I talked about Sandy’s podcast a little bit back in August, but I wanted to do a real review. Sandy is a relatively new podcaster who started out podcasting like a pro. Her podcast has good sound quality, she is organized and doesn’t say um, uh or like very much. Sandy has a great sense of humor, works hard to make her podcast professional while keeping it human and has a great voice. She has about 20 episodes up as of this writing and I would suggest going back and listening to all of the episodes.
The episodes vary quite a bit, both in length and in content. I think Sandy intended to give a lesson or information with each episode. She doesn’t always get to it, because of listener comments, which is fine with me, because when she talks about listener comments, it seems like a conversation. Sandy’s idea seems to be to create a community, so she honors her listeners by sharing comments. it is nice to hear what others have to say when I don’t have time to read all of the comments on the accompanying blog.
There are other podcasts that provide information and lessons. Sandy does a lot of research into her lessons and seems to do research beyond using the Internet. I particularly liked her color episode. I thought it was thoughtful and provided a couple of points of view that made me think a little differently about color. There was a companion episode on value. Both were really well done and made me want to drag out my Itten color wheel. I appreciate the research she puts into her episodes and appreciate it that she doesn’t perpetuate quiltmaking myths. She often doesn’t take sides, as evidenced in her episode on art vs. craft vs. hobby. I thought the addition of hobby was an interesting twist to this ongoing debate.
Sandy has began to do interviews in about episode 4 and does a really nice job. So far she has interviewed quiltmakers from her guild, a Hawaiian quiltmaker, a longarm quilter and a quilt appraiser. Her interviews are great, because she doesn’t interrupt the interviewee and just lets the artist/quiltmaker talk. Sandy does jump in to keep the conversation going by asking pertinent questions, but never interjects her own experience while interviewing. I really like her style.
I think you will be entertained by the Quilting…for the Rest of Us podcast. Check it out.
Frances, of the Off Kilter Quilt, is also nearing 20 episodes. She has some funky numbering going on at the beginning of her episodes, so there isn’t a number 20 yet, but I think Frances has recorded 20 episodes. The funky numbering is an example of the charm of her podcast.
Frances starts out her episodes saying “hello hello, I’m Frances and I’ll be your hostess.” If you don’t listen to anything else (though you should) listen to the beginning of one of her podcasts. The intro is so friendly and welcoming.
Frances is a beginning quiltmaker. Initially I was skeptical about how much I would get out of the content. I was pleasantly surprised. While listeners do get to hear about the idiosyncracies of quiltmaking that puzzle a beginner, Frances also provides thought provoking commentary of various aspects of the quilting world.
In one episodes she talks about Product vs. Process quiltmakers. Frances does not purport to have all of the ansers, but she is a critical thinker and brings up some interesting points on various topics.She uses language really well, has a great sense of humor and sharp insight on the marketing practices of the quilt world. Additionally, her brief comments about her life outside of quiltmaking make the podcast, and Frances, seem real.
Definitely worth a visit!