IHAN CEO Goes To 2nd Grade

You know when you have "arrived" in mommy life when you are invited to give a talk at your child's school.  A rare and savored moment when my son was so proud and pleased that it was "his" mommy talking to the entire 2nd grade class.  Remember those days?

The kids are reading a book about a quilt so I was invited to come and talk about quilts today.  I literally had 10 minutes to set up and 10 minutes to take down ....that is why the quilts are piled on the table.

I brought my current sewing machine and an older model (made before I was born...good to know I was not the oldest in the room :)  I was thinking that children who come from families who don't sew might not have ever had the opportunity to see a sewing machine.  There were several who raised their hands when I asked if this was the first time they had seen a sewing machine. 

 I started by showing them a quilt made by Mr. McSteamy's Grandmother (who will be 100 in 2 weeks).

This is a mug rug (one of you will recognize it, it was a gift : ) that I sent around for kids to touch.  The loved seeing such a "small quilt."  I told them that people from all over the world swap these and fabric postcards too. 

Of course I had to get my pitch in for recycling.  I showed them a feed sack dress and shared how it was recycled from feed sacks.....just in case they thought recycling is a new invention.

 

Nanny, Rick's Grandma, made this one and gave it to Rick and I for our wedding.  She was 89 when she made this and it is hand appliqued.  Could we all be so lucky?  I sure hope so.....especially since I have projects to keep me busy until I'm 124 years old.

Aaron was beaming when I showed this "Crayon" quilt.  I made it for him when he was a baby.

Then just 18 very short months later came Zach so he got a panel quilt....nursing one and two in diapers does not leave much time for piecing....know what I mean?  It has a lot of hand embroidery and trapunto.  (I made it while living in PA.  Took it to Needles to show the girls and they said, "I love your trapunto."  I said, "No that is not trapunto....I stuffed it."  ROFL....I had no idea what trapunto even was...gotta love it.)

 

My only sampler quilt, "Many Hands."  I thought it would be a good one to show all the variety of blocks.

This was not even washed....it was taken straight off the sofa and put into a box and to the school....nice ay?

Of course I had to show them some Hawaiian applique.  I explained the difference between hand stitching, needle turn applique and machine applique.  These were needle turn applique and hand quilted....by none other than MJ...Thanks again, and again, and again!

 

My signature quilt, "Crossroads."  Given to me by MJ...she had all my PA friends sign it when I moved away.  I cherish this piece.  The kids liked that you could "write" on your quilts.  Hope they don't go home and start autographing without permission....yikes.

Thankfully, my friend Diane, loaned me some quilts to take with me as well.  Believe it or not I don't really have any "fun" kid quilts.  I need to get that on my list.  Diane shared these with me and the kids absolutely loved them.  This Halloween one was done with machine embroidery so that was cool to be able to show them that as well.

This quilt was just way toooooo coool!  The kids were pointing and talking....Thank You Diane!!!

These two are Diane's stained glass quilts.  One of the kids said, "hey, they have that at my church."    I need to Google "possession" again....because if I remember correctly.....possession is 9/10ths of the law isn't it? 

This was the show stopper.  All at once the room went, "ooooooohhhhhhhhh" and they smiled.  I loved it...Thanks again Diane :)

Another one of Diane's quilts, a photo quilt. Neat for the children to see you can use photos on quilts.

Of course I took my, "Red Eyed Tree Frog" made by Susan Brubaker Knapp.  It was a fun  to see the kids eyes light up.  Who could not love this tree frog?  (my ears are plugged....and I'm humming loudly..I love frogs)

Waldo's grand daughter made this one.  Maddy made this using fabric swatches and she tied the centers.  The kids were interested in a quilt made by another kid.....hmmmmm....I gotta get my co-workers busy quilting too.

Of course I loved showing this table runner made in Kenya at Amani Ya Juu.  What fun being able to share a little of Africa with them today.

Then on to India.....still not quilted...."Passing the Sacred Orb."  Hey, a wild hair may just grab me and it will be done in no time.....oh yeah baby.

This was the insane part.  When I was asked to come and talk about quilting I opened my big mouth and said I thought it would be cool if the kids could make a paper quilt.  That was when it was just Aaron's class....then it was all of the 2nd graders....106 of them.  So, it went from a paper quilt...to one block!  We cut a zillion little pieces of scrapbook paper and put them into envelopes....a little block kit for each child.  I showed them how they could use their pencil or marker to do the stitching.  Note to self.....cutting a zillion little pieces of paper and counting them into kits takes a lot of time....next time....let them color in a quilt made on my EQ 7 Software!!! 

Speaking of the Electric Quilt Company, I phoned them yesterday to see if they had ever presented to children before and did they have any recommendations.  (Ya gotta go to the experts!!).  They were so kind to e-mail me a little demo so I could show the kids that quilting has gone high tech and you can design quilts on the computer (fascinating to this middle aged mind).  McSteamy came home for lunch and helped me pack up the van and off I went to the school.  Guess what was not in the van?  Yep....my laptop.  He figured I did not need it (he had didn't know what I had planned).  But....I'm ready to go next time :)  Thank You Penny and everyone at EQ who helped me out!  They rock....but IHAN blog readers already knew that, right?  Right!

Well....sheepishly I share this pix......my new Tutto Machine on Wheels Bag....was delivered the day before yesterday but I did not open it because I've been sick.  So this morning, I figure if I'm taking Martha to school....she needs her Mercedes to ride in....so I put baby Martha into her new Mercedes and off we went.  Dang....I love this Tutto Machine on Wheels.  Wanna know why I did not pick that pretty Red, Lime or Purple?  Yes you do....don't act like you don't care....ok, so you don't care....just let me tell ya anyway....come on please...... because everything I have gets dirty...this won't show the dirt so quickly. 

Thanks for listening :) 

Smiles,

Kelly

Winner of Square-agonals Giveaway and an EQ Lesson Invite

Square-agonals by Sandi Blackwell.....an autographed copy....oh yeah baby.....goes to:

Cbar said... 54

I love using simple creative methods to achieve complicated quilt patterns. This is one book I have to have.
november 30, 2010 9:06 PM

Cbar does not have a blog so when you see this post, please e-mail me at IHaveANotion@yahoo.com with your name and address and I'll get your book in the mail on Monday.

I really appreciate all the great comments.  It is nice to read the comments and know I'm not alone in my appreciation for Sandi's process.  What a wonderful way to teach others how to make quilts set on point without all the fear that most of us have about messing it up. 

By the way, a  little birdie told me about an Electric Quilt Lesson by  Benni Harper.  It is "Mystery Lesson 10: Sunshine and Shadow"  I think all of us with Electric Quilt Software need to throw caution to the wind and have a few minutes to ourselves.  I know I want to continue to further my knowledge about my EQ 7 Software and I don't always make time to enjoy learning more about what I already have.  I made a commitment to do this Lesson....why don't you join me? 

Smiles,
Kelly

Electric Quilt Cruise....Oh Yeah!!!

Honestly when I got this notice in an e-mail a few minutes ago, I thought to myself, what a wonderful opportunity and a great way to get together with blogging friends.  I think we should all consider going!!

The Electric Quilt Company's e-mail included the link for more information.  If you want to see it, CLICK HERE.

While I'm on the subject of The Electric Quilt Company, did you know they added Video Demo's for the EQ7?  Well they did and all you have to do to see them is Click Here.

If you're thinking of signing up for this late January cruise, now's the time. Really. The cruise is filling up, and we want to save room for you! Sign up now to join us on a 10 Day / 9 Night Caribbean Cruise - January 28-February 6, 2011. You'll have sun and EQ fun with top-notch teachers Barb Vlack & Mary Ellen Kranz. Come home knowing more about EQ7 and with small sewn projects featuring your own cruise photos. BONUS: You'll learn how easy it is to take better vacation (and quilt) photos with one of the quilt world's best photographers and teachers, Gregory Case.   To check out all the details, click here on EQ Cruise.   (copied with permission from The Electric Quilt Company)

Smiles,

Kelly

Electric Quilt Company EQ 7 Pre-Order for 130.00 Upgrade 49.95

Electric Quilt Company EQ 7 Pre-Order

$130.00

 Save 59.95 

Electric Quilt Company EQ 7 Upgrade

Pre-Order

$49.95

Save 40.00

No I'm not going crazy......I've had customers that pre-purchased the software and then found lower prices.  My customers know I don't operate "Catchem and Cheatem's Bargain Store" here at IHAN so I've reduced the price.  This price will be honored here at IHAN through May 25th.  Thank you for choosing I Have A Notion :)  I would be honored if you referred IHAN to your quilting friends and groups.


Smiles,
Kelly

EQ 6 Presentation for the Black Swamp Quilt Guild

Andrea Bishop from the Electric Quilt Company was the guest speaker for my Quilt Guild (Black Swamp Quilters). Every picture that I snapped of Andrea was either blurry or got her blinking. So I "borrowed" a much more representative photo of Andrea to post here.

Doesn't hurt to be beautiful if you have to be on TV I guess. She shared that she worked at a video store in Bowling Green, OH. One day she got into a conversation with Penny McMorris and wah lah....here she is with a wonderful career. See what happens when you talk to everyone you meet. You just never know where a conversation will lead.

Andrea is the Webmaster and Software Educator for the Electric Quilt Company. It is clear to see when she pops through all the pages and buttons that she could do this blindfolded. It is wonderfully entertaining to watch. I had to remind myself to take a breath. I was just mesmerized by all the cool things that can be done with this software.

I don't own the EQ6 software but I have lots of customers who do. I wanted to learn about how it worked so I could speak somewhat intelligently about the product when people ask. Now at least I can say I'm more informed about all I don't know. I guess its good to know what you don't know. Is that knowing?

However, I can tell you I was fascinated with all that can be done with this software. I'm not a visual person when it comes to creating. I can not just look at a stack of fabrics and tell you what will look great together or how moving one color may change the entire feel of a piece. Perhaps just moving the blocks in another orientation might just make a nice quilt a real interesting quilt. I can't see those things when I work. For those of you who are like me....this could be an amazing tool. The patterns you make can be printed on your home printer too.

Those who love to personally design their own quilts this would be a mind blowing too. From what I could see, the sky is the limit with what you can do.

Andrea clicked a few times on her mouse and came up with this design. She added flowers between the baskets...and a completely new look.

She added a boarder....there were lots to choose from. I thought it was neat to preview many different colors and borders to change the feel of the virtual quilt.

See how she changed the roof of the house to another design? Very cool stuff.

Someone like me could never look at lines like these and see what is created below. Not in one million years could I see what was created just by looking at lines.

And here is what those lines translated to in a beautiful quilt. I was amazed.

Here is another quilt top Andrea is working on. Absolutely stunning!!! The back was fun to look at too.

(One back space too many and I just deleted the photo of the back...XXXX....starting with a D and ending with a N. OK, lets not sweat the small stuff right? ) If anyone wants to see it...e-mail me.

There are video tutorials associated with the software....I think that was an excellent idea. I'm a visual learner. When I see someone do something and hear the directions....I'm much much much more likely to remember what is being said and then able to replicate the process at another time.

If you are considering purchasing the EQ software I suggest you look at their website. There is a ton....well OK....I'll be honest....three tons of information there for you to review and investigate. Evaluate what type of quilter you are and how you like to work. Afterwards I think you will know weather this is a good investment for you or not.

Where to buy your software....a no brainer.....click here!!!

Hope that helps (a little bit anyway). If you want real help....better talk with Andrea....she's the expert.

Smiles,

Kelly

Thinking to myself: I want to be a Master of Something...Andrea is a Webmaster....I have a Master's Degree....but I don't have a cool title like Webmaster. These days being a Webmaster is like being the Wizard in the Wizard of Oz. I'm not even the master of my dust bunnies. I think Webmasters and those who are very knowledgeable about computers are amazing people with great talent.