Musings…Where I’ve Been and Where I Am Going



Dragonfly Thoughts

This has been a birthday week for me.  Having a birthday so close to the beginning of a new year causes you to continue the self-searching and goal setting a little longer.  It is also the birthday of my quilting business.

 That started me thinking about where I have been.  I began Adventures in Quilting in 1995 when I started teaching quilting classes at the corporate headquarter JoAnns store in Hudson, Ohio.  I also taught for quilting guilds in the Northeastern Ohio region.  There were 60 guilds at that time.  I can’t believe I have been teaching quilting for 19 years!  Back when I started I was quilting while my kids were in elementary school.  I used to plan classes, quilt, and get ready for Girl Scout meetings in the few hours before they came home.  A lot of creativity was packed into a short period of time!

 Recently I was going through files and I found contracts and class descriptions from 1995.  Some of the contracts were hand written!  That got me thinking…remember a time when you only had dial up internet, no cell phones, Slooooowwwwww computers with not much memory!  I remember I would log on to check my email and then go put a load of wash in; when I came back I might be connected!  Now we have wireless connections and DSL and very fast connections and can even take pictures with our cell phones, and transfer them to the internet in a snap!!



Butterfly Dreams

The last trip I took I wore out the luggage I bought when I first started teaching nationally in 2004.  I have added an additional sewing machine, and the computer has been upgraded many times since I began.  Teaching has changed some also.  Slide shows are now power-point presentations, some national teachers have video cameras and project their demonstrations on a screen.  This means the class size can be huge, and everyone can still see, but I fear you lose some of the advantages of a smaller class.  Teachers carry more electronics and less quilts.  Of course air travel has changed enormously since 911.  Instructors spend more time in airports and can take fewer books, patterns, and quilts to guilds.  Although the idea of schlepping 75 lbs. of suitcase like they used to, doesn’t sound appealing to me!

Even though some things have changed, the reasons I do what I do have not.  I still love to teach quilters something new.  To see their excitement when they learn a new technique or get a new idea they want to try.  To inspire them to create through producing great patterns and quilts is still fun for me.

This year I want to spend less time on the computer and more time with the sewing machine so that I get that same creative boost I had in the beginning of this adventure.  I want to travel and then spend time with the photos I take thinking about how they could be translated into quilts.  I need to balance my activities so that I find time for the creative in the midst of the required. 

I am looking at a really busy year with lots of opportunities, and I hope it will also include creative time to recharge.  I am finding that I get really grumpy when I don’t have quilting time.

 

Follow me in a more creative year…….

Leigh