Reason #357 why it is awesome to live next door to a quilter

About four years ago I packed up and headed to my first quilt retreat. I brought so much stuff with me my husband joked that it looked like I was leaving him.

It did look like I had emptied our little overcrowded two bedroom duplex we were renting. We were house hunting, but hadn’t found anything yet in a neighborhood we liked at the price tag we could afford.

This was when the Blackberry was hot, and I was checking my email every time a new property came up that looked like it might fit our needs and sending it to my husband to drive by and check it out. Then my table-mate  mentioned the house next door to her was about to go up for sale.

We drove by the night I got home from retreat, had a showing within days and about a month later were moving in to our first home, right next door to my awesome neighbor who also happens to be a quilter.

Besides being great person, she’s on my emergency list for child care backup and is going to take care of the dogs while I’m in labor, living next to a quilter has some pretty great benefits.

http://instagram.com/p/mEM1YEP4a6/

I’ve been able to run over there and use her machine real quick when mine broke and I was on a quilt deadline. She finished binding a tree skirt using the continuous binding method late one night when I was in charge of the Guild tree at Festival of Trees. And now she’s going to let me borrow her serger to finish the edges of four dozen soakers that will get stuffed inside the cloth diapers.

The latest offer came when I mentioned I was considering picking up a cheap one instead of turning and top-stitching 48 of them. She’s got one that doesn’t get used much and quickly offered to let me borrow it. I’m always grateful for her generosity, but this time she’s also going to save me lots of time, frustration and a good chunk of change, because even basic sergers aren’t cheap.

I recommend you all get a quilter for a neighbor. It’s awesome.