Connections, Memories, and Sadness

The Internet is a pretty amazing when it comes to connecting people. This afternoon after returning from International Quilt Festival in Chicago, I got an email telling me that my friend Carolyn had died yesterday. I "met" Carolyn while working on the oral history project Quilters' S.O.S. - Save Our Stories. She never made a quilt. She did love them, history and the Daughters of the American Revolution. We talked almost daily, argued sometimes and grew to love one another even though we were so different.  I will miss her.

"Columbine" by Sue Reno

Today I met up with three women who belong to my group CLAW (Crossing the Line: Artists at Work) while enjoying Festival. Again therese were people I had not known except through emails. I loved Laurie Ceesay's wonderful funkiness, Giny Dixon's enthusiasm and Colleen Ansbaugh's kindness. I think I could have easily spent an entire day with these women. I also ran into people I had not seen in years.

Festival was okay. After experiencing Festival in Houston, these pilot shows don't stand a chance as they have less of everything. I noticed that adding crystals is still popular and for me, seem wildly out of place on traditional quilts. I was disappointed to see that the Rituals exhibit did not make it but thrilled to see quilts by people I knew in Houston and especially to see Cynthia England's 2000 Best of Show quilt "Open Season" again. I remember the glee on Cynthia's face as she stood in front of her quilt and yelled to me, "Karen, can you believe it, I won!"

I did interviews of many of the quilters from the Healing Quilts in Medicine exhibit. I did the interviews over the phone so I never got to see the quilts in person so that was fun. The yurt was fun as was the Chicowgo (funky cows) exhibit.  It was a pleasant surprise to turn the corner and see Sue Reno's quilt "Columbine." Sue and I had the best time at the National Quilt Show in Columbus, Ohio, a few years ago. I liked the solar printing on Polly Bech's untitled piece that hung just a couple quilts down from Sue's quilt. They are both from Pennsylvania so I wonder if they know each other.

Untitled by Polly Bech

Unfortunately, between the "No Photo" signs, lighting issues and people, I did not take a lot of photographs. Today was a day of good memories and new friends. The one thing I wanted to do was share it all with my friend Carolyn. She would have loved them.