Friday, June 28, 2013
Saturday, May 18, 2013
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
YahooGroups
-I'll start with a story. Don't I always? Lately my postings have all been about quilting, but this story starts with Knit or Knot--a knitting guild started by me in September of 1995. It could apply to any group. Virtually all of the original members are still active. A few died; some got transferred out of the area, but for the most part our guild, Knit or Knot of Orlando, has been running for almost 18 years. It has prospered, been stable, avoided the horrible conflicts that can happen in some guilds, and we get new members all the time.
This is about how YahooGroups helped Knit or Knot of Orlando grow and prosper.
When I started Knit or Knot, I was determined that several things be true. First and foremost, we NOT have any dues. Second, all members are created equal and have an equal voice, and third, we should help each other learn, grow, and be well together.
In the beginning, the internet had not really gained general usage. That meant that I created a printed newsletter and mailed it out after every meeting, and our first member phoned everyone to remind them of meetings.
Even with the growth of the internet, communication was problematic. If we had to send an announcement, that meant typing in every email addresses--keeping databases of those addresses, etc. A royal pain in the you-know-what.
Then an absolutely brilliant thing happened. One day we all checked our email to find this message from our youngest member--I'll call her Blondie for her gorgeous hair. (She's a LOT younger than the "ahem" oldies in the group and put us all to shame technologically. Her picture is on our knitting web site--look for a very smiley, young, natural blond with curly hair.) The email that Blondie sent was an invitation to a YahooGroup. It said, "Hi, folks, I've created a group called knitorknot@yahoogroups.com. All you have to do is reply to this email and from now on keeping in touch with each other will be a cinch." (Well, some of us did have to get Yahoo IDs which at first seemed tricky) What a nutty idea, we though, but oh, how we were wrong and Blondie was right.
Let me tell you what the YahooGroup has done for us:
We have virtually perfect communication for all members. Nobody has to remember email addresses. They are all stored in the YahooGroup database. Anybody who wants to say anything to the group, or even to reach another member, only has to address the email to knitorknot@yahoogroups.com. Bingo--no CCs, no BCCs, no typing in long lists of emails, no creating Outlook Groups and having to keep them updated, it's automatic. Got a message to get out? Tell it on YahooGroups. Problem solved. See "Finding a new venue" below.
It's fully democratic (and I don't mean political)--democratic with a small "d." Anybody can reach every member through the YahooGroup. Even if you want to reach one individual, you can say, for example, "Mary, what happened with XYZ." Everyone can see the message, sure, but it keeps conspiracies and hidden agendas out of the guild. Officers could have their own private YahooGroup if they felt they needed it.
In fact, we don't do the whole officer thing. Most guilds need officers to plan, approve every decision, control the atmosphere, etc. Ours doesn't. We did once elect officers for our Charter, but ask anyone in Knit or Knot who the Board is and they'll say, "Hunh?" What board?
Knit or Knot doesn't do "private." This, in itself, keeps everyone honest. It's pretty hard to run a conspiracy, use the guild funds to take people out to fancy dinners, gang up against another member, or do any of the nefarious things groups sometimes do when everything is out in the open.
Everyone feels included. Let's say you don't get to meetings often. Maybe you've got a sick hubby or you have to travel a lot. No problem. You get all the information you need about what the guild is doing whenever you check your email. You may not get to meetings, but you're still very much a member and in on the goings on.
Membership increases. We love welcoming new people into our guild, and the way we do it is to say, "Hey, gimme your email. I'll send you an invitation to our online group."
Finances improve. Yeah. I said above that we don't charge dues. We do raise money quite nicely, though. We do raffle of a basket at meetings for our education fund. (See Using Raffle Baskets successfully later) and we have a VERY successful record of having national teachers come to Orlando to teach at our guild and earn us money. We've had Judy Pascale and Chris Bylsma in the same year! National names, national reputations. Mega bucks to get them. Yet we always raise the funds. We charge our members one fee and non-members a bit more, and our classes fill up. Since they are big names, we charge big bucks. People come! The beauty of this is some of the people at our "national teacher" sessions are from other guilds, but we let them be in our YahooGroup, so they know what we're doing. And a couple of our members are in their YahooGroups so we know what's going on there as well. They come and pay for the teachers we bring in. We make a big profit, and live dues-free the rest of the year. Sheer joy. After all, what can anybody possibly hear or read that diminishes us? We're not reinventing the wheel, for gosh sake.
Non-Members actually become Members. Part of this is the whole non-dues position. Obviously, if your guild collects dues, you sort of want to keep your fantastic ideas secret. Unhunh! Like no other guild ever thought of doing exactly what your guild is doing. The more people you invite to the YahooGroup, the more they feel involved and are more likely to support the group. As soon as someone joins the YahooGroup, they become as involved as regular members.
The openness of the YahooGroup virtually stops nasty backstabbing, rumors, etc. since everybody knows what's going on, Want to know what's in the Treasury? Post a question on the YahooGroup--"what's the bank balance these days?" You'll get your answer. Nobody can be accused of using guild funds to take a guest out to an exhorbitantly expensive fancy restaurant. There'd be no rumors simply because it's all out in the open.
It teaches diplomacy and allocates talents efficiently. Every been in a group where the person elected president is the least diplomatic person on earth? Where you just grit your teeth with some of the things they say or write? Where they try to control everything. Do it their way or you won't get recognition in the guild. Or where the person who gets elected treasurer can't balance her own checkbook? Well, in our YahooGroup if anybody says anything that could be misread, clarification is asked for right away. You learn to state things diplomatically. Honesty needn't be nasty. But honesty and openness is a must for groups to operate without acrimony.
It's reliable and consistent. The format doesn't change. You don't have to install updates. Just keep sending out notices and inviting new people. Everybody gets treated the same. People who change email addresses just go onto YahooGroups and change their own information so you don't have to worry about it.
Finding a New Venue: This shows how the collaborative-communicative aspect of the YahooGroup works. A current problem we had to deal with. OK, since we have no dues, we don't pay for the space where we meet. Once when we had to move away from meeting at the library, we did chip in to pay for "insurance" at a Senior Center, but we gave that up as fast as we could. Recently we've been meeting (no charge) at a restaurant in College Park. It is very generous of them to let us meet there without charge. It is also noisy and the ambiance does not let us do the things we have been famous for. Even show and tell is difficult in an open, noisy restaurant. We had to cut out regular parts of our sessions just to continue meeting there. So.....
A message was sent via the YahooGroup saying, "Gosh, I miss XYZ that we used to do when we met at a quieter location." Before a day had passed the comments flowed in. "I miss it, too." "What about PQR? We can't do that anymore either." Suddenly everyone is chatting, "We need a new venue." One member started phoning churches. Nobody told her to do it. She just did it and posted the results on the YahooGroup. Another member checked restaurants with back rooms with doors, and a third contacted the knitting stores. Within a week, with everyone making suggestions, expressing their wishes and/or unhappiness, we narrowed the possibilities down. When all seemed to be in agreement about where we wanted to meet, a poll was taken (YahooGroups include the polling facility) and members were voting--not just whether they wanted to go to the new place, everyone said they did, but on how quickly we could get our meetings transferred there. Problem solved--not by one person, not by a committee, but by the entire membership.
YahooGroups will help your group grow, prosper, be healthy, and be happy.
Recently I was asked if I wanted to be part of another YahooGroup. It's a national group that doesn't really meet, but at least once a year they have "retreats" all over the country. You go to whichever one you want. Travel to visit friends or go to the one in your state. The warmth of friendship is powerful, and new members, me included, are quickly made to feel welcome.
Raffle Baskets:
I realize this has nothing to do with YahooGroups, but as a former sales rep and a member of a group that does raffle baskets successfully, I've had occasion to see the concept used with mediocre results.
*The basket itself has to be sold. All the items in it have to be shown to the group present.
*The tickets have to be sold. That means the person selling the tickets has to get up and move from table to table or person to person in the room and say something totally inane like, "Wanna buy a raffle ticket?" If we forgot our cash, we loan each other the money so everyone can have a ticket. We usually collect get a yield of $2-$3 per person at the meeting. If your guild is not earning that much on raffle tickets you aren't doing one of the 2 * above--most likely the second one.
What I learned in Psychology 101 applies to people in guilds, too.
Projection:
If someone tells you that the one thing they never do is , what they are really telling you is what they DO do. "I never interfere" means "I am known for interfering." Mothers-in-law are famous for that one. The more vehement the claim, the more it's projection. Sometimes it's couched in present-day psychobabble (very popular these days). When someone says, "You know
it's not all about YOU." You got it! It's projection. Of course it isn't all about you. It's all
about THEM!
Evidence of lying:
The more excuses (sometimes given as explanations) a person gives you for something, the less likely it's the truth.
One excuse or explanation: If someone says something like, "I didn't do that because I had a scheduling conflict," and if that person stops there and doesn't add anything to it, that's very likely true.
Two excuses or explanations: If the person says, "I didn't do that because I had a scheduling conflict and my car broke down," start to be suspicious. It might be true, but it might be a lie. Either excuse would be sufficient. Why proffer two?
Three excuses or explanations: It's almost always a lie. "I didn't do that because I had a scheduling conflict, and my car broke down, and anyway I ran out of gas." They're lying. They may be doing it to protect themselves. They may be doing it to get rid of you, but the fact remains, it's a almost certainly a lie.
Four or more excuses or explanations strung in a row: It's not only a lie, it's a bald-faced lie. If someone says, "I could not have discussed that with anyone because I took 4 days of lectures, went to parties every night, had breakfast and dinner conferences with my pals every day, and had to walk 3 miles each way to the conference. Plus I was totally exhausted,"
that person is not just telling you lies, they're lying to themselves as well. To quote Shakespeare, "Such men (people) are dangerous..."
Ahhh, I did learn a lot in Psych 101 that is still useful 56 years later.
What I learned in the psychology of sales (OJT)
A well-trained sales rep goes through the equivalent of a college course in psychology, especially if they are exposed to the sales training of large companies like Xerox or IBM or if the company they work for exposes them to the books and training material available in the commercial market. Here's what 30 years of sales training taught me:
Semantics (words and phrases used) negate content. to be continued.....
This is about how YahooGroups helped Knit or Knot of Orlando grow and prosper.
When I started Knit or Knot, I was determined that several things be true. First and foremost, we NOT have any dues. Second, all members are created equal and have an equal voice, and third, we should help each other learn, grow, and be well together.
In the beginning, the internet had not really gained general usage. That meant that I created a printed newsletter and mailed it out after every meeting, and our first member phoned everyone to remind them of meetings.
Even with the growth of the internet, communication was problematic. If we had to send an announcement, that meant typing in every email addresses--keeping databases of those addresses, etc. A royal pain in the you-know-what.
Then an absolutely brilliant thing happened. One day we all checked our email to find this message from our youngest member--I'll call her Blondie for her gorgeous hair. (She's a LOT younger than the "ahem" oldies in the group and put us all to shame technologically. Her picture is on our knitting web site--look for a very smiley, young, natural blond with curly hair.) The email that Blondie sent was an invitation to a YahooGroup. It said, "Hi, folks, I've created a group called knitorknot@yahoogroups.com. All you have to do is reply to this email and from now on keeping in touch with each other will be a cinch." (Well, some of us did have to get Yahoo IDs which at first seemed tricky) What a nutty idea, we though, but oh, how we were wrong and Blondie was right.
Let me tell you what the YahooGroup has done for us:
We have virtually perfect communication for all members. Nobody has to remember email addresses. They are all stored in the YahooGroup database. Anybody who wants to say anything to the group, or even to reach another member, only has to address the email to knitorknot@yahoogroups.com. Bingo--no CCs, no BCCs, no typing in long lists of emails, no creating Outlook Groups and having to keep them updated, it's automatic. Got a message to get out? Tell it on YahooGroups. Problem solved. See "Finding a new venue" below.
It's fully democratic (and I don't mean political)--democratic with a small "d." Anybody can reach every member through the YahooGroup. Even if you want to reach one individual, you can say, for example, "Mary, what happened with XYZ." Everyone can see the message, sure, but it keeps conspiracies and hidden agendas out of the guild. Officers could have their own private YahooGroup if they felt they needed it.
In fact, we don't do the whole officer thing. Most guilds need officers to plan, approve every decision, control the atmosphere, etc. Ours doesn't. We did once elect officers for our Charter, but ask anyone in Knit or Knot who the Board is and they'll say, "Hunh?" What board?
Knit or Knot doesn't do "private." This, in itself, keeps everyone honest. It's pretty hard to run a conspiracy, use the guild funds to take people out to fancy dinners, gang up against another member, or do any of the nefarious things groups sometimes do when everything is out in the open.
Everyone feels included. Let's say you don't get to meetings often. Maybe you've got a sick hubby or you have to travel a lot. No problem. You get all the information you need about what the guild is doing whenever you check your email. You may not get to meetings, but you're still very much a member and in on the goings on.
Membership increases. We love welcoming new people into our guild, and the way we do it is to say, "Hey, gimme your email. I'll send you an invitation to our online group."
Finances improve. Yeah. I said above that we don't charge dues. We do raise money quite nicely, though. We do raffle of a basket at meetings for our education fund. (See Using Raffle Baskets successfully later) and we have a VERY successful record of having national teachers come to Orlando to teach at our guild and earn us money. We've had Judy Pascale and Chris Bylsma in the same year! National names, national reputations. Mega bucks to get them. Yet we always raise the funds. We charge our members one fee and non-members a bit more, and our classes fill up. Since they are big names, we charge big bucks. People come! The beauty of this is some of the people at our "national teacher" sessions are from other guilds, but we let them be in our YahooGroup, so they know what we're doing. And a couple of our members are in their YahooGroups so we know what's going on there as well. They come and pay for the teachers we bring in. We make a big profit, and live dues-free the rest of the year. Sheer joy. After all, what can anybody possibly hear or read that diminishes us? We're not reinventing the wheel, for gosh sake.
Non-Members actually become Members. Part of this is the whole non-dues position. Obviously, if your guild collects dues, you sort of want to keep your fantastic ideas secret. Unhunh! Like no other guild ever thought of doing exactly what your guild is doing. The more people you invite to the YahooGroup, the more they feel involved and are more likely to support the group. As soon as someone joins the YahooGroup, they become as involved as regular members.
The openness of the YahooGroup virtually stops nasty backstabbing, rumors, etc. since everybody knows what's going on, Want to know what's in the Treasury? Post a question on the YahooGroup--"what's the bank balance these days?" You'll get your answer. Nobody can be accused of using guild funds to take a guest out to an exhorbitantly expensive fancy restaurant. There'd be no rumors simply because it's all out in the open.
It teaches diplomacy and allocates talents efficiently. Every been in a group where the person elected president is the least diplomatic person on earth? Where you just grit your teeth with some of the things they say or write? Where they try to control everything. Do it their way or you won't get recognition in the guild. Or where the person who gets elected treasurer can't balance her own checkbook? Well, in our YahooGroup if anybody says anything that could be misread, clarification is asked for right away. You learn to state things diplomatically. Honesty needn't be nasty. But honesty and openness is a must for groups to operate without acrimony.
It's reliable and consistent. The format doesn't change. You don't have to install updates. Just keep sending out notices and inviting new people. Everybody gets treated the same. People who change email addresses just go onto YahooGroups and change their own information so you don't have to worry about it.
Finding a New Venue: This shows how the collaborative-communicative aspect of the YahooGroup works. A current problem we had to deal with. OK, since we have no dues, we don't pay for the space where we meet. Once when we had to move away from meeting at the library, we did chip in to pay for "insurance" at a Senior Center, but we gave that up as fast as we could. Recently we've been meeting (no charge) at a restaurant in College Park. It is very generous of them to let us meet there without charge. It is also noisy and the ambiance does not let us do the things we have been famous for. Even show and tell is difficult in an open, noisy restaurant. We had to cut out regular parts of our sessions just to continue meeting there. So.....
A message was sent via the YahooGroup saying, "Gosh, I miss XYZ that we used to do when we met at a quieter location." Before a day had passed the comments flowed in. "I miss it, too." "What about PQR? We can't do that anymore either." Suddenly everyone is chatting, "We need a new venue." One member started phoning churches. Nobody told her to do it. She just did it and posted the results on the YahooGroup. Another member checked restaurants with back rooms with doors, and a third contacted the knitting stores. Within a week, with everyone making suggestions, expressing their wishes and/or unhappiness, we narrowed the possibilities down. When all seemed to be in agreement about where we wanted to meet, a poll was taken (YahooGroups include the polling facility) and members were voting--not just whether they wanted to go to the new place, everyone said they did, but on how quickly we could get our meetings transferred there. Problem solved--not by one person, not by a committee, but by the entire membership.
YahooGroups will help your group grow, prosper, be healthy, and be happy.
Recently I was asked if I wanted to be part of another YahooGroup. It's a national group that doesn't really meet, but at least once a year they have "retreats" all over the country. You go to whichever one you want. Travel to visit friends or go to the one in your state. The warmth of friendship is powerful, and new members, me included, are quickly made to feel welcome.
Raffle Baskets:
I realize this has nothing to do with YahooGroups, but as a former sales rep and a member of a group that does raffle baskets successfully, I've had occasion to see the concept used with mediocre results.
*The basket itself has to be sold. All the items in it have to be shown to the group present.
*The tickets have to be sold. That means the person selling the tickets has to get up and move from table to table or person to person in the room and say something totally inane like, "Wanna buy a raffle ticket?" If we forgot our cash, we loan each other the money so everyone can have a ticket. We usually collect get a yield of $2-$3 per person at the meeting. If your guild is not earning that much on raffle tickets you aren't doing one of the 2 * above--most likely the second one.
What I learned in Psychology 101 applies to people in guilds, too.
Projection:
If someone tells you that the one thing they never do is
Ahhh, I did learn a lot in Psych 101 that is still useful 56 years later.
What I learned in the psychology of sales (OJT)
A well-trained sales rep goes through the equivalent of a college course in psychology, especially if they are exposed to the sales training of large companies like Xerox or IBM or if the company they work for exposes them to the books and training material available in the commercial market. Here's what 30 years of sales training taught me:
Semantics (words and phrases used) negate content. to be continued.....
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
The best laid plans of those who sew
Continuing with my plan to complete the Dancing With the Stars quilt (Carol Doak's Paper Pieced), I decided today to print out the foundation papers for the next month's patterns. As an aside, let me point out that I live in Florida where it's very HUMID. Humidity can affect paper.
I put some Carol Doak special paper-piecing-paper into the printer, set the patterns to print, and a few minutes later SOME of the patterns printed out. But not all of them.
I checked the paper tray, plenty of paper.
I checked as many connections as I could, no problems that I could see. Hubby and I worked together for about a half hour to figure out what was going on. We kept getting the message, "Pick Driver Stalled." Stumped I went to trouble-shooting.
I first started printing it was about 12:30 -- right after lunch --
At about 2:09 I gave up and put a call in to Hewlett Packard. I was already very frustrated.
The HP person assured me we could either get this done together or they'd send me a new printer, BUT what would I do while I waited for that printer to arrive?
So we slogged through all the various methods to check what was wrong.
We cleaned the feed rollers.
We re-set the printer to its factory settings.
She walked me through about 15 different procedures (most of which I had tried with their online troubleshooting page).
I could tell she was as worried as I was. After about an hour and a half into this, she said that she was going to have to ask a mechanical technician to get on the line. I sat there waiting. We had, together, practically taken the printer apart. But there was one thing we hadn't done. So I did it.
I tipped the printer upside down.
Whoa! There underneath the printer were three sheets of Carol Doak's special paper piecing foundation paper that had crumpled, curled under the paper tray, and were sort of crammed into the space between the printer tray and the main part of the printer. Nothing we had done would have revealed this because it was UNDERNEATH the printer. I pulled out the offending sheets, and when the person came back on the line, we did a reset and VOILA! The printer is printing again.
That was just before 4 PM.
So the best laid plans of those who sew were sabotaged by a printer. A total of 3 1/2 hours wasted on technology-messing-up.
However, once it was fixed, I was able to print out the 16 sets of foundation pages needed, and I can once again can prepare to sew.
Phew!
I put some Carol Doak special paper-piecing-paper into the printer, set the patterns to print, and a few minutes later SOME of the patterns printed out. But not all of them.
I checked the paper tray, plenty of paper.
I checked as many connections as I could, no problems that I could see. Hubby and I worked together for about a half hour to figure out what was going on. We kept getting the message, "Pick Driver Stalled." Stumped I went to trouble-shooting.
I first started printing it was about 12:30 -- right after lunch --
At about 2:09 I gave up and put a call in to Hewlett Packard. I was already very frustrated.
The HP person assured me we could either get this done together or they'd send me a new printer, BUT what would I do while I waited for that printer to arrive?
So we slogged through all the various methods to check what was wrong.
We cleaned the feed rollers.
We re-set the printer to its factory settings.
She walked me through about 15 different procedures (most of which I had tried with their online troubleshooting page).
I could tell she was as worried as I was. After about an hour and a half into this, she said that she was going to have to ask a mechanical technician to get on the line. I sat there waiting. We had, together, practically taken the printer apart. But there was one thing we hadn't done. So I did it.
I tipped the printer upside down.
Whoa! There underneath the printer were three sheets of Carol Doak's special paper piecing foundation paper that had crumpled, curled under the paper tray, and were sort of crammed into the space between the printer tray and the main part of the printer. Nothing we had done would have revealed this because it was UNDERNEATH the printer. I pulled out the offending sheets, and when the person came back on the line, we did a reset and VOILA! The printer is printing again.
That was just before 4 PM.
So the best laid plans of those who sew were sabotaged by a printer. A total of 3 1/2 hours wasted on technology-messing-up.
However, once it was fixed, I was able to print out the 16 sets of foundation pages needed, and I can once again can prepare to sew.
Phew!
Monday, February 25, 2013
Paper Piecing Torture
I started quilting in 2009 and saw an offer for a Block of the Month which would come by mail including pattern and all fabric the first of January, 2010. The picture was GORGEOUS, so I decided that I would make that quilt.Here's the picture. Isn't it gorgeous? Wouldn't YOU want to make it? Little did I know what I was getting into. It clearly said it was a Carol Doak pattern, but that meant nothing to me. I was too new at quilting to know what she is famous for.
THE SAGA STARTS for my BOM (block of the month):
* In January I eagerly awaited my first package.
It didn't come. Instead I got an email that said,
"We're running behind.
We'll send the first one in February."
* In February another email arrived.
"We'll send the first packet soon."
* In March the first packet arrived. I opened it eagerly.
Inside was a paper pattern, a bunch of different sized fabric swatches, and some instructions. Being new at quilting, I read with dismay.......
PAPER PIECING.! Gulp. I had no idea what to do. I had heard of paper piecing but had no clue what was involved. My neighbor offered to teach me, but I knew she had a full plate with elderly ill parents. The last thing she needed was my cluelessness.
A few days later I was talking to another friend who said, "No sweat. I'll teach you. Buy an add-a-quarter ruler, make copies of the pattern they sent you. Bring some scrap fabric your portable cutting mat, a stiff postcard, a rotary cutter, and your machine over to my house. Do not bring the fabric for the actual quilt since what we're going to do is practice, not make the actual block."
A few days later, like battling sewing machines, I sat opposite at the dining room table at my friend Darlene's house. (http://darslongarm.com). She showed me how to set up my ironing board right next to the table at sewing height and arrange my cutting mat and other materials close by so I wouldn't have to jump up and down. She showed me how to use a postcard to fold the pattern over so the add-a-quarter ruler would sit snug. She showed me that I could use big pieces of fabric, sew them to the pattern, and then cut them to size as I made each block. What a wonderful lesson. Thank you, Dar! You are a great teacher and a great friend.
THE SAGA CONTINUES:
OK. Now I knew how to paper piece. Time to get to those BOMs.
I carefully opened my January packet (you know, the one that came in March), spread out the patterns and fabrics and got to work. Hmmm. What's this? Each pattern says, "Make 4" but the instructions said, "Copy the pattern 12 times." Hunh? I phoned the online quilting store that sold the BOM. The nice woman on the phone said, "Oh yes, each BLOCK has 4 parts and you have to make 3 blocks. That's 12. Just make sure that you make half of the them red and half blue."
I answered, "So, I guess this isn't BLOCK of the month, it's 12 blocks a month." and she said,
"No, it's all the same block this month, but there are 3 of them. There are 30 blocks in all to the quilt, so if you made just one a month, by the time you got it done, it would take 3 years. That's why you have to make several each month."
I GET TO WORK--Month One:
First I discovered that while what Dar taught me was thorough, making all those blocks and making them come out the way the picture shows is not so easy. I called the store again and said, "The instructions for this block have the dark beige in a different picture from the pattern block. Will that make a difference?"
She went to get the pattern in front of her and said, "Oh, yes, well, you know it's mirror image." Then she paused and said, "I see what you mean. But it shouldn't matter. The blocks will still look nice with the beiges reversed." I wasn't so sure, but one thing I knew--I wanted it to look EXACTLY like the picture. So carefully I made sure to put the dark beige where the paper pattern said to put the light one and vice-versa. When done with my first 1/4 block (remember each BLOCK is composed of 4 smaller block, I was happy with how it looked. I was dismayed, however, that it took me THREE HOURS to do that 1/4 block. Nevertheless, by spending all my available sewing time on this "BOM" I got three 12.5" blocks, each composed of 8 smaller pieces. That's 32 pieces per block. Little did I know that was EASY.
MONTH TWO:
The second packet came before the month of March was up. Fortunately I'd gotten all the blocks in the first packet done. A notice came with it, "We're going to try to catch up and get your materials to you more quickly." I eagerly opened the packet. Not without a bit of alarm I noticed that each 1/4 block this month had 17 pieces. That's 68 pieces per block!!! And there were two blocks to complete that month. I set to work. Something odd about the fabric. There certainly didn't seem to be enough of those pieces to do both blocks. I called the store again. "Oh, yes, she said, we're sending out a catchup packet with extra fabric. You should get it soon." Sure enough, within a week a nice chunk of fabric swatches came in the mail with a very sincere apology." Any body can make a mistake. They certainly did send quite a nice packet to make up for it. PLEASE REMEMBER THIS LATER.
MONTH THREE:
My third packet arrived in mid-April. That was pretty good. They were catching up. In the packet was a duplicate of the first month's pattern but instructions to make 8, not 12 quarter blocks. In other words, only two blocks were to be made. I realized they were the spacer blocks, alternating between the much more complicated blocks with 68 pieces. Since I was still working on packet two, I didn't get to start packet three right away. Good thing. A few days later a package of fabric arrived in the mail, almost exactly like the packet that arrived the prior week because in this packet was a big CAUTION: It said, "Our apologies. the pattern we sent you this month was printed off the wrong size. Here is the correct size pattern. We are sending extra fabric in case you already made the blocks because you won't be able to use them in the quilt. If you haven't made them yet, please use the new pattern we are sending you or the one from the first month." I got caught up and made the two correct blocks.
MONTH FOUR:
By now you could understand my being a bit wary and rightfully so. A notice came in the mail that said something like, "Sorry we ran out of fabric. We did not anticipate 200 people signing up for this Block of the Month, and we have to wait for the new fabric to arrive because it's got to be the right colors.
HIATUS:
By now I was totally frustrated. Not only did I take on a project that was beyond my skill level at that time, but also the company really needed to get its act together. I put all the finished blocks (eight by then) in to a plastic storage bin. Each month as new packets came in, I added them, unopened, to the storage bin. I tried to forget about it, let it fade from my memory. For the most part I succeeded. There was one point where my memory was triggered. I received a DVD of the project--all patterns corrected, tested, and complete. I threw it into a drawer and tried to forget it again.
FAST FORWARD THREE YEARS
OK, by now I'm pretty good at quilting. I've made several quilts, won an award at a quilt show (3rd place, but the competition was fierce) and I pretty much was caught up with UFOs. One day my computer died and I got a new one. I dug out all my computer DVDs to reinstall programs and lo and behold, there was the DVD for the quilt. What the heck, I thought, maybe I really can finish it. So I got to work.
First I dug out all the unopened packets and put them in order.
I found the extra fabric packets as well.
I made sure that I printed copies ONLY from the DVD, not from what came in the mail. Didn't want another nasty surprise. Also, I had the special Carol Doak copy paper to print the patterns on. Good to go.
It took me 5 hours to make the first quarter block, and I was totally wiped out.
It took me only 3 hours to make each successive quarter block, but with a lot of interruptions, it was 10 days before I was done. Still, it was DONE!
On the second block in that packet. By now I was pretty much completing quarter blocks in 3 hours or so, but with a lot of ripping out and repositioning the fabric. After getting the second quarter block done I realized there didn't seem to be enough of the light blue to complete the rest of the block. OMG! There was no way I could duplicate the exact color. It's been THREE YEARS! I considered remaking the blocks, but I didn't have enough of the other fabrics to do that. So I gritted my teeth, gathered all the scraps together and pieced the pieces! Here's what I had to resort to in order to get all four quarter blocks done. A couple only took one or two seams, but by the time I was at the last section of the light blue, I was sewing tiny scraps together to make a piece large enough to cover an area 3" long by 3/4" wide. Here is the wrong side of it on the ironing board. There are six seams in it. I'm hoping that when I quilt it, I can disguise all those seams.AS OF NOW, February 25, 2013, three years later, I've now got the blocks of the bottom two rows done.
SO FAR I'VE LEARNED:
1) Don't try to follow the color chart by numbers. Make an extra copy of the pattern, cut all the pieces out and pin them to the color they represent.
2) Before you start on a block, make sure there's enough fabric of all the colors. If there's ANY doubt, see if you can find another color close enough to work with the pattern or go out and find something as close as you can before you sew any pieces. You don't want to have a tiny strip like the one in the picture above pieced out of 6 different scraps.
3) Use the whole swatch to line up each color. Pre-cutting to approximately fit the grid will mean you rip things out over and over.
4) Be VERY careful cutting the outer edge--use a square ruler to get it exact or disaster could strike.
5) Use anti-slip grips on the bottom of each ruler--the really thick stuff, not the little dots. One slip when cutting the 6.5" quarter block almost gave me a heart attack and I had to piece over a section being careful not to lose my points.
6) Don't do paper piecing when you're tired, stressed, or when you have a tight schedule.
UPDATES AS I DO EACH BLOCK. STAY TUNED.
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Quilt Show in Titusville
What a wonderful experience it was to be a part of the Space Coast Quilters "Quilting From the Heart" quilt show in Titusville February 15th and 16th. More than 200 gorgeous quilts to view, great vendors, and lots of hard work and sharing by the guild members. Of course, everyone who helped out was so exhausted when it was done, we were still dragging for the Monthly meeting on Wednesday. It's a great event that helps make it possible for SCQG to provide so many charitable items every year.
Great work, gang.
Also, I got this great purse from the Consignment shop at the quilt show. It was made by a local member and it has SIXTEEN pockets, 7 outside including a zippered back pocket, 9 inside. There's a place for everything. It has a shoulder strap and a Velcro closing. Great purse.
Happy Quilting everyone.
Great work, gang.
Also, I got this great purse from the Consignment shop at the quilt show. It was made by a local member and it has SIXTEEN pockets, 7 outside including a zippered back pocket, 9 inside. There's a place for everything. It has a shoulder strap and a Velcro closing. Great purse.
Happy Quilting everyone.
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