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Welcome to Fuller by Design, where we explore what it means to lead a creative life. Because the truth is this - life is what you make of it. So let's make, every day. For life.

Stitching and Sharing at the National Museum of Women in the Arts

Embroidery One of the best parts of being part of a quilting guild is learning new things. There’s just so much to soak in at every meeting – one member might teach a new technique,  another might give a recap of an interesting quilt show they saw, while many members bring their latest-and-greatest for show and tell.  That’s my favorite part.

I love seeing what others are working on, learning the back stories of their projects, and even hearing about what gave them trouble while making it (or maybe still is giving them trouble, quilt guild members are notoriously generous with their expertise and the combined knowledge of a group of 20+ quilters in one place is a force to be reckoned with).

The internet is great of course, but it’s no substitute for the support and laughter and camaraderie that runs high at every meeting. For sure it’s what keeps people coming back each month (and maybe all the chocolate).

We take a lot for granted in our guild, we toss around terms like cross grain and selvedge and wonky piecing and stitch in the ditch without a second thought.  And when we hunker down for a six-hour day of sewing, the rest of the world seems far, far away.

But given that the mission of the Modern Quilt Guild is “to support and encourage the growth and development of modern quilting through art, education, and community,” we’re taking that education part of the mission out into the world this weekend.

On Sunday, February 23, I’ll be at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, along with several other members of the DC Modern Quilt Guild, giving hand sewing demonstrations. Between 12 noon and 5pm, we’ll be scattered throughout their current exhibit “Workt By Hand”: Hidden Labor and Historical Quilts  doing hand quilting, embroidery, paper piecing, binding, embellishment and more – whatever hand work goes into quilt making.

I’m very lucky to work on hand stitching a binding on Sunday– my very favorite part of the quilting process – and I’m feeling even luckier to be able to share that with museum-goers on Sunday. The Modern Quilt Guild has been such a treasure of inspiration and friendship for me, and I’m honored and more than happy to pay that forward and pass it on.

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