Come Stitch With Me

Received an email from one of the shops…can we reschedule the classes for late July?   She wasn’t able to promote the classes and no one had signed up.  (Look on the bright side: that frees up two days next week!)

But darn it all…I spent an ENTIRE week developing lesson plans, making samples and securing suitable machines and supplies for classes.  I met with two shop owners who really seemed to like my projects and agreed to promote the classes. Classes were scheduled. I notified the moms who told me their daughters wanted to learn how to sew. Word did get out – even one of my sewing friends whom I don’t see on a regular basis told me she saw that I was teaching at one of the two shops.

So, why haven’t the classes filled?  Projects are relevant – what the kids requested, everyone who sees the samples thinks they are adorable, fee is reasonable and competitive.  Classes are scheduled at *good* times.   What gives?

Maybe I really should go talk to the director of the arts program at the Methodist church.  They offer painting, ceramics, dance, etc. through a well-established program.  More than one friend has mentioned it to me.

It’s hard not to get discouraged, but nothing worth having ever comes easy.  I keep reminding myself of the kids who loved the classes I taught and the fact that sewing is hip again.  I just haven’t plugged into the right location yet nor have I marketed my services as I need to.

Time to regroup, dust off my britches and get back out there!

A couple of posts back, I mentioned that a friend had gifted me her Riccar 707 to use in my kid sewing classes.  This is the flatbed model designed to live in a cabinet – with of all things, a KNEE pedal  – instead of a traditional foot controller.  Thank goodness for ye olde web.

I ordered an electronic foot controller with the light/motor block.  Oh, it worked; but there was no way a student (or anyone else for that matter) was going to be able to use it as a foot pedal because the cord to the pedal was cut to “knee” length instead of “floor” length.   Yep, the pedal was designed to replace knee one used in the cabinet, NOT a pedal designed to be used on the floor.  The obvious solution was to lengthen the cord from the foot pedal to the light/motor block.  But how?  I thought I could rewire it like I did my FW foot controller…but this was way different.

Here, hubby, hubby, hubby.

So, the husband had to shift gears from tracking loads of water, generators and emergency supplies being shipped to places in need across the US to figuring out a wiring solution for my foot controller.  He not only lengthened the cord, but also replaced the light/motor block with something a little sturdier so it would stand up to classroom use.  His solution was a little unorthodox perhaps, but hey, in the immortal words of Tim Gunn, “Make it work.”

He did.

The Atlanta MQG is hosting a swap with the Irish MQG.  My swap partner lives in a rural part of Northern Ireland.  Hubs and I visited there four years ago and saw Giant’s Causeway plus some other sites on our bus tour of Northern Ireland.  The part of our trip I will never forget is actually getting to visit Orkney Island in Scotland – some 30 years after my eighth grade history teacher shared slides of her homeland with us in class. Visiting Orkney was near the top of my bucket list.  And yes, the hills are as green as they were in the slides!

So back to the mini-quilt.  The way our swap works is we were given clues as to a few favorite things – color, design element and theme – of our intended recipient.  The only requirement was the quilt has to measure at least 12″x12″ and be no larger than 12″x18″.  Each member is also responsible for postage costs in getting the mini-quilt to her swap partner.  FYI – International Priority Mail is $16.95 to the UK.  This price includes as much as you can fit in the envelope (up to four pounds).

My swap partner likes birds, the color red and polka dots.  She and I share similar taste in fabrics, so I knew I wouldn’t have a hard time finding fabrics in my stash for the mini-quilt.  Quite the opposite actually – the problem was in narrowing down the fabric choices to those selected to be used in the quilt – not in finding them.   My orderly studio fast became a mess again as I pulled out scraps and bins looking for fabrics to audition for the quilt.   Once that process was over, I made myself take 5 minutes and “file my fabric” before I moved on to pressing and cutting.

I don’t want to spoil the surprise and post pictures until after I know she’s received the quilt.  However, I will tell you that the entire quilt evolved around a fussy cut bird… 🙂