Hi, gang.
I thought I’d mention that I’ve begun making goofy videos for the internet. I mean, they’re all chock full of fascinating facts and figures (well, at least a figure here and there for good measure) and they’re full of me, which, depending on how you feel about me, could be a terrific thing or a reason not to watch the content. Personally, it is hard for me to watch the content, but that’s because after all these years of creating on-camera vignettes for this or that purpose, I am still amazed that that is my face and that is my voice. But it is, and it is, and we now have more proof that I’m a moth to the silicon flame.
I’ve only just begun my own YouTube channel. Here is the link to the official Mary Fons YouTube channel. What follows is the “how it works” part — and the reasoning behind this project. I had to do some!
If you’re not familiar with YouTube channels — Eric was introduced only this year after I showed him — it’s pretty simple and can be a nice thing when you have interest in a person or a show on YouTube. You click on the channel (a little icon under the video screen, above the rest of the video thumbnails the channel has produced) and you click “Subscribe”. This means that when you open YouTube on your computer or device, you’ll probably see your subscription videos first in the lineup of suggested videos. If the person or show you’ve subscribed to has posted a new video, you’ll see that. (This is how my YouTube works, anyway; I hope I haven’t led you astray, though however you click it, the learning curve is tiny.)
There’s also a little bell that you can click, which means you’ll get a notification every time I upload a new video. If you like my content enough to want to get a notification the moment I post new videos, that means you really, really like me. Full disclosure: I do not have notifications set for any of my YouTube descriptions. I am allergic to alerts. They are distracting and there are just so many of them. Still, some people have told me that the Quilty videos I made for many years and the PBS show are often nice background audio for them as they work or fall asleep (I take this as a compliment) so if you’re under a deadline or you’re needing a nap, maybe you do want to know right away that I’ve posted something for you. That bell is the way.
I have come to learn that subscribers and bells — and “engagement”, which means comments and watching through to the end of a video, no pressure — are important for growing a YouTube channel, so I’m hoping to have some of all that. Perhaps you will tell your friends, neighbors, and countrymen and women that the best thing going on the internet is this scrappy 41-year-old quilt person’s YouTube channel. I have to try to get the word out somehow: It’s hard to accept that so many D-list celebrity gossip channels and channels featuring people playing blurry vintage video games, and people vlogging about absolutely nothing as they drive their car (this is all actual content) have subscriber numbers in the six digits when my channel is so tiny.
But all those folks started somewhere, right? For every popular YouTube channel, there was a first video game; a first “well, here I am in my car again,” vlog episode; a first makeup tutorial; a first mukbang … Mukbangs, by the way, are videos where people eat on camera. Like, they eat dinner, or lunch, or breakfast, and talk to you.
The internet — YouTube in particular — is a strange world, indeed. I have entered the YouTube because it’s a pandemic and it won’t be over for a very long time, I’m afraid, and I am having fun doing something new. I’ve entered it because I’m making a documentary and I need to prove to the suits that people want to watch me talk about quilts (and sometimes myself) on camera, but without doing tutorials, because I’ve done a lot of that and there’s so, so much of that already on YouTube. I’ve decided to make a channel because it’s still 2020 and all bets are off.
I hope you head over there and do the subscribe, like, watch, share thing. I’d appreciate it, and may the gods of YouTube be with us all. They can’t be all bad: Have you seen the puppy videos??
Veronica
Well done Mary , & can’t wait to tune in. You are very , very brave!
I still love your Quilty videos.
x Veronica
Mary
Veronica, I’m terrified of the trolls! But I’m glad you’re in my corner. 😉 Thank you!
Lesley Gilbert
Subscribed and ‘rung the bell’ 🙂
Mary
Thank you, Lesley! 🙂
Sue
I watch you tube all the time and enjoy everything you do..so I’ll be doing all of the above!! Good luck!!
Sue Higgins
You Go Girl!! You give me courage to conquer my own fears and move forward! And, I agree, there is something very comforting about those Quilty videos 🙂
Alyce
I watch all your youtube, instagrams, etc. I have a poster you signed for me in the Georgia quilt show a few years ago. Keep doing what you are doing.
Mary Saputo
Just watched your interview on Just Get It Done. Wow! I’ve missed you more than I can articulate. So overjoyed that you are back on YouTube. May all your needles stay sharp.
Sheila Herb
I have subscribed to your YouTube channel and look forward to seeing them. I have always enjoyed your Quilty videos. I watched them all when I was learning how to quilt. Thank you!
Kay Welch
So happy to find all the ways to follow you after watching your interview with Karen Brown. I thoroughly enjoyed it – you covered so much in a short period, and you have piqued my interest to learn more about the history of quilting. Pam Studstill is a dear dear friend, and I was thrilled when you mentioned her. She had a show of some of her work from the 80s & 90s at Artisans Gallery in Fredericksburg, TX. You can visit their website @ artisanstexas.com Thank you for taking time for this interview – it really helped make a crummy Monday oh so much better for me.
Caroline VandenHeuvel-Elliott
I enjoy your speaking style. The content connects what maybe tangential to others yet vitally engaging to me. I hope to see you progress to the fore of social media and film viewing platforms.
Camille
SUCH a joy to see you back on YouTube!!! Now I can stop whimpering to myself as I rewatch my favorite Quilty episodes (okay, I kid. But only by a little.)
Susan Miller Henshaw
It’s plain and simple. It’s just You! That’s why I Subscribed. You are open, honest, down-to-earth, heartwarming and fun! PLUS You’re a quilter, artist, poet, writer… You don’t find that too often anywhere!! And I admire that in you. But my reason for this comment, I needed to tell you something.
After I Subscribed, a post popped up on YouTube with your live ‘i love you’. Timing couldn’t have been any better. Not only am I mourning the loss of my father recently, I realized I am also mourning the loss of my husband who is a survivor of traumatic brain injury with short term memory. No longer am I his wife of 25 years (been together for 32 yrs), but his sole full time Caregiver for the past 9 years 24/7. I was so blown away by your poem and heart-warming delivery. I bawled like a baby and did what any wise person would do… played it again. I needed to tell you ‘Thank ❣️ You’ for all the ‘i love yous’ he cannot share with me like he used to, what my heart has been so desperately crying out for. I love you, Sister.
Maggie B
I’ve been enjoying seeing you on YouTube and now here too. Good luck with your 10 part project. Start plotting it out, scripting it, and filming now so you have something to present to Netflix et all. I’m nobody really to tell you what to be doing. I just hope you are one more ‘stitch’ to bring this country back together.