Wednesday, May 19, 2021

The Business of Teaching

 It sure seems like a long time ago that I was traveling once or twice a month to teach quiltmaking around the country.  Bookings that were cancelled or postponed are starting to come back now,

I have been quite content to be home, sewing, quilting, designing, all day, every day. My husband and I enjoy each other's company and have plenty to keep us busy so we are not under each others' feet all the time.

My Happy Place

My Studio--the biggest room in the house


As new bookings come up, I hope to keep it to no more than one travel job a month, about 7-8 months of the year. I love "being" at a guild or show to teach and lecture  but the "getting there" part is not the most fun.

Today I booked flights for two upcoming trips, arranged a  hotel for one of those, updated and sent the supply list and lecture description to one guild, and sent prospective dates in 2022 for another guild. And at the moment, I am hard at work on a BIG project that will have me very busy for a while. 

Going to the Ninigret Quilters of Rhode Island in early August will be fun. I haven't been to RI before. They are celebrating their 40th anniversary so chose the Lecture "Ruby Jubilee"--which features the International Quilt Festival Ruby Jubilee in 2014. There will be stories about that great exhibit and my Red and White--By the Numbers quilt and how it came to be.



The workshop they selected is the Charming Sampler, using 3" blocks to learn several skills:

Sample is 33" x 33"

There are two trips in August--Rhode Island and Dallas. Two in September--Houston and Florence, AL . October brings me back to Houston for almost two weeks. Somewhere in there, we will fit in a family vacation to celebrate a big anniversary and a big birthday. 

I enjoy being busy. And it is good that life seems to be returning to some sense of "normal". Now, if I can just remember to slow down enough to enjoy the creative process.

What do you hope to do with the  new "freedom" that seems to be coming our way?

Let's quilt.

Barbara


3 comments:

  1. Sounds like life is ramping back up for you, Barbara. I hope you achieve the balance you seek.
    I really like the little sampler you will be teaching.

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  2. I am happy things are coming back, but I also really enjoy my studio very much. Over the past several months with my families help I have added a very nice video studio portion into my studio. I think I will continue with my Youtube teaching and just enjoy the periodic venture out to quilting events to simply enjoy them with no outside teaching. I love how the online/video development has widened the reach of the quilting world to people who have no ability to get to these events too, It would be great to see both healthily continue to develop. Best wishes in reaching that great balance between home-based and travel-based teaching and lectures. Cheers, BJ

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  3. June 1st I am retiring and looking forward to getting back in my sewing room to finish and begin new quilts 🧵🪡🧵

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