2. I make weird quilts....that is not a good reason to not do it, but a great reason to do it. People might actually find the stories about my quilts interesting. I think I have a motivation that is different than a lot of people. Sharing that would be entertaining to other quilters, I would hope. Lots of quilters are quite happy to make their quilts from other people's patterns, but it is hard to move out of that box, perhaps if I show them how I did, maybe they could to.
1. So that leaves Fear...that they will laugh at me? no that was my fear in highschool, humiliation and inadequacy.....I actually do not have that fear anymore, then fear of what? It is the fear of not being able to get my point across, to articulate my position....but I have been blogging about quilting for 8 years now, and I think I have been able to get my stories about my quilts out there, now I just have to say them out loud and not just in my head! surely exposing myself to the world in cyberspace is much more scary than in front of your friends who all share the same passion.
So I deleted that email and said I would do it! They asked me in August last year, so March 2014 was so far off into the future anyway! Well March is here and my husband deserted me in my hour of need to go visit a friend in Texas, could he go any further away?! but that actually turned out to be a blessing. I had no distractions in getting all my quilts in order and an overview written up. I practiced out loud in front of the cats....rewrite! practice again....much better. I was ready but nervous.
The big day! I got my closest quilting friends to help me, 2 of them to hold up my quilts, Christine and Gail and then Jill in the audience to take photos for me. And you know what? it went fine! I did not read everything off my paper, but when I lost my place it was there to get me back on track. I did not say everything I wanted to say, but I think it was well received. So I am proud of myself for taking the chance and overcoming this fear!
