October 2005
After so many months of working toward the Quilting in the Garden event, it is now hard to get my feet back on the ground! The weekend of Sept. 24-25, I was the invited artist at this annual event, held at the magnificent Alden Lane Nursery in Livermore, CA. This event was begun by Alex Anderson (of HGTV's "Simply Quilts" fame) several years ago, when she suggested to Jacquie Williams-Courtright (owner of Alden Lane) that her nursery, a four-acre property dotted with magnificent heritage oak trees, would be a perfect place for a quilt show! And so a most successful annual endeavor was born: only this year, it was a two-day rather than a one-day event.
The quilts are clothespinned to lines strung among the oak trees; a hearty band of volunteers from three local quilt guilds show up early each morning to hang the quilts, then reappear late in the day to take them down. Thanks to many people all over the country who sent quilts I had made for them to this show, there were 135 of my quilts hanging in those trees—representing about 25 years of quiltmaking!
What a soul-stirring experience—to see so much of one's work displayed so magnificently! The color of the quilts was reflected in the colors of the plants and flowers and wonderful displays in the nursery—it was like walking in a color wonderland, in perfect fall weather, with pumpkins and cornstalks adding just the right seasonal touch…
A big part of the reason that this event was so successful was the Alden Lane management and staff: Jacquie, the nursery owner, Cyndee Carvalho, with whom we had been working for months, and Gerard, her "right hand person", who had a lot of "line duty" during this event. The staff couldn't do enough to help us, and they all made us feel so special, and so happy with the show we brought with us.
Accompanied by my neighbor Martha Alexander, I drove from Seattle to Livermore in a rented cargo van, laden with well over 1000 pounds of books and templates and nine soft-sided suitcases full of quilts. My sister Janet and her husband Bernie Freiland flew in from Maryland to help; the "MillerQuilts team" was completed with dear friends Connie Tiegel, Carol Gunby, and Debbie Mancuso. Six busloads of quilters arrived the first day—so the MillerQuilts booth was a busy place! Twice a day I led walking tours of the quilts in the nursery, telling stories about some of the quilts that were hung—each tour was slightly different, as different quilts reminded me of a story from long ago.
There were many highlights of this experience—but imagine how my heart overflowed when my son David surprised me on Sunday afternoon by arriving from New York City to surprise me, in time to take in my last walking tour of the weekend! My heart had been full all weekend with the joy and wonder of this event, and grateful for the many friends who had helped me get this show to come to fruition. But when David walked up to my stand under the sheltering oak tree, there were hardly words to express the explosion of gratitude and joy I felt, inside and out!
Perhaps the best way to share this experience with you, Dear Reader, would be to share the following captioned photos: they certainly bring back magnificent memories…If you ever have a chance to attend this event, always held at the end of September, don't miss it…this event, and all that led up to it, was perhaps the biggest highlight of my career so far, and one I won't forget for a very long time. Thank you, Alex; thank you Jacquie and Cyndee and Gerard—what special people you are! Thank you! Thank you!
- Quilting in the Garden Pictures
- More Quilting in the Garden pictures (David A. Miller Photography)