Hello all! During our last meeting in September, I talked about many of the exciting quilting events we are having, as well as working to have!
As we are all well aware, the last two years had most of us quite isolated socially, and most events came to a standstill. The world tried to adapt, and Zoom became the place to host all things from social visits to birthday parties, and yes quilting workshops! Many quilt teachers across the world switched gears to offer their lectures and workshops virtually to quilters in their own homes, and I know many of us have participated in such offerings to feel that sense of connection and inspiration. As we go into 2022, it appears that many, if not all, quilt instructors plan to continue to embrace virtual teaching, and in fact, many seem to not offer in person classes any longer. And so, our guild is hoping to join the virtual train and bring in some fun and inspirational workshops to our members virtually in this coming year. We in fact, had a very successful trial run with a Zoom class with Brenda Gael Smith (all the way from her home studio in the gorgeous Copacabana, Australia) on Sunday. We had a hybrid setting, where many of us met at our meeting hall and attended the workshop together, using the TV to stream the workshop (worked out quite well), while those who could not meet with the group attended the workshop from their own homes.
The feedback for the virtual setting was overall positive, and so we will be looking into booking more virtual workshops in 2022. Here is where I need your help: I have been compiling a list of workshops suggested by members into a survey form (and if you have a suggestion you would like added, please message me and I can get the information and add it). I will be emailing all members this survey format that has the name of workshop/teacher as well as a photo of what the workshop teaches. It would be of great help to me, as well as all of us really to be able to have classes that we would like to take, if you would take a few minutes and add checkmarks next to workshops that you are interested in attending, and submit the form. Be watching for that email to land into your mailbox towards the end of this week. I appreciate your cooperation:) We are looking at doing maybe 3 virtual workshops in 2022, so make sure your vote is counted!
But wait, all this talk of virtual classes, we actually have our very first workshop that is already booked for 2022 for Sunday February 27th with the talented Maria Shell, who will be teaching us live and in person! We are very lucky to be able to catch Maria for one last day in Florida as she wraps up her workshops at AQS Daytona on Saturday, teaches us on Sunday and heads back to her home state of Alaska on Monday. And did I mention that she will be teaching us IN PERSON? I am only a tad excited about that. The workshop she is teaching us is called Riffing On Traditions, and registration will be open to members on November 1st, $40 cash/check, $42.50 PayPal (to cover fees), and we will have 25 spots. We will be alerting you all as the blog post for the registration goes live and you can sign up. At some point in January, any remaining spots will be offered to non-members for $80.
And this is enough of me for now, I’ll reach out to you all one more time regarding booked workshops as I get survey results back and “winners” are determined.
Until then, Happy Stitching.
Candi