Sampler Pick

I thought I would share a few pictures I took last night during the Sampler Pick class. These students chose which sampler they wanted to make. Two chose the same one, the Carpenter Wheel Spin, one chose the Ribbon Quartz sampler and the fourth is making the Row by Row sampler, which is pictured here. Last time she worked on the three blocks above, and worked on the block below last night. She has to make two of these. The Row by Row sampler has diagonal rows, so she won't always make the same amount of blocks. I love her fabrics!

Dorothy is working on the Ribbon Quartz sampler. Above are her blocks from last month....she had them partially completed but not finished when she left. Last night she worked on Donut. I love this fun and playful block...and she was able to use lots of her soft, pretty florals. .

Judy and Christine got these blocks finished since last month, and are working on a large Carpenter Wheel block that is the center of their quilt. They got many of the HST made last night, but still had a lot of work to do to complete their 27" blocks. I can't wait until next time to see them!

The Highlights sampler group meets tonight....they worked on their alternate block this past month so it will be interesting to see if they got them finished. 

Rainy, quilty afternoon....

 Yesterday I hosted a UFO Saturday...it was the perfect day to stay inside and sew. Brenda brought her Lone Star to work on. She had the two halves made and partially sewn together. She was having trouble sewing the two sections together so we figured out what the problem was and she got it sewn. Next she cut out her corner squares and side triangles...they are large, so it's nice to have more space in the classroom to do that! Then she started sewing them in.

 Jane spent some time arranging her Honeycomb Waffle half blocks until she had it the way she wanted. She made some blocks with some color mixed in with her gray/black filler blocks, which add an interesting touch. Jane loves colorful batiks, can you tell?

Dianne worked on her Beads, Buttons and Baubles quilt. She did a lot of cutting and prepping so will soon be ready to put the rest of her blocks together. 

 Brenda finished her Lone Star center....wowser! I love these huge stars and they look gorgeous in all color combos. I have two people interested in taking this class, so if you live in the area and are interested, let me know....I will schedule around the interested quilter's schedules if possible. I also have a quilter who wants me to teach the Honeycomb Waffle, Too class again. I love teaching this class, so if you are interested too, let me know!

 Jane got her rows sewn together vertically, so is probably sewing them together this morning. She was undecided when we left yesterday about her top and bottom setting triangles. She had cut some black ones, bu thought they might be too dark. She will have to decide soon!

I had sewn together some more strips the other night in anticipation of my Summer Fling Stringpiecing Workshop next Sat. at Cut Up and Quilt, so I cut them out in between helping the others. I will probably have enough for a small quilt or if I don't I will have to make more so I don't waste them....this happens to me a lot, ok?

I had some black/tan leftover jelly roll strips so I sewed them together as well. Not sure how they will look mixed in with the more colorful ones, but hopefully I can use them together. Then I cut some solid blocks out of the pink polka dot fabric I used on the back of one of my Peas in a Pod quilts. I still have some solid colored blocks left from the original quilt, too. 

It was a fun day of sewing, chatting and sharing ideas. I think we planned several more quilts while they worked on these! Isn't that always the way it goes?

This and that

When I met with the  Sunbonnet Sue Sampler group recently, we spent some time looking at the difference color makes, whether you have a vibrant color as your background, or a soft color.

As you can see, two are using more vibrant colors for their backgrounds and two are using more traditional "lights". It really changes the look of the quilt and makes for some interesting conversations!

There are lots of teaching moments that happen during class that you don't always see coming, but discussing color is always a good idea as so many people seem to think they aren't good at choosing fabrics to put together and we can all learn from others about color combinations. 

I'm hosting a UFO Saturday tomorrow at Hancock. Everyone brings their unfinished object/project or a new project that they need help with and make some progress among quilty friends. Lots of opportunity for show and tell as well as color discussions as well. Should be fun! 

Another beautiful Twist and Shout

About a year ago, my design,Twist and Shout, was featured in McCalls Quick Quilts magazine. I had originally made the quilt as a three part mystery and named it Snake Dance. I enjoyed teaching it as a mystery...watching the students try to figure out what was going on with the design from week to week.

After it was published in the magazine, Cheryl from Cheryl's Teapots2Quilting decided to make the quilt for her son's upcoming marriage. She enlarged the pattern to make it queen size, but along the way she made an error in size while making the half square triangles. She didn't want all of those HST to go to waste, and they did match the quilt, so she ended up making a pieced back too. You can read her story about making this gorgeous quilt here.

I love her quilt...and the fact that she shared with me. It's so much fun to see the finished quilts from my patterns. Thanks for sharing, Cheryl!

Ready for summer fun!

 I taught VeryShannon's Reversible Box Tote class yesterday to a group of excited sewers!

Looking around the room, there were many beautiful fabrics. You can tell a bit about each person by their fabric choices when they are making something personal like a bag. I tried to get them to line up chorus line style with their bags, but they refused! Shocking! But we did line up the bags.

Janet and Rachel

 They were all happy to have gotten them finished in the 4 hour class. I was happy too. I thought they would, but you never know for sure how long it will take.

Christine

 Christine had machine trouble, so I got out a machine from the classroom so she could keep sewing. Machines aren't supposed to be temperamental in class, but it happens.

Dianne

  I could see this tote being used for many things...shopping, storing a project, swim bag, lunch bag...you could go on and on. Very versatile size and design.

Sharon F

Gretchen

 Dianne and her summery, flowery bag! See, ladies, how cute the pic would've been with all of you lined up?

Bonus Blocks!

 The quilters who are working on Sampler 11 work on one block during class and take one home for homework. So it's fun to see those homework blocks when they come the next time. This quilt was designed to experiment with color a bit while making. I didn't use one background fabric, sometimes using a darker one for the back ground, and sometimes using a lighter fabric. It also has five versions of the Yankee Puzzle block, which I have been sending home with them to complete before next time. Last month's version has 3-D aspects, which are very evident in their blocks.

 So we had some fun looking at each set of blocks and talking about use of color. They also all groaned when I called the next version of Yankee Puzzle "homework" so they will now be called Bonus Blocks! It's all in a name, right?

They worked on the Wild Goose Chase block  last night. There was lots to learn as they hadn't made flying geese before and these geese were smallish. Plus they had a couple of hourglass sections to make. Another new skill conquered! No one finshed their block, but they will by next time!

  My oops picture....somehow cut off part of Deb's blocks.

Here are Jane's Highlight blocks from Monday night. Things are looking good!

I meet with another group working on the Sunbonnet Sue Sampler tonight...can't wait to see their blocks!

I love finishes!

I love it when quilters send me pix of their finished quilts from classes. Rochelle shared this pic last night of her finished Lone Star. It's so pretty! I like that she used her center star fabric for her background too, isn't that clever? I have another quilter who is interested in making this quilt, so if you wanted to make it, but couldn't make the classes I've had recently, let me know. I haven't scheduled it yet as I'd like to have at least 2 or 3. I will try to schedule around the interested quilters' schedules.

I have a busy week of classes ahead...three Sampler Clubs ended up in the same week...just how the calendar works sometimes. So I met with the first Highlights Sampler group last night. They worked hard on the block, but didn't quite finish so I will get pictures next time. I did snap a pic of Jane's finished blocks, so will share those soon.

I am teaching the Box Tote class on Saturday. It's fun to teach something that people can finish in the class time. There are still a couple of openings if you're interested! 

Would I string you along?

Probably not, but after teaching yesterday's class for the Beads, Buttons and Baubles quilt at Cut Up and Quilt, I felt like I was stringing beads and baubles for sure. First off, Jane brought her baby version that she made while testing the pattern for me. She loved this directional kid's print so chose her fabrics to match it. It turned out so cute, and it was fun to have another model to show the class!

Jane's Beads, Buttons and Baubles close-up

I had given them some pre-cutting directions so as to speed things along a bit in class. I started them off cutting a few more strips, and sub-cutting some of the strips they had already cut. Then we were ready to start sewing!

Elsie

Once they started sewing, things started happening as they formed their first block. There are several different blocks that you twist and turn to make this eclectic design.

Dianne

We talked a lot about different options for the blocks as well as different options for setting the blocks. There is a lot of room for creativity with this quilt design.

Donna D

Carol

 Once they got a few blocks made, some of them started chain piecing their Beads sections to speed up the process. As you can see, these will be some gorgeous quilts.

Bettie S

My Beads, Buttons and Baubles

My next class at Cut Up and Quilt will be the Summer Fling Stringpiecing Workshop on May 2. If you have lots of scraps and leftovers, you will love this quilt bee style class. I will be bringing some strips/scraps to share and you can too! 

Summer Fling

I am going to a health fair this morning and then swimming this afternoon. Maybe a little time to work too, we'll see. 

Summer Fling

Here I come, with a few quilts.....

  

I spent some time Tuesday night with the high-spirited, creative Omaha Modern Quilt Guild. They invited me to come and talk to their group about some of my quilty endeavors and experience. The hardest part was deciding what quilts to take and how many. I don't have every quilt I've ever made, but since I teach classes I like to keep them around for awhile in case I teach the class again. So I had plenty to choose from. Once I'd made up my mind, I packed them up for the outing. I had quite a load as I carried them all in.

Hey, quilts do take up a lot of room, ok?

I had a good time and enjoyed their questions and enthusiasm for quilting. I got to see some projects they are working on for a Shades of Gray challenge, as well as see in person a beautiful charity quilt they made for QuiltCon. They made it in four sections and then sewed the sections together. You can read about it here. They will be donating it locally soon. 

When I left they gave me a goodie box! I love presents, so couldn't wait to peak inside and see what was in there. 

 Love this little goodie...

 ...perfect for coloring in quilt outlines, or coloring if you just feel like relaxing.

 There was a ruler, sticky notes, pencil, seam ripper (why did they think I would need that?) and awesome journal/notepad with graph like dots on the pages for drawing designs.

 And Flatter for smoother seams! It was sweet of them to gift me with these goodies...thanks ladies!