Starting A New Year with Quilty Excitement!

 

It’s 2024 and where do I start? With “Happy New Year!” of course. I sincerely hope all my family and friends had a wonderful Christmas holiday and are looking forward to an exciting 2024. The highlights of my holiday season were: the Stitchers Christmas Dinner at my house, daughter Anna singing Oh Holy Night at our church on Christmas Eve, an entertaining Christmas Eve lasagna dinner with my family and the Bloombergs that included a few crazy rounds of Uno and Christmas Day festivities at my niece Melanie’s home in Boaz.






At the Hawkins’ home, we completed 2023 with a kitty cat rescue from 35 feet above! On the eve of New Year’s Eve Day, a kitty cat came over at night without an invitation or our knowledge. Our dog Penny wanted to go outside suddenly at about 10 p.m. We figured she sensed deer in our yard or maybe an opossum under the deck. After a bit of running around and sniffing and barking, she came back in. The next morning, I heard and then saw a kitty cat in a fork in one of our Ash trees. It was straight up with no limbs anywhere close. What to do? After calling Huntsville Animal Control and the fire department, I did a google search and found Bob “Bobcat” Reese at Cat.Tree.Climb.Save (Cat.Tree.Climb.Save. (google.com). Before I knew it, he was at our house with his climbing gear and a strong desire to help this woe begotten kitty cat (who I later found out belonged to a neighbor). Bob is part of a nationwide network of tree climbers who enjoy climbing trees to save kitties. Check out his website. It is quite interesting and endearing.

 But, on to my favorite subject – quilting!

 I have two big announcements regarding my love for this wonderful art form.

First, the Heritage Quilters of Huntsville will present its quilt show – Fanfare – this spring! The show is set for March 15 and 16 at the Von Braun Center South Hall II. It is a bigger venue than in the past, offering us more space for quilts and vendors and displays and a bed turning! It is going to be the best yet!! I am chairing this wonderful event with the help of co-chair Cheryl and an awesome group of volunteers. If you are a quilter in the Huntsville area, there is still time to register your quilt for our show. All you have to do is join HQH for the annual $30 fee and then go to our website – https://www.heritagequiltershsv.org – to register your quilt(s). The deadline is Thursday, Jan. 18, so don’t delay!

Membership in HQH gets you much more than the opportunity to showcase your quilt(s) in the region’s largest quilt show. It also gives you access to amazing programs, such as our Jan. 18 program with national quilt artist Nina Clotfelter (https://www.ninaquilts.com). 

Nina will also be teaching workshops on Jan. 19 (Paper Piecing Made Easy) and Jan. 20 (Chop It Like Its Hot) that are open to all members. We also have a quilt retreat coming up later this month and lots of community activities that are quilt related, including a quilt show judge’s reception. There’s no better way to make quilting friends than to join a quilt guild!

For those who are not quilters but love art, please plan to visit us at the show. You will not be disappointed! The hours are 10 to 6 on Friday and 10 to 5 on Saturday. Entry is only $10. And, if you buy a special $1 ticket, you may win our Opportunity Quilt!

Second, I will be teaching quilt classes at Southern Charm this year and expanding my speaking availability on a regional basis. My classes include:



* Kim Diehl What Nots Club 




* Kim Diehl’s Sundrops and Starflowers Quilt





* Let’s Get Sporty quilt that includes favorite mascots





* Irene Blanck’s Message In A Bottle Sew Along. 



If you want to learn a bit about quilting from me, sign up for one of my classes at https://www.southerncharmquiltinghsv.com. And, in addition, just yesterday I was invited to speak and teach a workshop at Heartland Quilt Guild in Cullman in April!

The next few months of 2024 will indeed be busy with the quilt show and the launching of my post-retirement career as a quilt teacher and lecturer. Can’t wait to see where my quilting journey will take me in 2024!

Hugs and Hope and Happy Quilting!

Kari

 

 

 

 

 

 

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