A look at the Gee’s Bend Collective, and a few other places I went in Alabama over the weekend.

A few months ago the idea to drive to Gee’s Bend got into my head, and I finally found the time to make the trip happen.  I was hoping Melinda could come with me, since I know how much she loves antique quilts and their work, but she’s moved to another state ( 😦 ) so I roped my sister, her boyfriend and two kids into coming with me.

Related. 😀

We got up Saturday morning and made the trek out to Boykin, AL.  We were driving for what felt like a lot longer than we actually were driving, and suddenly, there was a sign!

I saw the quilt sign and we stopped and made sure we were going the right way.  The next sign we saw was the Welcome to Boykin sign.  I was really tickled, and we headed on towards our destination.

Squee!!

We kept going and suddenly there it was!  The building is an old building that could probably use a coat of paint, but hey, when you’re busy quilting, you don’t really have time to focus on silly things like paint!

We went in, and there were four quilters there!  I was so tickled, because I had no idea what to expect, if anyone would be there, anything!  It turns out they were only there that day because a group was coming in, but the ferry was down so they couldn’t come.  However, they decided to stay anyway.  I said it sounded like a perfect quilt day to me. 🙂   I was very excited to let them know that I’m a quilter, and that I really admire their work.  We talked a little quilting, and one lady was working away hand quilting on a really pretty white, purple, pink, grey and black quilt.  We all looked around, and while I probably could have just sat around and chatted all day (and had some of their pound cake!) I knew we had to get going and find some lunch.  These were the sweetest ladies, and they were so fun to talk to; and I was really tickled to see a Brother sewing machine, because that’s what I use!

I am so excited to have gotten to take this trip.  If you have the time, I highly suggest going!  I’m probably going to take another trip at some point, because I think I was too excited to even be a normal person this time.  It was kind of like I was at QuiltCon all over again.  I’m also happy my sister and her gang got to come with me and share something that I’m so passionate about.

Next week I’ll write a little more about the rest of my trip, I just wanted to devote one post specifically to this experience. 🙂  Until next time, happy sewing!