Quilt University August Newsletter
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July 25, 2008
You all are the best! In the last newsletter, I whined a little (okay, a lot) about turning 60 and I was overwhelmed
by readers who either shared my pain or told me to get over myself. I loved those emails, from women 5-15 years past
60 and still going strong. In fact, one woman 10 years older is still running marathons! By the time my actual
birthday rolled around, I felt great and owe it all to you.
I wanted to talk to you this month about the letters you write to us. The second I thought about it, I could hear
voices singing, "Letters, we get letters, we stacks and stacks of letters." A baby spotlight picked out Perry Como in
his sweater, perched on a stool with a handful of sheet music. Why aren't there shows like that anymore? I even miss
the cheesy recipes from the Kraft people during the commercials.
Fortunately for you, this will not be followed by my singing. Instead, I would like to answer several questions that
you frequently ask me.
"How do you choose teachers or classes for Quilt U?" At the beginning, we said yes to almost everyone and every
class. In short order, YOU let us know what you liked. We also learned that not every good quilter makes a good
teacher and not every successful real-world teacher can take her class online. Some are not good at explaining what
they do in writing, while in other cases, they miss seeing faces and being there in the room with their students.
Good online teachers are those who can not only explain the process in words but who can read your words and know
what problem you are having at home. They have enough experience that they can anticipate problems and warn you in
advance. While it is true that you learn from mistakes, it is not necessary for every person to make all the
mistakes. It is okay to learn from someone else's mistakes.
Speaking of mistakes, we do our best to avoid them in the text of lessons. I edit every single class that appears on
our site. It is important that the lessons are accurate and that typos or fuzzy wording do not add to the challenge
of learning a new skill. If you ever see an error in the lessons, no matter how small, I hope you will let me know so
I can fix it.
"Why aren't classes in PDF format?" Because PDFs that large cannot be edited easily. Teachers
are given the opportunity to
revise their classes before every session. We even change a class while it is in session if there is something
missing or if the teacher feels a new illustration will help student understanding.
"Why aren't classes offered in other languages?" Because I speak only English, sorry to say. I cannot edit a class in
another language, nor can I answer questions from students who write to me in other languages.
"Why do classes or teachers disappear from the catalog?" There can be many reasons. We may feel that a class has run
its course or the teacher will feel that it is out of style or she is tired of teaching it.
Quilting has changed
enormously over the last 20 years and it keeps evolving. It isn't possible to offer everything all the time, so we
try to keep the curriculum well rounded, but fresh and interesting for long time students. Quilt teachers, like
teachers anywhere, sometimes get tired of teaching the same subjects. They want to go back to sewing for their own
private enjoyment, where they won’t have to take pictures of every step or wonder if the process will be too
difficult to explain. Hard as it may be to believe when you are still totally addicted to quilting, sometimes they
are just interested in doing something else.
"Why don’t you use videos?" There are several reasons. Videos are fun to watch, but they are space hogs. At least 20%
of our students live in areas where they cannot get a high speed connection and are not likely to. They cannot
download anything more than a 2 minute video. You can’t make notes on a video or easily go back to the place you want
to review. I have a DVD on beading and, while I think I have it down pat while I am watching, I get to my sewing
machine and want some reference points. I can't keep running back and forth. I also watch the experts on This Old
House. Despite having them explain the process numerous times, I cannot roof my house, put up drywall or miter corner
molding.
Would it be nice to have certain parts of a lesson shown in motion? Absolutely. We are working on that now, which
brings us to the third problem. Our teachers are spread out all over the world. None of them live where we are. That
means that each teacher has to know someone technically competent to produce a video of her demonstrating a
technique.
We believe that the depth of information in our written classes far exceeds the information available on a video. We
urge people to print the lessons out because computers fail. Yet not a week goes by that I do not get a distressed
email from someone who has lost one or more classes when her computer crashed.
"What do you and Roger look like?" Gorgeous, of course. Tall, thin and elegantly dressed. Or not. There's a tiny
photo of me in Meet the Faculty and a larger one in all my classes. Roger says he is the man behind the curtain and
you should just picture the great hall scene from the Wizard of Oz.
"Can't we have a photo album of students so we can all see each other?" In a word, no. There are almost 25,000 of you
and it would be a full time job to organize even half that number. Having the photos in no order would be useless.
"Why are classes already filled when I get my newsletter?" Because not all classes open for registration on
newsletter weekend. Registration opens for 5-7 classes every weekend from January until the end of October. New
classes are worked into the existing schedule as they become available.
"Have you lost any weight with your Wii Fit?" I don't want to jinx it by saying anything yet, but I have faithfully
exercised every single day for 28 days! Instead of an afternoon snack, I do yoga, strength training, aerobics, tennis
or bowling. Early in the morning, I am out in the garden, although most of that is just tugging the hose around,
deadheading and pulling up the occasional weed. It's not heavy lifting but the results are gratifying. I have posted
a Garden gallery in the Student Commons. You can enjoy
it with no bugs or humidity.
That empties the In Box for now. I hope this answered some of your questions and helped you understand how things
happen here at Quilt U.
NEW CLASS
In Waves and Waterfalls, Linda Schmidt delves deeper into the ways you can portray moving water with fabric and other
materials. You will practice on several small pieces before beginning to create your own watery masterpiece. This
class uses many of the same non-traditional supplies as Linda's other class, Elements in Fabric. You should not,
however, attempt to take both classes at once as each one is very time intensive. Class begins August 16.
AUGUST CLASSES
Patchwork & Piecing
Border Workshop with Carol Miller
Pieced Celtic Magic with Karen Combs
Storm at Sea with Nyla Morrison
Appliqué
Baltimore Basics with Nancy Chong - hand work
Stained Glass Bouquet with Nyla Morrison - hand or machine
Triple Treat Tulips with Susan Brittingham - 3 ways to machine appliqué
Paper and Foundation Piecing
Mountains in Autumn with Ila McCallum
Pineapples Plus with Jane Hall
Pictorial Quilts
On Land and Sea with Susan Brittingham - make a real scene
Pacific Aquarium with Ruth Blanchet - make a fantasy scene
Quilting, Surface Embellishment
Arabesque with Martine House - elaborate hand techniques
Elements in Fabric with Linda Schmidt - scenes with non-traditional materials
Embroidery Modules
Embroidery on Patchwork with Joanne Winn
Dyeing and Painting
Painted Landscapes with Michele Scott
Silk Dyeing with Marjie McWilliams
Design & Color
Creative Color with Lily Kerns - no sewing, intro level
Gradations and Transparencies with Carol Miller - sewing, advanced
Viewpoints with Susan Brittingham - learn perspective
Computer-Aided Quilt Design
Designing Quilts with Corel Draw with Lily Kerns
EQ6 Appliqué Design with Patti Anderson
Garments and Accessories
InVestigations with Carol Miller - fit your pattern, learn embellishments
No-Bias Celtic Sweatshirt with Ila McCallum - quick, fusible technique
Other
Getting Started Online with Julie Neu
Registration Calendar
NEWSLETTER SPECIAL
Sign up for any class and you can also take Fancy That with Nyla Morrison for only $14. Fans are great fun to make. The simple wedge shape cuts out quickly and a seam across the end turns it into a fan blade. The fans are sewn to the
background square with blind hem, blanket stitch or zigzag and before you know it, you have a pile of squares to turn
into a quilt or wallhanging. I got so carried away playing with the colors that I ended up using my fans in several
different projects. Nyla will show you how to salvage the fancy fabrics in old ties for memory quilts or just because
the fabrics are gorgeous! Enrollment is limited. Class begins August 9.
Click here for more information.
TWO SUMMER FUN GALLERIES
Time to send in your photographs! I am really looking forward to enjoying your summer fun vicariously! To refresh
your memory, here are the two shows we will be hosting in September and instructions for sending your pictures to us.
Gallery One - 'How I Spent My Summer Vacation' will contain photos of your summer activities. Whether you used our
ideas or made up your own, we want to see what happened. This will also give you a chance to get a peek at each
other!
Gallery Two - 'Wish You Were Here', an exhibit of fabric postcards and journal-sized quilts that tell us something
about your summer. You can portray anything you want: the view from your back porch, a flower in your garden, the pie
you served at the cookout, tickets from all the places you visited in your town. You can make a traditional postcard
or work in the slightly larger 8"x10" journal page. Use any materials or techniques that appeal to you and then tell
us about them.
Beginning August 1, send your photos in jpg format to dean@quiltuniversity.com. Include the name of the gallery, your
name and where you live, and appropriate information about the picture. If it is a group, you may include the names
of the people and the activity. If it is a postcard, you can tell us what techniques you used. The two galleries will
open September 2, the Tuesday after Labor Day.
TEACHER NOTES
You may have noticed that some classes have been moved or deleted from the current schedule. Life often contains unexpected
jogs in the road, leading us off in new directions.
Two of our instructors, Fran Gonzalez and Marjie McWilliams, will be having surgery at the end of July. To accommodate their absences, we have moved back their classes and notified anyone who was already
registered. We
know you join us in wishing each a speedy recovery.
Two instructors, Hetty van Boven and Myrna Giesbrecht, have left the faculty. We wish both of them every success in
their new endeavors.
2009 CALENDAR
If you do not see a date next to a class in the Catalog, that class has completed all of its sessions for 2008. We
will post the dates for the first half of 2009 by the end of October. Please do not write to ask me when or if a
class will be offered. At this point, I don't have any answers for you.
Carol Miller
dean@QuiltUniversity.com
www.QuiltUniversity.com
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COMMENTS?
If you would like to respond to anything in this newsletter, please write to
dean@QuiltUniversity.com.
CHANGE OF ADDRESS
If your email address changes, write us at registrar@quiltuniversity.com. Please include both your old and new email
addresses.
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