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Jeri
Langman
Florida,
USA
I’ve been working with the Bee since 2001.
Without any clue as to how I could help, I responded to a page on
www.airedaleterrier.org - asking for volunteers. As with many of the
Bee members that came after the first few quilts, I was amazed at
the beauty and cleverness of those first quilts; I admired the
beautiful workmanship and use of fabric. I never dreamed that I
could even begin to create this type of art.
I started by offering to help with computer stuff and then
volunteered to create the labels (after all, I’m a darn good
seamstress and I can out embroidery anyone with my handy, dandy
Janome)! Then Annette’s House started to unfold, I truly wanted to
be a part of it, but I had never done appliqué and I didn’t want to
let the Bee down… Christie Williams drew the block for me – a very
simple one – Bentley flying the Kat Kite on top of Annette’s House…
from there – it was Katie bar the barn door…
I inherited the Quilting Bee from one of the original quilters who
needed time off, I had to learn not only to create a block, but how
to assemble a quilt, bind the quilt, market the quilt and work with
all the personalities of the great ladies that truly make up the
BEE. This has been the best of all experience, I've learned to be a
quilter and now enjoy quilting and fiber art!
Along the way, I’ve meet truly remarkable women, Artists that give
freely of their time and talents to draw the art work for us, women
that fret over each stitch, worry about how each block will look as
a whole, assemble these beautiful quilts, work all night to get
webpages ready, volunteer to get promo prizes, write out donation
slips till their hands cramp, load up their cars before dawn and
drive hours to get to Montgomery and then sit in the rain and mud to
get the donations for the quilts and last but not least – friends of
the Bee that work with us around the world to spread the message
about our quilts.
Our quilts have been features in magazines as well as being
exhibited at the Museum of the Dog (AKC). We’ve raised over $120,000
for Airedale Rescue and I’ve been the lucky one – I’ve meet truly
great ladies and men who work tirelessly for this project.
I live in a small town in North Florida just outside of Gainesville
(Go Gators!) with my husband - Ron, a very handsome Airedale –
Bentley, two Quarter Horses – Dash & Robbie , as well as a pack of
squirrels, raccoons, blue birds, cardinals and once in a while a
beautiful hummingbird.
If you’ve enjoyed seeing these quilts over the years, please share
this year’s quilts with all your friends and please give generously
to Airedale Rescue…
Jeri.
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