Playing With My Quilting Buddies

I am one lucky quilter! I happen to be part of a group of 14 fun ladies who have been together for 6 years. We call ourselves The Calendar Girls. We see each other at least once a month at our monthly quilt guild meeting (Valley Quilt Guild in Yuba City, CA) but officially, we meet twice a year: once to exchange blocks we've made for each other and 6 months later to show off the quilt we're required to make from those blocks. Today was our block exchange.

Our host Jody, has a delightful 'sewing room' which might be described as a one-room guest house just steps from her home. It's as large as the most idealistically creative quilter might wish for as a dedicated sewing room--TIMES 3!! Jody had a brightly colored table set for 14 complete with candies in a goodie bag, large cups with our names on them ready for the iced tea and drinks she'd prepared, a food bar ready for our pot luck salads and desserts (oh, we're quite adept at desserts!!) and a design wall on which we'd each display our blocks, one person at a time.

Six months ago, we'd agreed to make a particular traditional block in black and white fabrics with ONE, bright color to be used sparingly within the block. The center 3" block is where our creativity could go wild. There were appliqued and paper pieced centers and some with 1/2" half-square triangles in various configurations! Every color of the rainbow was represented amidst the blacks and whites.

After selecting numbers at random, we took turns being first to choose from each person's blocks after they were displayed on the design wall. The selection process takes quite a while what with all the photos that are taken for our scrapbook plus the "oohing and ahhing" that goes on. We each go away with 14 blocks, one each from each quilter. On the first Saturday of December, we'll meet at Cooky's house and reveal the fabulous quilts we'll put together from these colorful blocks.

While the block exchange is what we're officially there for, it's difficult to say whether it's the highlight of the day for we also delight in the ever-present chit-chat, our show-and-tell session, all the delicious dishes we partake in for lunch and the gift exchange we treat ourselves to. This event lasts ALL day and we're never ready to have it end.

We all make quilts. We all buy patterns and books and create blocks. We put them together and sleep under them, wrap them around ourselves, hang them on our walls, give them to people we love and donate them to organizations we respect. But the quilts that are made from our Calendar Grils blocks are something special. They represent a comraderie and a friendship that is rare.

I love each and every one of my great Calendar Girls pals: Jody, Cooky, Catherine, Diane, Diana, Willie, Sharon, Vera, Ginger, Pat, Rosemary, Mary and Jan. Thank you for being a part of my quilting life.