TVQA Assembly Day - Hot Fun!!!

This year's Assembly Day was a Blast!

Jenny Doan of the Missouri Star Quilt Company was there as the Keynote Speaker - and she was amazing!!!  I was thrilled to get a picture with her afterward :)

Every year, the Tennessee Valley Quilters Association holds an Assembly Day for all the Guilds in their association.  The first year I began quilting, whenever I heard other quilters talk about the upcoming Assembly Day, I thought they meant a day where a lot of quilters came together and assembled quilt sandwiches!  Not so!!!!

What a gathering!  Fellow quilters from all over the area.....

Lots and lots of vendors..... yes I did my part to help the quilting economy!

Delicious food - this year it was catered by Houstons - YUM!!!

These ladies were enjoying their lunch outdoors!

This year the day started out wet .....

....... and ended up VERY HOT ..... we quickly learned the A/C in the building was broken!!!

With almost 600 ladies in attendance, needless to say it got a little stuffy in there!

The theme this year was Christmas in July, and true to theme, our Greeter Elf was Vicki Jeffries of the Iris Quilters Guild, who hosted the event this year ..... you couldn't have found a brighter smile anywhere in Nashville!

Ginger Fondren was the Head Elf, and she certainly did a fantastic job - especially considering that she unexpectedly lost her daughter in the middle of the preparations for this huge event.

After learning that the Iris Quilter's Guild had entered our event into a contest being held by the Nash 103.3  radio station - and that we had WON! - we were all led in singing the Star Spangled Banner by this lovely lady from the radio station....  you can click HERE to watch it on America's Morning Show!

Then Jenny Doan took center stage!!!

Jenny is famous for her tutorials on You Tube - you can click HERE to find them!  Jenny told us she moved to the Midwest because she didn't feel like she "fit" in California.  But once she got there, she was bored and looked for something to do.  When someone suggested quilting, she said, "No, old people do that!"  All these years later, her videos have over 30 million views!!!  She told us she filmed her first video with a broken leg and heavily medicated - so she appears drunk in the video :)  At our event, she apologized for wearing flip flops - she had only brought two shoes, but they were different shoes and both for the left foot!  She was so funny!!!!  And warm, and open and had the most infectious laugh!!!  We all loved her immediately!

Jenny shared many of her "easy cut and flip" blocks with us - with her husband Ron as handy helper!  (I took these pics with my iPhone from my seat in terrible lighting, so I apologize in advance for their quality!)

She has a new magazine called Block that is currently only available from her website ....
She said the magazine stand areas are owned by the Mafia
and they can't afford the cost of space there LOL!!!

After lunch and shopping, Jim Gatling from Arkansas took over Center Stage.  

Unfortunately, a lot of people left because of the heat, but they missed an entertaining show!  

Jim blogs over at Jim Gatling's Crazy Creative Life - click HERE to visit his blog.  He is very funny and his quilts are mostly built from his years as a teacher and huge amounts of quilt blocks/fabrics given to him from friends etc.  He loves to embellish his quilts and told us he has a Button Room - filled with nothing but buttons!  I'll just show you some of his quilts with a few comments....I don't remember all of the stories behind them, which is a shame because he told some good ones!

This was one of my favorites!!!

The below quilt took our breath away!  I believe this is the quilt that he told us if there was ever a fire in his house, he might have to run out of the house naked, but he would make sure he was wrapped in this quilt!

I don't remember the whole story on this one, but it was something about one of his students -
a little colored boy who wanted to represent just how much his mother did in one day

This quilt was so pretty in person!!!  Jim loves to cut designs in his spare time LOL!!!

This is one example of how Jim takes abandoned orphan blocks
and makes them into a beautiful cohesive quilt!!!

I hope you've enjoyed this little replay of our fun Assembly Day event!

Come back tomorrow to see the wonderful Selvedge Skirt the lady in front of me was wearing!!!

Today, Sara and I are off to Goodwill to see what we can find and craft ....

And then we might make another pillowcase for her sister :)

Wow, is she ever enjoying her new sewing machine!!!

But I have lots to teach her before she goes home .....

What will you be up to?

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

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