Presentations I gave to the Dhahran Oasis Quilt Guild in Dhahra, Saudi Arabia

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I recently gave a presentation to the Dhahran Oasis Quilt Guild here in Saudi Arabia during my visit.  I gave 2 presentations (day group & night group).  In addition to regular workshops, classes, open sewing times and such they have a weekly meeting on Monday afternoons and Tuesday nights.  This is why I ended up giving 2 presentations.  Both presentations were about 35 minutes each and were very well received.  Each lady received an 8 page newsletter created by yours truly!  We played 3 games, prizes and gifts were given out.  We also watched a 3.5 minute video of the Introduction of the US National Quilt Museum, which I tried to embed below but it was too large.

Before I left the US, I had contacted Susan at the the US National Quilt Museum in Paducah, KY about getting some literature to pass out during my presentations.  I was quite surprised when I received a box with lots of giveaways, 2 postcards of quilts made by a lady that used to live in Dhahran, and a dvd of the Quilt Museum's Intro video.  You can see the post here. 

I thought it would be a great idea to take a small handmade gift to each lady in the Dhahran Oasis Quilt Guild, so I was in contact with Stephanie at The Fat Quarter Shop about getting sponsored fabric to make hot pads for the gift.  You can see the posts here: Wonky Tic-Tac-Toe Hot Pads Part 1 & Wonky Tic-Tac-Toe Hot Pads Part 2.

I took video & pictures of the day presentation and pictures only of the night presentation, which I will show in a bit.

THE PRESENTATION OUTLINE WAS AS FOLLOWS:

1) Brief History of Quilting in the USA

2) Went over the US National Quilt Museum page & I referred to the map page to show where the Museum is located.  I passed around the 2 quilt postcards and talked briefly about them.

  

3) Watched the US National Quilt Museum DVD which I left with the group after the 2nd presentation for them to keep on file.

4) Played a game called "How Many Words".  Each sheet was divided into 2 columns.  The 1st column had the word QUILTING and the 2nd column had the word FABRIC.  In 3 minutes you had to see how many words you could come up using on the letters in each word.  The ladies did quite well with this game.

5) I talked about The Fat Quarter Shop.  Mentioned that it's my main blog sponsor and that they sponsored some of the fabric for the hot pads that I made.  I also spoke about a few of the other top quilt fabric shops in the USA (Hawthorne Threads, Fabric.com, Missouri Star Quilt Company.  I referred to the US map page to show where each shop is located.  I spoke about the YouTube channel for Missouri Star Quilt Company, that they have really great quilting tutorials.

6) We played 2 rounds of "Musical Fat Quarters' to 2 different Mardi Gras songs.  The 1st round was with 3 Fat Quarters and the 2nd round was with 2 Fat Quarters.  Whomever was holding the Fat Quarters when the music stopped, got to keep them.  This was fun.

7) I talked about some of the main/top quilting blogs on the web.  I mentioned my first, of course.  The rest of the blogs were in no certain order (Freshly Pieced, Sew 4 Home, Sew Mama Sew, In Color Order, Twin Fibers, Quilt Story, Free Motion Quilting Project, A La Mode, Cut to Pieces, Film in the Fridge, Fresh Lemons Quilts, Jay Bird Quilts, P.S. I Quilt & Quilt Dad).  If your blog wasn't mentioned, please don't be offended.  I chose SOME of the main quilting blogs, enough to fit on 2 pages in my newsletter.  I did tell the ladies that they can go to my blog and see all the blogs in my BLOGROLL.

8) Our final game was called "Quilt Block" game where you had to draw a line matching the pictures to the names of the blocks.  The ladies did quite well with this game a well.

9) I let everyone choose a hot pad from the display on the table.  For those main members who weren't able to make it to the meetings, hot pads were collected for them as well as copies of my newsletter, copies of the games, copies of the US National Quilt Museum literature, etc.

PICTURES OF MY NEWSLETTER:

THIS MAP SHOWS WHERE THE US NATIONAL QUILT MUSEUM IS AS WELL AS HAWTHORNE THREADS, FAT QUARTER SHOP, MISSOURI STAR QUILT COMPANY, FABRIC.COM AND WHERE I LIVE.  THIS WAS THE LAST PAGE OF THE NEWSLETTER.

PICTURES FROM THE DAY PRESENTATION (16-18 LADIES):

 TABLES SET UP FOR MY PRESENTATION

 EACH PLACE SETTING WITH MY 8 PAGE NEWSLETTER, BROCHURE & NEWSLETTER FROM THE US NATIONAL QUILT MUSEUM

 TRAY WITH QUILT MUSEUM PRIZES FOR THE GAMES.  I ENDED UP GIVING AWAY LEFTOVER PRIZES AT THE END TO WHOMEVER WANTED THEM.

 TRAY OF KONA COTTON SOLIDS SCRAP PACKS FOR GAME PRIZES

 SOME OF THE 40 HOT PADS I MADE AS A GIFT FOR EACH LADY

 HOT PADS & PRIZE TRAYS

 MORE HOT PADS

 AND EVEN MORE HOT PADS

 THIS WAS THE DAY GROUP LADIES PLAYING ONE OF THE GAMES CALLED "HOW MANY WORDS", AS MENTIONED IN ITEM #4 IN MY PRESENTATION OUTLINE SHOWN ABOVE IN THE BEGINNING OF THIS POST.

HERE IS WHERE I WANTED TO EMBED THE 34:40 MINUTES LONG DAY PRESENTATION VIDEO, WHICH IS WHY I DIDN'T UPLOAD DIRECTLY TO MY BLOG.  I TRIED FOR SEVERAL, I MEAN SEVERAL HOURS TO UPLOAD IT TO YOUTUBE.  SO I DECIDED TO DO SNAPSHOTS OF THE VIDEO FRAMES INSTEAD. 

(I gained so much weight in my 3 months being here in Saudi, UGH!  When I get back to the US, workouts here I come!)

NOPE!  PICTURES INSTEAD!

THIS IS WHERE I TALKED ABOUT THE HISTORY OF QUILTING IN THE USA.

 HERE I'M TELLING THE LADIES THAT I GREW UP IN PADUCAH, KY WHICH IS WHERE THE US NATIONAL QUILT MUSEUM IS LOCATED.  I'M GOING OVER SOME INFO ABOUT THE MUSEUM, ABOUT THEIR QUILT FESTIVAL EVERY SPRING, WHAT IT'S LIKE BEING IN PADUCAH IN THE SPRING DURING THE FESTIVAL, HOW SOME PEOPLE WILL RENT OUT COUCHES AND PUT TENTS/CAMPERS IN PEOPLE'S YARDS JUST TO ATTEND.

 

 WE JUST STARTED WATCHING THE DVD SENT TO ME BY SUSAN AT THE US NATIONAL QUILT MUSEUM.

HERE IS THE SAME VIDEO THAT IS ALSO ON YOUTUBE:

 HERE I'M EXPLAINING THE FIRST GAME CALLED "HOW MANY WORDS".  #4 OF THE PRESENTATION OUTLINE ABOVE.

HERE I AM HELPING ONE OF THE LADIES THAT DIDN'T QUITE UNDERSTAND HOW TO PLAY THE GAME.

I'M POINTING OUT THE 2 PRIZE TRAYS AND TALKING ABOUT THE PRIZES SENT TO ME BY SUSAN AT THE US NATIONAL QUILT MUSEUM.

THE LADIES ARE PASSING AROUND THE PRIZE TRAYS.  JULIE WEARING THE PURPLE NEXT TO ME, IS THE PRESIDENT OF THE DHAHRAN OASIS QUILT GUILD.  I WANTED TO SHOW HER SMILE BECAUSE SHE SMILED ALOT.

HERE I AM TALKING ABOUT FAT QUARTER SHOP, STATING THAT THEY SPONSORED SOME OF THE FABRICS FOR THE HOT PADS THAT I AM POINTING TO IN THE MIDDLE.  I ALSO TALKED ABOUT A FEW OTHER TOP QUILT FABRIC SHOPS IN THE US THAT SHIP INTERNATIONALLY.

I'M TALKING ABOUT MISSOURI STAR QUILT COMPANY, ABOUT HOW THE COMPANY IS FAMILY OWNED BY JENNY & HER DAUGHTERS.  THAT THEY HAVE HUNDREDS OF GREAT TUTORIALS ON THEIR YOUTUBE CHANNEL.  i ALSO

THE LADIES ARE PLAYING THE FIRST ROUND OF "MUSICAL FAT QUARTERS".

JULIE IN THE PURPLE ON THE RIGHT IS STILL SMILING.  SHE REALLY HOPED SHE GETS THE RED & WHITE FLORAL FAT QUARTER.  THIS WAS THE 2ND ROUND.

JULIE WON THE FABRIC SHE WANTED & WAS SO EXCITED!

THIS WAS OUR LAST GAME CALLED "QUILT BLOCK" WHERE THE LADIES HAD TO MATCH AS MANY BLOCK PICTURES TO THE TITLES AS THEY COULD.  THE TOP 3 WINNERS WON MINKY SCRAP PACKS.  YOU CAN'T GET MINKY IN SAUDI ARABIA.  I TOLD THE LADIES THAT THE ONLY PLACE TO GET GREAT MINKY IN HUNDREDS OF STYLES & COLORS IS FABRIC.COM.

THE LADIES PLAYING THE "QUILT BLOCK" GAME.

I'M PASSING A 3/4 YD MINKY PRIZE TO THE 2ND WINNER.

I TOLD THE LADIES ABOUT THE REVERSIBLE HOT PADS, AGAIN STATING THAT SOME OF THE FABRIC WAS SPONSORED BY FAT QUARTER SHOP.  THE LADIES DOVE RIGHT IN TO PICK OUT THE ONE THEY WANTED FOR THEMSELVES.

I'M TELLING THE LADIES THAT THE HOT PADS ARE MADE WITH 2 LAYERS OF HEAT INSULATED INSUL-BRITE BATTING AND THAT THEY WOULD BE PERFECT TO PLACE UNDER TEA KETTLES, CASSEROLE DISHES AT THE TABLE, ETC.

I TOLD THE LADIES THAT THIS WAS MY FIRST TIME HAND BINDING & THAT A FEW OF MY CORNERS WERE NOT PERFECT.  JULIE IN THE PURPLE TO THE RIGHT OF ME SAID THAT A FEW CORNERS OUT OF 160 IS GOOD.

I'M TELLING THE LADIES THAT I LEARNED TO HAND BIND OFF OF YOUTUBE.  THIS IS THE VIDEO I LEARNED FROM:

 

PICTURES FROM THE NIGHT PRESENTATION (9 LADIES):

 TABLES SET UP FOR PRESENTATION

 TRAY OF FABRIC SCRAPS PACKS & GUTERMANN THREADS FOR GAME PRIZES

 THE HOT PADS LEFTOVER FROM DAY PRESENTATION THE DAY BEFORE

 HOT PADS & TRAY OF GAME PRIZES FROM THE US NATIONAL QUILT MUSEUM

 FAT QUARTERS FOR THE "MUSICAL FAT QUARTERS" GAME.  I FORGOT TO TAKE A PICTURE OF THE FAT QUARTERS FROM THE DAY PRESENTATION.

THE NIGHT GROUP LADIES PLAYING A GAME.  SOME OF THE LADIES YOU CAN'T SEE, THEY ARE TO THE RIGHT & LEFT OF ME.

THESE ARE THE 8.5" REVERSIBLE HOT PADS I MADE.  I MADE 2 SETS OF EACH KIND.  EACH HOT PAD HAD 2 LAYERS OF INSUL-BRITE HEAT INSULATED BATTING INSIDE.  FAT QUARTER SHOP SPONSORED SOME OF THE FABRICS.

I HOPE YOU ENJOYED READING THIS.  IF YOU LIKE, LEAVE ME A COMMENT BELOW.