It happened! The day that Gary and I have been working towards for nearly 4 years happened on Friday!! Our very first Great Escape Quilt Camp event began on Friday morning at 9:00 a.m. sharp, and concluded on Sunday afternoon at 4:00 p.m. ….’ish. All the hard work, the worry—the excitement—the stress—the planning—the culmination and success of the event, has been accomplished.
Let me tell you a bit about our weekend. To say it was a good time, just doesn’t paint a large enough picture. We had 7 wonderful women attend our camp to christen Great Escape, each of them bringing their own specialness to the blending of humor, insightfulness, camaraderie and caring. Their backgrounds and occupations varied from farming to nursing and everything in between…and I mean EVERYTHING in between. Their ages ranged from 30-something to 70-something. But the one thing that was a constant between them all was their love and passion for quilting. From novice beginner to quilting professional, we had them all at camp. Patterns worked on ranged from Judy Niemeyer and Jenny Doan, to Jacqueline de Jonge and various patterns from magazines. The blending of their personalities, their talents and their humor brought only one outcome… an experience so good, they all stayed until the very end of the event.
Now, I’ve held several retreats in the past 7 years, and at all of them, there were always ladies that would begin leaving as soon as breakfast was over and the rest would trickle away as the day progressed. But Sunday…they lingered, and stayed longer, and left within minutes of each other.
When do you know that you’ve finally found the work you’re meant to do? I believe, it’s when your goals are completed and your dreams are brought to life. How do you really know it’s the right one? For me…it happened the first night of the retreat, when I was in the kitchen working on dinner and I listened to the sounds coming from the classroom. There were the usual sounds of sewing…the machines, the rotary cutting and sounds from the irons. But what laid over all those sounds were not the quiet voices of women hard at work, but the sounds of laughter, sharing of personal stories, praise and encouragement for projects being brought out, and life stories shared. That humming of beautiful noise made my heart swell, and that’s when I knew…”we had arrived”.
So, without further ado, let me share with you some of the wonderful work that was being accomplished over the weekend. You will be amazed and impressed. I know I was.
And now, the rest of the adventure begins. I’m hanging onto my hat and dipping into the wind, much like Sister Bertrille of the long ago TV series, “The Flying Nun”.
Hang on Vera! The merry-go-round is about to get going real fast!
Until next time, may your bobbin never be empty.
As the Newbee, I was thrilled with the advice, hints. And help from Melody and the other ladies. It has been a long time since I have laughed like we did. Thank you Melody and Gary for a wonderful weekend, I can’t wait for the next one!
Ivy Rezak
Ivy, it was a joy to have you with us!! We look forward to having you join us as often as you can…you help those giggles bubble up all the time. Congrats on your progress! Keep up the good work!! MM