Guild Meeting Program

I have no photos to post today, sorry. I know when I read blogs I like the photos but today is just going to be photo-less........ Changed my mind and posted this photo of a flowering dogwood tree I took last year in Paducah at the AQS show. Have been thinking and dreaming about going again this year with my two sisters, niece and friend. Besides it just feels more like spring looking at this photo rather than outside at the moment. We had snow again yesterday, not too much but enough to make the ground white. Springtime weather can not come too soon for me.

Thursday night was our quilt guild meeting night and the night I presented my program on fusible web products. I think it went over well but I know I talked too fast like I always do when I give a program. Had some good questions as I went along and they all looked and felt my samples

If you belong to a guild and members do the programs you should volunteer to give one one on something you know or something you want to learn about if you can do research on the subject. I really wanted to know the difference between fusible web products so volunteered to do a program on it. That forced me to do the research and get the samples done.

I wanted to know how they differed in weight - there is a big difference. I presumed that Heat and Bond Lite and Steam A Seam Lite would be about the same weight. I was wrong. Steam A Seam Lite is so much lighter weight when fused than the Heat and Bond Lite. The Heat and Bond Lite was more the weight of the regular Steam A Seam.

I wanted to know how they stuck after washing. Some did better than others and I learned that you have to read the directions on the application of the fusible products as they do vary and it does make a difference. I had one sample that did not stick well at all so made another sample and re-read the directions and fused accordingly. This time it worked really well.

I learned how to transfer your designs to the back of fabric fused with Misty Fuse - a non paper backed web. You draw you design in pencil onto parchment paper and iron it to the fabric and the lines transfer to the back of the fused fabric. I really like the weight of the Misty Fuse as it is so fine and so soft but never wanted to draw directly on the back of the fused fabric and most of the time I couldn't see through it to trace the shapes.

I learned from the International Quilt Study Center research paper that if you are making a quilt you want to last over a 100 years and be handed down generation to generation you should not use any fusible of any kind. That includes basting spray, fusible webs and fusible battings. The fusible battings did hold up better than the other two types of products though. The research they did on aging and light was very interesting. You can read their findings here and also a followup question and answer document.

This is just a little I learned, so as you can see it was well worth my time to give this program as I learned probably more than the members did since I was the one doing the research and testing samples of the different products.

Small guilds like the one I belong to can't afford to get in the big name speakers all the time and depend on their members to give programs too. Don't be afraid to do it if you have not given a program before. Every guild has members of all different levels of expertise and even though I have belonged to the guild since the beginning of time and have quilted for over 35 + years and given many, many programs I really enjoy all the programs we have. No matter how much you think you know about a subject you can always learn more - I always do. Remember your guild members are your friends and you are just showing your friends something new - they will appreciate the time and effort you put in and will learn something from you too.

Off my soapbox now....Have a great day.
Lynn