I have been talking for months about the annual shop hop in our area called “Quilters’ Quest”. There are 10 shops in Maryland and Northern Virginia who get together each year to plan this event. We have just finished the “Quest” and I want to let you all know how successful it was…so many people from across the country have come year after year and make it almost a pilgrimage.
I love seeing the familiar faces of those who have become friends over the years. I especially enjoy the pairs of mothers and daughters who do the Quest together. One mother/daughter combo participate in the Quest each year and the mother has especially caught my fancy. I love the fact that they do this together and that the mother travels to this area to do the Quest with her daughter. I never see them at any other time but instantly remember them when they come through the door. This year when they came in I immediately gave the mom a hug and told her how nice it was to see her again. She said in her feisty way, “you can’t really remember me—if you can, tell me where I am from!”
“New Jersey” I gave right back at her, and we both had a good laugh.
The shop hop is the one time a year that I set aside time from teaching, designing, etc. to be at the shop every day. It is such fun to see the amazing stories that emerge.
Three women and a gentleman came into the shop during the Quest. They did not know the shop hop was going on but were excited to be a part of the festivities. I told them that anyone coming into the shop was eligible for our daily door prize so please enter. They had an interesting story.
It started with Jane Sparrell, a quilter, who traveled to Washington DC with her husband who was attending a conference. One evening of the conference they had dinner at a table with another woman attendee, Virginia, from Sacramento, California. During the course of the conversation, the two women discovered that they were both quilters and had an avid conversation about quilting. The next day, the non- attendee of the conference was on a tour of DC and met the acquaintance of another woman and her husband, Laurie and Rob, from Savage, Minnesota. The two women soon discovered that THEY both were quilters.
The bottom line is that the three women, Jane, Virginia and Laurie, and the husband made the trek out to our shop. No sooner had they left than I noticed that Jane had left a bag behind. I called her cell phone and agreed to mail it to her.
Later that day, believe it or not, it was her name that I drew for our daily drawing prize winner! I called her yet again and said that we must be new best friends with my second call to her in a day.
Thank you to all of you who attended the Quest. I love the chance to meet and talk with so many of you. The Quest always reminds of how much I love being with quilters (as if I could ever forget)!
So true. I always feel like an old friend when I visit from Orlando and sty with my sister in Darnestown.
Great stories. Crafting people are the best! It always feels like catching up with old friends, whether you only met them five minutes ago or have known them for years.