Be careful what you teach!

I never received any training to be a teacher; it seems to come naturally to me, for which I am eternally grateful. I never planned on being a quilt teacher, but the opportunity fell into my lap (thank you, Gail, at the Hobby Horse for believing in me!), and I took to it like a duck to water! 

I also try NOT to DICTATE RULES to my students. I try to create an environment where they feel comfortable asking questions, and I explain why we do something a certain way. If they want to do it differently, that's OK. I never try to discourage them from doing what they want, but I might encourage them to try a different way. So far, so good, as I've always had great feedback on how I teach. 

But you don't have to be in front of students to teach. You can present learning in so many ways. The more I chat with people, the more I realize that some were taught incorrect methods or were given no explanation for why they were shown how to do something. They struggle, and when they tell me what they are struggling with -- I have an "app" for that! I can fix it for them. It is mind-blowing to see the amount of misinformation there is in the quilting world. 

Not that any of you suffer from that!! 

But I had a disturbing experience the other day. I was in Fabricland, looking at the thread. A lady and a young adult came up beside me. It was obvious that the "more experienced" person was giving the young adult a "lesson" about sewing. Teacher? Parent? Mentor? I don't know. 

As I was deciding which color of thread to buy, EXPERIENCE was talking about the difference between cotton and polyester thread. She proceeded to tell YOUTH that cotton thread was bad as it would shrink and cause ripples in your project. She made ZERO mention of the type of fabric you were working with. And then she turned to me and pointed at the hem of my Patagonia down sweater and said, " See—that jacket was stitched with cotton thread, and look at how it ripples on the bottom." SERIOUSLY??? 

The hem on my down sweater

My jacket ripples because it's filled with down and quilted!!!! Plus, it's well-aged, with over ten years of constant wearing. 

I didn't respond because I was floored that EXPERIENCE singled out my jacket. So YOUTH will NEVER touch cotton thread in her life, and for all the wrong reasons. 

Seriously --- I cannot believe the ignorance of people in the world. There's much to learn, and you can't just categorize thread in two sentences, but those two sentences and the image of my "rippled" jacket will stick in YOUTH's head forever! 

Be CAREFUL when providing information to someone. Is it correct? Is there validity in your statements? And if you don't know? Do NOT make something up --- say, "I don't know." That's OK and makes you a bigger person than faking information you don't know. 

And NEVER say -- this is the way we do it! That's not good enough! I want to know WHY!! My mom was one of those people who wanted things done a certain way. What was the reason? Because I said so! Sorry, Mom, that doesn't work for me! It drove me crazy as a kid and still drives me crazy today!!!!

There are so many ways to create things—telling people they can only do it one way? That stunts creativity!!! Imagine if all the inventors were told they couldn't do whatever they were doing. We'd still be living in caves and foraging for food in the forest. 

When I was at Sew n Serge the other day, it was crazy busy, and one lady brought in a dog coat she made for her dog. Wow, this is adorable. It even has jeans and pockets. But look at his name, which was embroidered on the jacket. So adorable!!!!

Dog outfit!

Meanwhile, Bear is happy to sleep. He doesn't get too excited—well, until I show him his harness, then he freaks out!! But he's a pretty even-keeled guy!! I gave him a bath and put a different sweater on him, and he curled up and went to sleep. That was after I attempted to dry him with a towel and then the hair dryer!

Hanging out with Grandma

I love the sticker on our pizza boxes! Does that remind you of anything? If not, have a look at the end of the blog! 

Love the sticker

The shelving is still in the garage and will remain there for a bit. I'd like to get it in the house, start filling it, and organize the remainder of the stuff, but it can wait for a day or two. 

Look - another quote! 

Another great quote

This is so true! I'd be an empty vessel (at least my brain) without walking. That's the perfect time to solve problems, drum up new ideas, think through lesson plans, or whatever. Don't take away my walks!! 

Speaking of which, I'm on track with my three challenges for 2024. Is that double dipping? Not at all, because they were created for entirely different reasons. 

This first one tracks my steps for the entire year. I set an aggressive goal of 4,500 KM for 2024, and so far, I'm right on target. There are no maps—just a number on a screen. 

My annual walking goal

This is one of the mapped walks - it's the extended version of the Great Wall of China, and I have to say I'm a bit disappointed, but I shouldn't be, considering this is in CHINA! But while the walk is mapped along where the wall is, there are no pictures of the area around. There are a few photo drops, but not many. I was hoping to see some stuff along the way, but I bet China isn't too thrilled to have Google map out their territory! I'm on target with this one, and when I'm finished, I'll start a new themed challenge. 

Great Wall of China challenge

The final one was a just-for-fun -- to "travel" to a new part of the world. So, I mapped from Cairo to Cape Town and gave myself three years to track my KM (over 16,000 KM). It's a VERY aggressive goal, and I'll have to supplement my walking with a  few spin class rides to make up the distance. I did that in the first year and will have to do it again this year. I'm OK with that. Again, very little of this area is mapped by Google, but there are areas, and it's been fascinating to see the terrain. 

My mapped walk through Africa

Well, that's it for me!!!

Have a super day!!!

And as it said on the pizza box - Ciao!!!!