What is your “passion”? Maybe passion is too strong a word for what I mean, but do you have a hobby or interest that consumes a lot of your time and a significant portion of your budget? Passions or hobbies or interests are the flavoring or seasoning that makes person more interesting. It is the frosting on the cake. A person can be kind, intelligent and have strong values, my top three criteria for a person, but a passion makes that individual stand out. Sometimes, the career is that person’s passion. We know doctors, teachers or baseball players that use all their energy on their chosen field. But isn’t it fun to find out a person has an interest that is totally unrelated to their career? I just read that “Bend like Beckham”, the English soccer player extraordinary, keeps bees! If nothing else, these passions/interests/hobbies, give friends and family a help with shopping for birthday presents or the holidays!
My husband loves baseball–the game, the ball parks, the history, We just returned from a six day baseball tour. Six games in seven nights! He may have a career that most people wouldn’t know about–but you can always talk baseball.
My daughter is into researching our ancestors. She finds the most obscure facts and stories that fill out the sterile information making up a family tree. She spends hours determining the validity of traditional family stories…and discovering the “rest of the story”. Family lore was that a particular branch of our family went to Texas area to escape the Civil War–nope, they went in 1830’s when it was really tough going!
We have soccer aficionadoes, gardeners who remember the scientific names of plants, and football fiends in our family… and of course, Quilters!!! It is a happy family when two passions can be combined! Later this year, we are heading north on a short trip to visit a couple of museum quilt collections and a couple of minor league baseball parks. Win-Win.
Update from the Common Threads Quilt Show— I had a great time! So many exciting quilts to see–so much lovely fabric to buy! Added bonus was getting to know some of the members of the Prairie Quilt Guild. And ribbons were won!!!!
Paulette’s whole cloth quilt, hand quilted by the Quilters at First, won the “Best Hand Quilting” of the entire show! This one will not be for sale at the October Quilt Sale but it is a lovely example of the quality of the Quilters at First work.
And I won a second place ribbon!! I think the judge liked the little sawtooth stars.
Of course, now I am challenged to make something better for the 2024 show!
I am already getting excited about our annual sale in October. A coffee shop with goodies will be added this year. It will be located right off the lobby so after your initial shopping tour, you can rest, build up your energies, and return to the displays and do a bit more shopping!
There will be a vintage corner. Just last week we were gifted six large antique quilts–five are beautifully hand quilted. I am spending the weekend, soaking , rinsing and drying them to allow them to shine.
Just look at that hand quilting. The stories this quilt could tell—what was happening in world when it was being quilted? Did one person do it or was it the focus of a quilting bee? Was it a wedding gift or a showpiece to cover the bed when “company” came? Vintage quilts have a heart and soul.
Some of the quilts have been used a lot and are worn in spots—but have you seen the trend to use quilts to make jackets or accessories? And a decorating tip–you can always fold the worn areas to the back when hanging on a wall or on the foot of a bed.
Yup, my passion is quilting. That is why when you see me out and about with threads hanging from my clothes, know that I have been in my happy place.
Quilts, Etc. 