Student Progress on Garden Party Down Under

 There is something special about a year-long class, a two-hour lecture/demo class. All sewing is done at home.  Each woman is working on the same project, at her own pace. Each quilt is so different. Everyone understands all the effort each  block takes. They may have started as strangers but the leave the year as friends. Some have made time to get together to sew outside of class too. I love that!

Here is the progress being made by the students making Garden Party Down Under, the Block of the Month quilt designed by Irene Blanck exclusively for Star Members of The Quilt Show.

Mary-Louise is using men's silk ties for her shapes. Each fabric has to be stabilized with lightweight fusible. The dark backgrounds add so much depth! They are fabulous blocks:

M-L gave up on the tiny Dresdens--that silk did not want to play nicely. Instead, she is designing critters from her garden for the center of each pieced block:

Cyndi is using her beautiful stash to make wonderful blocks: 

Victoria had an epiphany when she got the hang of paper piecing the Dogtooth borders. Her husband may not have been overly impressed, but we sure were. When you get something you have struggled to "get", it's a beautiful thing: 

Claudia is enjoying the process--love her fabrics: 

Julie often wears clothing that match her block--I wonder if that's intentional?

Evelyn has missed a few classes but she is keeping up. This is a bright and happy quilt. She got a new sewing machine and is playing with many of the built-in stitches for her machine applique:

Phyllis has found the best applique technique for her--back-basting. Leila is doing this method and explained it in an early class. Phyllis tried it and was  hooked. Here is a block ready to stitch--the stems are machine appliqued because it's so easy. The green leaves on the right are hand appliqued in place. Everything else is back-basted and ready to go, making this a very portable project: 

Sally has ventured into wool applique with lots of embroidery stitches. She finds it slow but rewarding:

We had one other student in this class this time, but Fanny wouldn't let me take her photo--she had only brought her beautiful tiny Dresdens--her fabrics are wonderful. Next class I'll get to show more of her work.

Our time together is winding down. Most will not be making the 2023 Block of the Month quilt, they all feel the need to get a few of these previous quilts done in 2023. Although I will miss our time together, I will see most of them in other classes and places. 

They may all have started as strangers but they leave the year as friends. Some have made time to get together to sew outside of class too. I love that! Isn't that what the quilting community is all about?

Let's quilt,

Barbara