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Thursday, August 10, 2023

Partying with Pam Buda (and Fran and Pati)--photo heavy

Back in 2019 the Pam Buda Circa 1880 Club (sponsored by Marcus Fabrics) that met at Village Dry Goods submitted a video of our club to Marcus for a contest they were sponsoring. We happened to win. The prize? A visit from Pam Buda herself. It was scheduled for April 2020. Of course, it was canceled due to COVID. Fast forward to July 2023, when it was finally able to be rescheduled (thanks to the persistent people at Marcus). And that is where I spent two days a couple of weeks ago.

We started on Friday morning with a special party just for our Circa 1880 Club members. The three ladies pictured below made it delightful.

Left to right: Fran (owner of Village Dry Goods), Pam (fabric and pattern designer extraordinaire, and owner of Heartspun Quilts), and Pati (Director of Marketing for Marcus Fabrics).

Though the photo below is a bit blurry, I love it, because it looks like they are all trying to "make a point". I do not recall what they were trying to say. Maybe they were singing. There was a little bit of that happening at one time. (I promise, we were only drinking water with the refreshments of fruit-kabobs and banana cake.)

Below you can see where we enjoyed a little game to help us get to know Pam--and win prizes. Pati asked the question, we guessed the answers, Fran held the bag of our ticket stubs, and Pam drew the winner, then Pati distributed the prize.


After learning much about fabric production trends from Pati, and about Pam's many upcoming fabric lines from both of them, we then had an opportunity to share our Circa 1880 quilts. First we saw Pam's--the one that inspired this whole Club. This was based on a vintage quilt Pam had seen in an older publication.


Then club members had an opportunity to share their quilts. There were so many great versions. I have only chosen photos of 2 that are each set a different way from the original pattern as shown above in Pam's quilt.

Following the fun of this gathering, I had lunch with a couple of friends, and then we visited the Brigham City Museum of Art and History, which currently is hosting the "Light the World" quilt exhibit, featuring art quilts from around the world. We returned to Village Dry Goods to do a little shopping, and I was startled by a familiar voice behind me, calling my name. There was Lynn Hopkins!

Lynn is the designer of the Tiny Blocks that I had been teaching each month in my guild this past year, in Lynn's absence. He is currently serving a mission with his wife for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but he was back in town briefly for a family event. He'd hoped to be able to make the party with Pam, but schedules didn't work out. Above, left we are holding his Circa 1880 quilt, and above, right he and my friend Ruth were looking at something he had made from his Tiny Blocks. You just can't talk to Lynn without ending up laughing, as this photo attests. He has very big plans for the future of his Tiny Blocks. They may get even tinier!!! So maybe I should say he has small plans?

That evening in my hotel room I was  Zooming with Chooky and the Chookshed Stitchers while having my dinner, and stitching some tumblers. Below left, you can see my machine set up on the hotel desk, and to the right you can see some of the global participants that evening. It was the perfect way to close out a quilty day, and it is always a lot of fun.


This is all I got sewn together that evening before calling it quits--just three rows from the box of large tumblers I have had cut for years. This is a start--and I am trying to be totally random. We'll see how long that lasts. These are laying on the Kingsize bed in my hotel room.                                                                                                                                                                                              Next morning we were at the Brigham Academy Center for a full day class with Pam. I love this venue--all kinds of natural light. This class was open to all, not just those in the Circa 1880 Club. They capped registration at 50. Below you can see my table-mates in the foreground.


We made one block from each of the three small quilts featured in her new  pattern, Haunted Halloween. I'll show my progress on those in a later post. 

We had a break for lunch, after which Pam did a trunk show with many of her beautiful quilts. Here are just a few of them.





This was just what I needed after a couple of crazy busy and stressful months of summer. These ladies in the photo below made it so very fun and refreshing. My thanks to Village Dry Goods, Marcus fabrics, and these three gals, for all of the work and time it took to make this great for those of us attending.




Pam has been a special friend for many years, and it was very sweet to spend time with her again. I hope there will be a "next time". Thank you, Pam!


Before I close this I need to announce the winners of the drawing from my last post, celebrating my 12th anniversary of blogging. Sadly, 18 of the comments were from people who did not have an email attached to their comment and did not include their email address in the comment, so they could not be included. 
I had the random number generator choose the winners.
*First place went to Denise @ Count It All Joy blog--she will get her choice of the kits.
*Second place goes to Nancy @ Joy for Grace blog--she will get whichever kit Denise doesn't choose.
Apparently you had to have a blog with the word joy in the title to win this time around.
I have notified the winners via email and will get their prizes sent out to them this week.

I have several things I want to blog about that will need to wait for a time when I haven't already written a chapter book for a post.
Until then, be creative and be kind.
Janet O.

p.s. If you love Kim Diehl, another blogger is having an anniversary giveaway that you might want to check out. Click here.

A sunset from an evening walk during the last week of July.

19 comments:

  1. What a great post Janet - looks like your quilting time was a lot of fun, lovely to catch up with your friends. So many beautiful quilts.

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  2. Oh how fun!!! I am so glad you got to go...those tiny blocks are just perfect for scraps...my mind is whirling about them!! All the quilts seem to be unified by the one constant fabric. Love it that you are getting to zoom. I saw the back of Pam once, at our local quilt shop...that is close as I got to quilting royalty, LOL!! (this is Juliekquilts)

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  3. looks like a grand time was had by all...sorry i missed you on zoom..next time! glad you had some fun time to refuel after a crazy summer...and with quilty peeps is the best way!

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  4. Thank you for sharing your fun quilty adventure with us! What wonderful memories to have! I enjoyed studying the photos of the quilts that you shared!

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  5. Wow! What a fun and creative opportunity! Getting together with friends and Pam would be extra special. Pam's simple designs are always so charming.

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  6. How fun to spend a couple days with Quilty friends. Love the tiny Quilt blocks by I'll stick with the tiny pieces of Bonnie Hunter. Thanks for being my faithful follower. Congrats to Denise and Nancy.

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  7. How fun to go to a retreat and not really be there. Thanks for sharing. You got some great pictures. I wish Village Dry Goods was closer to me. And you even got to zoom while you rested - too fun. Lovely sunset.

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  8. Such an enjoyable post, Janet - thank you!

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  9. Wow! That looked like a wonderful time! I love Pam's work and her fabrics too. Haunted Halloween looks gorgeous!

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  10. It looks like you had a marvelous time! Thanks for letting me (us) get a taste of the fun! Pam looks like a great gal. Thanks so much for the win! I'm so excited! Hope you got some rest today! Hugs! :)

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  11. Wow, Janet, thanks for sharing all of these fun quilts and photos of quilty friends! Fran is one of my favorite people, I adore her and that laugh of hers! What a beautiful place to sew to your heart's content - wish I could have joined you. Pam's quilts are beautuful. That Circa 1880's quilt has such teeny pieces! What is the size of the blocks? And your friend Lynn is wanting to go teenier?? I'd love to see that.

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  12. Oops, my comment came up as anonymous...

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  13. Looks like a very special event! Loved all those smiling quilters. Your tumblers look great. I love those pops of gold.
    Congrats to your blog anniversary winners!
    Beautiful sky!

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  14. What a fabulous post!! All those quilts are amazing and how fun to have time with your sweet friend Pam!! Looks like you had a great time!!

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  15. How wonderful that your delayed treat of a Pam Buda event finally happened and it looks like it was a huge success. Lots of happy quilters!

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  16. What fun! It looks like there were a lot of quilters who attended the event. I'm sure it was wonderful to see Pam's quilts in person, too. I still marvel at the Circa 1880s quilts. It's great you took photos to share with us, Janet. Thank you.
    I love the photo of the three ladies pointing. I think Fran looks like an angel singing her heart out.
    I'm curious what you learned about fabric production trends. Did they talk about colors, or styles, or...?
    Beautiful sunset!

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  17. oh wow what a great time at the retreat.....love all the pics....thanks for sharing the quilts also.......
    so nice to have you spend your evening with us on zoom........
    and I never tire of your sunsets......

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  18. I've been fortunate enough to be acquainted with Pam. She's given a couple of lectures that I've heard. Made a bunch of her designs. Yep your group was fortunate to win and spend time with her even though it was postponed for a time. Happy it was still able to take place. Been awhile since I've posted, but I'm still paying attention to your posts. Take care Janet =^.^=

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  19. What a wonderful couple of days. So much talent

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