I hear yah, kiddo, I feel your pain. One of my best friends is a quilt cop. I'm a newbie and a non-conformist from the word "go". Now, both of us belong to a writing group. She paid a bunch of bucks to learn "the right way to write". I think she's limiting herself by sticking to the right way...writing and quilting. After all, I've learned a lot my taking the "wrong" path. As I write this, I just realized that some of us a risk takers who enjoy life's mistakes. She's not one of those. What does a good friend do? Sit patiently and wait for her to go back to tending her own affairs...without a reply unless she asks for one...then, RUN!