Love a good finish!

Marguerite

This group of beginners did a really good job on their More Peas in a Pod quilts. I'm so proud of them! They learned how to make and sew on binding during the last class, so they were finished except for some hand sewing. There were two that were unable to come, so will be making it up soon.  

Christal

Trish

Anita

Pat

Lorraine

 I love them all! My daughter Wendy finished her More Peas in a Pod quilt top too, and is getting it quilted, so will have some binding fun when she gets it back.

Wendy

Beginners coming along strong!

 The beginners got their quilt centers put together yesterday and started the borders. They learned measuring is very important to border attachment. It's always fun to see their quilts come together and enjoy all of the different fabrics and colors they put together.

 Everyone was certain that they could finish the 2nd border on their own before the next class. One of them asked if this quilt could be made bigger by making more blocks and I said yes it would be easy to do. She said "not that I'm thinking about the next quilt, really." I loved it, because she was actually thinking about the next quilt while still working on the first one. Yep she's a quilter!

One of the gals missed the first class, so came yesterday to begin her quilt. She is coming tomorrow night to work on it some more!

 A little excitement for me...my quilt, Fragments,  hanging with the rest of the Quilters Quilt the Blues exhibit at the Original Sewing and Quilt Expo in Atlanta GA this weekend. (The pic was on their Facebook page.) It will continue to travel with the OSQE shows throughout this year. If you happen to go to one of these shows, please take a pic of it for me! It will be in Lakeland, FL next weekend.

Fragments, second row from bottom of pic, 2nd quilt from the left.

A new group of quilters = excitement

I had a great time teaching the first session of Beginning Quilting on Saturday. It's always fun starting a new group on the road to quilting, but several of the people are from my hometown, so that makes it even more fun! They are making More Peas in a Pod, which is a variation of my pattern Peas in a Pod that appeared in McCalls magazine a few years ago. This is a great pattern to teach strip cutting and piecing methods.

As you can see, they all chose gorgeous fabrics, so it will be interesting to see the end results.

Cutting is always the biggest bump in the road, as squaring up and keeping the cuts accurate are a big part of accurate piecing. We figured out where the 1/4" was on each machine as accurate sewing makes for accurate blocks too! Many people believe that if they sew with their fabrics next to the presser foot, that is 1/4" but it usually is not. It's nice when you can move your needle on your machine so you can line up with the foot, but it's not always possible.

Their homework is to make the twelve blocks before our next class in two weeks. They were progressing well, so I think they will be ready to sew the blocks together next time.

My More Peas in a Pod quilt

More Peas in a Pod

Some catching up to do....

 When I went to CUAQ Therapy a few weeks ago at Cut Up and Quilt, Alice brought her Happy Villages quilt for show and tell. It turned out so pretty! I still want to make a night time version....

Two of the beginners with their finished quilts last month. They turned out beautiful and just had the hand stitching left to do. I made a new version of this quilt on retreat and will start a new Beginning Quilting class in the fall.

Just for fun, we are doing a little Double Four Patch stash-busting swap during Sampler Clubs...no one has to participate, but if they want to they will end up with an awesome scrappy quilt!

The Wednesday Fun Club will be making the Whatcha Got? Bag beginning in Sept. so I made up a new model for it recently. I gave away all of the ones I made last time! It was a good way for me to refresh in my mind the steps to making it too. I also started another one to use during class as a working model.

I made some Boxy Corner Pouches before I went on the retreat with my online friends, but didn't want to spoil the surprise by showing them. I cheated and used quilted fabric. I put a few goodies inside too. 

With some of the leftover fabric, I made this flat bag to carry some odd size rulers I have. It would also work to carry my pattern files to class. 

I've spent a lot of time working on class paperwork and sewing models over the past few weeks getting ready for fall classes. I need to step back from it for a bit and do some work around here. I want to paint the garage before I go back to school, so I'm going to start that today. Not sure how far I will get since I have to scrape too. I like to scrape some, paint it and then scrape some more so the scraping doesn't seem like such a big ordeal. I like to paint, just don't like to scrape. Who does?

I also need to "clean and pitch" a few areas around here, the back porch being first on the list. What a mess out there! And I walk through it every single day. Wish me luck!

We almost have quilts! and other class news...

 I'm teaching this session of Beginning Quilting, More Peas in a Pod as a monthly class. It's really different teaching it this way, as I'm used to a more hectic 6 weeks in a row set of classes. I really like keeping them going and coming out at the end of the 6 weeks with a quilt. This group seems to be doing fine like this, however and we almost have quilts! It was fun to see that first border go on to enhance the quilt center.

 They are different and so pretty! Bev was ill, so we didn't get to see her quilt top. Hopefully she is working on it....next time!

Their homework: finish that last border! Next time we meet they will be piecing their backing fabrics, layering and tying their quilts.

 Last night I met with one of the sampler clubs making the Modern Cathedral Window Pillow. Melinda was ready to put the envelope back on when she got there.

 Sheryl made a tablerunner for her kitchen table. She layered it and tacked it with her sewing machine to hold the layers together. She wants to finish with a red binding.

 Billie Jo was busy working on her blocks. Four more to go! Marta was out of town so we'll have to wait to see hers next time. They will be starting a new small project next month to work on for the next 3 months. They are choosing their own project out of several I've designed, so might all be working on something different.

If you are interested in joining them and working on a runner, pillow or other small project, let me know and we can talk over some options.

I haven't gotten much done on the #Laugh Love Quilt project this week, but hope to finish it this weekend. I do have some of the blocks finished, but I'm not sure how much I'm going to share until it's finished. 

Oh where, oh where has my time gone?

...Veronica's More Peas in a Pod

The past few weeks have slipped right past me and in a blur. I have been fighting a cold, working at school and teaching quilt classes a couple nights a week. Here are some pics I took recently at classes. The beginners are working hard to finish their first quilts. I haven't ever taught this class monthly before (usually teach it 6 weeks in a row), but it seems to be going well and they are happy with the schedule. Next month the borders.

Amanda's More Peas in a Pod

I've also been trying to get things figured out as far as where I will move my classes since Hancocks is closing. For many years, Hancock Fabrics (formerly a Northwest Fabrics) was the only fabric store in our city. Hobby Lobby moved here about 6 - 8 years ago (not sure, really just guessing) and my favorite quilt shop, Cut Up and Quilt opened 3 years ago. I started teaching about 12 years ago and taught evening Sampler Clubs, Beginning Quilting and Sat. classes at Hancock. I started designing my own patterns to teach that first year so that I would have different classes to offer. When Cut Up and Quilt opened, I started teaching there too, once or twice a month on Saturdays.

Sharon's More Peas in a Pod

Bev's More Peas in a Pod

So with Hancock Fabrics bankruptcy and closing, I needed to find another place that was open nights and had a classroom. Renting a place is out of the question right now, though it would be so much fun to do! So I will be moving my night classes to Hobby Lobby soon. The whole process is different there, so I have been working on getting the things I need ready so I can start my first new class there Monday night.  I will be teaching Larkspur, Sampler 22.

Larspur, Sampler 22

Jane's Larkspur, Sampler 22 blocks from the Second Monday Club

Since all of my night classes are 6 month sessions, most are not finished, so they will finish at Hobby Lobby and then maybe start another club. I need to come up with a new sampler design by June and it's not even close. Oh, I shouldn't tell you that part, huh? So you see where my head is at.

Billie Jo's first Modern Cathedral Window Pillow block

Melinda's Modern Cathedral Window Pillow blocks

Things are starting to fall into place, though, so I am relaxing a bit and excited to see how it goes in the new classroom next week.

Marta forgot her machine cord, so she worked on having a snack and pressing for the others.

Beginning Piecing, More Peas in a Pod

Last Thursday I started a new Beginning Piecing class, teaching More Peas in a Pod. We went over quilting basics, and I showed them how to cut using a rotary cutter. I gave them some fabric to practice on to get the feel of cutting with the blade and using their rulers.  They cut some of their new fabrics and sewed the center strips together.

Last night they cut them up into sections of  "peas" and practiced more cutting as they cut their coordinating fabrics for the pods. I think they are feeling more comfortable with the cutting aspect this week....it's pretty scary to cut into that new fabric the first time.

 It is fun to see the fabrics you chose start to come together as blocks in a quilt. I think they were surprised at their own talent! We had a few discussions about color and placement of fabrics.

It's really fun for me to work with beginners and see their excitement as they begin to build that first quilt. Next week they will start putting their blocks together.