basic design and simply took off with it, experimenting and discovering, and the wide range of results….  Because I actually took a TON of photos, I’ve made some “four-patch” photos to squeeze them all in!   This is the sampler that I share with the students (it’s also in my book–click the photo to view larger):

Sarah's Tossed Leaves Sampler

Well….here are some samplings of leaves the students made.  They were given the choice to make a larger composition or smaller blocks (which is what I used in my blue vest…I promise that post will be up before too long!):

I knew that Deb in KY from the Janome 6500/6600/7700 yahoo group would be in the class, and was pretty sure that Kathy Schmidt (author of Rule-Breaking Quilts from AQS and also in the group, and her blog is here) would be there, but so was Marie!  What an unexpected surprise and fun!!!!!  Kathy and I have been writing to each other for about a year and half or more as she worked on her book proposal, then manuscript, now marketing the book, and it was such a joy to finally meet her!  She is teaching at NQA next year, so sign up, folks!  And I PROMISE, a review of her book is coming, too!

L to R: Sarah, Deb in KY and Marie from the Janome 6600 yahoo group

Kathryn Schmidt, author of the fun Rule-Breaking Quilts, and me (Sarah!)

I think we all look a bit WARM!  After class, Kathy and I then went to a local brew pub and had a wonderful dinner…it felt SO GOOD to (a) get off my feet and (b) have such fun company for supper before she drove the several hour drive home.  I’m thrilled they could all attend my class—THANK YOU!

I encourage students to do stitch-outs. Here is her test-sample

And some stitched leaves. She wanted to control the variables to just one thread, so it gives a really good comparison of what the different stitches can do for your applique.

Then

Another stitch out, again with notes made on the sample; that green thread is great on this peach!

Another good stitch sample, with notes on stitch length and width

At the end of the class, we pinned the samples up on the wall and all took photos so we could go home and be inspired by everyone’s work and try out more:

Student samplers and compositions

More student samplers

and more

even more tossed leaves

and the last one....

Thanks to the ladies of the class….. I had a ball, and I think they did, too!   Here’s to hoping I get to return to teach at NQA again!

In June I had the great good fortune to be invited to teach at the National Quilt Association show in Columbus, Ohio.  What FUN!  I had never been to the show, tho last year had a quilt in a special exhibit and won an  Honorable Mention for my Bijagos Warrior quilt.  So this year was an all-new experience for me.  I thoroughly enjoyed the show… it had top level quilts (entry is first-come gets in, not juried! the  only show I think at the national level that isn’t juried), great vendors, but was not so  huge that you felt overwhelmed.  I knew Marjorie Hallowell, owner of my local Maine-ly Sewing shop would be vending, but didn’t expect to meet anyone I knew other than two ladies from the Janome 6500/6600/7700 list who were to be in my classes.  Imagine my surprise then when I went into the hall on set-up day to take something to Marge, when I hear “Sarah Smith!  What are you doing here!” and turn to see Judi Yakab, hand-dyer extraordinaire and owner of Mamaw’s Hand-dyes.

Sarah and Judi Yakab

Judi and I met in a Carol Soderlund dyeing workshop a few years back held at ProChem in Fall River, Mass.  It’s wonderful to see how her business has taken off!  An aisle away I found Marge, then while strolling along a tall woman pops into the aisle (I was nearly asleep at this point) and shouts “Sarah Ann Smith”!  And there were mom and daughter team Jan and Kirsten from Fiber on a Whim!  A couple days later, I met Nancy Z. who runs Maine Quilts and was there with her sister and mom…. AND, remember that trip to teach for the Arizona Quilt Guild?  Well I think about 80 percent of that guild’s leadership is ALSO part of the leadership of the NQA, and everywhere I turned were familiar faces…what FUN!

Here are some of my favorite quilts, and I will confess… I committed the cardinal sin and forgot to get pics of the makers.  If any of you know who they are, please tell me and I’ll add the info:

This one made me stop and gasp!... GORGEOUS!

Diane Rusin Doran made the orange and yellow quilt with the ribbon–way to go Diane!

Oh my! Another beauty!

My quilt, Be Inspired No. 1, is on the right; Gloria Hansen's Blushing Triangles is on the left and...yeah! won a ribbon. Gloria is co-designer of my website, too!

From the Trees exhibit...this is paper pieced!!!!!!!

Another one that stops you in your tracks!

And the last morning….the sunrise sky wasn’t quite that lavender in real life, but it was beautiful:

And a close up:

Sunrise, the day I headed home

I’ll have some pictures of my classes…alas I was so busy in two of them that I forgot to take many pictures!