“One is silver and the other’s gold.” Do you remember that childhood song? I couldn’t help but think of it these past few weeks as I traveled to North Carolina and back for Deb Tucker’s Certified Instructor (CI) retreat and training.
On our journey, we were able to stop and see friends, both new and not so new (older friends just doesn’t sound right!)
Make New Friends…
You’ve already “met” my little lion Judah, we actually adopted him in a truck stop while picking up a few other critters that we found a good home for along the way….and that home was with my “online” friend Bea Lee as gifts for her girls when we stopped by to say hi.
Bea, pronounced “Bee-Ah” not “Bee” as this southern gal wanted to say, is a fellow Island Batik Ambassador whom I’ve known as I said “online” for more than a year. She lives in North Carolina and her house was on our way to the CI training. I was so thankful to finally get to meet her in person. We had attempted a visit when I was a Harvey Refugee in Tuckerland back in August but that visit didn’t materialize. This time it worked out!
Bea is quite the accomplished quilter, I enjoyed visiting with her in her studio seeing her vast collection of pincushions (she participates in exchanges) as well as some of her quilting projects. It was really exciting to learn that she’s a “cover girl” for a current magazine. I have yet to find a copy but haven’t given up on the hunt.
An interesting fact about Bea is that she is from Denmark and just this last year became a duel-citizen! She has 4 beautiful children, 1 son and 3 daughters, with one being at home during our visit. Bea shares her tutorials on Electric Quilt and AccuQuilt Go patterns and quilt alongs on her blog, Beaquilter, as well as all her Island Batik projects.
My “class of 2017” CI’s had our first opportunity to rub shoulders with the “upperclassmen” at last weekend’s CI retreat. While not all CI’s were able to attend – there are 75+ all over the globe – we had almost 50 people working together as part of Deb Tucker’s “top secret think tank” testing techniques and such that will be polished and released as new products sometime later in the future. It wasn’t all work and no play – we had “show and tell” as well as business training concerning topics such as Tucker University, Social Media, New Techniques, and “Patchwork and Quilting” in the Netherlands with our CI friend, Lilianne Sourenbroek-Loeb
We learned that quilters in the Netherlands make small quilts with very small detailed units. Liliane’s work is exquisite and of course, she uses all the Deb Tucker tools and teaches this to her fellow quilters back home. Another interesting note is that the quilters just “create” and really don’t use a pattern. Talk about letting the creativity flow! It was so wonderful to meet Liliane in person as we have become facebook friends. I look forward to seeing her again this fall at the Houston International Quilt Show.
I had the opportunity to meet so many of the CI’s from the earlier classes that have been facebook friends since my training in August. We took a group photo but I haven’t received a copy of it yet to share (sigh). I am so blessed to be a part of this growing family!
…But Keep the Old
Just had to sneak in a photo of two of my classmates, Bonny and Deborah – they sat on the row behind me during CI retreat. Bonny was a little smokin’ needle as she not only did the projects on our agenda but somehow managed to sneak in a few of her own during our free time. Deborah was kind enough to help me put my new pattern, Illuminated Journey, in clear hanging bags. Her husband Tim and my hubby had a few adventures of their own while we were in our sessions, including a hike to a nearby rock quarry.
All too soon our retreat was over and it was time to head back home. We decided to take a different route home and stop by our old stomping grounds of Johnson City, Tennessee. We lived in Tennessee from 1980 to 1999 and have many many fond memories and friends we would have loved to have seen had there been time and opportunity.
We enjoyed driving around town to find our old homesites….our first apartment in Northridge, the second apartment at Smoketree, our “home” church Mountain View Baptist, and of course our 1st house on Cobblestone Court.
We were able to spend a little time with our neighbor, Laura Mize and my quilting friend Pam Sprinkle. I could tell lots and lots of stories on each but let’s just say it was wonderful to have a little time with each of them. Indeed, these friends are true gold.
Make New Friends, But Keep The Old, One is Silver and The Other Gold – This is Karen Overton, The Quilt Rambler, thankfully blessed with so many dear friends!
Thanks! What a lovely story!
Liliane
Such a pleasure to meet you – here’s to many years of friendship ????
I remember teaching that song to my girl scouts. Now I’ve got an earworm–you know, that song or phrase that just keeps repeating itself. Oh, the memories. Great post. I enjoyed seeing the pic of your route. How did you make that?
The map is a screenshot of my map app ???? thanks for visiting – hope it keeps you singing as your day goes by