Why I love to teach

One of my favorite parts of my job is teaching.  I love the moment when my methods click, and quilters can see themselves saving loads of time by using Leaves Galore to cut their applique!   This “AH-HA” moment usually occurs in a lecture for a quilt guild, and I hear it happen in the room.  After the lecture I get to chat with many of the quilters.  Two days ago at the Artful Hands Quilt Guild, a quilter said,”even I could do applique that is cut with a rotary cutter!”  Well exactly.   This is my message to all of you:  Not only can you DO but ENJOY doing applique!!

My friend Penny has never made a quilt.  In fact she doesn’t sew at all. Because she helps me in my booth at shows, I think it is important that she has a quilting experience.  So we are making this quilt as her very first quilt!  We found this antique quilt while we were on the road in California for a show.  Penny and I both spotted the quilt, and loved it’s soft homey feel.  I bought it for myself as a birthday gift (we were antique shopping on my birthday!), but I knew it would be the perfect quilt to get Penny hooked on quilting.  I’ll let you know how that goes!

Last week, I lectured for the Concord Piecemakers in West Concord MA.  There, I met the most wonderful quilters!  One of these quilters, Diane is also a blogger who specializes in Paper Crafting.  When I visited her site I had one of these “WOW” moments. Don’t worry, I am not suddenly going to start scrap booking instead of quilting!  BUT, I love her motto, a little crafting every day and I know I can incorporate that into my quilting!  Diane was kind enough to take photos during the lecture and you can see her blog about my lecture here.  http://www.capadiadesign.com/2012/04/sue-pelland-leaves-galore-quilting.htm

So if you are ready to put a little applique into your life every day, come quilt with me!  You can ask your guild to have me in for a lecture or class, or you can take a class with me at the World Quilt Show in Manchester NH in August.  http://www.quiltfest.com/activities.asp?id=18H

Happy Applique!