Something new for the resume

I can add public speaker to my resume.  I’m pretty much glowing today.  The reviews were good.  People enjoyed themselves. 

We had a technical glitch.  The slides wouldn’t advance.  It would take almost a minute for a slide to load.  That threw off my timing in the beginning, but I soon got used to having to switch the slide a bit before I wanted to talk about the machine.

I talked for 5 minutes too long.  If you’ve ever been to a talk where the speaker wasn’t in tune with the audience and talks for 30 or more minutes too long, then you know how painful it can be.  I saw myself lose part of my audience, just before the last slide.  Good timing.

I did not forget the information I wanted to present and I didn’t forget how to be funny.  One piece of feedback was that there was a good balance of serious information and humor.  I did a couple of really good punch lines.  One was during a video of me free motion quilting on the treadle.  I let the video run while they watched my hands making leaves in a denim quilt.  And, as the camera panned downward, I said “This is me free motion quilting on my treadle machine” and the crowd went Ooooohhhhhhh.  Wonderful moment.

There were a couple of presentation notes from the end.  I had taken pictures of many feet…like 5 piecing feet and two seam guides in one picture and 7 or 8 darning feet in another picture.  Subsequently, Rob pointed out that you couldn’t see any detail of the feet.  So, I’ll be culling the examples down to feet that are appreciably different and photographing each one by itself so you can see the detail.  I’m also going to talk about feet at the beginning of the presentation because I refer to them throughout, but waited to show them at the end. 

I’ll also stack my quilts in a better order, so that when I show the machine that made it, I can grab the quilt and show the quilt.  I’ve seen other presenters that stacked well and some that rummaged, trying to find what they were looking for.  I rummaged.

Rob did film it.  It’s an hour long talk and he broke it into 15 minute increments so it can be uploaded.  I haven’t seen it yet, but we’re going to try to get it on youtube for you to see. 

I’ve looked around the sewing room for something to show you this morning.  There isn’t anything exciting.  I spent all my time this morning putting away quilts and sewing machines.  So, I’m going to show a picture of one that hasn’t danced on the internet in a while.

This is called Apple Pie.  We pulled it out to show it last night.  I made it in the first class I ever took.  I signed up because i wanted to learn to machine piece drunkard’s path blocks and this quilt contains 8 of them.  It was just a few years ago, maybe 2009 or 2010.  It is beautifully quilted, with apples and apple leaves and apple branches; things I drew free hand on paper and then quilted in.  But because I was afraid my skills weren’t up to it, I matched the thread color to the quilt pieces, no contrast.  So, I have a beautifully quilted quilt, but you can only tell it if you’re standing right on top of it. 

The moral of the story is, don’t be afraid to be bold!  Let yourself shine….actually, I should say, let myself shine! 

Because when I do, I do pretty good stuff. 

I handed out a bunch of cards last night, and I’m hoping that some of the attendees will see this post.  I forgot to thank Sydney for taking all the pictures I showed last night.  I had it written on my notes in big blue letters and I still forgot.  I’m not sure what’s worse; feeling bad for forgetting, or her riding me about forgetting.  And, it was my first talk like that, so if you have any feedback, please let me know. 

Everybody have a great Wednesday.  I’m going to try to keep my ego in check. 

Because I’m pretty much rockin’ the proud thing right now.

Lane