frenchtown fiber

Chris Mundy and Kate House try to make art while navigating the crap life throws at them.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Quilts vs. Motorcycles

This weekend is the big quilt show in my area and I am EXCITED! I had so much fun last year and even bought a sewing machine on impulse. I don't intend to make any such purchases this year, but I will go with money in hand.

Last year my husband came with me. He seemed to enjoy himself pretty well; he likes looking at art. However, he later used it as leverage when trying to get me to go to motorcycle events! When I balked at going to a weekend rally, he reminded me that he spent time at a quilt show. I think there are some major differences here! Motorcycle rallies last for a weekend. As I understand it, if you don't camp at a rally, you miss half the fun. I have a long standing rule that I am willing to travel by motorcycle, even multi-day trips, but I need a hotel room at the end of the day. I also know that I am going to be standing in a crowd of gear heads who will be discussing the finer points of the motor Ducati decided to use in it's latest model. I have nothing to add to these discussions, I'm afraid. So let's compare: a weekend of my life lost to camping with motorcycle dudes vs. an afternoon looking at quilts.

This year I'm presenting it as a girls day out. Kate will certainly come with me, and if I ask my mom, she will come, too. We'll have lunch, it will be a blast. I will take pictures, (is that allowed? I don't think I brought my camera last year.) I was thinking it might be time to learn to create a photo montage with Flickr.

3 comments:

The Idaho Beauty said...

Boy, did this bring back memories! My late husband was also a motorcycle enthusiast who graciously accompanied me to my various quilt shows with surprisingly little complaint. In fact, if we could get there via motorcycle, he particularly enjoyed it. Gave him an excuse to get the bike out with a destination and he loved the looks on the women's faces at the shows when we arrived in our leathers.

Then there was the year we decided to take a vacation on the motorcycle. I wanted to plan it around the NQA show in Grand Rapids, MI where I wanted to take a workshop, and he wanted to plan it around an AMA motorcycle race in Brainard MN. The compromise was...we did both! Prior to that I'd merely tolerated his obsession with the races, but once I actually experienced one, I got hooked.

My guy wasn't a rally guy, so I didn't have to survive that, and we only camped out once at the races (which to my surprise, I really enjoyed), but I DO have to admit that there was just so much wandering around the pits and vendors that I could take before getting bored. But I figured it was the least I could do to thank him for all the quilt shows and vendors he silently suffered through. Yep, I don't think he started going to those shows with me with the expressed intention of using them as leverage later on, but that in fact is what he ended up doing. But don't we women do the same thing?

Enjoy the show and have fun with the girls who will NOT later try to twist your arm to attend a motorcycle rally. ;-)

Cathie said...

Sounds like we are on the same path. We are Harley Dadvidson crazed over here at our house. We alternate between motorcycle rallies in the Blue Ridge mountains and quilt shows in the Smokey Mountains and Shenandoah Valley.

My husband HATES quilt shows, but I love to motorcycle. Hmmmmm - somethings not right here!
Great blog. I'll be back.

Chris said...

Hey Cleveland-G, nice to have you here. My very first motorcycle trip was down the Blue Ridge Parkway. It was fantastic and we had such a good time. We went all the way to the Smokies, only half a day of rain on the whole trip! (Did you ride the dragon's tail?) I'll bet there are some good quilt shows down that way. We did not go to any, but we did go to a craft place in Ashville that was pretty amazing. That was such a good trip. Thanks for making me think about it.