Public Speaking

On Friday I gave a talk to Gone to Pieces. They are a lovely group who meet in Coleshill. I was made to feel very welcome, and I do love having a reserved parking space. This had been a bit of a nerve wracking talk as I had already spoken to a lot of the ladies in this group, but I managed to find a good number of quilts they hadn't seen to take with me. In fact the car was full so I felt a little better about not just taking the tube. It really wouldn't have been practical. As Robin was working I took Nat along with me to help hold up my quilts. I am sure there would have been people in the group happy to do it, but as they have paid to see them it is only fair to have them in front of the quilts if I can.

I still find public speaking very difficult and it took me a while to relax into this talk. I hope I made sense and people enjoyed the beginning of the talk. I try to ask people to heckle, as I like the direct feedback and it helps me guide my talk, but I forgot until part way through. Hopefully the mistake will help to remind me in future. I certainly find that in general I learn more from my mistakes than my successes. On the other hand the feedback from the audience for my latest quilts was fantastic. I thought I was unusual in being inspired by the Turning Twenty Again pattern, but apparently not. Hence the decision to start selling the pattern. A decision that was made far easier by talking to the designer, Tricia Cribbs. She was so friendly and helpful and made it easy for me to place my order. I love supporting the good guys.

I also took along some pictures to sell. Mostly I had guessed right about what people would want to take home with them but I did miss a few. My cat portraits, I just didn't think of them as being photogenic, dim I know. It seems I should also take pictures of my Turning Twenty Again quilts, I hadn't realised ho appealing more abstract pieces are. In a similar vein other abstracts will also be available in the future. The perfect end to the day was being given a Gone to Pieces mug, I had been admiring them earlier in the day but was being good and not spending money, so it was a lovely treat. It was also beautifully presented, and has given me food for though on how to pack things. So thank you very much for inviting me to speak, and I hope to see you all around at other events.