A Lovely Day

On Thursday our Itty Bitty Thursday group took a field trip to Porterville.  Our first stop was the guild meeting of the Porterville Quilters.  Their February meeting was given over to honoring one of their own, Lois Hummel.

Lois began quilting a year or so after I did, only Lois started doing her own thing immediately.  She joined the Porterville Quilters in 1983, and helped found Valley Oak Quilt Guild in 1986.  I joined Valley Oak in 1987.  That's when I first met Lois.

At 91, Lois is no longer quilting.  She may not be active with needle and thread, but she still attends the Porterville meetings and has a lot to give.  She was the first quilter I met who didn't need permission not to follow a pattern.  Design your own quilt?  Not a problem.  She was an art quilter, before there was such a thing.  Such an inspiration!

I felt her special day was in need of something tangible, so I made her this postcard:

 Silly Blogger.  It shouldn't be tipped like that.  :(

The card was made from trimmings of my "Texture" postcards made in early December.

From the meeting, we went on to Calico Mermaid.  I would say it's a new quilt shop in Porterville, but I think it's already been there 2 or 3 years.  I was so busy digging through her button collection that I forgot to take pictures.  Lovely store!

From there, we went to Totally Tina's Fabrics, another "new" quilt shop in Porterville.  She's also been in business for at least a couple of years.  In fact, she's been in business long enough to relocate!  It was there that I saw this on display:

 Isn't it fun?!  Tina said that it was an on-going art project for her kids when they got bored.  They were handed the button box and a hot glue gun.  Love it!

She also had a selection of loose buttons for sale that I had fun digging through.  I came home with lots of new-to-me buttons from both shops.

All in all, it was a delightful way to spend the day.  Thank you, Itty Bitties!!