Those first quilts are coming along....

 Last night the new quilters' blocks became a quilt center during the  More Peas in a Pod Beginning Quilting class. It was pretty exciting to see them come to life! We had time to start the first border, so learned how to measure through the center and near the sides and it was encouraging to see those measurements come out the same. As each quilter got to that point, we measured, cut borders the right size, marked each and pinned them on to sew. I think they are finding out that pinning is one of the most important aspects of precision piecing.

They did a great job and will finish putting this first border on before the next class. Three of the students couldn't come last night, so will come another night next week to make up their class before next Thursday.

Marching Elephants...

I saw this fabric and knew it would be perfect for an easy bag I wanted to make...who could resist colorful, marching elephants? I found yellow dotted fabric for the lining.

It's fun to make smaller projects once in awhile, since most of the time I'm working on quilts. I am teaching a Beginning Sewing class for Kid's Camp this summer, so thought this would be perfect. And when it's all over, I'll have a cute bag too!

StarLuna Sampler Club finale

 I met Monday night with one of the groups that is working on the StarLuna Sampler quilt. It was their last class, so they learned how to set their blocks on point, cut setting triangles and corner triangles, and sew it together in diagonal rows. Marilyn used fabrics from her stash for this beauty.

Lora V. loves prints and lots of color.  Most of them got several rows sewn together for a good start to their finished sampler quilt.

 Laura W. wasn't sure she liked her Friendship Ribbon blocks after she made them, but likes them better now that they are in their setting.

 Kelli said "I'm keeping this quilt...it's mine!" It will definitely be a happy one to snuggle under!

This club will move on to the newest sampler, Ribbon Quartz, in June.  There are openings in this club if you are interested!

Christine couldn't come to her Sunbonnet Sue Sampler Club last week, so she came Monday night and worked on her blocks. She has 2 more classes to go for a finshed quilt, but has started to add the sashings so it will go together quickly.

It's fun to see these quilters grow and get a little closer to finishing their quilts!

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. 

A back isn't always just a back

I have been working on a new design the past few weeks for a challenge I entered. I decided that I had enough fabric left to piece a large block for the back of the quilt and I could try a color combination I didn't use on the front but wanted to. I made a 27" block, which was fun in itself as it went very quickly. Here it is next to a 12" block that was leftover from the new sampler and was just chilling on my design wall.

I love that you can see the fabric design, part of the Flower Girl collection by Margot Languedoc, so well too! I then put a border around it with another fabric from the same collection I had used on the front. It's always fun to see what you can do with the leftovers!

I didn't use the yellow in the quilt top because I didn't have the right amount for the background, but it is working great on this back! I auditioned another border of it around the floral and decided it looked great.

This is as far as I got with the fabrics I had. I need about 20" more and don't have anything at home that looks good with these, so need to go shopping. I'm thinking maybe another yellow, or a rose color. Any ideas?

More pretty windows!

 Every time I teach the Modern Cathedral Window Pillow class it's like a new adventure. New ideas for background fabrics, new windows to fill. Patti had 5 fabrics to play with as well as her white background. She used three of them in the ovals that show up once you make your windows. Then she started fussing cutting shapes from her different fabrics. We loved that she had birds to place in the windows.

 Audra chose reds, evidently she has a large red collection so she had many to choose from. This one will be so striking!

 Karen wanted something in fall colors and chose this mottled background to show them off on. She is thinking of making a quilt out of hers. Wouldn't that be gorgeous?

I spent most of the day working on a new quilt yesterday...no pictures to share yet, but the top is finished and I'm ready for backing. I might make a large quilt block for part of the back...I have plenty of fabric left...still deciding if I want to take the time to do it or not.

Happy Monday!

my Modern Cathedral Windows Pillow

Cup swap

The cups I ended up with after swapping.

 It was fun last weekend looking at all the cute cups the nine ladies had made. I made 2 different kinds out of sewing related fabrics. Many of them made all different patterned cups.We laid ours out and went around and chose which one we wanted from each swapper's selection.They were all so cute and it was hard to choose, but I think this selection will make an awesome quilt.

 Brenda made 30 cups, so had quite a variety!

 Some of the swappers made enough to swap twice.

Brenda's cups after swapping.

 It's going to be fun to see what everyone does with their cups! Next we are going to swap flip flop blocks...stay tuned!

The rest of Brenda's cups after swapping