"Faith, family and friends can get you through anything...but stitching will keep you sane!" That is truly my motto. Life's always a challenge, and stitching keeps me motivated and interested in people, places, and activities. While I've always shared my knowledge of the needle-arts by teaching basic skills in sewing, crocheting, cross-stitch, ribbon embroidery, beading, jewelry making, and traditional quilting at local guilds or gatherings of friends...I did not get serious about teaching until I retired from the Department of Defense in 2009. In 2011, I began a series of free online crazy quilt courses. This drew hundreds of ladies from across the globe to participate. This led me to self-published three books on crazy quilting techniques. Crazy quilting allows me to use skills from my other hobbies as possible embellishment ideas. This keeps me creative and interested in expanding my knowledge. The books are a series in various aspects of crazy quilting. Volume I is a "how too" book that takes a novice from the beginning to the end of creating a crazy quilt block or blocks. Volume II expands on the embellishing with ribbon, specifically silk ribbon; although other types play a small part in the book. My current book, Volume III is full of fancy seam designs that use thread embroidery, silk ribbon embroidery, beads, sequins, and buttons to create 500 beautiful crazy quilt seam designs. In my spare time, what little of that there is, I teach free online courses in traditional quilting and crazy quilting. My blog is at shawkl.com and there are also tutorials available there for download. So, I'm happily retired and doing what I love...a fortunate person for sure!