Beth Ferrier’s Blog

Each fall The Professional Quilter magazine names a quilting professional as Teacher of the Year. It is an outstanding honor. Here’s your chance to nominate that quilt teacher who has touched your life. She/he can be a teacher at the local shop, someone who taught for your guild, even someone whose lecture has made an impact on your quilting life.

Nominations will be accepted until December 5th. The nominees are then invited to submit written answers to a questionnaire, which will be judged by a panel of quilting professionals. Click here to nominate your favorite teacher. The winner is named in the Spring issue of the magazine.

 The Professional Quilter is a great resource for quilters who want to take the leap to turn their hobby into their job. Whether your interests include teaching on the national scene or competing in national shows, The Professional Quilter has wonderful articles to help you on your path.  A subscription would be a terrific investment in your career. 

On Tuesday, November 27 at 8am Eastern Time, my Moondance segment will air again on Simply Quilts, on HGTV. Alex is as kind and generous in real life as she seems on television. This was my second time in the studio with Alex and I wasn’t nearly as nervous. Hope you enjoy the Sneaky Piecing Tricks that were demonstrated.

Hey, I’m still here, sort of. Actually, I’ve been gone more than home this fall, I haven’t even really unpacked since the beginning of September. I have one more trip to make before I’m done for the year. Then I will have seven blissful weeks at home until the teaching trips start again in January. *sigh*

For that final trip I’m knee deep in making kits. I’ll have about 65 students and 90 minutes for a hands-on Hand Applique by Machine class. The students are all national teachers, I don’t know if that makes it better or worse. It will be a room full of leaders, I suspect it will be rather like herding cats.

In the meantime, I have piles of parts all over the studio. Stacks of batting squares, large and small, background fabrics, applique pieces with the templates already fused, 350 bobbins wound with the threads we’ll need, glue sticks, and binding strips cover every horizontal surface. Today I hope to finish the class handout and get those kits packed. Once they are boxed and ready to go I can turn my heart back to the creative stuff I long to do.

We will have a lovely full house tomorrow for Thanksgiving. All the boys,their girls, and that precious grandson plus my wonderful mom will gather around a table groaning with blessings. Hearing my sons’ laughter and seeing how they enjoy each other’s company gives such joy to my heart. It is a gift that they are not only brothers, but friends.

Uncle! I give up. Time to admit that I have flunked blogging. When I started the blog last winter I planned to post at least twice a week and always include a picture. Clearly I have not met my goal.

So, I’m going to come clean. It’s not the words, I always have words, it’s the pictures that defeat me. I admire so very much the beautiful pictures on some blogs. They invite us in, make us linger and add a lovely pause to the words. But they require skill and attention that I’m just not willing or able to give.

I’m just not a camera person. To me (and I’m only talking about myself here), a camera distances me from the experience. I don’t want a lens between me and the world. A picture is an attempt to stop time, to capture a moment, and hold it forever. I don’t want to hold it forever. I don’t want to look at it again and spend another minute on a minute from the past. The past is gone, fixed in time and unchangeable.

This moment, this hour, this day, this is something I can work with. If I’m in it, fully living it, passing time is nothing to fear. The future is full of opportunity to love, learn and laugh.

So, here’s the deal. Instead of waiting until I can remember to take a picture, I’m just going to do the best that I can with my words. Pictures will have to be a bonus, a special treat or happy accident.  I hope you’ll forgive that and come to enjoy the stories.

Beth