Quilts from Canaan

Marketing Efforts Update

I've spent the last three Fridays at the mall. It is certainly an experience, mostly interesting, sometimes exasperating, at times humbling... The first time was very slow going and I didn't plan on continuing for more than once, but then one of the mall owners, who is a childhood friend of my husband, came by and saw my stall. He was so enthusiastic about it, that he convinced me to come for two more Fridays.

 

The positive thing about being at the mall, was that I actually sat and sewed for the whole time. Since this is not the place for artistic expression, and I wanted to show basic piecing, I worked on the Y2K quilt for my daughter. It was going so fast that I almost finished the blocks and finished the top on the following week (you can see it in front of the sewing machine). This is the first bed quilt that I am making for my daughter and she is ecstatic.

After the first week I realized I need some way to showcase my work, so I brought a clothes rack and hanged two quilts. Behind me you can see the quilt I made to honor the 100th anniversary of Tel Aviv - A Tribute to the International Architecture of Tel Aviv, on the other side I put King Solomon's Magic Carpet.

The second Friday went better and the last one was again slow going. I still don't know if I have enough people to open a class. I will know on September 15th. But I am optimistic.

I have also placed an ad in Hoogel, an Israeli portal for hobby classes, and already had a first response.

All in all everything looks very promising. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Pictures of My Quilts

Here is a link to pictures of my quilts over the last years:

http://community.webshots.com/user/shulamit_ron

Hope you enjoy it.

Art Education and Marketing Activities

I  haven't made a lot of progress on the Umayyad Palace mosaic quilt. The leaves continue separating, but now I know why. Apparently, since I don't prewash my fabrics, the Wonder Under doesn't fuse well. I still didn't understand if this is a general limitation, or a problem with a specific batch of Wonder Under, but the conclusion is simple - either I start washing all my fabrics, or I stop using Wonder Under... In general this appliqueing is a slow going process, and since I do have other things on my agenda, I didn't finish the foliage yet.

But other things have been happening. Firstly, I decided to start teaching beginners classes in my studio. This has been cooking for some time, but I couldn't make up my mind. I decided on an unusual marketing approach - I will set up a booth at the Friday market of food and crafts in our local mall. The idea is not to sell my wares, as the prices of my quilts are totally out of range in such a market. I will demonstrate quilting and let passers by know that I am teaching classes. The customers are local, which is exactly what I am looking for. I believe that it is more effective, and it is definitely much cheaper than sending flyers to our town residents. So in theory it should work, let's see what happens in reality.

And last but not least, I've been thinking for some time now that I need to improve my art oriented education. After considering part time art studies in a nearby college, I decided to try the City and Guilds courses offered by Linda and Laura Kemshall. While these are not art studies in a general sense, I have a feeling that this course will help me develop my artistic skills. So if anybody out there has anything to contribute to my deliberations - I would love to hear you!

I will now try to write a few words in Hebrew to my Israeli readers. I am not sure what will happen, but don't be alarmed if you see giberish on your screen!