Something Old, Something New

 Recently, I taught Smitten to several students at a local shop. I love teaching this quilt and loved making my own. The class sample:

A student who was in a class several years ago, made this beauty--shown here in my guild quilt show, a few weeks ago. Leigh did a wonderful job with her palette of soft fabrics:

Leigh's stunning Smitten

The Smitten printed pattern is no longer available anywhere that I could find. BUT the designer now has a downloadable PDF for sale and it is much better than the old printed pattern. Find it here: SunspellShop

Here is a bit of the students' work from the recent class:

Amanda and her blocks

Mazie's blocks

Terri's block

Laura's blocks

Linda's blocks

Holly’ blocks

Mary-Louise sent me this photo a few days after class. She said "I was determined Y-seams would not be the boss of me! Now I can do them." As I tell students--it's not HARD, it's just not FAST:

Next up for me is a Neutral Quilt--a new class sample that will feature a variety of Disappearing Nine and Four Patch blocks. The quilt can be made in any range of colors you prefer. I've been wanting to make a neutral quilt for a while so now is the time:

And these two AdventureLand quilts are almost finished. I saw the pattern on Instagram and bought the PDF pattern, find it here: Suzy Quilts. The pattern includes Twin and Double/Queen sizes also:

baby sizes, 40" square, Adventures by the Sea

Throw size 60' square--Adventure in Kaffe Land 

What are you working on? Do you prefer to finish a project before starting a new one? Not me, I have many in various stages of completion.

Let's quilt.

Barbara 

Teaching Locally

Since I am home for a while, before a busy travel schedule begins, I have several local classes.

The other day I taught Smitten to 4 quilters:

My Sample

Blocks on the wall at the end of the day

Trish

Karen

Robin

Carolyn

They enjoyed learning that Y seams aren't HARD, they are just not FAST.

On President's Day, I taught Patriotic Pineapples to 8 students:

Blocks on the wall at the end of the day

They used either the Pineapple Trim Tool ruler from Creative Grids OR the Trash to Treasure Ruler from Gyleen Fitzgerald--both make 8" Pineapple blocks, with 1" finished logs. Each person learned how to use the ruler she brought to class.  

In the afternoon, I showed them how to paper piece the block, if they wanted to. Some had never tried paper piecing before so it was something new to learn. Most kept going with regular piecing and their ruler--the second block comes together much faster than the first.

It was interesting to me that several students had wanted to make a Pineapple quilt for years and either had not started yet or could not understand the instructions with their ruler or pattern. Having a class available made it the right time for these quilters to start this project. Great quilts in the making.

The REAL reason I offered this class is to force me to get back to my Patriotic Pineapple quilt, that WILL be finished this year:

Only 46 blocks to go...

Coming up soon locally is my favorite class to teach: Antique Rose Star by Machine. I teach this all over the country to large classes and we have such a great time:

March 7 and 21, 2020, Huntsville Sew Creative. If you are local, please don't miss this opportunity--this is the only time I will offer this class this year locally. You will be amazed at what you learn and how easy these blocks, with 72 pieces in each, can be to make.

Let's quilt!

Barbara

Road 2 CA 2020--A Great Trip

I recently had the pleasure of teaching four classes again at Road 2 CA, a large quilt show in Ontario, CA, which celebrated their 25th anniversary this show.

The distinctive atrium of the Ontario Convention Center makes a great place for a display of a CA guild's quilts--a new guild is featured each year:

 The convention center is one mile from the Ontario airport and my hotel was directly across the street from the Convention Center so it was an easy walk each morning to class:

Palm trees--I don't see those where I live

Winter where I live is not harsh but we often get below freezing at night. So it is a treat for me to see roses and tropicals in bloom in January:

After arriving very late Monday night, I had Tuesday to recover, unpack, prepare my clothes for the week and find my classroom.

A special treat was meeting up with an old Marine Corps buddy I had not seen since the early 80's--we sat in the hotel lobby, sharing photos, and catching up. After a nice dinner he had a two hour drive home and I needed to turn in early as the two hour time change was apparent. I wish I had thought to get a photo of us.

Wednesday my first class was "The Village"--with paper-pieced houses and easy stars. The class was full with about 25 students and we had fun:

My Sample Quilt

Student Work

That evening there was a lovely Faculty reception where we got to chat with some of the other teachers, then I attended Preview--the quilts were on display, no vendors, and only students were able to attend.

The big winners had not yet heard of their good fortune so I took photos of several, posted on Facebook, and got hearty "thanks!" from several--with the time difference, several had delayed going to bed, hoping to hear Show results:

Best of Show:

Best Hand Quilting:

Best Domestic Machine Quilting:

Outstanding Wall Quilt:

One other big award was the Marie White Masterpiece Award. It went to Janet Stone for her quilt "Crazy Four Ewe". I did not photograph or post this one because I saw that Janet had already received the happy news. But I thought you would like to see it:

See all the winners with good photos and excellent descriptions: Road2CA 2020 WINNERS LIST

It was cool in the morning,  about 50, no where near the 20's at home. I enjoyed seeing sunrise on the mountains as I crossed the street:

Thursday was another class, Antique Rose Stars by Machine:

Once again, the students were great and did very well:

Discussing my sample

Friday, it was on to Southern Super Star:

My sample quilt

Students morning work

A Disney quilt--great use of Disney fabrics

Student's work in the afternoon

I had such a special treat at lunch! Catherine Butterworth of Australia was in the building--I learned that on Instagram. I asked her to come by the classroom  if she got a moment and was thrilled when she came at lunch--we spent an hour talking, sharing photos, and catching up. I had emailed her 9 years ago about one of her quilts I was inspired by. She continues to win big awards and make great quilts. Once I was a "fan girl"--now we are "soul sisters":

Here she is standing in front of her 1st Place quilt in this show, with another woman also named C Butterworth:

Follow her on Instagram:  ccbutterworth--you will see why she inspires me.

Saturday brought the last of my four classes, "Smitten".  I will be teaching it here at home February 15, 2020--don't miss it if you're local:

My Sample Quilt

 Despite the accumulated fatigue many students were feeling by the end of the week, they did great:

Student work

Student work

I went on the show floor only once more, to quickly visit my favorite antique quilt dealer, Cindy Rennels and her wonderful husband, Ronnie. I also went to see the booth "Brie Kriebel", run by Paulina. All the customers in her booth were wearing her garments, including me, and we were all buying more--I bought two. Check her out: Brie Kriebel Clothing  NOTE: sizes run small.

We snapped a photo when we realized we had a friend in common, Shelly Heesacker, the TV producer who works wonders for "The Quilt Show". We posted it on Facebook to surprise Shelly:

By Saturday night it was time to pack my bags and prepare for the cross-country trip home on Sunday. Goodbye, Palm Trees, for a while:

I had a super time and my classes were well received by the more than 100 students I had the pleasure of instructing. I plan to apply for 2022--this show has their teachers skip a year in between teaching assignments.

Lastly, this student, Missey, I believe. wore a great T-shirt I just had to share. My blog is called "My Joyful Journey" and this pretty much sums up what I get from my quilting journey:

Hope to see  you in class, let's quilt!

Barbara