Notes From the Back Table
We just wrapped up our second September quilt retreat, and I want to tell you a little about how it went.
It started the way it always does. On the first morning, folks came through the studio door glad to see each other. Old friends hugged. New faces got pulled into the circle before they could find a seat. But under all that happy noise, you could see a little nervousness too. They came to learn something, and they weren't sure yet if it was going to click.
Day one is all about Color Flow Theory, and this is where her real gift shows up. Color can feel like the hardest part of a quilt, the part people are most afraid to get wrong. Mitzie doesn't hand them a color wheel. She breaks it down another way. She shows how one color can flow into the next, how value lets you blend colors that don't look like they belong together, and how to check that the whole quilt will work before you ever cut a piece. One step. Then the next. Then the next. She walked the room through each one, and she didn't move on until everyone had it. By dinner, the nervous faces were gone. Everyone was too busy building their palettes to worry.
That first evening is one of my favorite parts of the whole retreat. Once everyone has their palette worked out, Kelly and I get to pull their fabric bundles. No two are alike. One quilter goes bold and bright. The next picks soft, quiet colors I never would have put together, and with the system the colors all work. Every stack tells you a little something about the person who chose it. I never get tired of seeing what they come up with.
Kelly and I had our own fun this time. We each picked a bundle. Kelly chose hers with a plan, and you could tell those colors were headed for a quilt. I went a different way. I just grabbed colors that made me happy. The creative director vetoed mine pretty quick. But if you see a new bundle called the Kelly show up in the shop, now you know where it came from.
From my table at the back of the room, I got to watch the rest of it unfold. The machines hummed. Somebody asked what everyone was reading, and suddenly everyone was trading book titles. Then three or four people else help a neighbor laying out blocks on the design wall.
And the days ran long. The quilters we have the privilege of hosting like to work late! When the studio lights stayed on past supper and the blocks were finally coming together, it helped to know downtown Newberry had a wine bar just a few steps away. Nobody was in a hurry to go home. I can't say I blame them. I enjoyed stepping next door too.
Some folks come to learn. Some come for a few days of uninterrupted sewing, away from everything else on their plate. And a lot of them come back because of the people they met the last time. Whatever brings them through the door, the same thing happens once they're here. You can't sit side by side, working on the thing you love, without something happening between you. The fabric gets cut apart. The people get pieced together.
Everyone goes home with a stack of blocks. Most go home with a few new friends too.
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