Incredible, Just Incredible

Mercury went retrograde on Wednesday and promises to stay that way until the third week of April. Now the scuttlebutt about this three-times-a-year astrological happening is that it's never a good time to make hard-and-fast decisions because they usually need to be changed later.

However, as in all life, there are exceptions. I've decided I'm in love with this quilt by my fellow guild member, Joanne Shapp. And I have no intention of changing my mind.

Joanne lives up the hill from me, just a few miles away. She called yesterday morning to tell me she had a quilt she wanted to donate to the Quilts for Parkinson's project. (You can find out loads more about that at my website, www.SonjaHakala.com.) Could she drop it off?

She did and we had a great time visiting with one another. And she brought this incredible quilt that will be part of my speech at the Parkinson's Symposium. (Which is now totally sold out, by the way!)

There are tons of great reasons to join a quilt guild—friends, laughter, a way to learn new techniques, carpooling for the big quilt shows. But I would be willing to bet that everyone's favorite part of every guild meeting is Show and Tell. That's when anyone who wants to can and does get up with a new project to share or seeks advice about some puzzle to be solved (how do you wash an antique quilt?) or fulfills a desire for design advice (of which there is never a shortage).

It's sort of like the Fourth of July with an audience that literally "oohs" and "aaahs" as quilts are unrolled. (We're talking about an audience that will swoon over a particular use of the color red, for example.)

I think the women in the Northern Lights Quilt Guild have to be among the most creative on the planet. I often sit in awe during show and tell thinking "How did she do that?"

All of which means my favorite quilters are in my guild. And Joanne is one of my favorites. Every time I talk to her, I learn something about quilting—a way to look at color, a way to solve a problem. It's not just that she creates these wonderful objects of beauty but that she thinks about the process, studying it in depth so that she really knows how it works.

My personal goal is to become as good a quilter as Joanne was ten years ago.

Thanks Joanne.

And a very happy birthday to my son Jesse! Still glad you're my kid—and that's no joke!!!!!