Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Read All About It...

The first time I met Candy in real life, it felt kind of like a blind date. If you have had the wonderful opportunity to meet one of your blogging friends in person, then maybe you know what I'm talking about. A few butterflies...will I like her? Will she like me? Will we have anything in common? Will we run out of things to talk about and then have an awkward silence?

Candy's daughter is Jessica Jones, designer of fabulous fabric and the writer behind the uber popular blog, How About Orange.What first caught my eye, of course, was the very witty, usually very humorous conversation between mother and daughter that continues to take place in the comment section of Jess's blog. I asked myself, who was this Grandma G person anyway? So I clicked on her name, which took me to her blog, where I read that she lived in southern Minnesota, close to where Mark grew up. We started an email correspondence, and then three years ago, when we went back to Minnesota for Mark's high school reunion, we took the time to drive the relatively short distance to meet in person.

Fast forward three years, and we are now very good friends. So no trip to Minnesota would be complete without spending time together.

In April I had decided to make a quilt for her. Years ago, I had purchased some fabric of cats sitting on bare and snowy branches.

I have no clue why I purchased it--I'm not particularly a cat lover myself. But Candy is. And so I knew I had found the perfect person for this fabric. I used Elizabeth's "sliced coins" pattern (highly recommended, by the way) and went to work. The best thing? This quilt was made entirely from my stash, including "The Kitty Chronical," which kind of makes both of us crazy because the word "chronicle" is misspelled."
And this is one of the few quilts completed, from beginning to end, by me (with help from Mark for the basting part) --including the machine quilting.
It wasn't intended to be a surprise. I had kind of done a "teaser" post, actually hoping she would figure it out and enjoy watching the process. The funniest thing was when she said, "Well, it's a good thing that quilt isn't for me because that misspelling would drive me nuts!" Or something like that...When I read that, it occurred to me that she really did not think it was for her.

It was so  much fun to give the quilt to such a good friend. Neither of us enjoys having our pictures taken, but this momentous event could not go unphotographed!
I found the coolest fabric for the back, more kitty newspaper articles, but this time I think the words are all spelled correctly.
The sharing didn't end there, however. While I'm the quilter, she is the "bag lady." She does an absolutely impeccable job when it comes to making bags. And I got two of them!
 
See this cute little model? Candy and I both have granddaughters just a few months apart in age, with curly brown hair and brown eyes. This is Courtney:
Adorable. And I was lucky enough to meet her too!
We had to take a short break while our multi-tasking photographer answered a phone call.

If you have a chance to meet a blogging friend, my advice is do it! And run, don't walk!  We both tend to be introverted so the first time was really stepping out of the box for each of us. But if you take that step, you just might make a friend for life.

21 comments:

05 08
Susan said... #

I hope to meet some of my best bloggy friends one day! You sound like you have great fun together! Your quilt is very special...has Candy learnt to live with the misspelling? You are right - she makes a mean bag!

Elizabeth Dackson said... #

Holy cow, she sure does make gorgeous bags!!! Lucky you, with two fab new bags! And the quilt you made for Candy is just lovely, thanks for the pattern shout out :)

Grandma G said... #

The misspelling is part of the uniqueness of the quilt! ;) And you couldn't get this quilt away from me for a million bucks!

trish said... #

Oh how fun! :0) I was able to meet some blogging friends at The Sewing Summit last year and it was so fun. Your red and blue purse is too cute!

Carla said... #

Amen to all you said, sister!

Deborah said... #

I think Candy must be the queen of bag making. Her work is fabulous!!

Katy Cameron said... #

Oh there's nothing more fun that winding a bloggy friend up about something you're giving them... (I'm mean to my readers ;o) ). I'm also very luck to be able to meet several bloggy friends at least once a month at a guild meeting :o)

Looks like you both had a fab trade!

Terriaw said... #

What a cool story about your friendship and about this quilt. It's an awesome quilt, so I feel lucky I got to see it in person before you gave it to Candy. And what a treat to get TWO bags from her!

Love that shot of Mark holding the bags and the camera while taking a call. My husband often offers to be the purse-holder while I'm doing something. They are keepers, the husbands (and the bags!).

CitricSugar said... #

Beautiful quilt!

I've only met one of my blog peeps in person but I'm hoping to change that by joining the local guild this fall. And then by winning the lottery so I can travel to meet everyone else. :-)

Mama Pea said... #

How fun for you! I sure liked seeing this quilt at our retreat! Too cool. I love the bags you got! I especially love the little round one!

Marit said... #

Lucky her to be gifted such a nice quilt and lucky YOU to be gifted some of her beautiful bags (and such great fabric designs on them). Must be fun to become real life friends with a blog friend. Hope that will happen to me too some day!

diegoagogo said... #

I just love the colours in the quilt & as for the bags?? Oh my!!
Now that IS talent!!
I have of course added this quilt to my never ending list of things to make. LOL.
Cheers
Lush
London, UK

Lucy | Charm About You said... #

How wonderful!! I love meeting bloggy friends! It's so exciting :)
The quilt is very pretty and the bags are so cute!
The photographer is clearly a great multi-tasker!! x

Mary said... #

Great post, Cindy! It is so much fun to meet people you know through blogging. I hope someday to meet you and several other overseas friends...hee hee! The quilt is great! And lucky you to receive two wonderful bags. I would keep my eye on that photographer though!

by George! said... #

Nice blog about a nice lady. Well, two nice ladies, actually. I named my Garmin after Grandma G.

by George! said... #
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Grandma G said... #

By George!... You named that annoying, "recalculating" voice after ME?! Am I supposed to feel honored??? I guess you do need someone to tell you where to go once in a while. I just hope you listen to her better than you listened to me! Ha! :)

Elaine said... #

1. Love the cat fabric choices. 2. I adore the bags she made you (and have loved working with her daughter's fabric too). 3. Your hubby is such a great sport to take all those photos! 4. Hope you visit my slice of CA soon! (don't know why I was compelled to number things but I was...)

felicity said... #

I totally agree! Meeting bloggy friends is the best. It certainly does feel like a blind date, or meeting an online "match" in person, but everyone should just do it anyway!

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