Our trip to the quilt convention

Click to enlarge to read the sub-title

I'm post dating this blog entry because this happened back on April 9 but I'm just entering it on April 19.

The Original Sewing and Quilt Expo. This is one of the things my wife looks forward to every year. And since she has taught our daughter to sew, our daughter looks forward to it also. My son - not so much. So he stayed home while I drove the girls to Worcester, MA (about a 2-hour trip from our home on Cape Cod) and planned to spend the day reading. That's just fine with me!

The happy sewers

As you can see in the sub-title of the sign in the picture at the start of this post, "What will you create today?" it's not just about learning something new but about actually doing it. That's the best way to learn, I think. You can sit in a classroom and think you understand what is going on. You can know the words the instructor is using and understand the drawings they make. But until you actually do it yourself and use the knowledge, you haven't really learned anything. That's the reason for labs in science and technology courses and the reason for homework in any school. Putting the pieces together to use what you've learned is the final, essential step.

Shopping for just the right "thing"

We had wonderful weather and not much traffic so we got there in plenty of time to register and find the rooms. Then I went out to have breakfast and start reading. It was wonderful. If I'd been home, there would have been chores to do or things to fix or, I hate to admit it, TV to watch. But here, I had the freedom and the time to read.

As you can see in the bottom picture on the right, there is also a large exposition area with fabric and patterns and tools and books for sale. My wife says it has gotten a lot smaller over the years. It still looked impressive to me, though. Maybe as people have stopped making their own clothes and sewing has fallen into decline, it does make sense that this show would be smaller. But I'm glad that things like this still exist and that they are close enough for us to get to.