Watson, I would take your class. Your work is amazing!

Amen! Congratulations! The class sounds fun.

It is hard to put ourselves out there to be judged, whether that's a piece hanging in a show or to our faces, or even a picture here on the boards. It is out of the comfort zone of many people.

But you have talents to be shared, we sure appreciate you sharing them here! We were just talking about collage quilting at my small group on Tuesday. I love fabric but I really love seeing what some of you people can do with it! LOL, beyond my wildest ideas.

I sort of look at it this way, I'm sharing what I know but I'm still learning as I go. Each project I do, even if it is similar to a previous one, I learn something new and I learn something from other people in many ways all the time. The greatest honor a teacher can have is a student that surpasses them.

I'm proud of you and your work. Thanks for sharing here and in classes :)

I like quilts that I don't even like! :) My point is like yours - it's art.
Watson, your work is outstanding.

Watson, thanks always for your ideas and comments. I enjoy what you have said and your vision. Keep on keeping on!

It is amazing how many of us do not view what we do as an art form. I have 2 brothers who are artists (in several mediums). I was always in awe of how they could take something plain and create such a masterpiece. For one of them I made a queen size birthday quilt. Simple log cabin in lots of blues because he is basically part of the ocean LOL. He teared up when I gave it to him and told me he had always been amazed at how I took plain fabric and made him his clothes and now this quilt. It hit me like a lightening bolt. This accomplished artist saying this to me! At that point I started to view what I did in a whole different way. And, I believe it was reflected in my work. We are all artists - some better than others, but artists all!!

Watson, I do know all about the nervousness and anxiety one feels when teaching for the first time ever. I was not teaching quilting, however. I totally established a new vocational program for national certification as a Certified Professional Legal Secretary. I had adjunct professors who taught certain sections, and an attorney who taught the legal ethics, a CPA for Trust Accounting, but there were parts that I was responsible for teaching. I had 25 students sign up for this course, which bordered on being an overloaded class. The very first night I was due to teach, I started looking around the classroom, asking myself what in the world ever made me think I could teach. Well, I did. Once you break the ice, it is much easier. I went on to teach state-wide cram courses for the national certification program, and even contributed to working with the national association's certification board. It was a very enjoyable experience, but teaching can be very hard. Any time you teach a class, you must figure on spending at least 3 hours of preparation for every hour you teach. It demands a lot, and if you are not fully prepared your students will know it. I always worked hard to prepare and it was very gratifying when our pass rate on the nation-wide examination exceeded about 75% of my students. The normal pass rate on that examination for first-time examinees in 1984 was about 5%. I think the most important thing you can do in that type of a class, and it will be a bit different in a quilting class, is convince your students that yes, you may have been working as a legal secretary/legal assistant for many years, but you still have to study. You have to be able to kick the information around in your head to determine what type of answers those who prepare the examination are looking for. Some sections, such as Exercise of Judgment, are very difficult to teach. You have to know the structure in a law office and know how far you can go. One must be confident enough to be very confident in the decisions you make, and those decisions must Not cross the boundary into actually practicing law. That could get the attorney you work for disbarred.

I would love to take a collage class from you, Watson!

Who cares what others think. Your Art, and it is Fine Art, is for you. It is your voice. Your recent experience at the CQA Show says so. :thumbup: