The line is even bigger today, though there’s a Celebration Parade for the Houston Astros right outside our doors in just a few hours. Here are a few of the most amazing people I had the honor to met today. Wish I could had taken photos of every single one of them.
Tari Vickery and Peggy Thomas sure don’t look as tired as I’m sure they are. They’re in charge of The 70273 Project interactive booth where people are making blocks.
Susan Wynne and Elaine Smith came by. Elaine is also helping in the Interactive Booth, where she has one of the Middlings she’s made on display.
Sue Warby from the UK offered to be a 70273 Project Ambassador!
Stephanie Brown Bowen is a hoot and a holler. She’s also an angel who swooped back through the booth later in the day and quietly handed me a bottle of water as I talked to other people about The 70273 Project. Last night, she joined our Facebook Campfire, which I’m means our chats are about to get livelier!
Sheila Bishop and Tori Benz-Hillstrom are friends with our Kitty Sorgen and Kris Phillips (who pieced the quilt we’re standing in front of) and Trish Lehman and so many more members of The 70273 Project Tribe!
I finally got to meet the delightful and talented Nan Ryan live and in person! She lives in a community where my in-laws lived for many years before they died, and she found out about The 70273 Project in an interesting round-about kind of way and jumped right on it. I was going down to meet her a month or so ago, but Hurricane Irma was a party pooper.
Kathleen Kashmire from Eureka, California made blocks in the Interactive Booth.
Lois-Scheiter dropped off a block and a donation (Thank you, Lois!) then happened back through several times to bolster me with her bright smile and blown kisses.
Helen Jordan is a polio survivor from Glasgow, Scotland.
Andra Steemkamp from Nambia stopped by to learn more about The 70273 Project, so maybe we’ll soon have our first blocks from Africa.
Meg Cox was one of the first people I met yesterday, and she is a real dynamo. I enjoyed talking to her as much as I enjoyed looking at her jacket.
Jacqueline Bonner stopped us on the way in to say how powerful she found The 70273 Project Exhibit. Her ex mother-in-law was going to teach her to quilt, but Jacqueline didn’t want to learn then. She got ready to learn, but only after her mother-in-law died. Jacqueline’s grandmother made quilt and clothes by hand.
This is Marie Ange (center) and her friend. Marie Ange is from France and she hopes to meet Chantal Baquin and maybe Katell Renon when she’s there next week.
Christine Treweck owns the Delbrook Quilt Company in New Zealand. Her daughter died at age 5 from disabilities she sustained as a result of an infection she contracted. I so enjoyed meeting her daughter through Christine’s stories – and there were more smiles and chuckles than tears because her daughter’s joy shown right through the stories – like how her daughter would blow kisses and sign “I love you” to the person who performed painful medical procedures on her as she left the room.
Meet Cheryl Johnston and Jan Tarbox.
Anabel Ebersol made some of the wind chimes that are exquisitely hung just in front of The 70273 Project Special Exhibit. Very appropriate, don’t you think? Kudos to Festival Special Exhibit organizers and planners.
Hilary Jordan, Barbara Tyo, and Melinda Ashby were in the exhibit when I arrived (I got there early, they got there earlier.) Hilary sells Aurafil thread. Just sayin’. Just hopin’.
The Engineer (Andy) is a real trooper, y’all. I am so lucky to have a husband who wholeheartedly supports The 70273 Project in every way imaginable. Yesterday, we fell into a pattern (not by design) where he would tell people the story about The 70273 Project then they would come tell me their stories. It made for an amazing day.
For The 70273 Project to be a Special Exhibit at the International Quilt Festival is an honor, y’all, and I am humbled and fueled by the conversations I have, the love notes that people leave me on our table, by the stories folks share with me. The Engineer and I haven’t left the booth once because every single minute someone is there, and we don’t want to miss a single person. To all y’all who have come by or will come by, to all y’all who are sending good energy from far away, thank you.
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Other places to gather around The 70273 Project water cooler:
Shop with Amazon Smile and support The 70273 Project.
Subscribe to the blog (where all information is shared).
Join the English-speaking Facebook group – our e-campfire – where you can talk to other members of The 70273 Project Tribe.
Join the French-speaking Facebook group – our other e-campfire – where you can chat with other members of The 70273 Project Tribe.
Like the Facebook page where you can check in for frequent updates.
Get folks to help celebrate your birthday by making blocks and/or donating bucks.
Follow the pinterest board for visual information.
Post using #the70273project on Instagram. (Please tag me, too, @whollyjeanne, so I don’t miss anything.)
Tell your friends what you want for your birthday.
And if you haven’t yet made some blocks, perhaps you’d like to put some cloth in your hands and join us.
Or maybe you’d like to gather friends and family, colleagues or students, club or guild members, etc. together and make a group quilt.
What an amazing day you have had, Dear Jeanne! I know you must be exhausted, but energized at the same time. With all the new contacts you are making, I can see the 70273 Project reaching “Goal” at record speed. So sorry to have missed the ‘party’, but you guys are simply AWESOME! So proud of the team! <3
Thanks So much Engineer! I was worried about Jeanne losing her voice. So perhaps with listening more, both of you will make it through. (Can you tell how ill I was when I finished my first time at Houston?) ! Big Hugs from the UK