QUILTsocial Issue 4 | Page 3

editor's letter Are you a collector? I bet you are! If you are a quilter or a sewer, then there’s no doubt whatsoever. Collectors always have a thousand and one stories, and a great sense of wonder for the things they collect. Their eyes bright with delight as they dive in their precious items to engage you in their stories and perhaps, with a little madness, hope you’ll get the bug as well. As quilters and sewers we’re fortunate to have several collections going on at once, spools of thread and gorgeous fabric that then turns into scraps of which we can’t let go. And let’s not talk about the collection of UFOs! I like to keep fabric in a bookcase so I can see my favorite prints and colors whenever I walk in the room, right beside the other collection… quilting books. Another collection, right beside the books, is that of yarns, as I’m also a knitter. When guests walk into the room and see my leftover yarns in a huge fancy glass container, the questions start to flow. These collections become our universe. And then, there’s the topic of sewing machines, and the possibility of having more than one. I still have my mother’s 1959 Viking Husqvarna Automatic CI-21A sewing machine. A collectable machine coveted by those who own one. It’s actually hidden away, like someone’s going to run away with it! For those of you who might not know, it’s a very heavy machine. It’s my pride and joy not because I’m comparing it to the Husqvarna Viking sewing machines available today, but because it holds fond memories of my childhood spent at the kitchen table with mom sewing, including the many times I used the machine as a teenager to alter clothing! Speaking of sewing machines, the Pfaff Creative 1.5 makes me think of a little red Fiat 500, I’m not sure why, it just does! Vroom, vroom… If you’ve been following QUILTsocial blog particularly this summer you’ll remember that Elaine Theriault posted 50 ways to keep a quilter happy while on vacation and dropped in on the local quilt shops along her travels. It’s interesting to see the variety of quilting fabric she photographed within the shops. Fabric in a shop is often a reflection of the town it’s in. When Elaine visited the local shop in Prince Edward Island there were fabrics that reflected the sea and the sunsets there. What a perfect souvenir to get while on vacation! It will always be a sweet reminder of the trip. I hope you enjoy collecting the quilting/sewing topics in every one of our QUILTsocial issues. Enjoy the issue, and then go quilt something. Cheerfully, follow me on QUILTsocial .com ● issue 4 3