Hebron's First Annual Music and Arts Festival and Me

Hebron, Ohio, had its first annual Music and Arts Festival this past weekend. I think it was fun and went well, expecially for a first event. Because our Heart of Ohio Guild is nonprofit, we were invited to fill a vendor's spot and were allowed to advertise our Guild and our upcoming Auction, which will be at 10 am, October 18th, St. Leonard's Church in Heath, Ohio.

Our idea was to display items that will be for sale at the auction and items that represent our three major service projects: Quilts of Valor, Quilts for Kids, and Hugs from the Heart. We also wanted to encourage individuals to come to guild meetings and to become interested in quilting. That's where I come in.

Four of us arrived at 9 am to set up our area -- it consisted of a square of grass designated with blue paint. My van was packed with quilts to display, three tables, five chairs, small sewing machine, materials to demo piecing and redwork embroidery, and anything else I could think of we might need during the day--an iron, ironing surface, cooler with water and diet root beer, etc. Becky's van held more quilts to display, the awning and all its accoutrements.

Fortunately, Becky and Rosie knew exactly how to do this, and Carla and I took directions well. Our awning replete with three walls was up lickety split. It then took us another 45 minutes to put up quilts and signs. I must say it was one of the most striking displays there.

We settled in, and I set up the small machine and began to demo piecing a block. Electricity was available if your extension cords were long enough. I brought with me the 7th block from the NQA Quilting Quarterly (block of the month 2008) which the BFG's have been working on. I was all set with precut pieces and the directions and was ready to go.

I had never before tried to sew with a live show going on in front of me. On the small pavilion facing our space, we had square dancers twice, line dancers, blues singers, and a rock band --all of which were distracting to various degrees. Not far to the side of us was the children's play area. The merry-go-round never stopped and I had vertigo just watching it. Far enough away we couldn't really see them but could hear them was the field for the three marching bands to perform: Lakewood, Heath, and Sheridan were all great! Smells of great food drifted into our area from the food court. I stopped sewing to have barbecued chicken and spent quite a bit of time getting the barbecue off my hands so I could resume sewing. Fortunately the Battle of the Bands and the main stage were out of hearing for the most part. But, of course, we had the crowd and were glad to see them -- we handed out over 200 flyers on our auction and many about our Guild. However, all of this did not bode well for my piecing.

It wouldn't have been so bad if I hadn't cut the first piece incorrectly back at the shop. The square was meant to be 2- 5/8th inches, but I cut it 2 -7/8th inches. That's a quarter inch error and a big deal to a quilter. It probably took me an hour to finally break down and go back to the directions and realize my error. Many other errors and several hours later, the block was pieced, finger pressed, and stored in its container, and I was ready to go to BFG's Monday night with a finished block to flaunt before the other Bodacious Fabric Goddesses.

Monday morning, wanting my finished block to look great, I heated the iron and pressed my block. As I pressed it, I realized I was pressing in a few grass stains and that one section was sewn in backwards. Go figure. Ignoring the grass stains, I spent my time at BFG's unsewing and redoing my block, again. I did have it done before we broke up for the evening.

The Festival was a success for me though. I loved seeing old friends and talking to people about quilting and the guild.

I think if we do this again next year, I may not demo piecing. Maybe something a bit easier to do with all the distractions. I noticed next year's Quilting Quarterly block of the month is paper piecing. Hmm. I can't paper piece without swearing so that's definitely not an option. I am sure by next year I will have come up with something.