Hand Quilting on the Lincoln Memorial // Favorite Things

On Saturday, a small group from the DC Modern Quilt Guild met on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to enjoy the sunshine, learn/practice our hand quilting, and talk quilts.  We also had planned to do a photography 101 and take some pictures of quilts, but that will have to happen another day. Check out the reflecting pool in the pictures.  So much for taking "picturesque" pictures. Ha!Karen suggested we make a Courthouse Steps mini quilt (tutorial courtesy of the Purl Bee), and she taught us the ins and outs of hand quilting. Thanks, Karen! We learned that unlike dancing, it is not illegal to hand quilt at the Lincoln Memorial, although the National Park police gave us a few odd stares.  We realized that two hours (alas, parking meters) is not nearly enough time for such an event. We felt a bit like rock stars, as quite a few people stopped to ask us what we were doing, if we were selling our work (ha!), and to let us know that their grandmother also hand quilted. Quite a few people even asked to take our picture! Alas, they were all tourists, so we have no new recruits for DC Modern. A fun time was had by all, I think. And I really liked this hand quilting thing. I helped my grandmother and her sisters (well, I don't think I helped much, but you know what I mean) hand quilt a whole cloth quilt while I was in college. If I remember right, someone in the family was getting married. I was terrible, but it was a lot of fun. Perhaps someday I'll branch out from straight-ish lines.

100 Quilts for Kids quilt, meet the beautiful reflecting pool.  Mini courthouse steps quilt, meet the beautiful marble that makes up the Lincoln Memorial.