My Craftsy Class

Since the beginning of March I have been entirely focused on preparing a class for Craftsy.

If you are unfamiliar with them...on their website they describe themselves like this:

• A wide selection of online crafting classes from the best instructors from around the world.
• Watch your classes from anywhere, from any device with an internet connection.
• Take them anytime you want, as many times as you want. Your access never expires.

Classes are on a wide range of subjects, including cake decorating, crocheting, cooking, machine embroidery, home & garden, jewelry, knitting, paper crafts, sewing, weaving, spinning, and.....QUILTING, which is in fact their most popular category by far.

So you can imagine how utterly thrilled and honored I was to be asked to teach a class on crazy quilting!

I prepared for my "shoot" for 2 1/2 months, designing the class, sewing up class projects, samples, and step-outs.  This week I finally went to Denver for three days to put all that hard work onto video.  People will be able to sign up for Crazy Quilting from anywhere in the world!  

Beyond that, part of my job, and one I am really looking forward to, will be interacting with my students online, via the fabulous software "platform" the Craftsy software engineers have developed.  I'll be answering students' questions, looking at pictures of work that they post--and students will be able to interact with each other, too.

So I want to share a glimpse of my week, working with my great crew at Craftsy...

 

This is where my day started, as Danica used her considerable skill to make me look presentable on camera.  I am telling you, it was a WHOLE lot more make-up than I have ever worn, but she knew what she was doing.  I never did get used to it though!

 The first morning, Amy got the set all decorated.

Max, the tech man!

My fabulous producer/director, Alissa Norton, was such a pro...I couldn't have gone 5 minutes without her guidance, creativity, and support.  We had a beautiful collaborative experience over the 3 day shoot, and I left with a true new friend.

Alissa ran one of the cameras, and Rob here ran the other one; he also was in charge of the sound.  It was so cool to see how Max, Rob, and Alissa choreographed the shoot over the three days.

I was calling myself "Gloria Swanson"--like the heavily made-up character in the original "Sunset Boulevard"--because of all the make-up I had on.  But they assured me, it wasn't so much!  Here I am getting ready for the "Stashbusters" segment, one of the highlights of the whole experience.

You can tell, I was having a blast....

On the last day we grabbed some lunch together before the final afternoon of shooting.  We knew we were coming down the homestretch and were feeling great about our work.

The class will be launched in about a month...I'll be sure and let you know when it does.  I'm really excited about being able to introduce crazy quilting in this new (to me) venue.  Sending thanks and love to my friends at Craftsy for giving me the opportunity!

And...now I can start blogging about what I'm working on again!  It's been a long hiatus.  I'm looking forward to posting things as they happen in the sewing room once more....

See you soon!