UPCOMING LOCAL CLASSES

 Winter is upon us and it's the time of year for local quilt shop classes. I have been working on samples and handouts and all is now ready.

In Chronological Order:

1. Southern Super Star Saturday February 3, 2024 Patches & Stitches call or go by to register. This is my perfect "giveaway quilt", easy to make, not real expensive to "quilt by checkbook", easy to personalize favorite colors:

Southern Super Star, about 75" square

2. Quiltmaking 101 Friday February 9, 16, 23, 2024 Patches & Stitches. I have taught beginners at Patches for 35 years, This is the latest pattern I am using. We no longer do it all by hand! Learn all you need to know from someone who knows how to teach and inspire her students:

A simple border and only 6 fabrics

A more complex border and more fabrics

3. On the Lily Pond Wednesday February 21, 2024 Southern Charm Quilting call, go by or register online. A replica of an antique quilt I own, this will teach you a lot about quilt design and how to make one block easy, not hard:

On the Lily Pond

4. Antelope Canyon Dit Dot Evolution Tuesday March 19 and April 2, 2024 Southern Charm Quilting, call, go by or register online. I love this pattern and it is even better made with Dit Dots fabric. Not hard to sew but easy to get confused. Let me teach you how to stay organized and be successful. A complete Kit is available so you don't have to agonize over fabric selection:

Antelope Canyon Dit Dot Evolutions 74" square

5. FULL CIRCLE SPECIAL EVENT with BARBARA BLACK May 6-10, 2024, Southern Charm Quilting call, go by, or register online. This 5 day workshop will teach you far more than you expect. Learn skills that will carry over into all your future quiltmaking. I am teaching this Workshop nationally and it is a huge success. Don't miss this last chance to take an all-encompassing Workshop locally.

See this Blog post about the happy students who took this Workshop in September 2023: FULL CLASS FOR FULL CIRCLE

FULL CIRCLE 91" square

So there you have it. I hope to see you in classes here in my hometown. Soon I am back out on the road teaching all over the country and on the high seas. Take a class with me while you can.

Let's quilt.

Barbara

Local Classes--Winter 2020

Here are my Winter 2020 Class offerings locally. I travel a lot to teach all over the country--it is the BEST to be able to teach here at home. Many of my students become friends. I hope you will find something here that interests you.

Patches & Stitches, 603 Humes Ave, Huntsville, AL 35801 256-533-3886
All Classes will be announced by them around Thanksgiving:

QUILTMAKING 101: Learn all the basics

I revised the class sample to make the project faster and easier. Over 1500 people have taken my beginning classes over 30+ years. I love getting students excited about quilting.  Two sessions:

Session 1: Jan 7, 14, 28, Feb 4, 11, 2020     5:30-8 pm.
Session 2: Feb 18, 25, Mar 3, 10, 17, 2020   5:30-8 pm

ORGANIC APPLIQUE': Learn to use the big, bold beautiful prints we love but are scared of. I got excited about the new book of the same name by Kathy Doughty last Fall at Market. Now the book is available and I got a simple sample done quickly:

Saturday Feb 8, 2020   9-4   Come and play with fabric, color and design!

CIRCA 2016:  This adorable quilt is a favorite--made with 2.25” and 3” blocks. Get a good start in class and continue your journey. Lots of tips for accurate piecing and good color selection will be taught. Back by Popular demand.

Sat March 28, 2020  9-4  Last chance for this class, it won't be offered again.

SYLVIA'S BRIDAL SAMPLER--I love it when students ask me for a class they want to take. During the last Sunday Sew and Sews meeting, it was proposed I teach this over the next year, in a lecture/demo format, all sewing is done at home. The best part--one member had the quilt finished and I could use it as the class sample while making mine for class. Good idea:

Friday Jan 10, Feb 7, Mar 6, Apr 3, May 8, June 5, 2020  6-8 pm--ONLY A FEW SPOTS REMAIN IN THIS CLASS--call now to enroll so you don't miss out.

I decided 6 months was enough to teach a variety of the techniques used in this book. Those who were interested started calling the shop right away and the 16 spaces are close to full.

My fabric pull for my sample:

BARB'S SEWING CENTER, 2310 Whitesburg Dr SW, Huntsville, AL 35801   256 539 2414

SMITTEN: One of the most popular classes I teach around the country. A template set makes quick work of cutting out shapes that all fit in a hexagon design:

Saturday January 11 and February 15, 2020  9am-1pm

2020 BLOCK OF THE MONTH from www.thequiltshow.com. Here it is, Afternoon Delight, designed by Sue Garman:

Saturday Jan 4, April 4, June 6, Oct 3, Dec 5, 2020 9-11 am. You must be a Star member of www.thequiltshow.com to get the patterns for this wonderful quilt for FREE--that's an $80 savings.

Membership provides a world of info and terrific shows--the show I taped will air January 1, 2020 as we roll out the first month's pattern for this project.
This is a lecture/demo class--all sewing is done at home. I show lots of tips and tricks for each month's patterns. Learn several ways to applique', by machine or by hand. And become a master at piecing with all the practice this quilt provides.

Huntsville Sew Creative, 1847 University Dr NW, Huntsville, AL 35801

PATRIOTIC PINEAPPLES:  What could be better than spending President's Day making a Pineapple quilt?! Learn both paper and precision piecing for the Pineapple Log Cabin block, then use your favorite method to complete your quilt. A scrap buster for sure:

Monday February 17, 2020, President's Day, 9-3:30

Let's quilt.

Barbara

Quiltmaking 101--the Beginning

Since 1989 I've been teaching the beginning quilt class, Quiltmaking 101, at my local quilt shop, Patches & Stitches. I love teaching beginners, encouraging them, watching them succeed when they didn't think they could.  I also teach the hard stuff:  feathered stars, mariners' compass, etc. but my heart is with the beginners.  I tell them I have 3 goals for the class:

1.  They feel they've gotten their money's worth from the class.  It's not inexpensive to start quilting.
2.  They finish this project so their descendants won't find a box under the bed and wonder: What was she doing with this?
3.  I addict one of them, completely and totally to quilting, so the industry continues to thrive--I am always successful, every 5 week class, with this goal.

Here is the project:

Mix N Match Stars, pattern by Glad Creations, my sample

While this is not the usual beginner's quilt, I have found it to be the right amount of challenge for the person who really wants to learn to make quilts.  It is also perfect for the self-taught person who wants to improve and learn tips and techniques.  People often come back a year or two later to take it again.

The pieced border is optional--when I tell them it took me 8 hours to make those borders, most of the students choose to go with the Super Simple Borders option.  I have prepared a 7 page handout with both options, instructions for a practice 1/4" test block, a Rail Fence, and lots of piecing instructions. 

The most difficult thing for beginners to intermediate quilters to master is the dreaded "scant" 1/4" seam allowance.  What is "scant"?  How do you find it on your machine?  I  have them practice that in the first week at home, between gathering their supplies at week 1, to making their first block in class week 2.  Most get it or get a lot closer than their first effort.  It takes practice and maybe, drawing a line on the fabric, using a taped guide on the throat plate, getting a 1/4" foot, etc. 

The next most difficult thing for beginners to intermediate quilters is choosing fabric.  I help them start with a focus or theme fabric, or a theme:  Christmas, Baby, Patriotic, etc.  Find that first fabric that will usually be the border and select fabrics that go with it.  It takes a little while but most get it quickly and they leave the shop excited about their quilt-to-be. 

We spend 5 weeks together and I can say many of these students become my friends and many join our guild, Heritage Quilters of Huntsville.  One of the best perks of my job is receiving a thank you note or email from a student who has found her/his bliss and is so excited to continue their quilting journey.  I received one of those just recently and with Terri's permission, I share a bit of it here:

      I would like to thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to
teach a beginner's quilting class. I learned so much and I am definitely hooked
on quilting. I have already started my second quilt.

      I finished piecing my quilt together on Feb 20th and found a sweet lady that said she would
long arm quilt it by the 27th. (The baby shower was on Feb 28th). She totally surprised me and had it done on the 24th. She did a beautiful job of quilting it in a butterfly pattern.
      Thank you once again for your time and patience! I hope to take another class from
you soon.

Sincerely,
Terri

 

Here is Terri's finished quilt, a baby gift for a new grandbaby, Ella.  Even though she was under a tight deadline, Terri made the pieced borders and got it done on time.  Great job, Terri!

One lucky tool my students have to help them is a series of videos I did several years ago for www.monkeysee.com   It's called How to Quilt and you can find it here.  It took 6.5 hours to video the seven 3 minute segments.  I wasn't paid anything for this but it has been very helpful for the students at home as they try to remember everything I taught at week 2.  Each segment covers a small bit of the process.  I laugh when I tell people about it:  I can teach you everything you need to know in 21 minutes!  I thought they were pretty hokey the first time I saw them but they sure have helped my students.

To finish, here are just a very few quilts from past students, some tops done, some not quite yet--one week between finishing the blocks and having a complete top can be a challenge when life gets in the way.  I am always happy to get photos of their finished quilts and I add them to my slideshow of QM 101 quilts:

Linda R

Debbie E

Peggy H

Rhonda St.

Sophie on the right

I'm off to Chicago today to work at International Quilt Festival . To help fill the schedule, I'll be teaching 2 classes at Make It University on hand-piecing Lemoyne Stars and doing 2 two hour demo sessions on String Piecing at Open Studios.  If you are anywhere near Chicagoland, come to the show--don't miss a great opportunity to see quilts and shop vendors and take classes.  I am also taking a machine quilting class with Catherine Redford--I've got a busy week ahead!  Two of my quilts that were in the book 500 Traditional Quilts will be in that Special Exhibit and the Red and White--By the Numbers, the 40th anniversary Commemorative Quilt will be displayed. I'll be very happy to see it again.

Let's quilt!

Barbara




Feathered Star Class

Yesterday I taught a Feathered Star class at Patches & Stitches, my local quilt shop where I have taught for 25 years.  Here is the class sample:

It was a six hour process class, with the primary purpose of the class being to learn how to accurately sew a 15" Feathered Star block.  What the maker did with her block after class was entirely up to her.

Using Marsha McCloskey's great book, Feathered Star Quilt Blocks 1, subtitled "Really Hard Blocks That Take A Long Time To Make", we made the 15" Radiant Star on page 22.   The book has excellent directions and you should check out Marsha's website to see more of her work and patterns/books.  Marsha is the queen of Feathered Stars and a great teacher too.

As I tell all my students, in every class, there are only 3 things you can do wrong in making pieced quilt blocks:  the cutting, the sewing, and/or the pressing.  This block requires you to do your best work on all three of those.  Accuracy is important on this one.

One student, Tina, was making her first ever Feathered Star and she got into the process quickly. 

Making Feathers, the Bias-Strip Piecing Method

Assembling the units--she's getting there!

Two Thirds of the way there, at the end of class.  Great job!

Sarah took this class from me 3 years ago and has made 3 Feathered Stars since then but wasn't completely happy with her precision so she came back for a refresher on how to improve her work.  She used the fabrics and pieces she had made some time ago, and some of them needed trimming before she could get them together.  Back in business:


Christmas Star, on her way!
 

The third student, Joyce, had also taken the class 3 years before and completed her Feathered Star from that class.  But then life intervened and she put it away.  Now she was ready to actually make a wallhanging with her block.  She asked me if I would help her to complete the project in this class and I said "Sure".  She spent her time in class making pieced borders and learning how to figure out what size to make the floater borders that would allow her pieced borders to fit accurately. 



Cutting Half Square Triangles for the first pieced border

Ta-da!  First solid border cut and sewed on, AFTER the pieced border was made, so everything fits!

At the end of six hours, everyone was tired but happy--each person had gotten what she needed out of the class, and more importantly, was ready and eager to go home and finish this project! 

I found it fun and a little challenging to spend the day going to each student and providing what she needed at that particular moment.   Each was at a different step at any given time so that kept me on my toes.  As they sewed, I worked on my demo star--I'll show that soon--it's almost done. 

Teaching quilting is almost as much of a  passion for me as making quilts--I just LOVE to see the light bulb come on when a student figures out how to do something that had been a challenge.  And when they proudly send me a photo of their finished project:  priceless! 

If you're stuck or need to be inspired, find a great class and get back to it.  All I ask of students, mine or anyone else's, is to try the suggestion a teacher gives before you say "That doesn't work for me"--you won't know if you don't try it.   I try to provide more than one way to do something, saying "That's why there's Chocolate AND Vanilla"--no one method is perfect for everyone.  For example, in this class I showed 4 different ways to make those tiny 1" finished feathers.  After working with Marsha McCloskey last fall in Houston, I tried her bias-strip piecing method, again--I had tried it many years ago and not loved it.  This time I was taken with how well it worked for me now so I changed my preferred method.  Always be open to new, or not-so-new ideas.

Hope you are working on a quilt project that makes you happy.  Next up  for me is our bi-annual guild quilt show next weekend--sure to be a terrific event.  Quilts get turned in early this week, judging happens Wednesday and Thursday, and the show is Friday-Sunday. 

Let's quilt!

Barbara