Weather Workshop

BecauI worked [And I mean WORKED] in volunteer organizations for many years, I understand the problems off committee chairwomen when they make phone calls to ask someone to do something. Twisting my arm isn't really hard. I've been on their end. So when Ann Faustino asked me to do a workshop for today's Empire Guild meeting I eventually said yes although workshops are usually about techniques and there is no technique I want [or even can] teach. So I said I'd talk about ways to show weather in landscape quilts ... planning to use my diary pieces as illustrations. This sounded to me like a not very appealling subject for newish quilters who want 'how-tos". I expected, at most 3 or 4 attendees.

To my vast surprise I found ten or so waiting for me when I arrive [a bit late thanks to a local train that suddenly went express] and then another 7 or 8 joined in after we had started. I showed several "weather" pieces from my diary set and was astonished at the enthusiasm and interest. Here are a couple of examples -- a brilliant sunny day and a storm encroaching on a sunny day. My scanner got tempramental and refused to accept a couple of others. [I'm sorry for the slight tilt on the stormy one."
It's nice to get some mileage out of this year-long project [some 350 4"x6" little quilts]. Every time I pull out a bunch, as I did in thinking about this workshop, I wish I could do a whole book about the year with commentary [brief] and the illustrations of the days. It was a crazily ambitious undertaking but resulted in a lot of interesting pieces and is a deeply satisfying memorial to a happy time. The lovely ladies of the Guild never ask for details -- most are old enough to understand one says what one wishes to share and that's that. But there are illustrative things about being 65 and having such a year that I could say in a book with carefully written commentary.