Opportunity Quilt

Tonight a few of us got together and made up the arrangement for our guild's 2011 opportunity quilt. It is bright batiks and black kona cotton fabric. This quilt has caused quite a lot of grief. The board from last year was very concerned about the person in charge of the project and she in turn was going to quit the project because she was questioned all the time, rumors flew and pretty much she was just tired of their rudeness. There was a small group of us who were sure that Margaret was just the person to lead this project. We were supportive and helped make the blocks. It is going to be spectacular!

In 2007 I was in charge of the 2008 opportunity quilt. I had a meeting and invited anyone interested in joining me. We sat at my kitchen table and voted on a pattern. Our choice was not popular. There was no applique. I am not proficient at applique and I felt I could not commit to a quilt that required it, just in case I ended up making it on my own. There were people who were encouraging in person, but were running down my skills behind my back. I was too inexperienced. I had not been in a guild long enough. The rumors were out there and I heard them. This kind of thing is really hurtful. I admit that my feelings were hurt and it was hard to not listen. In the end, my quilt brought in approximately $2000.00 to the guild--which I believe was our biggest profit up to that point. When I showed the final project, I got so many compliments and the person who won my quilt loves it. I had 7 people working on the quilt--all good quilters. What I learned from this is that you can't listen to the nay-sayers. You have to harden your heart and listen to the people you know and trust. There will always be someone out there who doesn't believe in you, but there are usually more that do and will give you the support you need.

Yesterday, I almost missed my Thimbleberries meeting. I was grateful that my friend called an jogged my memory, otherwise I would have missed seeing good friends. One is Kim from Kim's Big Quilting Adventure. She is so darn creative with her decorating. Each season she has these elaborate decorations--and most seem to be thrift store finds. A rival for Kim, but she has no blog, is Imelda. She goes all our with her decorating and she has the house for it. I am completely okay living through my friends. I don't have the decorating gene, so I stick with the tried and true--a Christmas tree in December, quilts with a holiday theme.

I will close with this. After I came home from Thimbleberries, I went over to drop a from off to Anna, my next door neighbor. Anna also has the decorator gene and she is a great neighbor--even my husband likes Anna. Well, I went over and she was drinking a glass of wine. One thing leads to another and the next thing I know, it is 10pm and we have finished the bottle. It was a really good cabernet!!! I think Anna and I will be friends for a long, long time!

Julie