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HELP!! with Guild Presentation

barbm

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barbm Advanced Member

barbm

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I need your help, ladies and gents: I'm scheduled to address a Quilt Guild about 100 miles from me in about six weeks, and I was gonna pull out my tried and true presentation on "Quilting Design - How to Decide What to Quilt on Your Quilt." We had talked about it and they were fine with it a few months ago.....until they got Pam Clarke as a speaker the following month. Seems Pam has more draw than I do (duh!!) so they've asked me this afternoon to change my topic - yikes!!!

I've been wracking the old noggin for hours, trying to come up with something I can present to a Quilt Guild that isn't a "hands-on" demo (have lots of those) and the only thing that really sounds do-able is something about UFOs. It's starting to gel, especially after bouncing things like Area 51, Fringe and The Boneyard off my DH, but if there's anything you think you would want to hear about in this kind of presentation, please chime in here.

This is supposed to be 30-45 minutes long, for an evening meeting - and handouts are encouraged.

Any help you can provide will be MUCH appreciated!!

P.S. I know The Boneyard isn't really UFOish, but it's where things go to die - like my UFOs....;)

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witha'K'quilting Advanced Member

witha'K'quilting

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I have a boneyard too on our property. You wouldn't believe the things that come out of it. My husband calls these things...'kits'

Sometimes, you just have to take a ufo and turn it into something else. This keeps it interesting and it can even become a 'kit' for the start of something else. A pillow perhaps. A center medallion for a sampler quilt...the opportunities for ufos really are endless!

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Susanne.Hughes Advanced Member

Susanne.Hughes

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Hey Barb,

I would love to come to hear you talk about UFO's. Anyone who is a REAL Quilter will have UFOs........ if they don't, they can't really say that they belong to our special group!!:D

I think you can easily fill 30 to 40 minutes. Keep it light hearted but also offer some solutions for finishing or processing these "quilts".

Some ideas on why w have UFOs:

1. Quilters have UFOs because we are highly intelligent. We need to keep being challenged, and challenged in different ways, which means new and/or other projcts are required to keep the learning curve going.

2. We, as quilters, are imaginative people. Working on one quilt lets our minds expand to a million other possibilities that need to be investigated.

3. We are creative. It is not good enough for us to just sit and do nothing. We like the satisfaction of saying: "I did this!!! I created this!! Ohhhh, I want to do this NOW!!"

4. We are caring and compassionate. Quilts are not just pieces of fabric that are thrown together. Quilts have meaning and feelings attached to them. We create the quilts with someone definite in mind, it represents our love and care we feel for this person.

Then you could get into the Healh benefits:

1. It lowers blood pressure and decreases stress to sit and do hand work.

2. We can be quiet and reflect and contemplate on our lives and our world, whilst our hands are busy. I constantly am able to solve the myriad problems of the World with solutions to World Peace and the defeat of Hunger and Poverty whilst I stitch.

3. The sense of achievement we gain by being productive helps our mental health. We are stronger and better able to deal with everyday problems - how can anythng in life be worse than being short that fat eight's worth of material that is vital for the completion of a quilt but is no longer in printed. We have better coping mechanisms - our local Quilt shop or guild has likeminded friends who are always willing to listen and happy to share a cuppa with us . We develop life long friendships with people we might never meet face to face and become more tolerant, hence we deal more kindly and gently with the people in our everyday lives.

4. Hand/eye co-ordination and fine motor skills are kept for longer because as the saying goes: "Use it, or loose it!!" We are forever problem solving, from the best way to utilise yardage of material or how to colour co-ordinate or what pattern to use.

What to do with UFOs:

1. Gather everything needed to complete the project, stash in a pretty box and give as a gift to someone who will really love that fabric or that pattern that doesn't inspire us anymore.

2. As above, write a little note of what made you buy/start this project, why you didn't finish it and let somone inherit it once you are gone.

3. Sell on Ebay.

4. As number 1. but donate to quilt guild or local quilt group to finish as a donation quilt.

5. Suggest a half yearly UFO exchange at the quilt guild or quilt group you belong to. You might just find that someone else has their UFO that you need to inspire you and set you on a different path.

6. Heaven forbid, BUT................ actually sit down and finish them (or at least one)!! :D

These are just a few things I thought of on the spur of the moment and I am sure that our friends like Shana, Bonnie, Doddlebug and Heidi will have so many more and better ideas!!

Remember to have fun yourself with this!!;)

Cheers,

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meg_marsh Advanced Member

meg_marsh

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You could do a combo - UFO's, color theory, & then.......... drum roll ........... good piecing for the long-armer .............. take some pictures of D cups and explain why these are hard to quilt & also some bad borders that needed some tucks - and then of course pictures of flat and square ............

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ffq-lar Advanced Member

ffq-lar

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Hi Barb--I am looking forward to our lunch next week!

My guild just hosted Nancy Goldsworthy who lectured on just this subject! We'll talk!

I will bring along my notes from a Guild presentation I did on "Quilting Tools Not from the Quilt Shop". We had a great time as I showed the ladies my toilet brush, painter's tape, Press and Seal, saved paper instruction inserts from batting rolls, baking soda, pants hangers, coffee filters, blah blah. It was fun to hear the comments and "ah hahs", while others said they had used these non-traditional tools forever. See you soon--Linda

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Quilting Heidi Advanced Member

Quilting Heidi

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I'll also agree with Connie. I think you could easily fill up 30 - 40 minutes talking about the longarming process and how it differs from sit down quilting and also how to make sure their tops are square and dealing with backers.

Kristina I think you just don't want to quilt that quilt! You sure you didn't make a deal with that needle?:P:P:P

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barbm Advanced Member

barbm

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Looks like UFOs it is! My contact in the Quilt Guild says she doesn't remember anyone ever addressing this issue. Plus it's gonna be hilarious!:P:P:P

Educating guilds about how to prep quilts for a longarm quilter is an important thing, but I won't be quilting for any of these ladies (not my guild), so I hesitate to instruct in the ways I think quilts should prepared. I just found out yesterday from a customer that she and I disagree on lots of the points in my "Quilt Prep Guidelines." I think I will leave it to their own longarm quilters to educate them - and I'll educate my own guild.;)

The "Quilt Tools Not From The Quilt Shop" is a good topic, too - but I think it will take more time to prep than I have over the next six weeks. Maybe that will be the topic for the next time they ask me to speak......

Thanks for all the help, ladies! I've already gone through our chat archives and printed off half a dozen threads on UFOs - lots of good material there! But if there's anything else you would want to see added if someone were addressing your guild, please add to this thread!

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IBQLTN2 Advanced Member

IBQLTN2

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Barb

Our guild has done a new challenge the past few years which is called a PHD, this gives us a better representation so that we don't sound like a bunch of Aliens from outerspace.

In the beginning of the year we submit a list of UFO's Or as we call them PHD's that we wish or hope to have done in that year. Upon the completion we bring in either the quilt to show at Show N Tell or a picture to prove it is complete and it gets checked off our list. Prizes at the end of the year for most completed quilts.

:cool::cool::cool: PHD's stands for Projects Half Done:cool::cool:

And in the meantime when talking about our PHD's we sound a little more brilliant to the surrounding listeners! LOL just a little humor for you!!

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Chocoholic Advanced Member

Chocoholic

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LOoks like you have a topic, but I was going to suggest talking about what a longarmer does and what we need to get from the customer and why, like 4" all the way around and why, etc.

This is usually a much needed topic and one that goes over well with people

Add a bunch of 'trunk show' of you longarming and it might get you new customers in addition to making the ones you have understand better and give you better stuff.

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barbm Advanced Member

barbm

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Sheila,

The biggest reservation I have about doing a Longarm Prep lecture for these ladies is that they are not really my customer base - they live 100+ miles away from me, on the other side of Spokane. I'm sure they have their own resident Longarm Quilters within their Guild, and I think those quilters need to be the ones to educate their guild - 'cause we all have different "requirements."

Besides, I'm gonna be waaaay too busy with Quilt Shows this year to take on a whole new set of customers! It's all I can do to slide one of my own quilts into the schedule, so I can have a new one for my booth......

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Georgene Advanced Member

Georgene

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As part of your UFO presentation I would recommended stressing the importance of not only finishing the project for current and future generations to enjoy, but also to label the quilt.....quilts often outlive people and the label is very important.

As an encouragement to finish UFOs, you might also mention that quilts have a purpose -- "It's not a Quilt Until it's Quilted." They can be enjoyed, cuddled up with, fondled, admired. Quilt tops and UFO's have little to no use.

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