Sunday, July 23, 2017

In the Rearview Mirror

Yup, the Hershey Quilt Odyssey show is now a thing of past tense.  In a matter of 5 days, I have gone, taught, and come home.  Such is the busy and fun life of the traveling quilt show teacher.  Leading up to traveling when the prepping and planning and packing (ahem, below...this is half of it!) seem overwhelming, I swear by not taking another show, certainly not one I have to drive to.
But then the adrenaline kicks in, and the students' ah-ha moments occur and you realize that this is why you do what you do. In the heat of the moment, I love teaching, but by the same token, I can see how some teachers fall prey to burn out. 

Despite my apprehension of making this drive by myself, it was not all that bad (if you discount all of the truck drivers in NY and PA...seriously some are very rude).   I drove so that I could bring fourteen tons of crap (above) as well as a van-load of my four books. It was certainly a good decision, as I would not have wanted to ship 100 of these!

I did not take hardly any pictures during the show or in my classroom.  My classes were all nearly full with 20 students, and that leaves little down-time for snapping pictures.  Here's a rare shot of the calm before the storm of my Grids class.
Typically, I bring chocolate goodies to my class, but because we are at Hershey, they do it for us.  My fantastic Innova techs Matt & Keith (seriously, you cannot say enough great about these two guys - just love being in a classroom with them) joked one afternoon when the hotel staff brought Hershey kisses for the basket that they'd rather Reeces.  I left a note in the basket that evening, and on Friday we got the PB cups.  This type of service is hard to beat!
I did 5 classes - Grid fills, Dense & Dainty freehand fills, Narrow Borders, Fearless Feathers and a Design class -- all of which were wonderfully received.  Here's a quickie pic from one of the borders class students...
I also had 2 quilts in the show, and they surpassed my expectations.  Bouquet Royale, which is for all intents and purposes retired, won yet another 1st place.  I say it is retired because this is it's 3rd year, and it's just attending a couple of last shows which it is eligible for.  I still love seeing it hanging. Still a sucker for orange...grins



Ode to Spring also did spectacularly - winning the Best Longarm Artistry award, which comes with a really generous monetary award.  I truly love this wholecloth, and had the best of hopes for it when it was finished a year and a half ago.  It traveled to 5 AQS shows, only placing at one of them.  This experience was deflating, making me question it's quality and design.  Since being at Paducah, though, it has been to two shows, ribboning at both of them, making me feel more confident about it. When it returns home this week it will be sent off to Houston for the real test.
 Here's a shot of a quilt from the show that I really love...will have to look up the maker's name.  I just adore the traditional design and the quilting both.
 Now that I am back home, I can reflect on the show, the teaching and general thoughts of traveling.  I missed getting our first real beach day here at home, which makes me sad.  Hopefully we will make up for that in a couple weeks when we take off for the Mediterranean.  Yup you read that right.  Heading off on a Mediterranean cruise soon :-)

I will leave you with a fleeting thought.  As a teacher, we collect class kit fees. Some of us are able to sell things like books and templates.  At the end of 4 days of teaching (even with the ability to take credit card sales), we have a healthy bag full of cash.  Am I the only teacher who truly hopes they don't get pulled over on the way home, and have to explain this to some officer??

"and your profession is what??..."

 
Have a great week (and a chuckle too!)!


5 comments:

Lynette said...

Hehe! :D (explaining all that cash to a patrolman) I really hope to be able to take one of your classes someday!

Susan A said...

Heheheh...thanks for the chuckle and for sharing your quilts and experiences
I hope to be able to take one of your classes in the future..
Congratulations on the well deserved ribbons...I like orange too

Shelina (formerly known as Shasta) said...

Congratulations on your wins. And your sales! As I rarely carry cash, I would be nervous driving around with all that cash, and would try to deposit it in the nearest bank to avoid carrying it around.

kupton52 said...

Ha ha ha....BIG chuckle. I just had a vision of you explaining that you're a quilt teacher...especially if the officer has the idea that only "little old ladies" quilt!

Anonymous said...

OMG that is dreamy! I am sooooo keen to have a play with this fabric! Please what marker do you use for transferring your design to the fabric?


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