Quilting above the rim
On the eve of March Madness I channeled my inner churn dash.
It was a day like any other.
Scratch that.
It’s not every day that I attend the Charlotte Quilters’ Guild show at the Park Expo & Conference Center in downtown Charlotte, NC. But this was that day and Charlotte was the destination.
I was not alone on this sojourn into stitchery. My brother, Rob, and I pieced together our resolve and accompanied our wives in a stroll through a maze of fabric masterpieces displayed throughout Expo on a beautiful Spring day in the South.
Full disclosure: The quilts in the CQG Show ranged from magnificent to truly stunning, in an array of colors, shapes, and sizes cut and assembled through the incredible magic of artistic ingenuity. Blue ribbons were affixed to the finest of the lot and all four of us were impressed.
A wicked crossover move
Only hours before, Rob and I had watched Duke put the leather to a feisty but outmanned UNC squad and rise to #1 after the Crimson Tide drowned Auburn in an overtime thriller. With March Madness just over the three point line, the nation will eat, sleep, and breathe college basketball for the next month. I expect Rob and I will go mad along with the rest of America.
So, you have to ask yourself, “What kind of extraordinary men can crossover from nets to nine patches?” On Saturday morning we were those men! But, as we discovered at Expo, we were not the only extraordinary ones strolling the aisles.
The unsung heroes came from all walks of life, all sizes, shapes, and ages, each on a quest to wring as much excitement out of their crossover as we did. And as the clock wound down on our big day at the arena, I think we all succeeded in faking complacency out of its jock and chalking up an assist in our wives’ quest for the perfect patchwork.
Because, extraordinary men are sew together.
And this same weekend, my living room was converted into a layout table for a queen sized quilt to be gifted to the middle stepson.