Lynne Chalmers

My name is Lynne Chalmers and I have been living in Qatar for more than 8 years. Prior to coming here from Calgary, Canada with my husband, I had always been a working person, with absolutely no interest in "anything crafty". Before coming to the Middle East, I had been advised by friends who had been on the expat-trail before me that it would be a very good idea to make friends outside of the company for whom my husband worked. This I did, by joining a drop-in Wednesday stitching group, where I still am in attendance weekly.  My first attempt at crafts was needlepoint but then I took a class in making fabric covered boxes. After making several, I moved on to making Victorian strip-pieced Christmas stockings for everyone in my family, including my dog and my cat. Then it was on to a few quillows and then silk stitched and fringed sofa throws. All the while I was watching my new friends making wonderful patchwork quilts which I still felt I couldn't possibly undertake. Then I found a book on watercolor quilting that I thought might just be my thing. I began buying all the flowered cotton fabric I could find in the souks here in Doha. Soon I had a stash of appropriate fabrics – but to this day, I have yet to do my first watercolor quilt – even just a small wall hanging would be a start but nothing yet.

Because I had always worked in business before beginning my retirement here in Qatar, I found that it was very easy for me to involve myself in so many thing I'd never had time for previously – like becoming a Canadian Warden, being a charter member of a Ladies Investment Club, assisting in the re-establishment of the Doha Garden Club and participating in a couple of book clubs. All the while, I still bought floral fabrics but didn't use any of it. Then fortunately, Colleen Woodley, a wonderful quilter here, gave both a beginner class and an intermediate class in hand quilting. I took the classes but still wasn't committed to really getting any work finished. I continued to spend my time with needlepoint and cross stitch because smaller stitching projects just seemed more manageable for me to complete.

I still kept buying fabric too but not just florals. Then after reading an article in a quilting magazine, I realized that I was a collector – not a quilter. This was a small revelation for me and I had to make a decision. I decided to extricate myself from almost all of the many other things I had gotten into so that I could focus on quilting. I realized that quilting, along with gardening, was a kind of calming and creative expression for me.  Then Colleen decided to teach another class – this time the project was to make a beautiful sampler quilt, as an introduction to machine quilting and I signed up. I am just about to begin quilting my sampler quilt this week. I am including a photo of my friend Joy McKenzie and me working on the massive job of basting it just this week. She also is a wonderful teacher and my quilting mentor. This is the largest quilt I have attempted and so far I am pleased with the results. Now I have many plans for more bed quilt size projects in the future.  To date though, I have only finally completed the 2 projects from my earlier hand quilting classes, I've made a couple of panel baby quilts with lots of quilting on them and I've completed a wall hanging for a friend. Last fall I participated in a challenge at our new Qatar Quilters Guild making a quilt using 2 specific fabrics.

For Christmas, my husband bought me the new Bernina Aurora 440 and my first project was an appliquéd baby quilt called Giraffic Park. This was completed for our brand new grand daughter in Canada. Now I just need to stay on track, completing the rest of my "works in progress", which include finishing the piecing and hand quilting a table runner and completing a small kaleidoscope quilt, which is the new challenge for our Guild October meeting. Then I must get on with making a watercolor quilt - to see if I can do it and then how well I will do it - hopefully while I am still living in the Gulf!

I think the most important part of the whole quilting experience for me has been the development of friendships and camaraderie which I have found with all the quilters I have met. There is something very special about quilters and the work we all participate in. I am glad I found it.

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