Lots ‘o teaching..

 

I’ve got 2 posts this week, this one on teaching and one on taking and making.

Teaching or lecturing 6 out of 7 days was a challenge, mostly because of some serious tech issues. Everything ultimately went well with nary a hitch. I do love to teach!

The East Bay Heritage Quilt Guild is one of the largest in California and is known for the skill and passion of their members. Their show is beyond impressive. I was blown away with their organization and expertise. My equipment check had 5 people, each with a different expertise! The ranks of talent are deep and there must be 10 members involved in Workshops and Programs.

I had a lovely 3 days with EBHQ: Start With a Square, Cutwork and my “Quilting is a Contact Sport” lecture. It was a very engaged group for Start With a Square (see above for class shot). I forgot to get photos of individual work. I was so proud of their work!

I was so impressed that I joined the guild. They have an impressive roster of presenters and lots of vibrant online activities between speakers. I enjoyed my students immensely and didn’t want it to end. Now that everything is virtual, I can be a part. I’m stoked!

(Somehow I am not getting the same photo display for my posts that I did on my old laptop. I apologize for the funky layout. I just don’t have time to figure it out right now.)

I am so proud of what the cutwork class did in one day – several were close to finishing and a few chose their own designs to create. I love it when students make it their own. There were several fabulous fabric choices that will make the topper or scarf a stand out. Cutwork is so versatile – students were cooking up ideas for new cutwork projects.

Following EBHQ I taught 3 classes for Mancuso’s Online Quilt Festival, my first time out with that organization. I loved it! They were super supportive and well-organized, allowing me to focus on teaching. And I completely forgot to take photos, again.

I was barely keeping pace during all this teaching. After both laptop and desktop failed and my tech guy was overwhelmed with his own life events, I barely got my laptop set up before this round of teaching began. I still had videos to make and edit!

Each day I would finish class and go right to work creating and editing new videos. I would barely make it across the finish line before teaching that day, then finish and do it all over again. I like to be well-prepared for class and it was very uncomfortable to be that far behind.

But it worked and now I have a great group of videos in inventory, maybe 20? I now know how to create and edit my own videos, a useful and worthy skillset. The above photo shows my new streamlined teaching set up. Because I have short videos and Power Points, I need less on my table.

Having taken quite a few online classes, I am convinced that students see better and learn better from a series of short, edited videos than live demos. I am live most of the time, but when I want to show thread or stitches or close-ups, it is a much better view if I take a great shot and show that, rather than trying to get the right placement in a live shot.

I still use my phone on a sturdy, solid boom to do overheads, draw outs of my quilting and shots that go from seeing the whole quilt to some detail, all without any camera bounce. It works well.

I’m also proposing for a few other future shows and class samples needed to be made for those:

Oh how I love the visual nap and texture quilting makes:

I am feeling confident about teaching online and I do hope my tech problems are behind me. I have worked diligently to find the best combination of tools and presenting strategies that work best with my content and style and for my students. There was no short or direct path. Onward!