Quilt Kits, Take 'em or Leave 'em?

Over the recent President's Day Weekend, I had the fortunate opportunity to travel to Delaware and spend 4 days with some of my favorite quilting friends.  I hadn't decided or planned ahead on what I was going to take with me to work on, so in my last minute rush to pack on Friday morning and head out, I selected one of the first quilt kits I had ever purchased and took it with me as my main project to work on while I was there.  I made sure I had everything I needed to complete the top (after all its a kit so it should have all of the fabric, instruction and pattern, right?)

Well, much to my disappointment, I didn't have the right color threads with me ( I needed a variety of blues and greys) to complete the top because some of the blocks required top stitching of the curved pieces to form the blocks and rows.  Strike one!  I did manage to get the quilt top completely cut out and I spent an extraordinary amount of time carefully measuring and cutting the pieces according to the instructions.  Once I was ready to sit down and sew, I read the instructions several times to understand what I was about to undertake.  They were written very well and fairly easy to follow.  I realized after the first run through, that I was going to need a design wall to hang the quilt in progress upon in order to prevent piecing mistakes.  Strike two! 

At this point, I put the kit away and pulled out my backup project for which I was grateful to have packed.  These were little heart shaped blocks done via the foundation piecing method.  All the strips were already cut, I only had to sit and sew.  I managed to get 4 of them done over the weekend.  No small feat, as each block contains 22 pieces each. Sew and flip, sew and flip, sew and flip. 

I also made several basket wraps and completed a special new binding technique on a wall hanging that I had quilted the weekend before this one.  I was teaching the rest of the gang how to do the new binding technique and it turned out really well.

So this leads me to my question of the week:  Do you prefer to purchase quilt kits or to make your own fabric choices?  How many of you purchase quilt kits either in a store or online because you fell in love with the sample in the shop on on the website?  I counted mentally in my head how many quilt kits I have purchased in my 35 years of quilt making.  Five!  I think that tells you that I am not one to purchase kits very often because I have made hundreds of quilts.  The last two of those were tumbler kits that I purchased at the same shop.  The first one was an Halloween Themed Pumpkin Quilt kit, which essentially had the pattern and the fabrics for the pumpkins included.  I made it 20 years ago and I still love it and hang it up every October.  The next kit was a foundation pieced pictorial kit of a large magnolia bloom. I finished it up at least 15 years ago and it hangs in my studio to this day.    And then there is this Glacier Quilt that I purchased as a remembrance of our Alaskan Cruise in 2010 and tried to work on last weekend.   I will finish it soon, I hope, at home where I have unlimited thread choices for the top stitching and a large design wall that does not have to shared with 6 other quilters.  And I do recall having seen that quilt several times since I purchased the quilt at shows, and its beautiful when its constructed well and quilted properly!

Several of my friends enjoy buying and making kits. Most of the quilts they finish start as kits.  And I love how proud they are when they finish them.  I think that quilt kits are a great way to purchase what you need to make a quilt and not have to make hard fabric choices.  They are the perfect choice for quilters that struggle with color and composition.  And there are so many quilt kits available today, it amazes me what the shops have to offer every time I visit them.  Another quilting buddy of mine, will make the extra effort to hunt down just the right fabric to produce a quilt they saw somewhere and are inspired to base their next project on.  She doesn't buy kits. She sometimes doesn't buy patterns. She has the unique ability to see something and draw it out and make it from scratch herself. I've been shopping with her when she needed that perfect piece of fabric to complete the quilt. Sometimes we just have to dip into each others stash to get it, especially if the quilt design has a vintage flair to it.  She is very good about ensuring that she credits the original quilt and quilt maker as the source of her design inspiration with a cool label on the back of her quilt.

What I don't like about quilt kits, is that the fabric choices were made by someone else and while one can swap out fabrics in a kit for other to make it unique, chances are that same quilt lives somewhere else and yours is just like it.  I very much enjoy shopping for the fabrics to make a quilt, planning each choice as I go.  I feel that making quilts from scratch, is my preferred way to do this.  That's not saying that baking a cake from a cake mix doesn't produce spectacular results, it often does.  But I like working from scratch and figuring it out as I go.  And I know I don't have to worry that someone will say, "Oh, I saw that quilt at 'sew and sew' recently."  I love finding patterns and then making them in different colors and fabrics than the sample.  Its more challenging to me to do this then to duplicate another person's work.  I'm sure its because I hope I can envision what the end result will be, but I also know that I can be quite surprised with the finished quilt which ends up looking nothing like the inspiration piece.  If I really like a quilt design, I have been known to make more than one (usually two of the same pattern is my limit).  One to keep as my own and one to give away as a gift.
I always take many photos of my finished quilts so there is a record of the ones I have made over the years. 
 

Valentine's Day

It is commonly believed that St. Valentine's Day is celebrated to offset the pagan holiday Lupercalia,  a festival celebrated February 13-15 to ward off evil spirits, purify the city of Rome, releasing health and restoring fertility.  This year, in 2013, we also celebrate Fat Tuesday today, 2/12 and Ash Wednesday tomorrow, signifying the beginning of Lent in the Catholic church.  One St. Valentine was clubbed to death and beheaded by the Emperor Claudius in 269. Hardly a romantic ending even for a Bishop!  

Valentine's Day, the mid-February 'holiday' that really isn't a holiday. The banks and other businesses and the government are open. Most restaurants take reservations and offer couples the opportunity to pay extravagant prices to dine out with special menus on this day. The stores are filled with red, white, pink and heart shaped items that they expect us to buy and exchange with our loved ones. To me, Valentine's Day is a Hallmark holiday, a marketing ploy to get us to spend our money on things we don't need and probably don't want. Yes, a beautiful card is welcomed and enjoyed. But I don't need flowers, candy, balloons or a 6 foot teddy bear to impress me. I'd rather my sweetie Mike just spend the evening with me at home with our cell phones turned off.  Its one of several non federal holidays that I refuse to take evening calls at home with my overseas colleagues. 

So while I tend to shy away from showering him with the commercial offerings for St. Valentine's day, I do have a good, strong, faithful heart and appreciate quilts with hearts, heart patterns and shapes.  I recently made about a half dozen heart shaped baskets to sell to friends that asked me to make them.  I do have heart shaped lights in my front window at home to ward off the winter blues and my office walls are adorned with several Valentine's quilts that I have made.  Judith Ripka, the famous jewelry designed with her store in NYC, uses hearts in many of her stunning pieces of bling.  She loves hearts and freely designs her gorgeous jewelry to include hearts whenever she can.  Both of my dogs have heart shaped dark patches on their little white bodies. 

Getting to the heart of the matter, love is whatever you make of it and we believe that its not up to Hallmark to tell us when we should be demonstrating that to one another.  It would be a sad state of affairs if we only took one day in the year to tell each other how much we really mean to each other.  Make a habit of sharing your love and affection for those closest to you and the world will be a happier place for everyone. 

<3  <3  <3  <3  <3  <3  <3  <3  <3  <3 <3  <3  <3

Snow what?

I have a theory about snow that I'd like to share.  I am of the belief that  the weatherman and the grocery stores are in cahoots with each other.  I think when the grocery chains need to move certain items, they call the weatherman up and ask them to predict snow so that these items move off their shelves at twice the speed of sound.

For example, have you ever noticed how when they are calling for snow, everyone runs to the store to stock up on the following items:  milk, bread, eggs, toilet paper.  My theory is that when it snows everyone must be craving French toast because of the first 3 ingredients on that list.  The need for TP is obvious, but I do wonder why everyone always buys more of it when it snows?  Do they not buy it when its sunny out?   Or is it just the fear of running low? 

I actually like to wait until after the storm to shop.  The stores are empty of crazy people in a hurry and the parking lot is easier to navigate.  I don't eat french toast that often so I do not worry they will be out of what I might need.  I'm adaptable.  I can make do with other things in a blizzard.  That's actually part of the fun, seeing what you can make out of what you might have on hand. 

Its the same way with my quilting.  Some of  my best original designs and projects have been created during wintry blasts of freezing white with things I already have on hand.  I shop in my own studio, pull out the things that might work, plan the project and start cutting and sewing.  I don't know if this is normal or not, its just how I like to work and tune out Old Man Winter blowing down the lane.

Performance reviews

Today's topic is that of the 'self appraisal.'  While this typically would apply to those of you that are not self employed (i.e. working for others), the idea of performing a self-appraisal for the self-employed is not out of the question. In fact, I have to think its a rather good idea.  Today's blog refers to my day job, not my quilting life.

I recently passed the 11+ year mark at my day job.  This means that essentially, I have been having to do a self assessment at least twice a year for the last decade.  I often look upon this task with dread, because I never know where to rate myself.  During this time frame I have had no less than 13 different bosses.  At my company, bosses come and bosses go, because we re-organize frequently.  During at least 6 of those years, I myself have been a manager and had to do both self assessments as well as employee appraisals for my direct reports. 

I would like to thank my favorite amongst all of those former managers, a man who taught me an important lesson in self appraisals, goal setting and the entire review process.   Thanks Ian!  While I was managing people, I passed this lesson along to all of my own staff because I felt it was important to teach this to them and help to mentor them along in their careers.  Some of them got it, others did not.  The ones that did have done fairly well in their careers since.  So here it goes.

You are responsible for your own destiny.  It is your responsibility to make sure that your goals are well documented and the various components of those goals are clearly defined so that you know exactly what you need to accomplish in order to garner each level of success for each goal.  It is your own responsibility to ensure that you meet these goals and document the successful measurements that you accomplish.  If you do this all year long, then the task at mid point and year end are easy.  You just need to provide a summary to your manager.  It is not your managers job to point out what you did and didn't accomplish.  Document it, its there for them and its hard to dispute if its true.  If you are looking to get promoted, then ensure that you have included all of the justification in the appraisal that would support promotional consideration.  This is where you give your boss the ammunition to fight for your movement up the ladder.

I am amazed at the number of people that cannot grasp this basic concept.  If you are successful in your accomplishments and you meet, exceed or completely surpass your goals wiht flying colors, it should be pretty easy to write about them and provide this to your manager when review time comes around.  If there is ever a question about how well you are doing or if you are approaching a task correctly in order to meet the requirement, you should be asking your manager at that point. Engage them in a 1:1 discussion.  They will be happy to make the time to coach you and discuss and clarify the matter at hand.  Do not wait until review time!

I have worked for mediocre bosses who barely spoke to me all year long, never told me whether I was doing well or not, and then at the time of review, year end, gave me a much lower rating than I would have expected based on my self assessment and my accomplishments for the year.  I actually had one person tell me that he considered me just average because his expectations of his staff were higher than most people.  "What a crock!" I thought, and he forever endeared himself to me in that very moment onwards.

One of the worst VPs I ever knew, rated me poorly in one area because she just didn't like me. She hadn't been straight with me and told me this, but in hindsight sometimes her behavior towards me demonstrated otherwise.  When I set up a meeting with her to discuss it and to try and find out the reason for the 'needs improvement' rating in this one area, she copped out of the face to face meeting and did it over the phone instead as she was driving home. I was shocked at what she shared with me as her view of my behavior and the underlying basis of that opinion.  When I politely asked her to give me a real example to support this, she admitted she was unable to do so. What she told me was "well its probably unfair because it happened before I ever joined (our company)" and then she mentioned a situation from years ago with a former employee.  I agreed with her statement that it was unfair and I requested her to change the rating because (1) the complaint was not relevant to the rating period we were discussing, (2) she had never brought it to my attention so we could discuss and take corrective action if needed, and (3) it was based on here say and not actual facts.  She refused to change the rating and much to my delight, was subsequently fired within the next 2 weeks. 

A good boss will attempt to engage you when they identify a problem, and not wait until year end to present it in your appraisal.  However, not all bosses are created equal.  Some are great mentors, managers, enablers and communicators.  Some are better at self promotion and managing upwards than downwards.  And some have no people or managerial skills, but they somehow still become managers.  But its up to you to be sure that you understand what their expectations are for successfully completing a goal and if you want to exceed their expectations, understanding what that would encompass.  A great boss will go to bat for you, even in the worst situation or when circumstances are out of your control.  I am very lucky to have a boss like this now.

So, now as I am working on my 2012 self appraisal, I realize that I have not followed my own advice.  I forgot to ensure that my goals were changed when my job function changed and middle management did a doe-see-doe around the office.  The goals in the HR system do not even closely reflect the work I am undertaking.  I know I am working on the right things, its just the HR system is out of date.  What is written there is what we thought I would be doing two managers ago.  So now I am working on revising them, getting them approved by my VP and then doing my self appraisal against the goals that I should have already revised in the system.

Don't let this happen to you.   You have to watch out for #1 because there is no guarantee that anyone else is going to do this for you, no matter how talented or successful you are in reaching or exceeding your goals.  I also believe that all of us should also undertake a personal self-assessment once a year or so.  Did you accomplish last year what you set out to do?  Are you where you thought you would be with the new year?  What did you accomplish?  What didn't you get to?  Are those things still important or relevant to your current situation?  What needs to change to ensure you do get what you want or at least what you need in 2013?  Set your goals, right them down and check your progress on achieving them from time to time.  That way, you won't be disappointed in the future.  You will be in control of your destiny.  You may even surprise yourself!

Taking Care with One's Handiwork

Many years ago, I was making a quilt for my husband of a couple of years.  I was using the construction method of lap quilting it for a queen sized bed.  I was hand quilting it in sections that I could take with me anywhere. I was proud of the quilting design, an elaborate self drafted patterns of undulating feathers in the borders, heart shaped feather wreaths in the open parts, cross hatching and feather wreaths in the 4 corner blocks of this quilt.  I had been quilting about 10 years at this point but had never designed my own quilting pattern to use.  It was exciting. 

It was also very pink, pink and cream to be exact, with the majority of this quilt using a little calico print with hearts and a solid rosy pink alternatively.  The pieced blocks were the Churn Dash/ShoeFly block all done in scrappy colors, 6 inches in size.  Those were machine pieced and if I remember correctly, I think I won some of them from my local guild as a block of the month drawing.  So you probably have an idea of what it looks like, no picture necessary.

We were traveling to one of the first quilt shows I had ever attended, it was summer time we were going to the Kutztown Fair in Pennsylvania with my brother Steve and his wife Peggy.  My ex and I were sitting in the back of my brother's car, I believe it was a small silver Chevy at the time.  I was quilting in my lap as we drove along and chatted.  When we arrived, I casually rolled up my work and tossed in the back of the car.

We went to the fair and I was amazed at the gorgeous quilts hanging the in barn on display and for sale.  Many of them were made by the local Mennonite and Amish women in the surrounding communities.  Many of them were appliqued in stunning designs, with colors that were not typical of what I thought the Amish would use (prints and brights).   I even got to see my first Amish Stand Up comic.  I had no idea there was such a profession!  It was a great all around experience.

When we left the fair at the end of the day, we climbed back in the silver car and headed for home.  My quiltwork was in the back, I grabbed it and put it on my lap, but didn't start to immediately sew.  We were too busy talking about all the things we had done and seen that day.  I noticed that my quilt seemed a little bit damp to the touch, but didn't think much about it.  Soon afterwards I felt a slight bit of discomfort in my fingers, almost a burning, itchy sensation.  When we stopped, we looked at it to figure out what had happened because the discomfort in  my hands had grown quite a bit.

It turned out that my dear brother had replaced the battery in his car and the old battery was in the hatchback.  I had inadvertently laid my quilt piece back there and unfortunately, the battery was leaking acid and the quilt had soaked it up!  It was a mess.  I was able to wash my hands and clothes and get it out, but within 48 hours that section of the quilt was ruined and full of holes, all the way through and it couldn't be replaced.  It needed to be completely redone.  I remember thinking to myself, how weird it was that the quilting thread (that was waxed and pink) didn't dissolve right away, but the fabric did turn to flakes in sections and I could see my tiny 10 stitches to the inch embedded in the batting.  Eventually the entire piece kinda dissolved  before my eyes and had to be thrown away. 

I guess I wouldn't have minded so much if I had not almost completed the entire section.  I wasn't upset with my brother, it wasn't his fault.  It was mine for being so careless and tossing my needle work in the back without looking to see where it ended up.  I learned a two very important lessons that week.  (1) Always take care where you set down your hand work in progress; and (2):  never trust the trunk or hatchback of another person's car or vehicle  to be safe from environmental hazards that could prove disastrous.  As I stitched the new section to replace the damaged one, I thought, well at least it was just a work in progress and it wasn't a finished quilt or priceless antique one that had been ruined.  And how lucky was I that I had enough of the fabrics I needed to be able to remake a replacement section. 

I gave that quilt to my ex for Valentine's Day.  We slept under it for several years.  When we split, he didn't want it.  Since it was hand quilted, I was happy to keep it.  In hindsight now, maybe that battery acid was just a foreshadowing of the eventual erosion of my marriage to the wrong partner.  <3

What Lies Beneath

What lies beneath the surface of a quilt is just as important as what is on the top and bottom layers.  There are so many choices of batting out there and for a new quilter its probably a daunting task to try and figure out what the best batting might be to complete one's quilt. 

Early in my quilting career, I used poly batting because it was what was available at my local fabric store.  They didn't carry a wide selection and the poly batting was cheap and readily available and it worked well in my lap quilted quilts.  Yes, I used to quilt my quilts by hand and often on the run.  The biggest drawback to poly batting was the issue with bearding, where the fibers poke through the quilt while it is being used.  I once quilted a king size quilt for my parents for their anniversary and used a Fatt Batt.  It was the worst thing I ever quilted.  I'm not even sure I ever finished quilting it.  But mom being the lovely woman that she is, loved it and used it just the same. 

After taking a machine quilting class from Harriett Hargraves, I found that cotton batting or blends were much easier to use and stores in my area started to carry a wider variety  I used Mountain Mist cotton, which had a scrim on it and liked it well enough until Warm and Natural came onto the market.   I liked the look and feel of 100% cotton batting and I especially adored the vintage look the quilt got after I had washed and dried it.  Cotton was breathable (unlike that darn Fatt Batt) and easy to quilt by machine. I went through a period where I purchased many vintage and antique quilt tops.  My intention was to learn to quilt them on my long arm, these were practice pieces.  Today's cotton batting was the perfect choice, it is more like what quilters in the 30-40-50's used before polyester was on the market.  I also quilt with cotton thread, so these quilts are 100% cotton.  I like cotton.

I also learned that cotton was a better choice for kids quilts.  Should there ever be a fire, the cotton will burn yes, but it won't burn the same way that a poly batting will, creating a sticky mess that stick to the kids skin and do more harm.  I was over using poly after reading that article and have pretty much stayed away from it for my bed quilts.

Now I'm not blasting polyester batting.  It does have its uses.  I use it in layers for trapunto and have experimented in different ways to make certain quilts dimensional.  Case in point, is my bagel quilt.
The bagels are actually stuffed to look 3D.  When people see it, they always want to poke at them to see if they are stuffed.  They are!  I encourage them to touch that one.  This was accomplished by adding two layers of poly batting cut into the shape of each bagel in between the quilt top and the layer of cotton batting used underneath but on top of the backing.  I'm sure it will be fine, no one is going to sleep under it as its a wall hanging and I have no intention of toasting those bagels anytime soon!

But I digress.  Now I pretty much use Warm and Natural, Warm and White, and Quilter's Dream.  Quilter's Dream Green is made from recycled plastic soda bottles.  It has the look, feel and density of Cotton and I like that its a 'greener' solution.  I've also recently purchased both silk and wool batting, but I have yet to actually use them in my quilts.  I purchase most of my batting in big rolls so I always have it on hand and seems a more economical choice for me.  I can cut and use what I need instead of having to go in search of the right sized bagged individual batting.

I'd be curious to know what types of batting you prefer as a quilter.  I believe a lot of your choices will be dependent upon whether or not you machine quilt your quilts, or send them off to a long-arm quilter, or if you are a hand quilter.  I know that loft in batting brands varies and this can really help or hinder the hand quilter.  The 'hand' of batting is key to the hand quilter.  Never, ever, try to hand quilt a fat batt! 

And what do you do with all those left over batting pieces?  There is a new iron on tape that will allow you to economically piece your left over battings into larger sections so they can be used.  Have you tried this and do you like it.  I have and I find that for small quilts, it works great.  However, I would not recommend doing this for any quilt that is a wall hangingor larger quilt that will entered into any quilt competition.    In doing so you run the risk of the batting being off grain a bit and not hanging square and flat which is a no-no for judges.  I have found, this tape is perfect for charity quilts made from leftover batting pieces!  No one will ever know the difference!

I have also given away smaller pieces of batting to friends that like to make miniature quilts.  I've tried my hand at miniatures, but find that its one of those things that I don't really enjoy making.  I like making big quilts.  So when I have pieces of new batting left over that are too small for anything else, I have a friend that happily takes these off my hands to create her wonderful miniature quilts.

Giving Credit Where Credit is Due

Inspiration?  Technique?  Style?  Interpretation?  Ownership?  These are all important words that have many different meanings the world of quilting.  Let's consider each of these and what they mean to me. 

I've often been asked where you do you get  your inspiration?  Inspiration can come from anywhere.  Most of the time it comes from the fabrics themselves, and what I see when I look at it and buy it.  Sometimes it comes from nature, something I've seen, places I've traveled to or saw online.  Once in a while, I am inspired by a quilt I see online, at a quilt show or in a book or mazagine.  In those cases, if the inspiration comes from another quilter, I will attempt to get their written permission to publish my quilt inspired by them, or to teach classes using their book before I put the quilt online or into a show or on on any website.  I have been very fortunate in most cases (all but one in fact) in being able to secure their blessing and permission to show the quilt, use it as a class sample, teach a class, using their pattern or book provided the students each purchase their own copy of the book or pattern.  The other quilters that put their designs and patterns out there, love getting pictures of my finished quilts inspired by their own efforts.  I also like it when my students allow me to photograph their projects or are kind enough to send me photos of their finished work that they started in a class that I taught.  I always make sure my quilt labels include the source of the inspiration where applicable, giving credit where credit is due. 

We've all been asked "How long did it take to make that quilt?"  usually by non-quilters.  But have you every been asked "How did you make that?"   I used to take alot of classes, to learn a technique that I may not otherwise try on my own or to see how others compose their quilts.  I've learned an incredible amount of different techniques over the years and many of them I still use frequently.  In some cases, I learned a technique in a class that well, I decided it just wasn't for me and I never finished the project from that class or used that technique again.  That's not to say the class wasn't useful or that I didn't learn anything, in fact, the act of doing and deciding not to embrace a certain methodology is in itself very useful.  In several cases, I came up with a better way to do something and have used that process instead with even better results.  This brings me to the question of ownership, as in who owns the idea, the technique, the style or interpretation of something? 

We all know that many well known quilters have a certain style that makes many of their works easily recognizable. I think that Michael James was one of the first quilters that I noticed with a specific graphic style that was easy to recognize.  Caryl Bryer Fallert is another quilter that has gained worldwide recognition for her incredibly beautiful quilts, because of their color, composition and style and precision.  Ricky Tims is another quilter who has inspired many of us with his Caveman, Convergence and Medallion style quilts. I've read about other people's quilting style and have often wondered what someone else would say my own style is like.   I think my style has evolved from the Early American Confusion Quilts, mostly traditional pieces made with those 1970 - 80's calicoes.  Next I travelled through the Rock & Roll  Era of buying and using loads of Novelty printed fabrics including some really ugly Elvis fabrics. I'm glad to have not spent much time in the Depression Era, even though I did collect many of those 1930's reproduction prints, which I have not really used to make a quilt, yet.   Next I traversed across my Landscape period where almost everything I purchased looked like something found outside, water, sky, grass, architectural details.  I have most recently emerged from the Hand dyed/Bali chapter on my life.  Now I have passed into the Rollback Route, trying to use up many of the fabrics I have collected over the years to get my stash under control.  I am happy to say that I have managed to find some pretty cool ways to use up parts of my collection, create some classes to teach while I downsize and try to get rid of some of the textiles that I really don't need to hang onto much longer. 

What about Interpretation?  Have you ever seen something, it could be a painting, a picture, a postcard, a photo in a magazine and wanted to make it into a quilt?  If its your own picture or image that you own the rights to, then its simply a matter of making the piece of art from your own image.  However, if the image is the work of another, you should seek their permission to make something based on that image.  Keep in mind that there may be copyright and intellectual property rights to be considered before using that image to create your art.  You may be able to get away with a 'based loosely on "insert image name and owner of the image here" credit if the piece you create is indeed loosely based on the image.  I would like to think we all err on the side of caution and get the necessary permissions before we proceed. 

Finally, in regards to ownership, patterns and designs are owned by the designer of the pattern and the publisher of that pattern (if not self published).  Last year, I was teaching a foundation piecing class using my own paper designs.  One of the students told me bold faced that she was going to run across the street and make copies of the patterns for her to use and give to her friends that were not taking my class.  I was frankly shocked at her complete ignorance of copyright etiquette, so I explained to her that I had extra copies of the patterns for sale that I would be happy to sell to her for her friends and that making copies of someones pattern without their written permission was illegal.  She didn't seem to understand that it is not okay to take a pattern that you have purchased and make copies and give them to all your friends to also use those patterns without paying for them.  It became quite a hot topic at the quilt shop for about a week or two after the class. Don't be a "Ripoff Ramona" or "Copycat Cathy".