My book club meeting was a rousing success! We had 7 members, one more than usual, and one member brought her 2 sisters along for a peek at the house.
*blush* As I was getting the house ready, I realized how many quilts are in my house. Cool, I thought, you can really tell a quilter lives here - even with the sewing area tidied up!We did discuss the book (The Quilter's Apprentice, by Jennifer Chiaverini) a little (everyone enjoyed it), but mostly they wanted to ask me questions about quilting. I had some visual aids - blocks and quilts I found to illustrate some of the things in the book, like Bachelor's Puzzle and Wandering Foot, and Lone Star. I also have Elm Creek Quilts, and everyone enjoyed looking at that - and were suitably impressed when I read off how many log cabin block makers that I knew! We talked about hand-quilting vs machine quilting vs tying, heirlooms and utility quilts, art quilts, and of course, I explained the important role M&Ms play in quiltmaking. We also talked about the quilts that meant something to us in each of our lives.
The Front Room is officially decorated - the wallpaper was finished Thursday, furniture moved back in, knick knacks in place, roses on the mantel for the party. We have one yucky recliner in that room, waiting for a replacement to be found. I threw a vintage quilt over it, shabby chic style, and it looks great! The antique doll cradle in front of the fireplace had 2 wubby quilts in it, too.
The Dining Room had the picnic quilt (still needs a binding, but quilted and trimmed) on the table, with my 50s china, which coordinated perfectly with the aqua and pink quilt. My kitchen quilt is hanging on a bare wall in the dining room - it will go in the kitchen soon, but was needed to hide a bunch of nail holes in the dining room!
The Living Room had DH's Vice is Nice quilt draped on the couch, and it was a big hit! The Master Bedroom/Quilting Studio has a vintage quilt on the bed, and on the design wall I put up the blocks of the houses wall hanging I need to get back to.
Upstairs, each bed had 2 quilts on it, and all were examined and raved over.
Oh, food! I made brownies (a Good Eats recipe), cheese straws, served a fancy spiced jam over cream cheese (it was officially declared a required theme food - each meeting has had *something* over cream cheese), crackers, pink lemonade (in plastic aqua tumblers) and coffee.
So far, 3 of the members have called me to say what a good time they had. I know I had a marvelous time, and some of them even said they'd like to make a quilt, so who knows? We may start a quilt group next!