Saturday, September 10, 2011

The Key is the work

I have been here in Madison WI, vending, teaching and lecturing with my buddy Laura. We have had a great time, seeing old friends and making new ones. I am oblivious to what is happening in the “outside” world.
I have been teaching Free Motion Machine Quilting. My classes have been full of eager faces. We start the class and they all look forward to the front of the room waiting for  that secret key that is going to make their machine quilting look like mine or better. I start telling them all the little hints that I think are important to being successful with their machine quilting and they listen intently, scribbling notes. They keep waiting and finally I hit them with the big one. The thing that will make all the difference in the world, the component they want to hear and have been waiting for – PRACTICE. You can hear a pin drop, there is silence in the room and then comes the groan.  Nobody wants to hear that, they think their must be somehting else that will make them fabulous quilters. But really the only thing that is going to make any difference is to sit down and do it. Practice, practice, practice.
There you have it. Now go sit at your sewing machine and spend a little time practicing. You will only get better.
Have a great weekend.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

lol And here I thought we could get to be good at FMQ by osmosis! Seriously, though, if you have to practice to play a musical instrument well, or sing, or act, or cook (ok, I've gone too far with THAT one! lol), it only makes sense that you'd have to do it to learn FMQ. Thanks! Practice it will be!

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