VQF cancellation - Doors and Windows

Cancellation means classes are not happening - or are they?

Welcome to the Month of May.

On Sunday night, the  Vermont Quilt Festival sent out an email to those of us on their mailing list, announcing the Cancellation of the 2023 Festival. This was not anything that I had any inkling about, and the news definitely sent me into a bit of a funk.  If you have not yet seen the announcement, there is a link to it here.

If we’ve ever met in person, there’s a good chance that we met at a quilt show, and Vermont has long been an absolute favorite of mine. I’ve had this year’s show on my calendar since before the new year, I had some quilty girlfriends coming up with me to attend the show for all 3 days, I had signed up for world class classes (one of which had been on a sold out basis since classes opened) – which is something I had never done before.  This was, for me, a chance to reclaim the quilting world that existed pre-covid, and I was ready to get back to VQF with a vengeance. I wrote a blog post on this year’s show earlier in April, you can read that here…

Narrator: The world is no longer the same.

I don’t have many t shirts, but this is one I will be wearing for a long time.

Over the past few days, I had shared photos on social media of the next quilt I am working on (as I pick my way carefully through the quilt room that April had left in shambles). This quilt had a special destination – it had been accepted into this year’s VQF contest, and it needed to be finished before the end of the month. With the deadlines of April behind me, I was finally ready to sit down and tackle this next big project. On Sunday, I pulled out the file of judges scoring sheets that I had kept, wanting to familiarize myself with the comments. My scores have edged up over the years, but had never worked their way into Ribbon category. I was ready to try again.

Then I got the email - and a flurry of activities ensued (call the girlfriends, cancel the reservations…the list of details came fast and furious as I had to put the details into a list. On my cutting table were scraps which needed to come together into an Afterquilt - because of course my backing shrunk when I washed it; I was in no mood (read that no good mood) to work on it.

But (nevertheless, I) persisted, pressing the scraps into their desired shape and arranging them as I wanted. This is something that I’ll continue doing, because I am ready to make this quilt.

Here’s hoping that I don’t mess this up!

One of the things that makes me really sad is my assumption that Vermont (and their classes) would always be there. I had finally jumped in this year, and signed up for two process classes. The first was a walking foot class with Catherine Redford, which is a class I’d still like to take with her at some point. I’ve taken some of her classes before, and she’s a very good teacher. Walking foot quilting is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time.

The second class I was going to take was with Teri Lucas, her free motion quilting class called Color, Thread and Free Motion Quilting: How to Quilt with Reckless Abandon. Here’s something you didn’t know - Teri applied to teach in Vermont because of a suggestion I made, and I literally danced in the sewing space here when I saw her name on the teacher’s list. Many of this year’s teachers have opened up virtual class space for those who had been wanting to come to the Festival, and Teri has put this package together. My readers are getting the first view to sign up, and it will be opened to Teri’s mailing list shortly.

EDITED: I have edited the buttons below to make it easier for you to register…I am a morning person! The first button will bring you the pdf with all the details on the class - including the supply list. You don’t have to sign up to access the supplies.

The second button will link you directly to the page on Teri’s website where you can register for the class.

And I have a giveaway for you that’s related to this class. I have one copy of her book (see the supply list) that is strongly recommended for this class, and I’m giving it away to someone. Here’s how I’ll work it - the Giveaway closes at midnight on Mother’s Day, May 14th. SImply leave me a comment below about a favorite memory at (any year) of the Vermont Quilt Festival, and I’ll select someone to win the book. Please include your email address with the comment so that I know how to contact you.

Thanks for reading, and we’ll chat next week!