Lessons Learned at the Quilt show

I wrote this blog about 3 years ago but something happened recently that reminded me of it so I thought I would repost it.  It is a good reminder for everyone.

Last week was our Guild’s quilt show.  It has been a long time since I helped with the set up of the quilt show and the take down but I did this year and as a result learned a lot of lessons.  And I realize that the lessons learned the quilt show could apply to life.

Lesson #1 – Follow the Rules.

For a Quilt show to be able to show quilts, we have to hang them on a frame or display rack.  The best way to do that is to have a “sleeve” attached to the back of the quilt.   A ‘sleeve” for a quilt is like the sleeve on a shirt.  It is a tube of fabric sewn to the quilt which allows a rod to go through the sleeve (much like an arm would) and then the quilt can be hung without damaging the quilt with pins or staples.

Our rule is that the sleeve be sewn to the quilt (you flatten the sleeve and sew the top edge and bottom edge to the quilt).  Well, one quilter sewed the top of the sleeve to the quilt but didn’t sew the bottom.  No she used glue.  It held tight to the quilt but the glue spread and closed up the sleeve.  We couldn’t get the rod through the sleeve.  We had to work at it a while to detached the glue inside the sleeve but we did it and were able to hang the quilt.

It took us longer to hang that quilt and with the glue we might have damaged the quilt trying to get the rod in the sleeve. It might have been easier for the quilter to glue it and it may even have held the sleeve to the quilt tighter but the rule was to ‘sew’ the sleeve to the quilt. 

Rules are not there to make things more difficult for everyone but are actually are there to protect people and property.  What if we couldn’t detached the glue inside the sleeve and had force the rod in and torn the back of her quilt. She wouldn’t have been happy with a torn quilt.   Or what if the glue had detached from the bottom of the sleeve and the quilt fell to the floor and was stepped on by a quilt show visitor.  Lesson #1 is follow the rules.

Lesson #2 – Expect and Accept the Unexpected. 

Once the quilt show is over, the quilts need to be taken down and returned to their owners.  There was a method to this crazy madness at the end of a show.  But one part of the plan this year took a detour.  The person in charge of the quilt distribution got upset because of the detour and assumed it was all being done wrong.   But like most detours, you get where you need to be.  And with this detour, the quilts all got to the rightful owners. 

Expect things to take a detour and before getting upset with that detour, check to see if the plan is actually ending where it was suppose to end.  And just accept that everything will turn out alright despite any detours.

Lesson #3 -- Take a Break. 

Everyone has different energy levels.  Some people are like the energizer bunnies and keep going and going.  Others can go great for an hour and two and then they are done.  Don’t push others or yourself to do more than what each person can do (even if that person is you).  I used to be an energizer bunny but now do to health (and age but I don’t like to admit that part), I need to take more breaks.  I pushed myself too hard and my legs and back let me know about it the rest of the week.  And also make sure you eat during a busy period of activity.  That, along with breaks, helps with the energy level.

Lesson #4 – Be prepared.   

Sometimes things aren’t exactly as you hope they will be, so be prepared.  There were two rooms in the building we used where the temperature couldn’t be adjusted to make it comfortable so the rooms were very cold.   When that kind of thing happens, you need to make preparations.  That may mean bringing a sweater even though the outside temperature is 80 degrees.  If you are prepared, then you feel comfortable and the people around you (who might like the cooler room temperatures) don’t have to listen to you complain or your teeth chatter.

Lesson # 5 – Do a Challenge. 

An earlier blog talked about the challenge block I did for this Quilt show.  Well, I learned that once in a while if you take a challenge…

You Win!!!!

While I thought of these lessons during the quilt show about the quilt show, they actually apply in life.   To get along with everyone and so everything works properly you have to follow the rules.  Know that detours will occur so expect and accept the unexpected.  Take breaks, in other words take care of yourself.  You can’t do what you want to do with family, friends or your creativity if you push yourself too hard and don’t have any energy.  Be prepared.  Try to think of everything you might need before you do something so you can be comfortable and enjoy what you are doing. And finally, sometimes you win.

 © 2017, 2020  Cheryl Fillion

Listen to Music

I went to the symphony last weekend.  It was wonderful.  The music was beautiful and our local orchestra plays perfectly.  I love music.  I usually have it on in the house and I am often times singing to myself.  As I drove home still hearing the guest pianist in my head, I realized I felt very relaxed.  And that made me wonder how music affects our health. 

I quote studies to my psychology students that music is great for stress management.  It helps calm nerves and release tension from muscles.  Music even affects babies in the womb.  Play rock music and a baby will get agitated (I personally think they are trying to dance); play classical music to a baby doing a lot of kicking and they will calm down.  Music is even used now in hospitals before people go into surgery and during the surgery.  It helps calm patients before a surgery and has been found to speed up healing afterward.

Music helps with increasing your mood.  How many of you are really sad when you listen to Christmas music?  That is why you hear it in the stores.  If it puts you in a good holiday mood so maybe you will buy more gifts or decorations.  I worked with a guy who said he always played hard rock when cleaning his apartment.  It put him in the mood to be aggressive with his dust and clutter.

It helps with exercise.  You see lots of people in gyms or out running with earbuds on while exercising.  They are probably not listening to the news.  I remember watching a parade where a young friend was performing on a drill team.  We followed her along the way for a couple of miles but it didn’t feel that distance since we were walking with the beat of the bands.

If music does all these things, you can assume that it helps with creativity.  You are more creative when you are not stressed or when you are in a good mood.  Music that makes you smile is likely to help you quilt, knit, paint or write. 

But the most important thing is to find music that works for you.  I probably would not clean my house very well with classical music (truth be told, it relaxes me enough that I often fall asleep – even in the big auditorium with a live orchestra).  For me I would need some jazz or maybe a favorite performer so I could sing along and not really think that I was cleaning.   I listen to music when I am grading papers but it can’t be anything with lyrics or I can’t concentrate on what my students have written.

So do what you can to bring more music into your life.  You can find music everywhere even on your phones and computers.  Find that type of music that releases your stress and makes you smile and you might find it makes you more creative as well.  But if you are trying to be creative with music, just don’t listen to lullabies or you might just fall asleep.

©2020  Cheryl Fillion 

Fabric Yoyos: Tutorial

    

I am working on a yoyo project as a fund raiser for our local quilt guild.  So I thought I would repost my tutorial on making fabric yoyos.

Fabric Yoyos are simple to make.  You can go to your local fabric or craft store and find a tool that will help you make all kinds of size or shape yoyos.  Or you can make them the old fashion way with just a circle of fabric.  If you are sewing the yoyos together for a quilt or table mat, you might want to make all the yoyos the same finished size. 

To determine the size of circle to start out with you need to know the finished size you want then cut a circle 2 times plus 1/2” (for seam allowance) of that finished size. For example, if you want a yoyo 1 1/2” in diameter, cut a piece of fabric 3 ½” in diameter.





Now fold over the edge (about a ¼” ) of the circle to the wrong side of the fabric and start a running stitch like a basting stitch around the circle. I hide the knot of my thread under the fold of the edge.  (I usually use the same colored thread as the fabric but I am using a contrasting thread here so you can see the stitches.) You can iron the edge down before you start sewing or just fold it over before you take the next stitch.

I double my thread to make it stronger to pull the gathers.  But if a single thread works for you, go for it.  

One tip I learned is to make the stitches not tiny like quilting stitches but bigger. Mine are usually about ¼”. When the yoyo is finished, there will be a hole where the stitches are gathered. The bigger the stitches, the tinier the hole.  

 

You can gather the stitches as you are sewing or wait until you get to where you started stitching.  

Then gather up the circle and knot it. I try to get the knot as close to the gathers as I can, then pull the thread through the gathers before I cut it off.  You don’t have the tail of the knot showing in the opening that way.  

You will probably need to flatten the finished yo-yo out after you have cut the thread. You might have to adjust where the edge fold goes to get the hole in the middle.

And that is your yoyo. Now just make however many more you need for your project.

 To sew the individual yoyos together, arrange them in the way you want them.   You can have them so all the gather holes show or have them so that the flat side shows.  Usually I want to see the gathered holes.  I think it is more interesting and more textured.



But occasionally when I am doing an ornament where it might swing around on the hanger, I will alternate the yoyos: one gathered next to one that shows the flat side.  It makes it more symmetrical.

Now to sew to sew the yoyos together: Pick up two yoyos.  If you have all the yoyos facing with the gathered side up, you want to place the flat sides together.  If the yoyos have the flat side up, you want to put two gathered sides together.   If you are alternating a gathered side with a flat side, the yoyos you place together should be a gathered against a flat side.

Now slip your needle through the hole and under the gathers coming out at the edge of the yoyo.



Pull the needle through so the knot is hidden in the gathers.  Pulling the needle through the second yoyo, take a little stitch securing them together (Note: I usually use the same colored thread as my fabric. I am using contrasting thread here so you can see the stitch.)



Take a couple more little stitches to secure the yoyos together.  Make a knot slip the needle through the gathers of the yoyo (like you did when you created the yoyo) and clip your thread.  That is all there is to it.  Now just repeat the stitches for all the other yoyos until you are finished.

Here is my completed ornament.



©2016, 2020  Cheryl Fillion