Social Distancing Quilting

It took me a long time to get plugged into the quiltng community here in Germany. Not because I didn't want to, but often it was simply a matter of how? It started with a chance "online meeting" with another quilter in Germany that eventually grew into a quilting group. Then after I started posting regularly on Instagram, and eventually attending Nadelwelt, some of those online connections with other quilters in Germany became more personal.

As I mentioned in my last post, I've recently had two teaching events that were canceled because of caronavirus... and now there's another to be added to the list - a summer workshop in July with Victoria Findlay Wolfe - in Germany! 

I realize that I'm not the only who has had their world turned upside down... everyone has had important things cancelled... everyone has had things that they were looking forward to that just won't happen. I'm very sad for my niece, who totally lost all the would-be memorable experiences of her senior year. In light of the magnitude of things, I know that missing a silly little class pales in comparison to what some are going through right now.

As with my teaching events that were cancelled, it's not really about any loss of income... but more about loss of contact and interaction with other quilters - you just don't find a quilter on every corner here. We had even booked a little vacation apartment with three other quilters - fantastic women, who are talented quilters and lots of fun... not to mention several other quilters that I knew were traveling to be there. It was essentially to be a big social meet-up right in my "back yard"! (instead of me having to travel south)

You may remember that last summer, I was already getting ready for this class... it might have seemed a little crazy at the time to be getting prepared so far in advance, but since I knew what was on my calendar, I didn't want to feel stressed because I had to throw something together at the last minute.

So, after I got word that the class was cancelled, I decided to pull out all those pieces and give it a whirl. Now, I never expected that this would be the kind of block that you just whip up. Since I've been sewing for so long, curves and y-seams don't scare me. I can't really say that this block is hard, per say, but it can be a patience tester. I am a big fan of sewing bigger, and trimming afterwards - it's what works for me. So, when you have to manage exact match ups on that many curves, it can be a challenge... and with nine blocks already cut, I'm kind of pretty committed!

So, during this social distancing time, I've starting climbing a Mount Everest... by myself. Are you climbing any mountains right now too?