Pre-Houston Rush

Everyone who works at Market and/or Festival is in the pre-Houston rush stage. Just look at #quiltmarket on Instagram to see a bit of all the great stuff that will be revealed soon.

For me, it's getting clothes and paperwork ready for 13 days at the Hilton Americas, a great hotel I love staying at. The staff is wonderful and I really look forward to seeing so many of the same people year after year.

Yesterday I taught two classes, 3 hours each at two different shops, 21 total students. First, was a Creative Log Cabin class, using the Creative Grids 8" Log Cabin Trim Tool. It was a fast-paced class, helping all 8 students learn the basics and the easy but specific steps I've come up with to make these blocks fast, fun and accurate. Success!:

Class scenes:

Rhonda with her Featherweight and Quilts of Valor fabrics

Sharon's contemporary strips

My Class Sample:

At noon, 5 of these students and I hustled on to the next location for our Monthly Long Time Gone session. This was session 2 and I was thrilled to see the great blocks 13 students had made this month. Did I think to take a photo of the design wall covered with all those blocks? No... Next month. Here is my Section 1:

My Section 2:

We meet for 3 hours once a month for 6 months. I give tips and tricks for that month's section. The students take notes, ask questions and play with their fabrics--no need to bring a sewing machine for only 3 hours when I have so much to teach for each block. They are making wonderful quilts!

My Spellbound sample is now on the wall at Huntsville Sew and Vac.  Class is two sessions, Saturday November 11 and Saturday December 2. Any two Jelly Rolls, exactly the same, will work for this simple yet graphically dynamic quilt:

 Today I made the splendid little Stella a splendid little pillowcase for her Splendid Sampler quilt:

I'm eager to see her reaction--this makes a terrific I Spy quilt.

Have I mentioned how much this family LOVES Halloween?!

Lauren, Stella and Andy as Rick and Morty, whoever that might be...

I also quilted and bound the Palmateer Point mystery quilt I made a few weeks ago:

My stack of small quilts is growing by leaps and bounds--I think I'll add a dozen or so to my Etsy shop when I get back from Houston. Most are small, this one is about 25" square.

I probably won't get time to blog much while working in Houston but I'll add photos to Instagram and Facebook regularly. See you when I get back.

Let's quilt!

Barbara