Topiary, the Legend (original edition)

At the recent retreat, we talked about the legend of the topiary. I found the original story in a 2008 email from Jan. Adding it here for posterity.

Topiary, the Legend

A tale starts simply, like a quilt. An idea, good material, embellishments and time.  Soon from humble beginnings grows a legend.

It was February, 1996, Syd and Kathy were armed and ready for the annual NEORQC Getaway Weekend.  (knee-rock - an arcane word referring to the movement of the patella as one sews at a sewing machine).  It was indeed, a good day to quilt.  After some minor directional lapses they arrived in Cuyahoga Falls and there this tale truly begins.

Intrigue from the moment of arrival.  Our travelers spied their fearless leader, The Mary Huey, laden with burdens.  What could they do but help?  It was how they were raised.  In hushed tones they were told of a secret and of their part in it.  They were to take a large birthday cake and hide it until Saturday night.  They were to pass the word to fellow well-wishers and on the appointed hour they were to, along with these revelers, deliver the cake.  For it was Ruth’s, Mary’s mother’s, birthday.

They had also fulfilled their pledge to find table assignments for their intrepid band, “The Erie Street Quilters”.

Let me say right here and now that one would be hard pressed to find a finer group of women.  Kind, talented, supportive and polite.  But like any student of nature will tell you, even the most gentle of pups, when underfed and sleep deprived, will, well, form a pack an turn on the weak.  The weak, as it turned out, was the table centerpiece.

Every year the Get Away has a theme and this year’s was “Celebration of Flowers”.  Someone had spent a significant amount of time to festively decorate the dining area.  In all truth, what we love to see is a display of fabric that we get to share.  What we got was a stick in a flower pot upon which rested a Styrofoam ball embellished with lots and lots of tiny plastic blooms.  To ensure it’s stability the little pot was filled with cement.  There it stood in the middle of our table…the Topiary…Could we ignore it?  We could not for it stood at the exact height as to block out the face of anyone sitting across the table.  Suddenly we were all on “Court TV”.  conversation was stilted.  “Who wanted what passed?  Who said that?”  and so on.  And yet, we were polite and bobbed and weaved and tried to ignore it.

My recollection is that it was during breakfast on Saturday that the tide turned.  Ruth, mother of Mary and revered as such, knocked the thing over on it’s side.  This was by no means an accident.  It made a most satisfying “Thump”.  From then on the topiary became fair game.  It was rolled, and taunted,, and dumped in the planter next to the table.  Somehow when we returned for lunch and then for dinner, it too, had returned.  Standing like a beacon, just asking for it.

Saturday night came and we sat down to eat.  We ate, we laughed, we tossed around the centerpiece.  The time for the speeches came and Jan got up and left the table.  If we have learned one thing from all this it is “go before, or hold it”.  We were told to count off and the lucky winner would receive, to take to beautify their home, the topiary on their table.  We did as we were told.  The number was drawn.  Syd was the “winner”.  the entire table, with one mind, one thought, looked at Jan’s empty chair.  When she returned she found the prize was hers.  Did she suspect foul play?  One can only guess.

The time for Ruth’s birthday surprise had come.  Syd and Kathy and many other arrived at Mary’s door with the cake (frosting intact, no mean feat for Syd of the sweet tooth).  We had fabricated a tasteful card for Ruth but all felt a bit bad that we had no gift for her.  In walked Jan, smiling.  In one hand she had a bottle of wine, in the other, the perfect gift.  The Topiary.  We all laughed, but in our hearts we knew this would not be the end.

January, 1997 -- Super bowl Sunday at Erie Street Quilts.  Ellen, “the Meany”, Sweeney had devised a contest.  Teams would compete to see who could put together the most star blocks in the allotted time.  We were ready.  Syd and Not Syd.  Bonnie and Beth.  Mary and Marsha to name but a few.  And the ill-fated team of Jan and Candy.  Ellen in her referee outfit was calling thee shots and handing out penalties.  Jan was the first to notice there seemed to be some bias.  Certainly, Syd deserved the penalty for dropping the hot iron in the plastic snow.  The smell alone warranted that, but the other penalties piling up against Jan and Candy seemed at best capricious.  Jan was getting visibly irritated and more so when Kathy (Not Syd) reported to her that no one else had any penalties.  The whistle sounded, the challenge was over.  Mary and Marsha had the most blocks.  (One can only wonder how many eight-inch blocks will fit in a cheese hat.)  They conceded to a mother/daughter team who without the help of a cheese hat had produced the most blocks.  Then the award for the most penalties.  Jan Orlando.  Jan alone.  He team mate was not included in the shame.  She was made to come before the other teams where she received he prize.  It was a large box wrapped in fabric from the collection of “What was I thinking”.  ACME, boom, Wiley coyote.  Jan opened the box and quickly closed it again.  She took a breath and pulled out….the Topiary.  The few who knew screamed with laughter.  Ruth just smiled.

Somewhere between the back door of the shop and her car, Jan formed her plan.

February 1997 and once again it was time for the “Get Away”.  this year it would fall on Valentine’s Day.  Again, we gathered to eat and sew and laugh.  The centerpiece was small and stuffed and our fun had to come at the expense of something else.  The food.  As we gagged our way through the dinner courses a waitress arrived at our table with a big white box with a big red bow.  The kind that usually contains roses.  “Syd Freund?”, she asked and handed over the box.

“How is going to kill Phil for this”, said Kathy.  (Phil, Syd’s husband, is prone to these showy gestures and Howie, Kathy’s husband never hears the end of it as he is not so inclined.)  The jealous eyes of four hundred women turned to watch.  Syd slid off the box, peaked in the box and closed it.  She started to laugh as only Syd can.  She pulled out the Topiary and we, “the few who knew”, howled.  Except Jan.  It is hard to laugh and look smug at the same time.

April 1997.  Lynn Gallagher was worried that a milestone birthday of “The Mary Huey” might go by without proper fanfare.  We talked, we planned, we plotted.  Alas, I was not there when Lynn arrived at the shop with a beautiful cake and…the Topiary.  This time we covered it with legal tender as it had been determined that Mary, at her age, needed an aide to sight.  Contributions would allow her to buy this and think of us as she spotted birds in the wild.

And so for now, this tale ends, Mary will be watching and waiting.  And by my hand “the few who knew” will increase in number and as all legends mush, will grow and be embellished and continue in our laughter.

Done this tenth day of June 1997, by my hand and machine…Kathy (Not Syd) Fein

The Roll:

Syd Freund February 10, 1996

Jan Orlando February 10, 1996

Ruth Brower February 10, 1996

Jan Orlando January 16, 1997

Syd Freund February 14, 1997

Lynn Gallagher (transport only, 6/97)

The Mary Huey June 10, 1997

May 2025 Retreat

We had such a fun week in Amishland!  We were missing Fran, Gwen, and Dianne but we made sure to talk about them a lot so they could feel included in spirit.  My mind is like a sieve these days so I thought maybe a recap would help us all remember what we worked on when we are wondering what to pack for the next retreat.  I didn't get photos of everything but here are some of the highlights, in no particular order.  Forgive me for all of the projects that I missed.

Mary Ann was working on an adorable Winnie the Pooh baby quilt (IYKYK).  She also cut into the flamingo fabric from Judy to get a Stack-n-Whack started.  She also worked on some cute Christmas trees for a fundraiser piece.

Kathy put together two jelly rolls--one with cute Thomas the Train prints and another for a comfort quilt in jewel tones.  She even found time to get started on a Missouri Star pattern with some very luxurious looking charm packs.

Jan put the borders on a stunning Kaffe layer cake project (green, of course).  She also finished putting together an I Spy.  She also created a basket block for a project with the Quilted Thimble.  Jan worked on some pieced flying geese from a Kim Diehl book.  Look at those tiny points!  She found time to pin baste a Halloween jelly roll quilt and to make a pieced back for it from a panel and some yardage.  She also made a cute drawstring bag.

Syd started by putting the borders on a 60 degree diamond sailboat block quilt.  She then pulled out a stack of friendship stars and a stunning Mary Ellen Hopkins stripe.  What an amazing top!  Next, she dug into some flannel cuts to make a jelly roll quilt.  Lastly, she made a baby quilt from an adorable panel.

Lynn worked on a handful of challenging projects including Elizabeth Hartman's Legendary pattern with Bigfoot, the Pen and Paper Everbloom pattern and a delectable mountains with Kaffe paired with some gorgeous organic stripes in saturated colors.

Prudie worked on flying geese and then dug into a scrap basket knockouts project that Fran finished at a previous retreat.  She also squeezed in a pillowcase to fight off the tedium of lots and lots of little pieces.  The modern conversation prints were so adorable!

Karen was working on pretty scrap blocks.  I failed to get a photo of what the finished project will look like.

Susie started off with a sweet dinosaur tracks top.  She also worked on some scrappy blocks and finishing a Christmas wall hanging.

Laura worked on scrap blocks in cheerful prints.  She also finished a Kim Diehl topper that she bought when she got temporarily marooned with car trouble near Anna Louisa's.  She had been looking for armadillo fabric to memorialize the unfortunate incident on a motorcycle trip.  I brought her a piece of a friend's Charley Harper fabric so she could start brainstorming a project that can feature the motifs.

Luann also worked on scrappy blocks in beautiful fall colors.  She finished a three yard quilt and another cute pattern.

I worked on a photo transfer quilt for my brother's upcoming 70th birthday.  I had to scramble to get the panels printed in time but I'm looking forward to presenting him with the quilt with memories from our epic trips to Alaska and Europe.  I started a Sherman in Pajamas quilt inspired by the goats in pajamas pattern.  The pajamas show all of his favorite things (think mostly food).  I also got caught up on some of my guild homework (improv blocks, a pincushion to swap, and some drawstring bag samples for another upcoming swap).

That's all for now.  Perhaps Kathy will add the color commentary ...

Divas on the Road--QuiltCon 2025

Some of you said at the retreat to make sure we got lots of pictures so here's a post!

Syd and Jan flew into Phoenix the night before QuiltCon and I think it is safe to say that it was surreal for all three of us to be meeting somewhere other than Amishland.  We went to our hotel near the convention center, had dinner then headed off to get our badges and show merchandise.  It was good to get a lay of the land since Syd and I both had classes first thing the next morning.  Each of us had registered for a volunteer slot also.   Syd won one of the swag bags, too!

We spent Thursday, Friday, Saturday and part of Sunday at the convention center shopping the vendors, doing make-and-take projects, attending classes, volunteering and looking at the quilts on display.  Thursday was very busy and crowded but each day, the crowd was lighter and, by Saturday, things were practically sparse which made viewing the quilts much more enjoyable.

The vendors were fun to browse, as always.  There was a wide assortment of specialties, similar to what we see at the Expo at the I-X center but we thought they did a better job at QC spreading out the sewing and quilting machine vendors among the fabric, patterns, tools, bag making and other booths.

These are the classes we took (I think I got this right but Syd and Jan can correct me ...):

• Planning Improv with Dramatic Negative Space by Michelle Trimble (Syd)
• One Block, 4 Ways with Libs Elliot (Lori)
• Off the Grid Improv Design with Allie McCathren (Lori)
• Take Your Free Motion Quilting to the Next Level by Christina Cameli (Jan)
• Blueprint Quilting lecture by Anna Maria Horner (Parry) (Lori)
• Ordered Improv: Starting Small to Overcome Your Fear by Andrea Tsang Jackson (Syd)
• Chromatic Alchemy by Carolina Oneto (Syd)

We divided our time looking at the quilts into many sessions.  There were so many and it was (fun) tiring in an odd way taking in all of the work and reading descriptions.  I believe there were 600+ quilts divided into many groupings such as featured artist (Tara Faughnan), Native American, Community Outreach, Fabric Challenge, etc. in addition to the usual judging categories such as Minimalist, Youth, Use of Negative Space, Handwork, etc.

When the show ended on Sunday, we were pretty worn out--in a good way--from all of the over-stimulation of a convention event.  We packed up and drove to my house to relax.  We had some dinner and soaked in the hot tub.  It was good to take a pause from all of the busyness of the convention.  

Monday morning we headed north to Sedona, stopping at the Montezuma Castle National Monument and Montezuma Well on the way.

We stopped at a Navajo frybread stand after the sightseeing.

We got a room with a balcony facing the red rocks.  Even after dark, when we couldn't see the rocks, the stars were spectacular.

On our first day in Sedona, we took a Pink Jeep tour of Coyote Canyon.  It was just the three of us on the tour so that was a nice surprise.  Our driver gave us lots of educational information about the rocks, plants, and the evolution of the landscape.  Since it was just us, he had plenty of time to make stops and take some photos of our group.  :-)

After the jeep tour, we visited the Chapel of the Holy Cross to enjoy the views and architecture.  We had enough time before dark to do a hike at Bell Rock.

After our second night in Sedona, we drove south towards home, stopping in the copper mining town of Jerome on the way.  We started with some of the historical information exhibits and a tour through the short but well-done Jerome Mining Museum.  We spent the rest of the day shopping in galleries and gift shops.  I've been to Jerome a few times but had never been in these shops since I'm usually with my guys who have no interest in them or we are stopping for lunch with out of town visitors and want to press on to Sedona before sunset.  The shops were fantastic and each of us found something special to take home from one of the galleries.  We finished off our visit with a can't-miss lunch at the Haunted Hamburger.  

We headed home to relax and wind down.  Syd and Jan had early morning flights the next day and we all wanted to get a good start to the long day of travel and airport time.

We had a great time on this trip --sightseeing, eating lots of Mexican food (with some Cuban too), getting inspired and going to bed early to recharge each night.

Looking forward to seeing everyone in August!