That's what they say

I have been unemployed for far too long, and in my many hours at the computer looking for (and making application to) work I have also begun a facebook group for free motion quilters/quilting.  Today is the one year 'anniversary' of that page - or 'group'.

It began slowly.  V e r y  slowly.
In fact, SO slowly that no one noticed or requested to join until mid-January.  Two months!

For those first two months I had a hard time believing I was the only person interested in communicating with other FMQers (truth be told I conscripted my friend, Jean, at the start so there would at least be two of us milling about the site, but we speak all the time so there wasn't much happening on the fb page).  I would occasionally add an image or change the description just to make it look like there was activity, but it was really just me hanging about.

Then one day the first person actually joined, and it was like a party!  Soon thereafter the influx of people was astounding.  At one point I had to stop looking through the member request profiles and simply 'gang add' about 175 just to make it through a day without doing nothing else BUT review members and add people.  It was crazy!  From time to time it still becomes oddly busy, and the requests can jump erratically from two or three a day to thirty or more within minutes.  Still other times (and for the most part) it is a steady trickle of from five to ten folks a day - on average.

Many folks have left the group - a couple have even begun their own FMQ pages - simply because they didn't like the way I run the group postings.  But hey, as one of the members in FMQ on Domestics pointed out to me...it is my group page after all.  The format for posting activity on "FMQ on Dom" is stated very clearly at the top of the page AND in the ever-present group description.  The way I have it figured, the aim of the group isn't to promote yourself, but to share images of your FMQ as created by manipulating your quilt UNDER the needle BY HAND, while the DOMESTIC machine remains stationery.  It's also a place where quiltmakers can ask questions, get answers, and become confident that they can do it...they can FMQ!  Or at least to find out they aren't alone in their quandaries.

Also, links and tutorials and the like can be shared, but by using the "Files" page as a total resource site for everything promoting other places/links away from our group page.  By posting all such resources in one place it becomes easy for anyone at any time to simply head to the files and find the correct page for thread, or batting, or tutorials, etc, instead of asking the same old FAQs for the umpteenth time.  It's a perfect repository, and easier than scanning the timeline endlessly looking for that one answer buried in thirty comments under one conversational thread.

Ah, well.

They say the sincerest form of flattery is imitation.  Well groovy, then I'm flattered (at least two times over)...but I won't be bullied. You do things your way, and I'll do them mine.



As a PS to this entry -
I will be back to work and quilting - and posting images of very cool projects - after mid-month.  For the time being, I am prepping for a show next weekend, and for visiting family (for an early Thanksgiving dinner).  Stop by again for some real quilting fun in the near future.  Until then....thanks for looking in.