Thursday, September 30, 2010

Behind the Scenes of Pre-Week on My Website

The festivities for this year's E-Week are under way now as the Queen's Car arrived yesterday and this morning it turned around so we could see the backside.

I spent too many hours building the trunk for The Queen's Car in PhotoShop because I had only a photo of part of the trunk to work with. Although too too many hours, I had such a great time doing it! The Queen's Car plays such a big role in E-Week this year because it will announce all the happenings day by day. But that will come later.

For now the part I worked on the longest happens tomorrow morning and will stay up for Friday and Saturday.
The kids at the Apple Store helped me each step of the way and when we finally tried it, they laughed and laughed at it!
Of course I was excited to see it all become a reality, so I came home the day I knew it would work and DH cracked up at it too.

So tomorrow morning the next step in 'The Future' of Queendom Website makes its debut on my home page.
It isn't perfect, but I will get better at it all in the next year.

I love all this computer stuff. I love it not as an end in itself but for two reasons linked to my far greater love, my needle.
It gives me a chance to make Queendom Website playful and it gives me a chance to teach a bit of color and design in a playful way. Hopefully as I grow and learn more, I will help my followers expand their own horizons. I know this: it certainly expands mine.

Gay Ann, excited that E-Week is coming together

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Behind the scenes on my website

It is almost autumn, I have noticed that the nights are chilly and the mist is creeping in in the early a.m. Time for fun and games on my website as I wind up to E-Merchandise Week, my fall sale.

This is the fourth anniversary of the time I first discovered I could post a photo on my blog and the idea of an 'E-Merchandise Week' was born. My fourth annual E-Week Sale of patterns and kits is just around the corner.

It has become a bit of a tradition that small mysteries happen on my website right before E-Week and this year is no exception. The small mysteries have become a way for me to incorporate my lessons at Apple.

Much as I have enjoyed my lessons, I have to say that some of it is so difficult for me that I leave class with a big headache and a need for a nap. Such is the world of adjustment layer masks, tweening, symbols, lossy, pen tools and paint buckets for this old lady.

So what intrigues me so much about MacSoph's kind when I could spend more hours dreaming up new designs for needlepoint? I see MacSoph as a wonderful tool for tinkering with color, line and texture in needlework, a way to bring a wider vision and perspective to a craft I have loved my whole adult life.

And along the way indulge in a little foolishness and fantasy.

Gay Ann

Sunday, September 12, 2010

San Francisco EGA, An OpEd Piece about the Seminar

I am newly home from San Francisco where I taught classes for 6 days EGA's National Seminar. I had a great time, but isn't it always true that the best part of a trip is coming home again.

This year I tried something novel: I taught Echoes of Elizabeth Sampler at the seminar while I also taught Echoes of Elizabeth Sewing Case online. Simultaneously. Each morning before I went to my face-to-face class at seminar, I posted a lesson for my online students. Each I posted photos both on my website and in my secret classroom for my online group with the hopes of givinf my online students a taste of what it was like to attend a seminar.

On the last day of my four-day face-to-face class at seminar, I snapped a photo of each of my students and the progress she had made in four days of class and I posted the photos for my online group. It made me realize, class at seminar is over, but my online class continues.


As I said goodbye to my seminar students, I thought: there is much to be gained by teacher and students meeting face to face, but I also began to recognize that online students have advantages also.

Face to face at seminars, teachers and students have the obvious advantage of meeting and spending time together.
In online classes we do miss the face to face friendships and explanations, but we do gain something too. That something is time.

In an online class we have the luxury of extended time. Running the two classes simultaneously, I realize how compact my face to face seminar class was. Instead of posting my online lessons each day to match my face-to-face class, I normally would have posted my online lessons once a week.

Now, as I said, my face to face seminar class is over, but my online class stretches on. It continues for the rest of September. Then it will go on hiatus for two months so that people have a chance to complete the stitching. In early December, my online class will resume and we will cover the finishing.

When considering face-to-face classes vs online classes, it seems we swap the great advantage of seeing each other in person for the luxury of extended class time.

Gay Ann