Thursday, February 2, 2012

Flying Onto the Internet

Oh boy-I hadn't meant to ignore the blog for so long! This past autumn was a busy time. I was teaching and traveling and ending a stint as president of the International Quilt Association. In 2010 I had given a lecture at the IQA luncheon at the Houston International Quilt Festival and urged everyone to "Be an angel-teach someone to quilt" and even given out bumperstickers with the sentiment. By 2011, I was ready to hand over the office to my very capable friend and fellow-teacher Stevii Graves. I didn't pass on the halo and wings however!


Then it was time to get ready for a new experience: a film crew from Craftsy.com was going to come to North Carolina the first week in December to film me! We'd been communicating since August but now it was crunch time. Craftsy is a website that offers all sorts of how-to classes. You buy the course online and it's uploaded to "the cloud" and you can reference the course at any time--it's always yours.You can even take notes during the playing of the video and stop it anytime. The best aspect of this online learning is that you're part of the Craftsy community since you can ask the instructor questions plus post photos of your projects. It's a grand idea and taking off like crazy. I totally understand the concept of learning from a computer and empathize with the person who comes home from a job and sits down to play at her computer for fun but only has a limited amount of time to spend on crafts. Sign me up--digital quilt instruction is one more way to convey this lovely craft to a new generation.




The Craftsy crew rolled in right on time Sunday evening December 4th. The producer was Maria Sandhei, a blond bundle of energy packaged in Ninja-black and a pink headband.





Maggie Hart handled all the video editing, all the while popping Trail Mix. Prediction: one day Maggie will be directing her own films--when she isn't snow-boarding (her other passion).

Behind the cameras Joe Baran was the wizard, hopping from lens to lens, zooming in for close-ups and sometimes getting into downright dangerous positions to get exactly the right shot. Joe loved all the tiny little shiny needlework tools and totally understood that my Featherweight sewing machine has a name (Jessica) and a history.

 Prior to set-up, the studio was as clean as it's ever been but after all the video equipment and three more people crowded in, the space felt very tight. We were always doing a ballet over the wires and ducking the umbrella-type reflector thing-ies.

Filming started at 8 AM Monday morning and aside from three nights (we usually worked until 7-8 PM) it was solid activity until they pulled out late Thursday afternoon.

I don't think I have ever worked harder. My hat's off to the people who make movies and film these videos. You can purchase the video we made at the Craftsy website www.craftsy.com. It's called Scrap Quilting, Waste Not, Want Not. In the works: two workshops (shorter how-to programs) on Sashiko projects! Whew.


12 comments:

Supergoof said...

Great idea, great story and at last the picture I love most. Your speech at the luncheon in Houston in 2009 did something with me!
:o)
And my little tumblers, I was making at that time, is now a finished handmade quilt of 6552 tumblers.

Robin said...

You look like one pooped Angel in that last shot:) I kept looking at the pics trying to get my bearing of where in the studio that clean spot is-lol:)
Congratulations!!

Jean Baardsen said...

Great post! And you do look done in at the end!

Anonymous said...

This reminds of when I first started teaching. So many students asked, "What do you do? [for a living]" and I would answer, "I teach quilting", then they would respond, "No, really, what do you do?". They couldn't believe what I did was work. Judging from this post, you worked really hard! Congrats on entering the online video world. BTW, I work full time at the MSU Museum because it's easier than being a full-time quilt teacher! LOL. [Paid vacations, sick time and retirement, too]

Vicki Lane said...

I hadn't heard of Craftsy -- sounds interesting!

Anonymous said...

Pepper, that halo looks great on you -- even tho you look like you're asleep! Sounds like an ex-hausting job, but well worth it in the end. Thank you for sharing. Your name comes up in my Charm group more often than you might imagine after all these years. You made an impact on us, my friend. Daisy

Katie said...

Welcome back! You certainly are a tired angel. :-0

The Village Queen said...

Glad to see you back Pepper! I got an email from Craftsy and there you were! I took your Apple Core quilt class about a year ago when you where here in Denver with CQC. Finished it right away and now it is waiting for quilting. Always seems to take me ages to get to that part! You look like you could use a vacation, hope the Craftsy endevor goes well. Best wishes, Kate Taylor

Tommy said...

Hello Pepper..

First visit to your site,really enjoyed the tour..Thanks for all the hard work that you do for the quilting community.. Please keep up the great work you do,i know i will revisit your site...Truly an angle...

Thanks again

Tommy

Anonymous said...

Great sense of humor. Love your quilting...

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