Camila's Quilt

At Minerva’s we are a little sad because another friend is leaving us....
Our sweet Camila is in her home country by now.
We all will miss you.

We had a busy week trying to get the quilt ready on time for her, and we did it.
I do not how but we were good..
Here are some pictures of the process….

Here is the final result. All of us made a single square and then we put them together.

We used her favorites colors...I know she love it.

Camila now must to figure out which belong to each of us….I challenge you…it will be difficult.

.... and 30 hours later we got this beautiful quilt

We surprise her at the restaurant with our farwell gift, we all know that she will enjoy it.

With a lot of Love from Minerva's ...

We will miss you...We wish you the best and we hope too see you some day...


This is the back of it....with all the quilting in each square.

I took the liberty to include this wounderful letter that she send us... she really touched us with this....

Dear Minervas,

You have no idea how happy you guys made me by giving me that precious quilt!
It was an amazing surprise (completely unexpected!) and it is definitely the best gift someone could get. Carmen said that before and now I can confirm it. It's priceless!!!!
I'll treasure it for life and will always remember you guys and the good times we spent together.

The quilt is the most beautiful I've ever seen. The colors are perfect! My favorites by far!!!! I'm sure I'll never get tired of looking at it… ha ha
These four years were a very important part of our lives and this quilt is definitely one of the best memories I'm bringing from the wonderful time we spent in Gainesville.

It's a pity I didn't have the chance to see you guys before I left. But at the same time it was good because I hate to say goodbye.

You guys are an awesome group! I'm very proud to be part of it, even being so absent in the last few months.
I hope Minervas will last for years and years and many new people will have the chance to enjoy and experience it!

Please keep me in the email list so I can follow what's going on. I'll keep in touch as well and as soon as we get settled I'll send you guys our new address, so we can receive lots of visitors… he he

Soon I'll send you the pictures we took on Saturday!

Beijos (kisses) to all of you! I'll miss you guys!!!!

Love,
Camila

New crafts at Minerva's circle

Sunday was a busy day. A big group was there and new faces! well, not new, we had actually seen them on our anniversary party and we were very happy to have them with us. And also, we had anew craft going on, Michelle taught us how to make those crystal magnets for the refrigerator. So easy! and such a nice result! We should post some close pictures the next time, but this is how some of the busy girls looked working on it.:

 

Pilar brought her sewing machine and showed Gladys how to make curves with it!

 

And this is the result! nice ah?

 

And so did Michelle, she made these golden stiches that really amazed all of us.

 

It was a fun meeting once again. I brought my fabric to make a new skirt and I discused about it forever with Flor. I didn't bring Luca, the mascot, so I though I was going to get a lot done but guess what! you guessed...I did nothing else than being in good company and having interesting conversations. But I got good ideas and soon this skirt will be ready to wear.

Minerva's circle first anniversary

It was more than a year ago that it all started, but only now we realize what a special year has it been, that we need to have a celebration. It actually started years back, when Teri introduced some of us to the quilting world. Hand quilting. It was summer of 2004, when Gisele said that there was a class being taught in one of the villages about quilting. I was hesitant about it, sewing wasn't my hobby even though I had made some clothes here and there. I even forgot to go to the first class and I missed the day that we were getting the fabrics and the instructions. But since a couple other friends were also going I thought it was a nice idea to attend to the following class and of course to learn how to do hand quilting. I had no idea what I was getting into, in fact, I didn't realize until weeks later. The teacher, our friend Teri, was very good at explaining things and not only that, she was so excited about it that she got all of us excited as well. She was also very inspirational and let us create and enjoy ourselves with the process of making something out of just pieces of fabrics that didn't mean anything. I made a baby quilt for my niece in Spain and in the meantime at home, I started another big quilt for my little sister. What amazed me the most was that because of those classes I started hanging out with more friends from different countries and it was even more interesting meeting, every day I would learn something new. And the following year came along and we joined another quilting class, we met some new friends, and we shared good moments together. Then we started with the blogs, the other crafts and the craziness of internet. That was mainly Gisele and I. Then the 2 of us got together in one of our homes and started sewing together. We would have Teri or other friends once in a while but it was mainly the 2 of us. Then we joined a knitting class, and met some new people, like Clara. And the group started growing. Then we decided to really get together and do it. Pilar and Claudia that had taken the second quilting class were really into it and they started coming every Sunday. So we decided to get a common room to fit everyone. And then new friends started joining and it was just an amazing experience. Not all of them came every Sunday and not all of them quilted, but it didn't matter. The important thing was that whoever came was welcomed and was free to get inspired by others and enjoy each others company. At least that's how I felt. And that's how I still feel. Even having some of our friends living out of Gainesville, it really doesn't matter. We are all part of this magical circle. Congratulations Minerva's circle for a wonderful first year!