STUDENT WORK

I am always delighted to see Student Work. Sometimes I get photos by email, sometimes finished projects are brought to class and sometimes I see them hanging in quilt shows.

These quilts were all on display at the recent Heritage Quilters of Huntsville Show: 

FULL CIRCLE is a Wendy Williams pattern that requires many class hours to teach. Three years ago I taught it locally as a 5 day Seminar Workshop--Ben and Lisa were both in that class. I love their work. 

Here are two more Full Circle quilts from the class I taught in 2024 at Empty Spools Seminar in California:

Mollie's

Anne's 

I am happy to announce I will be teaching this one more time at Empty Spools Seminars February 28-March 5, 2027. Registration opens in June 2026 and if last time is any measure, it will fill quickly. It is the perfect 5 day class, filled with so much to learn. Here is my version:

More quilts made by students:

SOUTHERN SUPER STAR, my go-to giveaway quilt, made by Donna D

CHARMING SAMPLER, top by Suzie W, quilted by Lois K

TWO-FOR-ONE, king size, by Caren Q.

TWO-FOR-ONE, king size

TWO-FOR-ONE, unusual color combination

TWO-FOR-ONE, love these sherbet colors

King Size completed top from LOVE YOUR LAYOUT class

ANTIQUE ROSE STAR

WESTERN SUN, Cyndi R.

FEATHERED STARS

FEATHERED STARS

FIVE EASY PIECES, by Susie F.

My most recent class was CHARMING SAMPLER at Southern Charm Quilting here in Huntsville. Six hours of sewing little 3" blocks provides the opportunity to learn a lot of techniques in just one day. All 19 Students did great and most were tired at the end of the day. A few of them were true beginners:

Lori Q did a super job with her bright fabrics--she learned to like little blocks!

I will end with these: MY FAVORIITE THINGS, my original pattern design using some of my favorite blocks. This was a 6 month, LECTURE/DEMO class: we met for two hours once a month, I demonstrated the sewing for that month's work, students brought the previous month's work, and each person made their own version. Students gave each other ideas for fabric/color choices, I showed how to improve all their piecing, it is a great class--I loved teaching it. All their sewing was done in the comfort of their own home.  

Learn how to combine blocks, with sashing/spacers, create different borders, and you can make any pattern your own. I may offer this again locally in 2027. It can't be taught in one 6 hour class as most guilds hire me to do, there is too much to learn. Meeting as a group over several months has the added bonus of creating new friendships too. 

MY FAVORITE THINGS, by Cyndi R.  

MY FAVORITE THINGS, by Holly R.

MY FAVORITE THINGS, by Kathy T.

MY FAVORITE THINGS, by Phyllis L.

MY FAVORITE THINGS, by Sally R.

MY FAVORITE THINGS, by Suzanne 

All my current classes are listed above in the WORKSHOPS tab. My TEACHING CALENDAR tab above lets you know what I am teaching and where. 

2026 is about full and I am being careful not to overbook 2027. That will allow more time to teach locally. So, if you want me to come to your guild, now is the time to reach out and let's get it on the schedule.

NOTE: if I have featured your quilt here and not identified you, PLEASE let me know so I can remedy that!

Let's quilt.

Barbara

OLIVER'S BIG BOY BED BLANKET

We recently had the pleasure of a visit with almost two year old grandson Oliver who lives in Nashville. He is cute, smart, kind, a great eater and sleeper and just FUN to be around. The  two older grandkids, 10 year old Stella and 7 year old Sam got to come for dinner and a visit, we are always happy to see them--they are busy kids and even though they live 30 minutes from us, we don't get to see them very often.  Facetime is a blessing for grandparents and grandkids. Having them all together was a good time for all:

Because I will be traveling when his 2nd birthday party happens, I decided to get his gift ready early. This is Oliver's Big Boy Bed Blanket:

 

I saw an ad either on Facebook or Instagram and wondered if it was really as good as it looks. You never know. But after seeing it for a couple weeks I bit the bullet and ordered it. 

It's about 58" x 68", minky fabric both top and bottom, and really cute. It is called the ABC HIDDEN PICTURES QUILT PANEL from Block Party Quilt Company. I ordered their minky for the back as well. It came fairly quickly. 

Find the information here: Block Party Quilt Co.

I simply cut the top and back the same size, placed them right sides together, stitched a half inch wide seam all around the "sandwich", leaving a 10" opening for turning. There is no batting inside, just two layers of minky, so soft and cuddly. 

After turning the "blanket" right sides out, I hand stitched the opening closed. Then I quilted inside the outer edge about 1/2" to make it look like a binding. I quilted around the border separating the pictures from the words. Then I simply quilted a line between each long vertical row of pictures. This was enough. Minky is slippery and there are a few puckers on the back. I decided against going across each horizontal row too as that would only create more puckers.

It washed and dried great, no problems with that. All in all, I was satisfied with it. And the whole thing was done in less than two hours.

Oliver loved it. Did I say he's smart? He quickly picked out the tractors, dump trucks, cats, boots, etc. I hope he enjoys using it on his big boy bed. 

Giving gifts like this is what quilting grandparents do. It was fun to make and I can recommend this product so far. I don't think the colors will fade very much over time. It's not an heirloom meant to last forever, just a gift of love I hope Oliver will enjoy for a few years.

Let's quilt.

Barbara

FANFARE 2026

 Heritage Quilters of Huntsville (HQH) had its bi-annual quilt show recently. As always, it was wonderful.

Here are just some of the more than 200 quilts in the show, in no particular order:

                                                    

                                                      

            

                                                         

                                                    

                                                    

    

    

                                                        


                                                    

BEST MACHINE QUILTING ON A STATIONARY MACHINE, BEN DARBY: 

        

                                                    

My only entry, OH MY STARS!, quilted by Patty Wilson:

We are so fortunate to have an amazing longarm quilter in our guild. PATTY WILSON quilted about 45 of the 200 quilts in the show. It is so good she got to enter her own work as well as so many customer quilts. ALL THAT GLITTERS was entered in the category ONE MAKER --PIECED SMALL. As it is a whole cloth quilt, not pieced, it was moved to the category ART/INNOVATIVE ANY SIZE.. Occasionally quilts are found to be in the wrong category during judging and have to be moved. 

Patty is incredibly talented, smart and too humble for words. This is true TALENT--anyone who thinks machine quilting is easy hasn't tried it. I salute you, Patty!

VIEWER'S CHOICE: FLORA AND FAUNA, by Audra Kennedy. The pattern is by Collage Quilter, Emily Taylor, called LONGWOOD GARDEN:

BEST MACHINE QUILTING ON A TRACK MACHINE: BUTTERMOLD SAMPLER by Karen Measels, quilted by Patty Wilson:

BEST USE OF COLOR AND JUDGE'S CHOICE:  MIAMI MEETS MANHATTAN, by Ben Darby:

And finally, BEST OF SHOW: MORNING GLORY by Karen Measels, quilted by Patty Wilson:

Remember, this is just a few of the glorious quilts in this show. Two years from now there will be even more incredible work from this very talented guild. I hope to see you there!

Let's quilt.

Barbara