Why I Love to Teach/Learn

cel-lisboa-73969

School is back in session; seems like a perfect time to share my love of education.

I have always loved the process of learning and I am fortunate to be able to teach. For over a year now, I have been hosting the Quilt as You Go Sampler Quilt designed by Leonie West of Westalee Designs. In this course, students learn Ruler Work on their domestic sewing machines by using 7 different templates. Currently, I am conducting the course on-line. Leonie’s husband, Bill, filmed while she quilted every block. In these videos, she guides the students with her extensive knowledge of the products she invented. The two of them are an amazing team. The brilliance behind their collections of quilting ruler templates is beyond compare. They are so perfectly engineered and paired with their true 1/2″ ruler foot, a quilter will never lack for inspiration.

Why do I teach online? Ruler Work requires a flat surface and many quilters have their machines in a cabinet. The bigger machines that so many of us love, are too cumbersome to transport. Then there are those who either don’t live close to a local quilt shop or lack the means to get to one. I provide a place for them to go.

When I first started teaching online, I was concerned I wouldn’t be able to connect with my students. There was also the challenge of not being able to “see” when they are heading down the path of bad habits. Monthly live sessions in my virtual classroom, email, digital photography, and social media have all played a role in giving my students the level of education they not only need, but deserve. A little Sassy-ness sprinkled here and there by us all adds to the atmosphere.

We are all busy learning. My students anxiously try their new skills and challenge me with questions. I’m exploring ways to improve their experience and experimenting with both stand-alone software and online options for my business. Each new platform requires education. Linking files, adding photos, entering data, oops moving data. Then my obsession with perfectionism kicks in, or I discover a better way to accomplish a task and I start over. The exhilaration of this new knowledge mixed with accomplishment keeps me going. There isn’t much time at the end of the day for me to spend in my studio. Moving forward, I will have to find more ways to fit that in.

This mixture of my passion for ruler work, teaching, and technology has taken me on a journey that is filled with excitement at every turn. I receive comments almost daily that confirm I am headed in the right direction. I am hopeful for what the future holds and the never-ending batch of new students the World Wide Web steers in my direction.

~Pam

Learn more about my online class OR or contact me

*to learn more about Westalee Design, check out the following:

Westalee Design Website Westalee Design on You Tube

*Sew Steady is the Distributor and Manufacturer for Westalee Design in the US.

OPEN FOR BUSINESS!

Dec8

WHAT!

Well fellow quilters, I’ve decided to become an educator for Sew Steady®, showing tables (we all love those tables) and Westalee Design for Sew Steady. What is Westalee? Well it is a designer of ruler feet and ruler templates for the domestic sewing machine. I am super excited. I have been working with the templates for a few months now and plan to share what I have learned very soon. Apologies for being absent this past month, but once the decision was made there was a lot to do. Now that my store
is open, I hope to devote more time to YOU!

July: The Better Bag

Jul24

My Better Bag

Here is the bag I made for my friend’s charity raffle. I used the book, The Better Bag Maker, by Nicole Mallalieu. There are a number of reasons I like this book. The first half is filled with great techniques including excellent ideas for giving your homemade bags a professional finish. The second half is a series of projects that are organized so that you build a new skill with each bag. Remember math? Learn how to add before you multiply. I love math, so this concept was an easy one…..except I didn’t follow it. Went straight to project number 2. I’ve made a few bags in my life, so what could go wrong?

Well, not really understanding the construction as it is a little different from anything I’ve done. Would have got that down in project 1. Then there was the time I spent redrafting the pattern so that I didn’t have to copy the pattern. Much easier to use a rotary cutter; and it was. Problem was that I was on a time crunch and no one would have known if I made the bag bigger or smaller than the pattern called for. (side note: another great thing about this book is that she teaches you how to adjust pattern sizes to your liking/needs/whim/whatever.) Great lesson, but again, if I had done project 1, the bag could have been done in less than a day. A few blunders, but the end result is exactly what I wanted.

Then there was the weather. Living in the Southwest, we are in the middle of Monsoon Season. Thunder and Lightning almost daily and usually late in the afternoon. I like to sew in the afternoon. OOOPS; didn’t factor that in and lost an entire afternoon and evening to a storm, which also left me with some extra water in my bathroom. NOT FUN.

All in all, it was a weekend well spent. I learned a few techniques, picked up a trick or two, and was able to present my friend with a homemade summery bag, that doesn’t look so homemade. To top that, it’s almost the end of July and I am more than half way to my goal for the year.

Here’s the photo of the top and inside “professional” finishing.

Close up of finishing

Why I love Painter’s Tape

Mar13

Painter’s tape is magical. It isn’t permanent so you can use it confidently knowing your fabric will not be ruined. I use it to mark tops for quilting. I tape patterns to my wall. You can tape someone’s mouth shut. (ok, I’m kidding on that one.) If you are a machine embroiderer, you can tape fabric and other items to your stabilizer. You can hold applique pieces down. You can tape blocks on your wall and VOILA! instant design wall. There are just so many amazing things you can do with a roll of blue painter’s tape. I have yet to have it not come off something, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t test it first. I know there are other colors out there, I just haven’t used them so I can’t comment.

If you use painter’s tape for sewing, please share.

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