PIECING PARTNERS QUILT GUILD OF COLORADO SPRINGS

 I recently had a wonderful trip to Colorado Springs to work for the Piecing Partners Quilt Guild. Some years ago I taught for the Lakeview Quilters Guild in Houston and the woman who was my contact there became a friend. Jonnie moved to Colorado Springs a few years ago and--Voila!  Another job opportunity came my way.

My favorite hotel is Home2Suites, having stayed in several in recent years. This one had an awesome view:

Early morning sun shining on the mountain as I waited for my ride to class

It's best to sleep under a quilt, this was the largest one I carried with me this trip, The Village:

Rooms are comfortable, good lighting, clean and comfortable. Breakfast which is included is very good, easy to eat smart most days. No pictures of breakfast, I must have been hungry:

I love the full kitchen. Refrigerator, microwave, dishwasher, sink with dishwashing liquid, real dishes and glasses. This almost always saves the guild money as I usually have enough leftovers to skip one dinner out. The room costs about the same as Hampton Inn: 

The view from my room:

Another view:

Packing light is required. With only two days with the guild only two outfits were needed:

Favorite speaking outfit

Favorite teaching outfit

The guild is very active, there were more than 120 people there for the morning meeting:

The FREE TO A GOOD HOME table was popular

Terry with the Block of the Month quilt they are doing this year, pattern by Angela Walters

Who doesn't love snacks? Wait, didn't we just have breakfast?

More snacks. Each month the "HOSTS" for the snacks are determined by your last name. Next month everyone whose last name starts with "S" is expected to provide the snacks. Brilliant!

I was first up with my Lecture "Time Management for Quilters". This is always well received and I often hear from people months later that they tried some of the suggestions and found "more" time. For a few of the tips offered in this lecture see this post: Top 3 Tips for Time Management for Quilters Your next opportunity to hear the entire lecture is at Houston, Friday October 10, 2025, 10:15 am, $15. Registration in advance is not required, you can pay at the door as long as there is room. About one third of the seats are already taken I am happy to report. 

The guild business meeting followed my presentation then there was Show and Tell. I love Show and Tell, so interesting to see what quilters everywhere are making. 

 

I loved this show and tell quilt. Unfortunately, I did not get this woman's name.

After lunch we had a 3 hour class on The Village--paper pieced houses, fast and easy stars. The 15 happy students learned and laughed a lot. As class neared the end I grabbed several from students to discuss different options for finishing:

My class sample:

Dinner was Panera, soup and berry salad with grilled chicken breast:

The next day 15 students gathered for Charming Sampler, several were with us the day before. They worked hard all day and we had quite a collection of small blocks by 4 pm:

My class sample:

The "Class photo" is something I always try to remember before people start to leave. Here is the group from day two, all lovely people:

Dinner that night was Bonefish Grill with my friend, Jonnie. We had a big day planned for the next day, hiking, sightseeing and shopping so it was important we fuel up.

More about that day next week.

Let's quilt.

Barbara

FOUR CORNERS QUILT GUILD--DURANGO, COLORADO

 I recently had the pleasure to travel to Durango, CO to be the featured teacher/speaker at the Four Corners Quilt Guild's annual meeting. This was the first time in 3 years they had a face-to-face meeting--you know why. 

They are a very talented and welcoming group and I enjoyed my visit immensely. Here are a lot of photos that tell the story:

My view of the La Plata range as we approached Durango--snow in April does not compute for me:

The wonderful Barb Morgan met me and we set off for the General Palmer Hotel, a Victorian property in the heart of Durango. I was surprised with a very much appreciated goodie bag in my room:

My lovely room, small but so comfortable and lots of storage. My quilt was perfect: 

Breakfast each morning was good and ready at 7 am: 

The first day's class was LOVE YOUR LAYOUT--a design class that is FUN. The Students did great:

A look at a few of the quilts being made in class:

This student inadvertently brought 8" blocks to class instead of 4" so she was able to make a twin size quilt: 

Charlotte brought pinwheels to class, an option, and was able to finish her quilt in class: 

Saturday was the annual meeting, with over 100 attendees. Lots of work goes into a meeting like this and it showed with all the table decorations and lots of wonderful giveaway prizes. 

I always enjoy Show and Tell and it was so good to see a few finished Block of the Month quilts from The Quilt Show. And to hear that my blog and help on the Forum are appreciated:

Color My World, pattern by Wendy Williams

Garden Party Down Under, pattern by Irene Blanck

After a great lunch, it was time for my Presentation: The Hard Stuff--a look at complex quilt patterns: 

As this was the 30th year for the Four Corners Quilt Guild, they did a bit of reminiscing about previous events.  I was honored to see the good company I keep, being part of this esteemed group of quilt teachers who preceded me:

Sunday was the class CHARMING SAMPLER. I love to teach this one, it is an original design that starts with a Charm Pack. These are 3" blocks and everyone did great and learned a lot:

                                         

The next day I was off to the small Durango airport early. So early, no gate agents were there for an hour. And TSA was closed, until an hour before the next flight out. No problem, I just waited until they

appeared and all was well.

Love a small  airport--lots of plugs for charging devices, only one gate area to serve two airlines, a little snack bar place right there with all the chairs:

All four of my flights, going and coming home, were on time and uneventful. All in all, a great trip.

Thanks to the wonderful women of the Four Corners Quilt Guild!

Let's quilt,

Barbara

Headed to Mobile

 I will soon head south to Mobile, AL to present a Lecture and Workshop for the Azalea City Quilt Guild.

Tuesday September 13, 2022 the Lecture is the ever-popular "Time Management for Quilters", 10 am, Regency Church of Christ. Full of ideas and suggestions for making the most of the time we have to be our creative selves:

On Wednesday we will spend the day making a Charming Sampler, using Charm packs we buy and love but don't know what to do with:

Sample 1 approx. 34" 

Sample 2 approx.34"

The Guild was happy to report this class filled almost immediately and asked if we could add more students. Of course. So we will be a full house at 25 students. 

Making small blocks, these are 3", is a good way to improve piecing skills and play with colors. Students who take this Workshop report learning so much more than they expected to, tips that will improve all their piecing going forward.

Mobile is as far away from my home as possible and still be in Alabama, it will take all day to get there. But there will be wonderful seafood dinners and I really look forward to that. And making new friends with this guild.

Let's quilt.

Barbara

Why I Teach

Having recently returned from a great quilt teaching trip, I have been thinking about why I do this. Travel away from home, spend time with strangers, stay in hotels where sleep is not often the best, and spend hours over many days preparing for that kind of trip.

There are unexpected good surprises, like the call from the hotel front desk that a package had been delivered for me. I loved this guild already and hadn't met them yet:

And more expected things--happy, successful students showing off their work.  Women of the West Alabama Quilt Guild, Tuscaloosa, AL, with their morning efforts making Western Sun. In the afternoon they worked on Flying Geese sashing, learning a variety of methods. Don't they look happy?

How about the next day? More women, and some returning, made lots of 3" blocks as they learned secrets to great piecing with Charming Sampler:

More photos from the two workshops. The students were enthusiastic, friendly, eager to learn, and satisfied with the class--except this Yankee still talks too fast sometimes:

Charming Sampler blocks--Becky B

Charming Sampler blocks--Paula

Rose, workshop coordinator, as she introduced me as the "world renowned Barbara Black"--what a  hoot!

Our temporary Design Wall

All you Guild folks--take note of the 3 x 5 cards taped on the table in front of each person's spot--Rose made these name cards so I would know everyone's name--this is brilliant! I like to call people by name and nametags on chests are often too small to see. She added 4 small pieces of fabric to each to use as "leaders/enders", a bonus nice touch:

                                             

I love Show and Tell. Before Western Sun began, Paula B showed me her Wild and Goosey, finished just the night before. She wasn't sure what she was doing in Western Sun, which has LOTS more flying geese sashing, but she was there. Wild and Goosey is a Bonnie Hunter pattern available in her book Addicted to Scraps: 
 

                                                     

Finally. at the end of the second day this happened: 

They presented me with a guild t-shirt, making me an honorary member

In 2014, I retired from H&R Block, turned 60, had my Red and White quilt  featured as the Commemorative Quilt for the 40th anniversary of International Quilt Festival, had 3 quilts juried into AQS Paducah, and 3 quilts featured in the book 500 Traditional Quilts. The experience in Houston was beyond words but I tried to sum up what that meant to me with this post: Red and White--the Wrap Up. If you only read one of my past blogs, I encourage you to read this one.

As I came home from Houston I thought about what the rest of my life would look like. I wrote:

 I did not expect that this experience would make me even more certain I will spend the rest of my days making the best quilts I can and teaching as many others as I can to quilt.  There is so much inspiration at Festival and I am eager to piece and quilt to my heart's content!  Baby quilts are next up!

Our first grandchild was on the way, oh, joy! And I would now have time to travel and teach quilters who wanted to learn the things I have learned over the many years I have been a quiltmaker.

Travel is hard, yes, even more so today. But quilters I don't know are not "strangers", they are friends I haven't met yet. 

My goal for every class is that EACH student, regardless of skill level, will leave class thinking "I learned more than I thought I would". And they have to have FUN, that's important too.

And occasionally I get a wonderful reminder from a student that I seem to be accomplishing my goal. 

The day after my visit to the West Alabama Quilt Guild, I received this email:

We were so thrilled to have you. It was even better than we anticipated! I learned many things I had never even heard of and feel confident to venture out to try more complex blocks! Many in that Saturday class have been in awe of the more adept quilters and I’m sure they, too, will be inspired to quilt more. After that crisscross block, we are invincible!

Rest assured, we will be asking you to come again!

While I have taught quilting locally for almost 35 years, I  have been "on the circuit" for about 10. I will do this a few more years so if your guild or shop wants to have fun while learning how to improve your  skills, contact me and we can make that happen. 

Let's quilt,

Barbara