By Joyce Becker<\/p>\n
Well, here goes. You might be wondering, \u201cWho the heck is Joyce Becker and why the heck should I read her column.\u201d So, instead of just telling you about myself, I\u2019ll give you a brief \u201cphysical\u201d description. I am a feisty, fun-loving, red-headed, pleasingly plump, enthusiastic and passionate landscape quilt artist, author, wife, mother, and grandmother. I\u2019m \u201cwell-seasoned,\u201d which is just another way of saying \u201cI\u2019ve been around the quilting block\u201d more than I care to admit. I\u2019m a bit \u201cspicy,\u201d which means \u201cI\u2019ll try any food or quilting technique at least once,\u201d and I love to laugh.<\/p>\n
Sometimes my students ask how I got into the writing, teaching and lecturing quilting circut, and my reply has always been, \u201cIt\u2019s an accidental profession.\u201d I never really planned on this career; I just sorta kinda \u201cfell\u201d into it. I was a journalism major in college and have always loved to write. I decided to go back to college at the ripe old age of 40 and take an advanced writing class. So, there I was, this \u201colder broad\u201d in a class of college-aged students, loving every single moment of it. With the encouragement of my writing professor, I took a huge leap in faith and wrote an article featuring a local quilt shop owner and it ended up being published in a mainstream quilting magazine. After many, many more articles were published in magazines, I thought, \u201cHeck\u2019s fire, Joyce, whatta ya got to lose, why not write a quilting book?\u201d So, I did, and in 1996, “Nature\u2019s Patterns” was published by the Quilt Digest Press.<\/p>\n
After my book came out, I was at home minding my own business, doing the typical \u201cmom\u201d things, and I started getting e-mails, letters, and phone calls from quilt guilds, and conference organizers asking if I\u2019d come and lecture and teach for them. Without thinking, my mouth flapped open and I replied enthusiastically, \u201cYou bettcha, I\u2019d positively love to come and teach and lecture for your guild or conference.\u201d<\/p>\n
The next thing I knew, I was \u201cLeaving on a jet plane,\u201d with stars in my eyes, thinking, \u201cGeese, here I am, flying across the country to some new place I\u2019ve never been, to do something I absolutely love, and they are actually going to pay me!!! I will never forget my first lecture. Paralyzed with fear, knees knocking, and ready to pee my pants, I forgot every word of my well-practiced speech. \u201cWhat in the holy heck was I thinking when I said yes to the invitation\u201d?\u201d Then, a sweet-faced quilter near the front of the audience gave me a big fat smile and all my fear and panic dissolved, and I had two-hundred new quilting friends.<\/p>\n
For me, 40 was the magic age. I decided it was high time to do those things I always dreamed of doing, so instead of mid-life crisis, I had a mid-life burst of creativity. I continued writing, but also began designing and creating landscape quilts, using my own techniques. Before you know it, my second book, “Luscious Landscapes,” followed by a third book, “Beautifully Embellished Landscapes,” and a DVD, “Joyce Becker Teaches You Landscape Quilting,” were published by C&T Publishing.<\/p>\n
I have so many totally cool stories and poignant memories to share with you, and hope to introduce you to some cool artists in our area, all of which will focus on quilting. I hope in nothing flat, that we\u2019ll all be friends too. My hope is that you\u2019ll let this crazy, red-head \u201cquiltaholic\u201d entertain you, introduce you to some gifted artists, and give you a few laughs, and maybe a few tears in the days to come. Until then, I wish each of you happy quilting!<\/p>\n
Joyce Becker is a Kent resident and a new columnist for the Kent Reporter. She will be appearing twice a month in our print and online editions.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Let us know what you think! Send your comments to Editor Laura Pierce at lpierce@kentreporter.com, or by calling 253-872-6600, ext. 5050.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Joyce Becker Well, here goes. You might be wondering, \u201cWho the heck is Joyce Becker and why the heck should I read her column.\u201d So, instead of just telling you about myself, I\u2019ll give you a brief \u201cphysical\u201d description. I am a feisty, fun-loving, red-headed, pleasingly plump, enthusiastic and passionate landscape quilt artist, author, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":106,"featured_media":423,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-life"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/106"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=422"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=422"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}