Talking and Teaching

It's tax season, for the last time for me, and this year I'm the "office leader", which means even more hours at work, as if that were possible.  So while I haven't created a whole lot so far this year, I have been "quilty" busy.

At the January quilt guild meeting of the Heritage Quilters of Huntsville,  I was the guest speaker and did a PowerPoint lecture on:    HOUSTON!  The Largest Quilt Show in the US.

George R Brown Convention Center, Houston, TX



Knowing I had this job coming up, I took many photos at Houston this past year.  Putting them together into a comprehensive look at Market and Festival, but keeping it to no more than an hour, took some doing.  We took a tour of the building, since I know many people come to Festival and never leave the first floor.  There's lots more to see and do on the 2nd and 3rd floors, especially the 3rd floor where all the classes, samplers, forums, lectures and luncheons take place.  I rarely get OFF the 3rd floor for the 13 days I am working there in the Education department.  I've been to Houston, Market and Festival for the past 18 years and hope to go for many more. 

The lecture went well, I thought, and I cleared out several years of tote bags with goodies inside when we ended the lecture with a "swag" raffle drawing.  About a dozen happy people got a gift.

Two days later I did one of my most favorite things:  I taught a quilting class at my local quilt shop, Patches & Stitches.  The project was "Southern Star" by Calico Carriage Quilt Designs.  There were 9 students somewhat packed into the classroom but everyone kept a good attitude and all got a lot accomplished in the all-day class.  Here are a few shots of them in action:

Susan with one quarter of her center--My class sample is behind her

Emily with one quarter of her center

Connie's first one quarter of her center

Vicki with her first quarter of the center

In the morning we started on the center, making one quarter.  At home they will repeat this 3 more times for the complete center.

After lunch, we moved on to the side sections:

Joyce's side and center, bright!

Diane's side and center, she'll continue the orange in the borders

Linda did neutral batiks, very dramatic!

Susan, with both center and side, to get the idea what it will look like--King size!

Audra, with side and center pinned together for effect--the center print is the border

Ferne used batiks, the yellow center is fabulous!

My teaching style is to offer several way to do things when appropriate, and encourage everyone to find the method that works best for them.  My motto:  "I want the fastest method that gives me the results I want."  What's fastest for me, might not be best for a new quilter. 

One of the fun things I do in class is to encourage everyone to immediately confess if they sew something incorrectly.  I use that as a "teachable moment" for the rest of the class and then I rip it out!  My goal is to get each student as far in class as she can get that day.  And it's discouraging to rip out in class, so I do it, allowing them to keep on sewing.

We had fun, great quilts will come from this good start, and the students were all gracious in their comments to me after class.  I love to teach and see happy students at the end of the day.

I did manage to get the last of my little applique' blocks sewn last night and, after rearranging the blocks almost incessantly, think this is my final layout:

When I get a few minutes, I'll finish sewing the lower right portion together.  Haven't decided about borders yet.

Linking up to Patchwork Times Design Wall Monday.

Let's quilt!

Barbara