My Craftsy class,
Colorful Scrap Quilting, is LIVE today! I'm extremely nervous just
thinking about watching it, but my curiosity
may get the better of me. My kids are planning/threatening to play it on our large TV. I think that's the worst case scenario and if they do, I may have to run away for a little while. Hahaha!
I'm so grateful for the opportunity to teach a Craftsy class, even if it did scare the living daylights out of me. :) There were two factors that kept me going amid all the self doubts: 1. I had talked to a few close friends about taping a Craftsy class for at least a year and I didn't want to compromise my integrity. 2. Turning 40 was a good motivator, too. It was a seize the day (or year) kind of thing. It may sound silly, but it really helped me face my fears!
The quilt itself was designed in Illustrator, on a deadline, of course! Designing on a deadline is, um...interesting! Designing a quilt in Illustrator is rarely my first choice. But, sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do! After spending a few days wondering if the quilt was actually going to work, (I was honestly wondering!) I decided that there was only one way to find out---start sewing!
All of the class prep (and quilt making) was done in a quick timeframe. I think I had 4-5 weeks to prepare. It was intense! Thankfully, my family and a few close friends cheered me on the whole way though. That helped so much! I spent many, many hours prepping before we actually filmed. I went through a lot of scratch paper planning and doing the math. SO MUCH math! So many chicken scratches!
Some days I sewed for about 12 hours! I took a ton of photos as I worked, evaluating the progress every step of the way. There was a lot of editing of fabrics, colors and blocks.
I used a bunch of fabric from my stash. A BUNCH! Several times I had to remind myself (out loud, no less), "It's all just fabric", as I cut into it. I talked to myself a lot during the process. That's what working alone in a basement for hours on end will do to you! :)
I generated a ton of scraps, too. I put all the remains in this paper box lid to sort through for another day. That should be LOTS of fun! It's a darn good thing I like scraps as much as I do!
My producer asked me for a photo of my studio, so I had to clean up my room during that time as well. My craft room is never this clean. Only for a few minutes while the photos were being taken. It's my husband's dream to have it this clean. Even occasionally would do!
This is what it looked like most of the time I was working. Or sometimes even worse!
After I had the top completed, I handed the quilt into
Steffani's capable hands for long arm quilting. She did an amazing job on it! It was fun to bind it because it was almost finished and I got to admire her beautiful quilting!
The taping itself was nerve-wracking, but the crew I worked with was so fun. They are good at what they do!
We had a great time joking around between filming segments. (It was fun to use quilts I've made as back drops!) We laughed a lot and worked long days. It was quite an experience!
It felt great to complete the taping...this was my celebratory power pose. I was pretty happy! :)
If you want to see a trailer of the class, you can view it
here. My son and I watched it and he said, "Wow, they made you look good!" He sounded a little surprised! Hahaha!
I realize that this is quite a long blog post, but I think it's important to share the process behind it all. SO much goes on behind the scenes and it can look easy, but it all is a ton of work. It's good work, though, and I'm thankful to have it!
I'd like to say a HUGE thank you to my friend
Tara, who was so helpful to me throughout the entire process. And a big thank you to all of you, my readers, who have left kind comments about the class and the quilt already. I appreciate your support more than I can say!
Happy Monday to you!
