One of the older ladies at church gave me a pile of small fabric squares recently. Some of that is what I used to sew with last week….and this morning I thanked her again and hoped to make her day by letting her know I TRULY did appreciate what she gave me, so much so that I used it!
In the end it was she who made my day. Before I knew it she was inviting J13 and me to pop over and she’d love to teach us anything about quilting any time we like. I believed her and pop on over we did.
Oh, the next hour and a half flew by. She quietly wondered if we might like to see some of the quilts she has made. I think we just might! We traipsed back and forth from bedroom to garage as she remembered this or that……we were both inspired. Totally I.N.S.P.I.R.E.D. She enthused quilting. She shared how-to-make-it-easier snippets. She encouraged our effort with J13’s quilt. And she inspired us some more. Her enthusiasm was contagious.
I realised we had found a mentor. Already she has used classics rather than texts, she encouraged us to consider what project we would like to do – she didn’t just tell us we need to do xyz, we can choose and she’ll help us (and she mentioned at least two other people who she is teaching, each of them doing something different, so she obviously does this for everyone), she inspired (I think I mentioned that already), she said we could get together when it suits to work on the next bit (structuring time, not content), she listened to one of my problems and explained very clearly how to solve it – she does not expect perfection, but it is possible to get joins *together* every time (coaching to high standards), she stressed simplicity (and I bet she didn’t even know this is one of the keys of great teaching), she even modelled YOU, NOT THEM; When someone wants to do a project with her, she makes one alongside of them, one step ahead so that she can show them what to do next.
That is every single key covered.
She’s a natural mentor. What a privilege to have such an enthusiastic teacher. We will learn more than quilting, I can tell.
off the BOOKshelf 
Jumping up & down clapping hands for you…very exciting. I’m about to start stalking an older lady at church to do some craft stuff with H10 & M8 next year;-) M8 has just done the holiday embroidery programme with our older embroiderers guild again and loved it!
bless that lady
I hope you learn a lot from her
and that you all form a wonderful friendship in the process
What a blessing……one of the best ways to learn with the benefits of all that experience and wisdom:-)