Quilling Workshop - UUCC Women's Retreat

Smiling with my quilling
supplies at hand.

There was a buzz of happy conversation during registration for the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Columbia's (UUCC) Women's Retreat this January 6th.  We hadn't had a woman's retreat in over a year, and this one-day mini-re"treat" was indeed a treat.

I was excited and honored that my quilling workshop was selected as part of the program!  As I noted in a previous post, at the last women's retreat I quilled my name tag.  This tag started all sorts of conversations, including one that suggested I should teach quilling at the next retreat.  It was really gratifying to see that idea come to fruition.

Now, I had taught a quilling workshop just the week before to children aged 5-12.  It went wonderfully, but all my materials were in a happy mess.  I had to scramble to get myself organized for the Jan 6th retreat.  With organization mostly achieved, I packed 15 of my 50 quilling books into my rolling craft carrier, along with tools, paper, patterns, glue and all the rest.  I included some of my actual quilling, like my Halloween Sampler, Spiral Moon, and Berry Sampler.

Discussing quilling designs with artist
Carol Zika.  The books were a great way
to introduce the world of quilling.
Everyone found something to inspire them.

The room filled with the 20 people who had scheduled for the workshop.  I was prepared with a pile of tools and paper (thanks muchly to Quilled Creations and their teacher discount!) so everyone had their own to work with.  We started with introductions, and then I spent time passing around my quilling examples as well as quilling books so everyone would have a chance to see all the amazing things that are possible with nothing more than paper and glue.

Then we got deep into the paper, with everyone practicing how to form the basic loose coil.  As it happens, I don't quill with a tool; I've been using my fingers alone for decades.  I only use a needle tool in some specific circumstances.  Many of my quillers with stiffer hands and arthritis found the slotted tool to be the most user-friendly way to quill.  Some quillers preferred the fingers-only approach. 

I find this is a very important point in a workshop, because an experienced quiller makes things look easy, and for first timers quilling can be tricky.  When their first coils don't look like mine, I always see some frustration.  So I provide a lot of encouragement and coaching at this point, trying to get people to adjust to the fact that their initial attempts might not be as perfect as they had hoped.  Quilling, like any craft, gets easier the more you do it.  The group was having fun, and was very motivated, so collective frustration didn't last long.

Here I am demonstrating my personal
take on the finger quilling technique.

I handed out sheets with various shapes (thanks here to the NAQG formal list of shapes and names) and we made teardrops, squares, triangles, eyes, and more.  By this time some of the quillers were off - seeing things in the books they wanted to try and just going for it.  Others spent more time quilling the basic shapes, trying to hone their technique.

By the end of our time, everyone had at least some quilled shapes to take home, while others had used the cards I provided to make some pretty substantial designs.  I was able to hand out extra paper to everyone, and even some tools to those who wanted to use them.  I also gave everyone a three page handout I had prepared that included: information about quilling, instructions on making the basic shapes, and free snowflake patterns I designed using those shapes.  It also included my contact information.  It was really nice to get two emails the very next day from people who said they had a great time, and wanted to continue to quill!

I had a great time sharing something I have loved since I was nine years old (which means 40 years of quilling, yikes!)  It was also wonderful to have some more time to connect with the women at UUCC.  I'm looking forward to our retreat this fall in early December!

Images:  Pics using my camera taken by workshop attendee.  Carol Zika's face and name appear with her permission.

Quilling Conference - NAQG, Day One!

Now that the Summer edition of Quill America is out, the 'embargo' on the NAQG con is off - so I can finally post what I wrote back in May about the conference!  I've mentioned before that I think such an embargo is unnecessary, but alas.  Anyway, I submitted some pictures and text to the Summer 2016 Edition of Quill America, and many were selected to appear!  For that I am grateful and pleased!  Some of those pix could not be presented in color, however.  So now that they are there first, I don't have to worry about scooping myself :)  Here are a few more tidbits that don't appear in Quill America, and some of the images in color.

I've spent the last three days (May 2016) at the North American Quilling Guild's annual Conference, held this year in Nashville, TN.  It's been a whirlwind of quilling, classes, meeting new people, and sharing ideas.  I wasn't sure what to expect before I came, but will definitely be leaving tomorrow having had a very positive experience!

Day One (really Thursday evening as well as Friday) started with registration.  Host Judy (far right in the picture up top) and her associates checked us all in and gave us a bag filled with quilling goodies, as well as fun snacks (like Moon Pies).  I spent time in the 'hospitality room' meeting people and doing a bit of quilling (silver earrings with small crystal centers).  I was really happy to be invited along to dinner with some new friends (Michelle, Tracy, and then Mary), and in spite of spills and more, we had a very good time.

Friday was filled with classes, the morning was the vortex coil class taught by Sandy.  I'd never attempted vortex coils before, but the method shown was easy to follow, and by the end of class I was producing some solid coils.  Everyone extolled the class as both fun and useful.  Then it was on to the quilled roses class.  Roses have always, always been a challenge for me, and so it was really good to get more experience.  We were, for the most part, happily suffering together, trying to get our roses to look like ... roses.  I did manage to produce three that were at least recognizable.

After lunch it was off to the Chinese style quilling class where we learned various techniques to create flowing, airy quilling.  Our project was an elegant betta fish with sea grass and sea flowers in curving shapes.  I hadn't done much of this kind of work before, and but caught on pretty quickly to how to 'pull' the strips to separate the strands.  Everyone was focused on our projects and wished we had just a bit more time to get them finished.  Then on to the Quilling A-to-Z class with Kay.  Kay helped us with a variety of questions from accreditation to how to do alternate side looping.  She showed us her own accreditation pieces, along with samples used for teaching students of all ages how to quill.

After dinner with new friends, it was off to bed to try to get ready for the big second, and for me, last day of the conference!