Beth Ferrier’s Blog

Of all the things my job entails, I love the teaching the best. This trip I had the pleasure of working with two groups. It was my first visit with the Orange Grove Quilters, but I was a repeat offender with the Quilters by the Sea. What an honor to be invited back.

What fun we had in a lovely, sunny room. My favorite part of the Hand Applique by Machine workshop is the last hour or so, when the student play with their applique motifs, designing their own placement. It’s such a different way to think about applique, the students relish the opportunity to freely play with their applique designs.

The Quilters by the Sea are a terrific bunch, friendly and fun. It was such an honor to be invited back! We had a great time chopping up fabric and sewing it together. It’s always a treat to see how different fabric choices change the look of the design. That’s a great bonus lesson in every class. Always take a moment or two to study your classmates’ projects. You can learn so much about fabric choices just by snooping around in class!

But all good things must come to an end. My sis picked me up at the end of the last workshop and whisked me off to the Pacific Ocean for a lovely dinner at the water’s edge.

Southern California seems larger than life to me, a simple girl from the midwest. It seems to be all those things that we see on tv: roller blades at the beach, blondes in convertibles, surfers catching waves, even in February. But in the classroom, we’re just quilters, joined together in our love of the craft, wherever we are. 

When I left Saginaw on Sunday it was 9 degrees below zero. The windchill was something equally crazy. We had fifteen inches of snow on the ground, with more on the way. Piled high on the patio furniture, the snowbound world seems to have turned to stone.

 Here in California it is already springtime. The fruit trees are in full bloom. The recent rains have brightened every living, green thing. My sister,Lori, and I had a lovely day off between classes shopping at a local mall here. I was surprised to see that it’s not an enclosed mall, but more like a collection of storefronts on winding, narrow roads. Oh, wouldn’t that be fun in the snow?

After a decadent lunch at the Cheesecake Factory we decided to treat ourselves to a movie. An easy choice, we went to see 27 Dresses. It’s totally formula, quixotic girl, cynical boy, unrequited love and finally falling for the right one, but it was fun, and funny.

By the time we came out of the theater evening had fallen and the mall had truly come to life. Right in front of the theater is a small amphitheater, and there a band was tuning up. Soon the benches were full of young families enjoying the music. Even babies, new on their feet, were dancing their precious little dances. Is there anything more endearing than a little guy, all knees and elbows, swinging his sweet self to the beat?

 Never in a million years, when my boys were still young, would I have imagined that someday I would long for those times. But I do. I miss those precious moments, watching their joy of discovery as they mastered their worlds. The pudgy fingers and ackward gait, running, falling and laughing out loud. I am so happy to have baby Alex in our lives, to remind us of the simple pleasures of life.

 And sometimes, something silly comes along, to remind us how to laugh right down to our toes.

Yes, yes, I know it’s been a while. At the moment, I’m writing from a lovely hotel in Huntington Beach, CA. I left subzero weather in Saginaw on Sunday. On Monday my sister and I were tooling around LA, in her oh-so-cool convertible sports car, with the top down, of course. Everything is blooming and beautiful and warm here, a sneak peak at the springtime still months away back home.

Lori and I had two wonderful days of play before the Orange Grove Quilt Guild meeting this morning. It isn’t often that guild engagements bring me closer to family, but it’s a real treat when it does. The guild meeting was fun and crazy. What a terrific, talented group! Tomorrow will be a big day, too, with a Hand Applique by Machine class for OGQG and then a lecture for Quilters by the Sea.

 So, what have I been doing the last couple of weeks? Lots of stuff, if you’ve got a minute, I’ll catch you up.

There’s the block of the month. The sample is almost done. The top is pieced, the applique motifs are all prepared and some are already stitched to the top. I’ve finally been able to figure out the yardage for the kit, and it’s now available to order.

Planning for a kit requires careful consideration. There needs to be enough fabric for the project, obviously, but how much extra for wiggle room for small mistakes? Can I really cut the pieced blocks and still have enough left to make the all the leaves or flowers I need? Once I had all the parts were cut out I could be sure that the kits would be just right, and the fabric order was placed. As soon as I get back from California we’ll be cutting kits like crazy. In fact, so many kits have been ordered that we’ll be placing another fabric order just as soon as the first kits are shipped!

The first step of the Pinwheels and Posies will be posted on February 15th. My wonderful hubby-webmaster is holding down the frigid fort while I’m off galavanting in sunny California. Make sure that we’re ready to rock and roll come Friday.

Let’s see, what else. Oh, yeah, there’s the fabric line. We had one more round of strike offs, and then the final choices were made. In an hour on the phone with my project manager we went print by print through the stike offs and made the final call on which patterns in which colors will be printed. The exciting news is that the order has been placed and in a couple of months I’ll have the first yardage in my hot little hands. How cool is that!