New Vistas in Our 50s? One Woman’s Story. . .

Of course, as I’m sure you’ve realized, I’m well beyond my 50s, and any new vistas I might hope for will have to unroll very quickly to be accommodated by my 60s. My 70s are the more likely years for any new perspective. . . But I know this community includes women in a range of mid-life years, as well as younger ones stopping in to get a sense of the terrain ahead. And stories of women “changing it up” in mid-life or later always inspire me with a sense of possibility. If that’s the case for you as well, read on. . .

A few months ago, just before my trip to Paris and Rome in fact, I saw that a Social Media friend, Penny Miller, had opened an Instagram account announcing the launch of her new business. I love this about Social Media, that women of all ages can connect here across international boundaries. Penny lives in Scotland and she’s currently offering her workshops in Glasgow. I’m not going to be able to attend those, at least not easily, not in the foreseeable future.

But I am keen to hear about and to support women who use midlife to stage exciting challenges, wherever they might be, and Penny’s project and the process by which she pursued it promised to be both relevant and of interest to women in my social media community. So I shared her post in my Stories . . . and then began wondering about a blogpost. I’ve posted before about women “of a certain age” who strike out on new paths (here, here, and here), and readers have responded with keen interest. I proposed the idea of an email interview to Penny. She accepted. I took some time drawing up some questions; she took some time answering them and supplying illustrative photos. And here I am today, quite chuffed to present to you, an interview with Penny.

(Just in case anyone is wondering, no remuneration of any kind was requested or received for this post, except that Penny took the time to write a thoughtful and interesting response to the questions I took the time to pose to her. The interview is simply an example of women helping women.)

My email (offering context and asking questions) to Penny is in black, and her answers to me are in blue.

I can’t remember precisely when we connected in Social Media, but I believe we must have met as readers snuffling ‘round each other’s blogposts for book recommendations and then stayed to learn a bit about each other’s lives. I’d been retired a few years by then, and my children grown with children of their own already moving through grade school. Yours were just moving into adulthood, beginning to transition away from home, and, as I remember, you were using the freed-up time, energy, and space to build new needlework skills – quilting, in particular. This was an addition to your many domestic talents which you had already, I believe, put to commercial use on occasion – I’m thinking especially of the gorgeous and delectable cakes whose photos you’d sometimes share.

I went back this morning to look at your blog, thinking it had been a long time since I’d checked in. Not because of my negligence, I was relieved to find: your last post (although not obviously intended so at the time) was September, 2018; in that post you announced that you’d just enrolled in a course to strengthen your quiltmaking skills. The post was titled “Unexpected Journeys,” and since then, I’ve been following you on Instagram (where, last winter, you very helpfully guided my sister and I through the preparation of our first Christmas puddings).

And then in an Instagram message this October, I learned that you’ve launched a small business, Country Heart Quilts, teaching quilting in small workshops in venues in Central Scotland. This business now has its own Instagram account, @countryheartsquilts, which is already filling up with some delightful eye candy – and the photos from your first workshop attest to an enjoyable and productive experience for your first students. You also have a very professional, informative, and attractive website where prospective students can find out more about you, about your training and experience, about what these workshops entail – and they can even enjoy a free tutorial to get a sense of your teaching style.

But even with all that material available online, I have a few questions I’d love you to answer for readers here, many of whom, I believe, are curious about possibilities for their own midlife (or later than mid!) careers. It’s always inspiring to glimpse new horizons.

 So finally, my questions:

Given that you didn’t post again after that last blogpost (although readers could still follow you on Instagram), I’m speculating that the City and Guilds course launched you on an unexpected  journey toward your new venture.  Could you tell us a bit about that decision to enroll as a turning-point? Had you any inkling at the time that you might eventually build a small business with it? Or was it simply the culmination of a creative interest?

Hi Frances, thank you so much for having me! Gosh, yes, I just loved writing my Homemade Heart blog, and I still miss it. However, as you correctly infer, when I started my City and Guilds course, the volume of course work was a little overwhelming, and my blog faltered. I still retain great fondness for it though, and can’t quite bring myself to delete it!

I wrote a post about making my first ever quilt on the blog actually, but at the time I had no idea how important quilting would become in my life, or that I would eventually set up a small business with quilting at its heart.

After two to three years of making quilts, I had come to a point where I felt my skills had plateaued. That initial, steep, somewhat bumbling, learning curve, had been climbed. I was self taught; a combination of books and YouTube tutorials meant could make quilts reasonably proficiently. I could have continued happily; slowly drowning my family and friends in quilts, but at the back of my mind I suspected I wanted to do more, though I didn’t know exactly what.

Then in the summer of 2017, my oldest son moved away to attend university, and it was quite a shock to my system, even though of course, I knew it was coming. I had been at home with my children for thirteen years by that point, and that summer I realised that in a few short years, both boys would be pretty much fully fledged, and I had to consider my personal future as energetic, creative, resourceful woman in her mid 50’s. Much as I loved being at home, I wanted a new challenge that would enable me to fulfill my family commitments but give me a new creative pathway too.

At that point, I began to toy with the idea of developing workshops or classes to share my love of sewing and quilting. I believed it was essential to have a well-respected professional qualification behind me to give me credibility and confidence, as well as fill in any skills gaps, so I started researching suitable courses. A remote City and Guilds course in Patchwork and Quilting provided by the School of Stitched Textiles in England looked ideal, as I could work from home, and submit my work digitally, so after some deliberation I enrolled in August 2018, and spent the next two years working my way through 12 very detailed Modules, finally qualifying in August 2020 with a Skill Stage Three Patchwork and Quilting qualification.

Reading the brief biography you posted on your website, I see that you trained and worked as a nurse (Nursing Sister) and then chose and were able to stay home with your children.  Are you finding already that the skills and experience you’ve gained in those two workplaces are transferable to your new business? Any obvious examples?

I am organised and like to be well prepared, and that is partly honed from the days of running busy clinics and having a lot of responsibility for patients and staff, but I think patience is probably the most transferable skill! A skilled Nurse is a patient Nurse, and most Mums develop a deep reservoir of patience to call on in those trying days at home with small children.
Patience is important in quilting and sewing too. If we are patient with ourselves, we are more likely to enjoy the process of sewing and quilting and be less focused on a ‘perfect’ outcome.

Because we met through social media, I’m curious to know how much these platforms might have influenced your sense of possibilities, as well, of course, as exposing you to various forms of needlework and quilting and informing you what students might be attracted to learning.

As well, readers might be interested to know how consciously you tried to build your Social Media visibility as you began to imagine the workshops you might offer.

As I mentioned earlier, your online presence (both your new Instagram account and your website) is polished, professional, informative – but also friendly and welcoming.  Did you do all this on your own or did you use professional help? What would you recommend to readers who might be debating similar steps for advertising a new small business?

I think we are all influenced by social media now, whether we like that idea or not, so I guess Instagram was always going to be part of any new business venture.
I honestly don’t have the mental energy to consciously build visibility, I wouldn’t really know where to start. I couldn’t focus on producing masses of content, setting up fancy photographs and so on, it’s just not my style. My Instagram account for Country Heart Quilts is tiny account, and that’s fine. As I start my programme of workshops this year, there will be an organic growth of content, and therefore perhaps followers.
I did not have professional help with the website, and it was a very steep learning curve! One of the final Modules of my City and Guilds course was to develop a website, and although at the time I was horrified, it paid dividends because I was then able to use that knowledge to build the Country Heart Quilts website.
In terms of advertising, I have so far been fortunate in that the venue I use has put my workshops on their social media, but I am going to start advertising in a small way this year.
It’s an aspect of business that I think many people feel uncomfortable or anxious about, and I can understand that, but at some point, it is necessary to find a way to let people know what you are doing. It’s hard to ‘put yourself out there’. The process is linked with self belief, another tricky area; I am still learning how to negotiate that one.  

I see that you’re currently offering workshops that run from 10 a.m.- 4:30 p.m. in various venues and that you provide all materials (beautifully curated and packaged, I might add!) as well as tea and coffee, and all necessary information for how to find the venue, where to park, where to find a local lunch, etc.  In other words, each one-day workshop clearly takes considerable preparation and time-management must be important. What goals have you set in terms of the frequency and scope of the workshops you’ll offer over your first year? 

I am currently using one venue, which is an Exhibition and Pop-Up space in the West End of Glasgow. It is gorgeous; quirky, with lots of natural light, and comfortably accommodates 4 to 6 people, the perfect number for one of my workshops. It also has the wonderful advantage of having an exhibition hanging system, so I can hang some quilts round the walls which is exciting. In time I will hopefully bring workshops to other venues across Central Scotland.
The preparation for each workshop is considerable, but I am driven by the notion that I want everyone who comes along to feel welcome and cared for. There should be an unspoken nurturing element within the workshop, and part of that is having a comfortable place at the table, with a quilt draped over each chair, a project box packed with all the materials required, as well as plenty of tea and coffee to fuel creative endeavour!

I am currently planning two workshop types. The first is called ‘Beautifully Creative’, and these will be one day workshops, making a sewing or quilting related project which can be finished in one day.
The second workshop type is called ‘Beautifully Skillful’, and these will be two day workshops for people who want to learn specifically how to make quilts. These will be for a maximum of four people, to allow for maximum personal attention.
I am developing a series of small quilts called the Apprentice Piece Series for these workshops, each quilt finishing at around 14” x 18”, each made up of a single quilting block, for example a four-patch, or a half square triangle etc. These blocks are the foundation blocks of pieced quilts and making an Apprentice Piece quilt will enable new quilters to learn all the skills required to construct a quilt, but on a small scale.
My intention is to make learning to make a quilt a less daunting process than it can sometimes seem, and hopefully enable new quilt makers to gain that wonderful sense of pride and achievement that comes with completing a quilt, but in the manageable time scale of two days.
I am also working on a similar idea for Needle Turn Applique workshops, which is a great love of mine, and those workshops will be rolled out as I design the pieces and the written materials to accompany them.

Side question, just because I linger on that image of the six women stitching and learning and chatting around that table – I can easily imagine women travelling from further afield, perhaps even gathering as friends to do so, and staying nearby to make a weekend that includes the day of the workshop. So far, has the interest been mostly from locals? Do you anticipate stitchers from further away?

So far everyone has been local. It’s hard to look too far ahead, and I am still a very new business, but I would be delighted if the workshops drew people from elsewhere.
I do have a secret ambition which I will share with you, of holding a two or three day quilting retreat somewhere in the Scottish Highlands (where I grew up), in a big house with windows facing west on to the sea loch, and time and space for people to sew, quilt, and be inspired by the peace and beauty of the surroundings, with gorgeous food, and wonderful, creative companions, but that is some way off!
The image you draw of women working together round a table (and thus far it has been women, though naturally all and every person is welcome), is one that inspires me, and it is the timelessness of that experience which marries so happily with quilting. It is important that in our digital, post pandemic, fast moving, confusing world, a group of people can be given space to sit quietly round a table and pull thread through cloth with a needle. That sensory, analogue experience draws on deep roots, and is a grounding experience; one I believe to be beneficial to mental and emotional health, as well as feeding the creative heart that lingers within all of us.

Did Covid-19 interfere with your planned timing?  Did you consider trying to offer Zoom workshops? It does seem to me, looking at the photos of the prep for your first workshop (as posted on IG), that so much would be lost that’s integral to the experience of stitching together, in a cozy room, kettle and biscuits nearby for a note-comparing tea break. I’ll squeeze one more question in here and ask how you’ve been finding appropriate and available space that maintains the sense of “your brand.” (Sorry, that term is just so much part of the lexicon these days, and yours already seems both discernible and authentic. Something which you’ll be wanting to maintain and protect).

Covid-19 and the attendant Lockdowns interfered to a certain extent, as did various other life events; children finishing Honours Degrees at home rather than at university; my oldest son and his fiancée moving to London, a beloved family member requiring significant support after surgery. All the commitments and preoccupations that tend to come to middle aged women! However, I was determined not to abandon my ambition, and I knew I just had to bide my time until a more settled period came along.
Currently, I don’t have the necessary technical knowhow to offer classes via Zoom, but the idea does appeal to me. I have attended some fabulous Zoom workshops over the last couple of years, and I hope they will remain part of our post Pandemic culture.

Thank you so much Frances, for inviting me to talk to you about my business.
If anyone wants to find me, I am on Instagram @countryheartquilts (or my personal account @penny.homemadeheart, which has all my personal quilt projects, amongst other domestic trivia!) You can also find all the information about workshops at countryheartquilts.com.

And thanks so much to you, Penny. I’m sure many readers here have enjoyed reading about your new life project and join me in wishing you all the best with this venture.

Readers, besides leaving contact information above, Penny has agreed to pop in and respond to comments/questions as much as she can over the next few days. Given busy lives and notable time-zone differences, there may well be gaps between your comment and her response, but one of us will be reading and eventually responding. Comments are very important in encouraging the work done here as well as in building the lively community many of us enjoy. Over to you now, chat away, please. . .

xo,

f

p.s. If any of you should end up taking Penny’s workshop some day, after having read about it here, I’d love to know that!